Executive DISRUPTOR OF THE YEAR

He is changing the way Stellantis designs, builds and sells cars, righting the wrongs of the past

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Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa has spent the first year of his tenure making tough decisions. He's focused on digging the company out of the profit, technology and product hole it found itself in under the previous professional regime, following its formation by a merger of PSA Group and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.

Filosa inherited a mess. Profits were plunging, U.S. market share was sliding, on-hand dealership inventories were very high and dealer relations were near rock bottom.

His effort to stop the bleeding, push forward with commonsense product and brand plans, regain the faith of dealers and regionalize the company's operations are why Filosa is Newsweek's World's Greatest Auto Disruptors Executive Disruptor of the Year.

The Italian was chosen for his current role after 26 years in automotive that stretch back to his first job at Fiat. “I started 27 years ago, working in manufacturing. I was the quality supervisor at the paint shop, night shift—a very small plant in Spain. That plant was producing commercial vans. Ninety-five percent of them were white. So, my job was pretty easy,” he told Newsweek.

Filosa wasn't long at the Spanish facility. Soon, he was looking for roles elsewhere, landing outside Chicago, Illinois, working within Fiat's agricultural construction business unit, first in logistics then in marketing.

Since then, he hasn't stopped moving. On his next stint he went back to Italy and looked after the international business unit for the southern markets, which he described as India to South America. He moved to Brazil, then Argentina, then back to Brazil in various roles, all while rising within the company ranks. Now, he calls the U.S. home, and Stellantis runs most of its business operations out of the company's Auburn Hills, Michigan, offices, north of Detroit.