MAPEI Celebrates 85 Years

Today, MAPEI conducts business in 57 countries, with 84 production plants and about 11,000 staff members.

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It was 1937 when Rodolfo Squinzi founded his building materials business in the outskirts of Milan with seven staff members and the support of his wife Elsa. That is how MAPEI—Materiali Ausiliari Per l'Edilizia e l'Industria—was first established. Now 85 years later, MAPEI has had three generations of leadership and has expanded, with business operations in 57 countries, over 20 product lines, 84 production plants, revenue of €2.8 billion (approximately $3.2 billion), and about 11,000 staff members.

Giorgio Squinzi served at the helm of the company from 1984-2019, with the support of his sister, lawyer Laura Squinzi, and the insight of his wife Adriana, head of marketing and communications strategy. The group’s pillars have evolved to become: Internationalization, Research & Development, Specialization, and Sustainability. Support for culture and sport has also helped secure close ties between business operations, the surrounding region, and the company.

Laura Squinzi has been chairman of the board of directors since 2019. The board also includes Veronica and Marco Squinzi as group CEOs, as well as Simona Giorgetta.

“We are treating this important milestone more like a starting line,” said Veronica Squinzi. “We are ready to face new challenges, knowing that we can count on a team of the highest caliber. MAPEI is a company with its heart in Italy and its eyes looking out across the globe. Since our grandfather took that historic first step in 1974 and built the athletics tracks for the Montreal Olympics, we have never stopped investing in new markets. Today we have 91 subsidiaries in 57 countries, and we have no intention of stopping here. We recently acquired the French company Resipoly and we are currently building five new factories everywhere from the United States to China.”

According to Marco Squinzi, “Our deep commitment to innovation and research is still a major part of the entire Group strategy. We are a chemical company manufacturing products for the building industry and the aim of our 32 research laboratories is to come up with cutting-edge products to make building increasingly sustainable by focusing on durability and quality. We believe that extending the life cycle of existing buildings is the best way to consume fewer resources and produce less waste for landfills. We are also committed to making increasing use of raw materials with low environmental impact or secondary raw materials to help boost the circular economy, simultaneously striving to reduce the use of hazardous substances to a minimum in order to protect not only the environment but also workers’ health.”

Luigi Di Geso, president and CEO of MAPEI North America, said, “MAPEI is known throughout the industry for excellence—not only for excellent products, but also for the excellence of the philosophies and practices that lead to the creation of those products. That excellence is rooted in our firm connection to Italy and to the passion for innovation with which this company was founded. MAPEI is an historic company with new ideas because of that passionate drive for innovation.”