Carlo Nicolato
December 23, 2024
AND Tilman J. Fertitta the new American ambassador to Italy, “an accomplished businessman”, as he underlined Donald Trump“who founded and built one of the most important real estate and entertainment companies in our country, employing approximately 50,000 Americans.” Very well known at home, almost not at all in Italy, Fertitta's appointment has great political significance for us as it occurred well in advance, a month after Trump's official inauguration in the White House: a clear signal of the strategic role that the tycoon wants to assign our country to the European and global balance. Just to be clear, the predecessor, i.e. the outgoing Democratic president Joe Bidenhad left the appointment of Rome vacant for two years after Lewis Heisenberg had concluded his mandate, relinquishing temporary responsibility to the chargé d'affaires Shawn Crowley. Not exactly the best of treatments for the diplomatic headquarters of one of the United States' most faithful allies, especially since the position later went to his friend, former governor of Delaware Jack Markellan obvious choice that could have arrived much earlier without the supposed and useless months of reflection.
Trump, on the contrary, deemed it appropriate to immediately appoint a man of great ability, who was also the first ambassador chosen for Europe by the new Administration. In announcing the appointment, the president also noted that Fertitta “has a long history of giving to the community through numerous philanthropic initiatives, which include children's charities, law enforcement and the medical community. Additionally, Tilman is the longest-serving chair of the University of Houston Board of Trustees. He is also the owner of the basketball team Houston Rockets».
But Fertitta is even more. Of Sicilian origins, 57 years old, born in Houston, Texas, the new ambassador is recognized as a world leader in the restaurant sector, so much so that he is often defined as “the richest restaurateur in the world”. As of 2023, Forbes valued his fortune at $8.4 billion, while Fortune places it ranked 260th in the list of richest people. Through his Landry's restaurant and hospitality company, Fertitta owns more than 600 restaurants, gaming and entertainment venues in 36 states and more than 15 countries. His business as a restaurateur has in some ways a family origin, his father Vic in fact owned a fish restaurant on Galveston Island opposite Houston and it seems that little Tilman dedicated himself to cooking activities after school, in particular shelling the prawns. Fertitta then studied business administration and hospitality management at Texas Tech University and the University of Houston but never graduated, dedicating himself, as his first entrepreneurial experience, to the promotion and sale of a brand of vitamins.
Already very rich and well known in the business world, in 2016 he gained popularity among the general public thanks to TV, hosting a reality show called Billion Dollar Buyer on CNBC for three seasons. The following year he then purchased the Houston Rockets basketball team playing in the NBA, for the record sum of 2.2 billion. At the helm of this team Fertitta seems to have entered a collision course with an old Italian acquaintance, Mike D’Antoni, who had coached the Rockets since 2016 and left in 2020. As a professional team owner Fertitta will effectively follow in the footsteps of New York Jets co-owner Woody Johnson, who served as US ambassador to Great Britain during the first Trump's mandate, and of And Rooneyformer owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, who served as Barack Obama's ambassador to Ireland. The new ambassador to Italy has no direct political experience, but is known for having been a bipartisan supporter of various presidents, the two Bushes, Bill Clintonup to Trump and Biden themselves. To the first, during the 2020 campaign, he made a donation of 140 thousand dollars, to the second of 5,400 dollars. In 2019 he also published a book entitled Shut Up and Listen!
Hard Business Truths That Will Help You Succeed, in which he talks about his path to success and offers advice to other entrepreneurs on their business ventures. «It is an honor to be appointed ambassador to Italy to serve my country and I can't wait to start the work that awaits me» said Ferttitta after the appointment, «Italy is an extraordinary country, with its wonderful people, its culture and history, and its strategic importance to the United States of America.”
