Franco
Ongaro

Franco Ongaro is the Managing Director of Space Business Unit since June 2023.

He graduated in Aeronautical Engineering from Politecnico di Milano and joined the European Space Agency (ESA) in 1987, working on the Columbus project.

He held various positions at ESA: among others, he managed the start of Aurora and Iris Program and was the Head of the Advanced Concepts and Technology Planning Department, starting the Concurrent Design Facility and the Advanced Concepts Team. 

In the last eleven years prior to joining Leonardo, Franco Ongaro was Director of Technology, Engineering and Quality (D/TEC) and Head of ESA's European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.