Vittorio Lorenzo Della Bella will become chief executive officer of ATR on November 1, moving from his role as president of Leonardo Helicopters U.S. to lead the regional-aircraft maker. ATR’s board announcement names Della Bella as the successor to Nathalie Tarnaud Laude, while Aviation Week independently confirms the appointment.
The change comes as a paired leadership handoff. Patrick Bergues, formerly CFO of Airbus in the U.S. and CFO of Starlab Space, will become ATR’s senior vice president of finance and CFO on the same date, succeeding Andrea Coccetti. ATR is a joint venture between Airbus and Leonardo, so the appointments preserve the company’s balanced shareholder context while changing both top operating and finance roles.
Aerospace experience moves across the partnership
Della Bella brings experience from Leonardo Helicopters, including customer support, services and training, as well as managing-director responsibility at NHIndustries. ATR’s board said the appointments were made under the terms of the company’s bylaws; the announcement did not set out a separate performance mandate.
That makes the calendar the useful signal. Both appointments take effect on November 1, giving ATR a defined handoff rather than an open-ended search. The pattern is familiar in industrial leadership: Volvo Cars’ planned succession for Klaus Zellmer also used a named date and an incoming leader with sector experience to make continuity visible.
