Discover

'Daniel Scioli' (b. 13 January 1957). At present he is the Vice-President of Argentina and presides over the Senate of the nation’s congress. (May 25, 2003–Present). He is a sportsman, an entrepreneur and a politician.

Contents

Family

Education

Sports career

Entrepreneurial career

Political career

Quotes

References

External Links

Family

Daniel Scioli was born in Villa Crespo, Buenos Aires. He spent his first years in a typical middle class home located at the corner of Corrientes and Humboldt. His grandfather ran an electrical hardware store, which over time grew into a store selling electrical appliances that was to become the family business. Scioli considers himself to be a loyal and coherent man devoted to his stable and intimate circle, and an understanding but demanding father.
He is married to former model and entrepreneur Karina Rabolini and has a daughter called Lorena, who was accepted by Scioli as his daughter when she was 18 years old. Regarding this issue, he says: “It helped me to grow and to give me peace of mind. My relation with Lorena improved my life, and that’s why now I can also enjoy Father’s Day”.

Education

Daniel Scioli attended Colegio Ward’s primary school in Ramos Mejía, where he lived until he was 17 years old. As regards his secondary schooling, he graduated from the Escuela Superior de Comercio Carlos Pellegrini with a diploma in commercial expertise, having attained one of the three best grade averages.
He went on to do studies in Marketing at the Universidad Argentina de la Empresa (U.A.D.E.) of the city of Buenos Aires.

Sports career

His relation to sports began at the Villa Crespo club. He engaged in swimming, tennis, basketball, and a type of badminton, always as a sportsman representing his city. His passion for motorboat racing took off when a friend invited him for a ride in a speed motorboat. Some time later he enrolled in a motorboat race in Mar del Plata, in which he finished last. “This made me very angry, so I decided to train until I started winning, and finally ended up as the world champion” he narrates.
Scioli started to compete in motorboat racing in 1986. He climbed from one category to the next until he won the world vice-championship in the 6 liter offshore class.
In 1987 he joined Fabio Bussi’s Italian team, an engineer and one of the best motorboat builders in the world.
On December 4 of 1989 he lost his right arm in a terrible accident, while racing on the Paraná river in the 1000 km Delta Argentino race. A wave produced by an oil tanker was supposed to have overturned his boat.
A fitted prosthesis enabled Scioli to pursue the practice of this sport. With this handicap he won eight motorboat racing world championships in various categories.
In 1991, in the USA, he won the Superboat World Champion title, competing with the most powerful motorboats at the international level of this sport ^[1].
On the basis of his successes, achieved with different motorboats named “La Argentina” and “La Gran Argentina”, the motorboat racing sport attained considerable popularity to the point of being televised live for the first time. Thus, this sport and the media contributed to spread the name of his country across the world.

Entrepreneurial career

In the field of business his activity was linked to the electrical appliances market.
In 1991 the Swedish company Electrolux, which had left the Argentine market on account of the country’s instability, nominated him as the agent of its brand for Argentina.
In 1994 Scioli encouraged the firm to re-establish in Argentina, an effort which gave rise to Electrolux Argentina, of which he became the director, a post he held until 1997.

Political career

Daniel Scioli’s political career took off in 1997, when he decided to run for a seat in the House of Representatives on behalf of the party representing Peronism in the city of Buenos Aires. He won that election and on December 10 of that year he became a Representative in the National Congress of Argentina. He was nominated president of the Sports Committee of his House for a two-year tenure, a nomination that was renewed for another two-year period on the basis of a unanimous vote.
In the same year he retained his House seat in the October congress elections and remained in that position until 2005.
In December of 2001 he became the Secretary of Sports and Tourism.
In 2003 the formula Kirchner-Scioli running on the Frente para la Victoria ticket wins the presidential election. Thus, Scioli becomes Argentina’s Vice-President and the President of the country’s Senate.

Quotes

“More important than to be on the left or on the right is to be at the center together with the people”
“In Argentina we work from the government to recover values and the family” (statement by Scioli to Pope Benedict XVI). ^[2].
“I’ve got my feet on the ground, many times this is what marks my difference from some politicians”
“I don’t like to cling to material goods. I had a beautiful motorboat and one day it turned over and sank, I had an apartment and it caught fire, I had a lot of things and lost them. My security lies in my inner strength, in my bond to the spiritual dimension”.
“I like to look toward the future with faith, hope and optimism. I think that the misfortunes and adversity I have experienced have given me poise and assurance. They have prepared me to shoulder the responsibilities I now have”
“We have to double our efforts to generate the awareness that the family is of fundamental importance for the growth of the country”. ^[3].
“We have to attain an overall recovery of the country. This goes beyond the economic aspect”. ^[4].
“The Argentine woman deservedly takes up ever more space in the institutional and economic life of the country. In the Senate 40% of the seats are held by women and this shows in the quality of the debates we engage in, where economic questions are not the only important issues. Topics concerning the family, childhood and adolescence, health and education are gaining in importance”. ^[5].
“To husband our soil certainly means to defend our investments in energy and agriculture. The great challenge ahead of us is to achieve that our rural areas be not only the source of foods, but of alternative and renewable energy. The encroachment of desert areas on livable land is a calamity that has a strong global impact. All of us who share this planet and its care-taking need to have a strong commitment to these principles”. ^[6].

References

1. Nota en Clarín.com 01/11/2005
2. Nota en La Prensa Digital 22/03/2007
3. Nota en Universidad Austral - Newsletter de Septiembre 2005
4. Nota en La Prensa Digital 26/03/2007
5. Nota en Perfil.com 17/03/2007
6. Nota en Página 12 12/03/2007

External Links

★ Site of the Senate of Argentina, Daniel Scioli

★ Site of the team of Daniel Osvaldo Scioli

★ Site of Photographs of Scioli

★ Videos of Scioli

★ Videos of Youtube

★ Videos in Brightcove of Daniel Scioli