Mario Batali & Federica Marchionni Named Honorees of New York City's 2016 Columbus Day Parade

The Columbus Citizens Foundation announced today that it has named culinary trailblazer Mario Batali and visionary business leader Federica Marchionni as honorees of the 2016 Columbus Day Parade. They will join top executive Robert LaPenta, who was previously announced as 2016 Grand Marshal.

Angelo Vivolo, President of the Columbus Citizens Foundation, said of the announcement: "Mario and Federica are not only leaders in their respective industries, but they are also true visionaries admired throughout the city. Their selection as honorees is a testament to their many accomplishments. To have our Grand Marshal Robert LaPenta lead the parade with Mario and Federica by his side speaks to the vitality and importance of Italians and Italian Americans in the fields of food, fashion and business."

Batali is a celebrated and much beloved New Yorker, and has received multiple awards and recognition for his cookbooks, restaurants and EatAly Marketplaces. He can be seen every weekday hosting ABC's daytime talk show, "The Chew".

"Italians and Italian Americans over the years have made a huge culinary impact in the United States and particularly New York City," Batali remarked, "And I'm proud to be a part of that history."

Marchionni heads renowned US clothing brand Lands' End and has the distinction of being the only female Italian CEO of a major US company. Prior to her appointment at Lands' End she held positions as brand chief at Ferrari and President of Dolce&Gabana USA Inc.

"I am very proud of my Italian heritage and equally proud to be in my adoptive country of the United States," Marchionni said, "Whether through movies, fashion, food or lifestyle trends, Italians have the ability to cast a spell on America and the world, and I love being a part of that long tradition."

In addition to planning the Columbus Day Parade, the Columbus Citizens Foundation currently provides over 700 scholarships at elementary, high school and college level to Italian-American students who have academic ability but lack financial means. This educational support resonates strongly with the 2016 honorees. "With hard work, resilience and the right opportunities, extraordinary things can happen," Marchionni commented, "And the Columbus Citizens Foundation helps provide those opportunities."

"Education is a vital building block that so many children do not receive," said Batali, "I am happy to be helping support a Foundation that provides scholarship to so many deserving students."

The annual Columbus Day Parade, organized by the Columbus Citizens Foundation and presented by the Conair Corporation, is the world's largest celebration of Italian-American heritage and culture in the United States. The Columbus Day Parade was first started in 1929 when New York City businessman and Italian immigrant Generoso Pope led a parade from East Harlem to Columbus Circle and has since become an ongoing celebration of the contributions of Italians and Italian Americans to the United States.

The Columbus Day Parade begins at 11:30am EST on Monday, October 10 and will air live locally on WABC-7 from 12 noon to 3 pm EST. For more information on the parade, please visit columbuscitizens.org.

MORE ABOUT THE COLUMBUS CITIZENS FOUNDATION
The Columbus Citizens Foundation is a non-profit organization in New York City committed to fostering an appreciation of Italian-American heritage and achievement. The Foundation, through a broad range of philanthropic and cultural activities, provides opportunities for advancement to deserving Italian-American students through various scholarship and grant programs. The Foundation organizes New York City's annual Columbus Celebration and Columbus Day Parade, which has celebrated Italian-American heritage on New York's Fifth Avenue since 1929.

MORE ABOUT Mario Batali
Mario Batali counts twenty-six restaurants, ten cookbooks, numerous television shows and three EatAly Marketplaces among his ever-expanding empire of deliciousness. In February of this year, Mario opened La Sirena Ristorante, a lively yet elegant trattoria on the plaza level of New York City's Maritime Hotel in Chelsea.

Mario is the author of ten cookbooks including the James Beard Award Winning Molto Italiano: 327 Simple Italian Recipes. Mario's most recent cookbook, America Farm to Table: Simple, Delicious Recipes Celebrating Local Farmers was released in October 2014. This coming October Mario will dive deep into American Regional Cooking with 250 simple and delicious recipes from San Diego fish tacos to Boston Cream Pie.

Mario appears daily on ABC's "The Chew," a daytime talk show on ABC that celebrates and explores life through food. He and his co-hosts won their first Emmy as Best Talk Show Hosts this year.

To learn more about Mario Batali, visit mariobatali.com. To learn more about the Mario Batali Foundation or to donate, visit http://www.mariobatalifoundation.org/

MORE ABOUT FEDERICA MARCHIONNI Federica Marchionni is widely recognized as a multi-talented, visionary business leader with the skills to successfully navigate a highly competitive and evolving global environment, including building and positioning brands, creating successful merchandising offers and developing global distribution with a passion for success.

As CEO of Lands' End, Marchionni is at the helm of a diverse and dedicated team of people representing catalog, retail and online operations in the United States, Europe and Japan. She is responsible for upholding the company's founding principles, quality, value and service, and building upon that legacy while staying focused on delivering financial performance and shareholder value. Ms. Marchionni is highly committed to driving Lands' End's Corporate Social Responsibility efforts with an emphasis on sustainability.

She started her career in the fastest growing industry of technology during the transition phase of telecommunications, working for industry leaders such as Samsung, Phillips and Ericsson with increasing responsibilities. Before moving to the United States, she was the chief of the brand at Ferrari, where she developed strategic plans to advance the company's mission and objectives. As a Global Executive and recently President of Dolce&Gabbana USA Inc., Marchionni greatly contributed to the company's worldwide success by influencing the entire value chain.

Marchionni graduated summa cum laude from La Sapienza University in Rome with a Master's Degree in Business Administration, studied in France and the UK and speaks four languages. She has always been a supporter of philanthropic and charitable organizations.