(Telecompaper) The first meeting of the new 13-strong Telecom Italia board of directors confirmed the appointment of Marco Patuano as the company's Chief Executive Officer, assigning him responsibility for the overall management of the group and for implementing and developing the strategic, industrial and financial plans in Italy and South America. Patuano, who has been CEO since Franco Bernabe's resignation as chairman in October, was also handed responsibility for relations with the Italian regulators Agcom and Agcm and the corresponding authorities abroad, in coordination with the new chairman, Giuseppe Recchi. The board also defined Recchi's powers, granting him a general guidance role in the development and implementation of Telecom Italia's strategic, industrial and financial plans, supervision of the company's organisational structures, as well as a representational role in the company's external relations with authorities, institutions and investors.