Meet the former Goldman Sachs exec who became the America’s Cup Partnership’s first CEO and is running the 175-year-old trophy like a startup

On July 4th weekend, the America’s Cup, sailing’s oldest trophy, returned to the Hudson River aboard the Italian Navy’s historic 1931 tall ship, the Amerigo Vespucci, known internationally as “the most beautiful ship in the world,” which carried the Cup to New York’s harbor as part of the 250th-anniversary Sail4th naval review. Standing beside it was Marzio Perrelli, a year into the job as the first-ever CEO of the America’s Cup Partnership, and a man who spent 25 years actively avoiding sports for a living.

“I’m here because there was this big event for the 250th anniversary, and the Amerigo Vespucci was here, so we brought the Cup on it,” Perrelli told Fortune in the equally ornate teak woodwork and hand-carved ornamented lobby of New York’s Algonquin Hotel, just days after the storied ship entered New York’s harbor. “That was an opportunity to bring the Cup back to New York, where everything started almost two centuries ago.”

That symbolism is present all throughout the weekend’s naval festivities, and even like the Cup itself. Much like the Algonquin’s Beaux-Arts facade, the Vespucci’s gun-deck styling and figurehead carvings are more about signaling tradition than serving a practical purpose. And that symbolism runs even deeper with the America’s Cup: Nearly a century after she was built in Naples’ own Castellammare di Stabia shipyard, the ship will carry the Cup back to where it was created in Naples, where the America’s Cup is set to take place this time next year.

For Perrelli, it’s precisely that kind of symbolism that attracted him to the job in the first place, and is how he’s coming to handle a sporting event—complete with 175 years of maritime heritage—while stepping in as the first CEO in its history.

“I understand how important the heritage is,” Perrelli told Fortune as he and the authored switched between Italian and English throughout the chat. “At the same time, it’s the oldest competition in the world, but........

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