Pantaleo "Leo" Dell'Orco was born on 2 November 1952 in Bisceglie, in Puglia, and moved to Milan as Italian ready-to-wear was taking off. He joined Giorgio Armani in 1977, in the men's style office, and over almost five decades became one of the founder's closest collaborators, involved in both the creative direction of the collections and the running of the company. He leads menswear design and is a managing director (consigliere delegato) of Giorgio Armani S.p.A.
When the Fondazione Armani was set up at the end of 2016 to safeguard the founder's plans for the company, Dell'Orco was placed at its head alongside the Rothschild banker Irving Bellotti. Under Armani's wills, published in September 2025, he holds 40% of the voting rights in the group, the largest single share. Since July 2019 he has also been president of the basketball club Olimpia Milano, owned by Armani.