Rotella was born on May 28, 1963 in Danbury, Connecticut to Irene Rotella, a banker, and Louis Rotella, a US NavyWorld War IIveteran and carpenter. He lived there through high school and graduated from Danbury High School in 1981 where he was class treasurer. In college, Rotella became interested in computer science and business and pursued degrees accordingly. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1985 with bachelor's degrees in mathematics and economics. Rotella was a member of the fraternity Alpha Chi Rho and served as chapter president during his junior year. During his years at Penn, computers were becoming increasingly popular and user-friendly for both business and home use and represented a promising career.
In December 2006, Rotella joined Moody's Corporation as the senior vice president and chief information officer, a position he held for nearly three years until October 2009. Before joining Moody's, Rotella's primary role had always been a focus on information technology. At Moody's, Rotella's career took a turn toward a principal focus on supporting overall business strategy with his background in IT. The change was demonstrated in a January 2007 press release, where Rotella was quoted after being named CIO of Moody's with the following: Rotella joined Verisk Analytics in October 2009, the same week as their headline-making, record October 6, 2009 initial public offering which was the biggest IPO of any American company since that of Visa in March 2008. Rotella has continued his shift from an IT executive to a business strategy executive who focuses on IT at Verisk. According to Verisk, he is "responsible for the development and execution of information technology initiatives at Verisk Analytics in support of the company's business operations." Verisk CEO Frank J. Coyne acknowledged Rotella upon announcing the appointment of a new CIO, saying, "With IT management experience spanning more than 23 years in diverse industries, Perry is an acknowledged thought leader in information technology...He brings a wealth of professional IT accomplishments to our organization." In 2013, Rotella became responsible for Verisk supply chain analysis business as its group executive. He oversees 3E, Cargonet, and Maplecroft.
Other Positions
In 2012, Rotella began writing a blog for Forbes.com called "IT Transforming Business." In 2008, Rotella was elected for a term as president of the New York Metro chapter of the Society for Information Management. He also is a member of the governing body of InfoWorld's Tri-State CIO Forum for the New York tri-state area. He also spends time at Columbia University as a mentor in their Executive Master of Science in Technology Management program.
Personal life
Rotella lives with his wife Gina Okum in New York City. He holds a master angler award for a 35-inch record-length lake trout he caught while fishing in Stevens Lake in Manitoba, Canada, and is one of only two people to receive the master angler award for trout in 2004 at that lake. His wedding was featured in Flower Magazine in an article titled . He has three sons, Michael L. Rotella, Jake H. Rotella, and Evan A. Rotella, and a daughter, Madeline E. Rotella.