Maria Francesca Spatolisano is a diplomat of Italian citizenship who has been serving as

Assistant Secretary-General An under-secretary-general of the United Nations (USG) is a senior official within the United Nations System, normally appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the secretary-general for a renewable term of four years. Under-s ...

for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs in the

Department of Economic and Social Affairs The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) is part of the United Nations Secretariat and is responsible for the follow-up to major United Nations Summits and Conferences, as well as services to the United Nations Econ ...

United Nations Secretary-General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or UNSECGEN) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the United Nations System#Six principal organs, six principal organs of ...

António Guterres António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres (born 30 April 1949) is a Portuguese politician and diplomat who is serving as the ninth and current secretary-general of the United Nations since 2017. A member of the Socialist Party (Portugal), ...

since December 2018, succeeding Thomas Gass.

Early life and education

Spatolisano earned a Doctorate in Law from the

University of Florence The University of Florence ( Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Firenze'') (in acronym UNIFI) is an Italian public research university located in Florence, Italy. It comprises 12 schools and has around 50,000 students enrolled. History The f ...

Career

A civil servant for the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

since 1985, Spatolisano was the European Union Ambassador to the

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an international organization, intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and international trade, wor ...

and

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

, Monaco and Andorra and was a member of the

Delegation of the European Union to the United Nations The Delegation of the European Union to the United Nations represents the European Union in the United Nations, working in coordination with the diplomatic missions of all the EU Member States. Offices The European Union is represented by delega ...

. When Chilean diplomat Fabrizio Hochschild Drummond was suspended from his role as the Secretary-General's Envoy on Technology in 2021, Spatolisano ran his office alongside her other duties.Melissa Heikkilä (19 May 2021)
António Guterres' role questioned in UN harassment case
''

Politico Europe ''Politico Europe'' (stylized as ''POLITICO Europe'') is the European edition of the American news organization '' Politico'' reporting on political affairs of the European Union. Its headquarters are located in Brussels with additional offices in ...

''.

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Ambassadors of the European Union to Andorra Ambassadors of the European Union to Monaco European civil servants Italian women ambassadors Italian women diplomats Special Envoys of the Secretary-General of the United Nations University of Florence alumni {{UN-bio-stub