Maria Francesca Spatolisano

Maria Francesca Spatolisano is a diplomat of Italian citizenship who has been serving as Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres since December 2018, succeeding Thomas Gass.

Early life and education

Spatolisano earned a Doctorate in Law from the University of Florence.

Career

A civil servant for the European Commission since 1985, Spatolisano was the European Union Ambassador to the OECD and UNESCO, Monaco and Andorra and was a member of the Delegation of the European Union to the United Nations.
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.