Ambassador Mariangela Zappia Named Honorary Chair for the 2023 Sons of Italy Foundation NELA Gala
Ambassador Mariangela Zappia will serve as Honorary Chair for the 2023 NELA Gala
The Sons of Italy Foundation recently announced on the www.nelagala.org website that Ambassador Mariangela Zappia will serve as Honorary Chair for the 2023 NELA Gala. Ambassador Zappia is the Italian Ambassador to the United States of America and is the first woman in her country to hold this position. She has over thirty-five years of experience as a career diplomat and has served in various high-level positions such as Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations in New York and to NATO.
Ambassador Zappia has also served as Head of the European Union Delegation to the UN and other International Organizations and Ministry Plenipotentiary at the Permanent Mission of Italy to the UN and other International Organizations in Geneva, Switzerland. She has published works on reforming the UN Security Council and Italy's contributions to UN peacekeeping operations and is a regular speaker at international conferences regarding Italian foreign policy, multilateral, and global issues.
As an active member of the International Gender Champions Network, Ambassador Zappia is committed to promoting gender parity and women's participation in decision-making. In 2019, she was awarded the "Mela d'Oro" (Golden Apple) by the "Fondazione Marisa Bellisario" in recognition of her contribution to the advancement of women in public institutions.
Ambassador Zappia holds a Master's degree in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Florence, as well as a post-graduate degree in Diplomatic and International Relations from the same. She has followed periodic high-level training courses on diplomatic practice and management at the Diplomatic Academy of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome.