The President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella awarded Ms. Elena Grifoni Winters the honour of Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia and Mr. Mario Pezzini the honour of Commendatore dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia.
Ms. Grifoni Winters is currently Head of Cabinet of the Director General of ESA, European Space Agency, the first woman and the first Italian national to hold such position. Moreover, Ms. Grifoni is a member of the ESA Executive Committee and Secretary of the ESA Council. Among her former positions, Ms. Grifoni Winters, was coordinator of the Experimental programme for the European astronauts’ mission to the International Space Station ISS and NASA-ESA liaison officer for the software and systems sector.
Mr. Mario Pezzini has been Director of the OECD Development Centre from 2010 and since2015 he is Special Advisor to the OECD Secretary General on Development, the first Italian national to hold such responsibilities. Prior to joining the Development Centre, Mr. Pezzini held several senior management positions in the OECD, in the Development and Public Governance Sectors.
