Stefania Piffanelli is the Deputy Director of the United Nations Information Center (UNIC) in Washington. Ms. Piffanelli brings to the job over 20 years of experience with the UN, the academia and the private sectors. Before joining UNIC Washington, she managed the work of the UN Peacebuilding Commission and the Peacebuilding Fund in Sierra Leone both out of New York and Freetown. Previously, Ms. Piffanelli served as the Special Assistant to the UN Deputy Secretary-General and in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General under Secretaries-General Ban and Annan. She also held a number of positions in the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs in the areas of development and gender equality.

Earlier in her career, Ms. Piffanelli worked as a consultant for the UNDP Bureau for Eastern Europe and Central Asia and for UNDP Lebanon. Prior to her work with international organizations, she worked as a junior fund manager in Italy.

She holds a PhD in Economics from New York University and a graduate degree in Economics from the University of Bologna, Italy. She speaks English, Italian and French and has some knowledge of Spanish. She is an Italian citizen.