Giovanna Melandri

Biography 

Giovanna Melandri, a U.S. and Italian citizen, economist and cultural manager is an expert in ESG finance, sustainability and international relations. She is Chair and founder of Human Foundation, a research institution which promotes impact economy and finance together with social, cultural and environmental innovation. She is also founder and Global ambassador to the GSG (Global Steering Group for Impact Investment). She represented Italy in the G8 Task Force on Impact Investment (2013-2014). From 2012 to 2022, she chaired the Italian National Museum for contemporary arts (MAXXI) which she had promoted as Minister of Culture.
Member of the Italian Parliament from 1994 to 2012, she served as Minister of Culture and Sports (1998-2001) and as Minister of Youth Policy and Sports (2006-2008). She founded Madre Provetta, a research group on artificial reproduction and women’s rights, and co-founded Emily in Italy, to empower women in institutions and business. She began her career as an economist with research responsibilities in Montedison (1986-1987). Then she was the international officer of Legambiente, and also chaired its scientific committee (1988-1994). In this capacity, she participated to the Bergen Conference on Sustainable Development in 1990 and followed the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) proceedings. She chaired the Italian non-governmental delegation to the UN Rio Earth Summit in 1992. Giovanna Melandri is the author of several publications, including the first Italian report on climate change ("Rapporto Ambiente Italia, Mondadori"), published in 1989. More recently she published a short essay on the Impact Economy. She is a frequent contributor to various news outlets, including La Repubblica – Affari e Finanza, where
she holds an "Impact Economy" column. Giovanna Melandri was awarded the title of "Officier de la Légion d’honneur" (Officer of the French Legion of Honor) by French President Jacques Chirac in 2003. She graduated cum laude in Political Economy at Sapienza University of Rome.