Marina Catena

Marina Catena, is a Lieutenant of the Italian Army and Director of the United Nations World Food Program in Paris.

Career
In 1987, she obtained a scholarship to the United World College of the Adriatic. She attended the Libera Universita Internazionale di Studi Sociali (LUISS) in Rome where she graduated in Political Sciences (International Relations). In 1990 she became a flight attendant on Air France.

In 1989 she was among the first Italian students of the Erasmus programme at Institut d'Etudes Politiques (Strasbourg). In 1992 she started working in Brussels at the European Commission with various positions including communications for the European Commission Humanitarian Aid (ECHO). She worked on awareness raising on behalf of children in conflicts and the Balkan and Afghan women with the campaign "A flower for the women of Kabul" (1996).

In June 1999 she was appointed political adviser to the Minister Bernard Kouchner, Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations in Kosovo (UNMIK). In October 2003, she was appointed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the Mission "Ancient Babylon" in Iraq.

Since 1999, she is an official of the United Nations World Food Program. Currently she is the Director of the United Nations World Food Program for France (Paris). She is member of the Board of Directors of the United World College of the Adriatic.

In 2005 she became Lieutenant in the Italian Army (Selected Reserve) and went to Lebanon in May 2007 with the Folgore Paratrooper Brigade of the Italian troops as peacekeepers for the Mission UNIFIL. In 2009, she was involved in organizing the G8 Summit in L'Aquila.

Honors

 * She was appointed Knight of the Order of Merit of the French Republic in Paris on 2 September 2009.
 * "Melvin Jones" in 2009;
 * "Foemina d'Oro" in 2008 for her commitment in Lebanon;
 * International Award "St. Thomas among the nations" for her commitment in Iraq;
 * Harris Fellow Award Rotary International.

Writings

 * The train of Kosovo Polje (SELLERIO - 2003) for which she received the Award for Fiction The Country of Women.
 * A woman soldier: diary of an Italian lieutenant in Lebanon (Rizzoli - 2008). This is the first book written in Italy by a woman-soldier and tells the everyday life of soldiers in the front line.
 * Numerous essays on civil-military relations among them: "The role of female soldiers in peacekeeping missions" (Italian Air Force Magazine), "Women and the Labyrinth of Leadership" (Il Sole 24 ore - Harvard Business Review).