Paolo Alli is a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Italy Program within the Europe Center. Previously, he was a nonresident senior fellow with the Council’s Middle East Programs.
Currently, Alli serves as secretary general of Fondazione Alcide De Gasperi, a research and policy foundation based in Rome. Alli previously served as president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly from 2016 to 2018, after having served for two years as one of the Assembly’s five vice presidents. Within the Assembly, Alli served as a member of both the Political Committee (PC) and the Mediterranean and Middle East Special Group (GSM), and as rapporteur of the Sub-Committee on NATO Partnerships and vice chairman of the GSM.
Alli was a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies for the New Centre Right Party (NCD) from 2013 to 2018, serving on the Foreign Affairs Committee, the European Union Policies Committee, and the Joint Committee on the Implementation of Fiscal Federalism.
Alli has a background in business, engineering, international affairs, and Italian politics. He graduated in Electronic Engineering at the Politecnico of Milano, and from 1976 to 1999 worked as a manager in Italian multi-national companies operating in the energy and environment sectors. He started his political experience at local level in 1993, when he was elected member of the Municipal Council of the town of Legnano, and re-elected in 1997, serving as deputy mayor of the town until 2000.
From 2000 to 2013, Alli held several positions within the Regional Government of Lombardy, serving successively as: director general for public utilities and environment; director general for research, innovation and new economy; central director for external and international relations and communication of the presidency; head of staff of the governor; and undersecretary to the governor.
He was also a member of the Advisory Council for Hydrogen established by the European Commission, and member of the Board of APAT, the National Agency for Environmental Protection. Alli was involved in the organization of the World Exhibition EXPO Milano 2015 as member of the Board of EXPO 2015 SpA, a public company established for the organization and management of the event, and later as deputy commissioner general.