Dr Roberto Ridolfi currently holds the position of Assistant Director-General at FAO. He was appointed in January 2019, being promoted from the role of Special Adviser to the Deputy Director-General (Programmes) on Strategy and Financing Development, which he held in 2018, detached from the European Commission.

In 2020 he has been assigned to follow the World Food Summit and the G-20 under Italian Presidency in 2021.

From 2013 to 2017, Dr Ridolfi served as Director of the Directorate C – Planet and Prosperity under the Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development (DG DEVCO) at the European Commission.
Dr Ridolfi joined the European Commission in 1994, after a 10-year experience in both academia and private sector.

He began as Development Adviser at the EU Delegation to Malawi, followed by Namibia and Kosovo. He then coordinated the Public-Private Partnership unit for the enlargement of the EU (2001-2004) and launched the first EU-ACP Water Facility. Head of the EuropeAid division, between 2008 and 2010 he managed programmes on environment and climate change, rural development, food security and migration, as well as the One-Billion-Euro Food Facility in 50 countries.

Dr Ridolfi served as EU Ambassador and Head of Delegation for 15 countries in the Pacific Region, based in Suva, Fiji from 2005 to 2007, and as EU Ambassador to Uganda from 2011 to 2013.

Dr Ridolfi holds a MSc in Engineering, an MBA and a PhD in Architectural Technology.