Secretary-General Appoints Aarti Holla-Maini of United Kingdom Director, United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs

26 JUNE 2023

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced today the appointment of Aarti Holla-Maini of the United Kingdom as Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), based in Vienna.

She will succeed Simonetta Di Pippo of Italy, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for her commitment and dedicated service to the Organization.  The Secretary-General also wishes to extend his appreciation to the Chief of Committee in UNOOSA’s Policy and Legal Affairs Section, Niklas Hedman of Sweden, who will continue to serve as the Office’s Acting Director until Ms. Holla-Maini assumes the position.

UNOOSA works to promote international cooperation in the peaceful use and exploration of space and in the utilization of space science and technology for sustainable economic and social development.

Ms. Holla-Maini brings to this position over 25 years of professional experience in the space sector, including in managerial and advocacy functions.  Most recently, she was Executive Vice-President for Sustainability, Policy & Impact at NorthStar Earth & Space, prior to which she spent over 18 years as Secretary-General of the Global Satellite Operators Association.

Ms. Holla-Maini’s experience includes service as a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Space; member of the Advisory Group of the Space Sustainability Rating managed by eSpace at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Space Center; member of the Advisory Board of the Satellite Industry Association of India; Senior Space Policy Advisor to Forum Europe and Expert Advisor on Space Traffic Management for European Union studies 2021-2023.  She was also one of the chief architects of the Crisis Connectivity Charter established in 2015 for emergency telecommunications via satellite with the World Food Programme’s Emergency Telecommunications Cluster.

Ms. Holla-Maini holds a bachelor’s degree in Anglo-German law from King’s College London and a master’s degree in business administration from HEC Paris.  She is also an alumna of the International Space University.  She is fluent in English, French, German and Punjabi and has moderate knowledge of Dutch.