Donato is a specialist in crisis management, development cooperation and strategic communication.
He was born in Florence, Italy, and holds a master degree in Political Science. He also holds post-graduate certificates in international relations and journalism (Italian Institute of Foreign Relations and Columbia University). He joined the United Nations in 1987 in New York as an economic affairs officer and has served in the UN system continuously ever since.
He is the World Academy of Arts and Science Special Representative at the UN. Since June 2109 he is also Adviser at UNITAR, providing strategic and technical guidance in the framework of post-conflict stabilization, reconstruction and social inclusion. He was the Coordinator of the Fragile States and Disaster Response Group at the ILO. He was former spokesman of UN OCHA and former Head of the Media and Public Affairs Branch of OPCW, at the Hague. He was also Coordinator of External Relations at the International Criminal Tribunal (ICTY)) with additional responsibility over the Tribunal in Rwanda (ICTR), as Senior Advisor to the Prosecutor. He also served as Special Assistant to the representative of the UN Secretary-General for Western Sahara. Previously, Donato joined the peace-keeping mission in former-Yugoslavia (UNPROFOR) and was Deputy Head of the Belgrade Office.
Donato undertook many assignments to conflict and disaster affected countries to provide policy advice and management solutions.He is member of the UNDAC (UN disaster assessment and coordination) team, and authored several publications on emergency management, risk assessment and coordination in complex situations. Before joining the UN, he worked as a journalist and was in change of public affairs at the Confederation of Italian Industry (Confindustria), in Tuscany.
He teaches at various faculties on subjects dealing with resilience, business continuity and leadership development.
