Ilaria Zavarise

Ilaria is a senior operational and commercial strategist with over 12 years of experience scaling businesses and building institutional partnerships across the UAE, GCC, Europe, and Asia. Her expertise spans supply chain and trade operations, government affairs, business structuring, and digital transformation, with a consistent focus on translating strategic intent into measurable commercial outcomes. Across her career, she has led P&L-level mandates in sectors including trade and logistics, legal services, investment advisory, technology, and sustainable agriculture, built and managed teams, secured private equity capital, and delivered large-scale government programmes for institutions including the Dubai Executive Council and the Misk Foundation. She currently serves as COO of a UAE-based trading company positioned within the national food security programme. A board member and co-founder with deep cross-cultural fluency, Ilaria brings an operational understanding of the Arab world built over more than a decade in the region.