Paolo Gentiloni, Former Italian Prime Minister and European Commissioner, Joins SAIS Europe as Adjunct Professor

Bologna / Washington, D.C. – Johns Hopkins SAIS Europe is pleased to announce that Paolo Gentiloni has joined its faculty as an Adjunct Professor.

Mr. Gentiloni, the former Prime Minister of Italy and European Commissioner for Economy, embodies the school’s commitment to giving students direct access to leading figures and practitioners whose perspectives shape global affairs. Engaging with distinguished policymakers is central to the SAIS Europe experience, and students are encouraged to seize this opportunity to learn from someone who has shaped policy at the highest levels. “We are honored to welcome Paolo Gentiloni to our faculty,” said Renaud Dehousse, Rector of SAIS Europe and Vice Dean of Johns Hopkins SAIS. “His presence brings real-world insight to our curriculum.

This appointment reinforces Johns Hopkins SAIS’s mission as a research and teaching institution focused on bridging scholarship and policy. The school regularly hosts global leaders as fellows across fields including international policy, business, journalism, and academia, and places high value on practitioner-led instruction.

A Career of International Impact

Paolo Gentiloni held the post of European Commissioner for Economy from 2019 to 2024. Before that, he served as Prime Minister (2016–2018), Minister of Foreign Affairs (2014–2016), and Minister of Communications (2006–2008). As of December 2024, he is Co-Chair of the UN Group of Experts on the Debt Crisis. He also holds positions as a Nonresident Distinguished Fellow at the Brookings Institution and Adjunct Professor at Università Cattolica in Milan.

From 2001 to 2019, Mr. Gentiloni was a member of the Italian Parliament. During this period, he was Chairman of the Broadcasting Services Watchdog Committee (2005–2006) and served on the Foreign Affairs Committee (2013–2014). He was among the founding members of the Democratic Party (Partito Democratico – PD) and served as its President from 2018 to 2019. Earlier, he worked as a professional journalist and was Councilor for the City of Rome (1993–2000). He holds a degree in Political Science from La Sapienza University in Rome, contributes as a columnist to La Repubblica, and is the author of La sfida impopulista (The (Un)populist Challenge, Rizzoli).

Teaching at SAIS

Beginning this fall, Mr. Gentiloni will guest lecture in courses on the European economy and EU politics at SAIS Europe. In the spring semester, he will teach in Bologna on EU foreign policy and in Washington, D.C. on political and geoeconomic risk in Europe.

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