Born in Italy and raised in the US, the first three words out of Grazia’s mouth as a toddler were Mom, Dad, and aeroplano (airplane in English). At a young age, she dreamed of being a pilot in the Italian Air Force. After applying and getting rejected (at the time, being an air force pilot was not possible for women), she decided to pay for her own pilot’s license out of her first paycheck as an engineer.
Grazia kicked off her impressive aerospace career as part of the Eurofighter Consortium before joining Airbus in Germany in 2002 where she contributed to Airbus’ A380, A350, A320, and A400M programs. As she moved into more senior management positions at Airbus, Grazia was the Executive Vice President and Head of Engineering at Airbus Defence and Space before becoming Airbus’ Chief Technology Officer in May 2018. In that capacity, she also became the first female to be appointed to the company’s Executive Committee.
Grazia’s rise to leadership enabled her to positively influence the lives and motivation of thousands of employees, aspiring engineers, young girls and men and women all over the globe seeking mentorship and a positive, modern-day role model. Although her term comes to an end in 2021, she will leave behind a legacy of having led Airbus’ transformation towards more sustainable, electric, autonomous and zero-emission air transportation and demonstrated the power of values-driven leadership.