Stauffer Center General Director Nominated for European Young Leader 2022

Launched in 2012 as part of the think tank Friends of Europe, the European Young Leaders (EYL) program was created to engage the next generation of young leaders destined to shape the future. 

Selected as one of 40 EYL nominees, Paolo Petrocelli is the Director General of the Stauffer Center for Strings and Accademia Stauffer of Cremona. He was a former Board Member of the Rome Opera House, Accademia Chigiana of Siena, and Venice’s Conservatory of Music.

Petrocelli is also the founder and president of EMMA for Peace (Euro-Mediterranean Music Academy), an international non-governmental organization promoting music diplomacy between Europe and the Middle East, and the co-founder and honorary president of the Italian Youth Association for UNESCO.

The selection of EYL candidates is directed by a committee chaired by high-profile Europeans, including Roberta Metsola, EYL alumni and current President of the European Parliament.

The other 39 EYLs nominated for 2022 include Benjamina Karić, Mayor of Sarajevo; grassroots youth activist Tea Jaric; President of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Witold Bańka; Michal Šimečka, the first Slovak politician to serve as Vice-President of the European Parliament; and French filmmaker Maïmouna Doucouré; among others.

“For this 10th anniversary of the EYL40 program, we are delighted to announce an extraordinary class of true trailblazers and ambassadors of European leadership,” said Friends of Europe’s cofounder and secretary-general, Geert Cami in the press release. “We look forward to welcoming and working with this new class of young leaders in our mission to catalyze change and tackling key challenges of the 21st century, from the green and digital transformation to strengthening our democracy.”

“[I am] humbled and proud to have been nominated European Young Leader of 2022 by Friends of Europe, along with some of the most influential young personalities in Europe,” Petrocelli posted on Facebook. “Looking forward to joining forces with all of them to contribute to building a better future for Europe. Together.”

Petrocelli received Ph.D. and MBA degrees from Milan’s IULM University, SDA Bocconi School of Management, and Rome’s La Sapienza University. He is also a visiting researcher at Yale University and MIT Media Lab.  

He is currently a research affiliate at Harvard University and a lecturer at Yale University, MIT, New York University, and Université Paris-Sorbonne, among others.