Ben Iorio leads the GIE Foundation, overseeing its strategic direction, advocacy and partnerships in conjunction with the Board of Directors. His focus is on ensuring that GIEF’s work is impactful and positioned to inform decision-makers on critical global challenges.

Before founding GIEF, Ben spent fifteen years as a political and strategic advisor, including in roles at Edelman and Mercer, across Washington, London, and major European capitals.

He has advised governments, sovereign institutions, and senior political figures with engagements spanning the White House and NSC, the UK and European defense ministries, the Vatican, and senior figures across the U.S. Congress, UK Parliament, and EU institutions.

His work included senior advisory roles on energy infrastructure, campaign politics, institutional reform, crisis strategy, and democratic development. He has also served as an advisor to high-level public and private sector projects and financial institutions across the EU and Middle East.

He is a senior advisor to Aquind, which aims to build Europe’s largest green energy interconnector between Britain and France.

​A dual US–Italian citizen, Ben holds a Master’s in Politics from the University of Edinburgh and speaks English, Italian, Russian, and French.