Maria Deligianni is National Director, Eastern Mediterranean at Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), the world’s largest cruise industry trade association representing 95% of the cruise sector, headquartered in Washington DC. Maria joined CLIA in March 2018 and is based in Athens. In her role, she is responsible for handling government and public affairs issues in the Eastern Mediterranean region.
Maria has been working in the shipping industry since 2012. Prior to joining CLIA, she served as a Senior Advocacy and Policy Advisor at the European Community Shipowners’ Associations (ECSA) in Brussels focusing on maritime safety, environmental and offshore shipping issues. She also worked at the European Commission, in the Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE) in Brussels. In addition, she worked for SQE Marine Group in Piraeus and PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC Greece) in Athens.
She holds an executive Master’s degree in Maritime Science with distinction from the University of Ghent in Belgium. She also has a Master’s degree in International and European Studies from the University of Piraeus and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Public Administration from the University of Athens. She graduated from Arsakeion Psychiko in 2005. From a young age, Maria was involved in educational simulations of the European Institutions and the United Nations in several universities including Harvard University.