Catherine Kavvada
DG DEFIS, Director for Secure and Connected Space, European Commission
Catherine Kavvada was born in Greece in 1969. A trained lawyer with a degree in Law from the University of Athens, she is specialised in Air and Space Law with a Master’s degree from the University of Aix Marseille III. Joining the European Commission in 1997 Ms Kavvada worked initially in Research, as from 2000 in Space for Satellite Navigation Programmes Galileo and EGNOS and in the development and applications in the space sectors until her appointment as Director at DG DEFIS in December 2020. Currently, the mandate of Ms Kavvada at the Directorate ‘Secure and Connected Space’ at DG DEFIS comprises new space initiatives with prevalent resilience and security features, space economy and data management policy with reinforced European credentials, mainstreaming of the European New Space as a vector for society and economy, space research, and synergies between space and defence industries.