João is the Founder and Managing Partner of Vieira de Almeida & Associados, the largest among the Portuguese law firms usually referred to as the Big Three.

With João at the helm, the firm went from 20 to 480 staff across several countries in just a few years and earned countless international accolades. Named three times Most Innovative Law Firm in Europe by the Financial Times, VdA is now a Harvard Law School case study.    

João currently holds The Lawyer’s Best Managing Partner in Europe award.

João’s visionary initiatives, such as investing in innovation and talent – VdA Academia is the first ever training academy set up in Portugal by a law firm and has over 35,000 training hours under its belt – and in the community through Fundação Vasco Vieira de Almeida, set the firm apart. 

A former rugby player, João has recently pursued his passion for mountain-climbing, having climbed mountains from Nepal to the Antarctica. He also promotes group expeditions to raise funding for social causes regularly.

João is a drummer and co-founder of two bands and organizes/participates in countless solidarity concerts.

Isabel completed high school at the Lycée Français Charles Lepierre and has an Economics degree from Universidade Católica Portuguesa (Portuguese Catholic University). Isabel joined the Jerónimo Martins Group’s Management Trainees Program in 1999 and started her career in the Marketing team of the Recheio Cash and Carry chain after completing her operational training. She would later be assigned to the sales department where she managed several product categories.

Isabel joined Pingo Doce’s Sales Department as head of Wines & Beverages in 2006 and went on to become DPH (Detergents and Personal Care Products) Sales Manager in 2011.

In 2014 she accepted an invitation from the Business Management Department of Daymon Worldwide Portugal, the US partner of the Jerónimo Martins Group that the develops Regressa Group’s own brands, and became Pingo Doce’s General Manager, a position she holds to this date. Isabel is married with two children.

Luís Pereira Coutinho has a degree in Economics by the Universidade Católica Portuguesa (Portuguese Catholic University) and has been Banco CTT’s CEO since its incorporation in 2015.

Boasting a vast financial and banking experience, Luís was Millennium BCP’s Executive Director between 2008 and 2015, leading several of the group’s international operations in that capacity. He further sat on the Supervisory Board of Bank Millennium (Poland) and was Chairman of Banca Millennium (Romania), of Millennium Bank, S.A. (Greece), of Banque Privée BCP (Switzerland) and of BCP Holdings (USA).

Luís also served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of ActivoBank and of BCP Capital – Sociedade de Capital de Risco, and as non-executive director of Millennium BCP Ageas SGPS, of Ocidental Vida and of Ocidental Pensões.

Luís had previously served as Vice-Chairman of the Executive Board of Directors of Bank Millennium (Poland) and as Executive Director of Banco Mello.

Paulo Malta is passionate about innovation. He has over 25 years of professional experience and is a certified Innovation Management Black Belt™ and LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® methodology facilitator.

Paulo is the managing Partner of Innovsky, a consulting firm specializing in Innovation Management, and a guest lecturer at Nova School of Business and Economics, where he teaches the Innovation and Digital Transformation courses included in the executive program curriculum. 

He served as expert in the office of the Minister for the Presidency and Administrative Modernization of the 21st Portuguese Government, and was responsible for boosting Innovation in the Public Sector, coordinating the development of the Public Administration’s Information and Communication Technologies strategy and leading the team that designed the Legal and Digital Skills Centers. Paulo further led the LabX project, the Experimentation Lab for the Public Administration, aimed at imbuing the Public Administration with a culture of experimentation.

Paulo has worked for IT multinationals such as Cisco and Alcatel for the better part of his career, building and leading sales, pre-sales and consulting teams across several market sectors. He was awarded the Cisco Chairman’s Club and Alcatel President’s Club titles for his performance and achievements.

He has a degree in Electrotechnical and Computer Engineering and a post-graduate degree in Management and in Investment and Financial Markets.

Married with 4 children and 5 grandchildren, Pedro has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Instituto Superior Técnico and an MBA from Universidade Nova de Lisboa.

Pedro played rugby for CDUL and worked in the financial sector for fourteen years, namely in Investment Banking, having served as Chairman of Banco Mello de Investimentos’ Executive Committee. 

He was Vice-President of Brisa - Auto-estradas de Portugal between 2002 and 2020 and is currently José de Mello Capital’s Executive Director, a position he holds since 2000. 

He is a catholic, volunteers in activities to support families and couples, and is a member and Vice President of the ACEGE – Associação Cristã de Empresários e Gestores since 2015.

Soledade Carvalho Duarte started her career at Transearch in 1986 where she remains to this date, having taken on increasing duties until she made Managing Partner in 1992.

She has a degree in Human Resources Management and Occupational Psychology, completed the Programa de Alta Direção de Empresas pela AESE/IESE (AESE/IESE Corporate Senior Management Program) and the Cornell University Advanced Program for Executive Search and Leadership Consulting. She further attended the Programa Avançado para Administradores Não-Executivos (Adavanced Program for Non-Executive Directors) promoted by the IPCG – Instituto Português de Corporate Governance. With a career dedicated to the direct search of Executives, Soledade believes that the added value she brings to the table is her ability to understand the specific needs and requirements of each Organization and to attract top talent for each specific project, promoting the alignment of motivations and expectations and helping build strong teams. She serves as Non-Executive Director of a few organizations and sits on the Advisory Board of the Edmond de Rothschild bank in Portugal. A volunteer for more than three decades, Soledade has been a member of several NGOs’ Management teams, currently serves as Chairman of an IPSS (Home for Children and Young People) and was a founding member of PWN Lisbon- Professional Women’s Network.

Currently the Executive Director of Portugal Digital, Vanda Jesus started her career as a consultant working for public-law entities, associations, IT companies and start-ups in the fields of marketing, sales and digital transformation. She sits on COTEC’s Strategic Board, APDC’s Advisory Board and on the Editorial Board of the Human Resources magazine. Vanda has a degree in Management from ISCTE and a post-graduate degree in E-Business from ISEG/IDEFE.

Over her career of 20 years she has been Project Manager at UMIC – Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento, where she led the National Electronic Public Procurement Program. She was also Head of Trade Shows and Third-Party Initiatives at FIL.   Vanda further served as APDC’s Executive Director, where she coordinated the launch of several digital platforms. She was Chief Business Development Officer at a start-up company called Viatecla. Vanda sat on the Executive Board of the MUDA – Movimento pela Utilização Digital Ativa project. And she was Head of Marketing and Communication at Microsoft Portugal, where she launched the Building the Future – Ativar Portugal initiative.