Our Advisory Board
António Saraiva is currently the President of Portuguese Red Cross.
Considered one of the most influential people in Portuguese society, he is currently a strategic consultant and specialist in corporate diplomacy and associations, to which he has devoted more than 40 years of his life. António Saraiva embodies the concept of the self-made man. He started his professional life at the age of 17 as a metallurgical worker at Lisnave, the largest ship repair company in Portugal. He is also a strategic advisor to some of the most influential and disruptive companies in the national and international market, while continuing to be a highly influential voice is society in Portugal, Spain and Italy, among others. In addition to his consulting work, he is now President of Taguspark, the largest science and technology park in Europe. He is also Chairman of SPAL, a highly respected Portguese company in the ceramics sector, and a non-executive director of Grupo Bel and Global Media, one of Portugal’s largest media groups. For 13 years, he was President of CIP – Confederação Empresarial de Portugal, the most influential business association in Portugal. He was also Vice-President of BusinessEurope, the Confederation of European Business, which represents the main business federations in 35 European countries.
He was Vice-President of the Economic and Social Council og the CES and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Metalúrgica Luso-italiana, SA. He is a member of the Strategic Council of SOFID – Society for Development Financing, Instituição Financeira de Crédito, SA. At the academic level, he is a member of the School Council of ISCSP – Higher Institute of Social and Political Sciences, member of the Board of Trustees of ISCTE – Higher Institute of Labour and Employment Sciences, member of the Advisory Board of Católica Porto Business School and member of the General Strategic Council of Lusófona University of Humanities and Technologies.
He teaches Corporate Diplomacy at ISCSP – Higher Institute of Social and Political Sciences. He also teaches Economic Development at Coimbra Business School. He was awarded a Doctor Honoris Causa by the Lusófona University. He was made a Knight of Honour by the Italian Republic of Portugal and, more recently, the Grand Cross of the Order of Economic Merit, Class of Industrial Merit.
Anabela Pedroso began her professional career in public administration in 1977.
She has held the following positions: Assistant to the Secretary of State for Public Administration (2009-2010); President of the Agency for the Modernization of Public Administration (2007-2009); Coordinator of the Mission Team and then Member of the Ministry of Finance (2001-2003); Member of the Mission Team and then Member of the Board of Directors of IGLC – Institute for the Management of Citizen’s Shops (1998-2001).
In the field of innovation in the public sector, she has led projects of great public interest, such as the first generation of Citizen’s Shops (technological component), PAC – Citizen Service Points (introduction of the one-stop-shop concept in 2000), Citizen’s Portal, Business Portal, creation of an online business, second generation of Citizen’s Shops (e.g., multi-service counter, one-stop-shop, etc.), multi-service counter, Citizen’s Card Public Administration Interoperability Platform, and was responsible for drawing up the Action Plan for Electronic Government in Portugal (2003).
She was an international expert invited by the OECD/SIGMA in the field of administrative modernization and innovation (2006-2010). She has been a trainer at the Instituto Nacional de Administração – INA (1982-2011), a guest lecturer in Masters programmes (INDEG-ISCTE, 2005-2011) and a member of the Advisory Board of the Master for Public Administration (MPA) at the University of Aveiro (2010-2013).
Throughout her life, she has maintained an interest in and support for organizations and has been a member and president of associations that promote the reintegration of citizens into society through inclusion and employability, notably as president of the Cais Association.
In 2009, she received the Best Leader Award in the Public Administration category. she was Secretary of State for Justice in the 21st Constitutional Government (2015-2019).
Nélia Câmara is a distinguished leader with over two decades of experience in the realm of Global Management, renowned for her exceptional ability to navigate complex multicultural and multidisciplinary projects. Her journey has been marked by a profound understanding of effective team leadership and an unwavering commitment to excellence.
As the Director of the School of Executives at NOVA FCT, Nélia Câmara shoulders the responsibility for the school's management, development, and promotion. This institution is dedicated to the dissemination and application of knowledge in the domains of science and technology by fostering collaboration between academic professionals and industry experts.
Nélia's vision underscores the importance of continuous learning in a world characterized by dynamic and unpredictable change. Lifelong knowledge acquisition, she emphasizes, is essential for aligning skills with the evolving demands of the present and the future, ensuring a swift, efficient, and cost-effective adaptation. She is a firm believer in the profound impact of Science and Technology across all sectors and industries, offering boundless opportunities, but also necessitating a greater level of responsibility from all stakeholders.
Nélia Câmara's impressive career journey includes her role as the Global Director at Mercer, where she oversaw a diverse team of over 1500 employees until 2022. Her professional repertoire extends over two decades of leadership positions in both national and multinational organizations. Notably, prior to her executive roles, she also contributed to education as a guest lecturer at renowned institutions like NOVA FCT, ISEG, and Universidade Lusíada, and she co-founded a pioneering neuroleadership course for PWN Lisbon.
Nélia Câmara's dedication to education, her multifaceted leadership skills, and her extensive background in global management make her an invaluable asset to the Chamber's Advisory Board, where her insight and expertise will undoubtedly drive progress and innovation.
PhD in Sustainable Competitiveness, School of Science and Technology/ New University of Lisbon (FCT NOVA) Executive Management Program, Nyenrode Business Universiteit, Netherlands Master in Transports and Logistics, Instituto Superior Técnico Postgraduate in E-Business, Lisbon School of Economics and Management Degree in Industrial Engineering, FCT NOVA
Currently Nuno is the CEO of Moneris Innovation Lab, which is the tech company of the Moneris Group (www.moneris.pt/?lang=en). He is driving the digital transformation of the entire Moneris Group, digitizing A-to-Z core processes (based on RPA, datacapture and AI), as well as implementing Salesforce Force platform as a new way of providing Service Desk relationships with customers, CRM and Sales. Additionally, he is responsible for positioning the company as a technology consultancy firm in the market with its own value proposition.
In his previous professional context, he was part of the Portugal Digital Mission Structure team (www.portugaldigital.gov.pt/en), as Pillar 2 Coordinator - Digital Transformation of Companies and Entrepreneurship, reporting to the Secretary of State for Digitization and Administrative Modernization, under the direct supervision of the Portuguese Prime Minister, promoting and leading the digital transformation of Portugal.
He has 30 years of professional experience in business consulting, having carried out projects in different areas such as strategic planning and corporate monitoring; digital transformation and industry 4.0, sustainability, operational efficiency and cost reduction; strategic sourcing and eprocurement; organizational restructuring and change management.
Nuno started his professional career as a consultant at Deloitte, was Unit Director at several consultancy companies, was founding partner at Leadership Business Consulting (www.lbcglobal.com/en) and Partner at LCG Consulting (www.lcg.consulting/en).
At the same time, he is professor at NOVA School of Science and Technology (FCT NOVA), and in his academic career he assumed functions as Deputy Director for Technology Transfer and Entrepreneurship, accumulating the positions of President of Madan Parque (Science and startup incubation park) and Nova.id.FCT (managing association of the 14 research centers of FCT NOVA).
Conceição Zagalo was born in Portugal in October 1952.
She is married, mother of two daughters and grandmother of four. She has studies management, Public Relations, and Marketing. She has developed her career at IBM for 38 years. Starting in June 1973, she had several management roles in Customer Engineering, Marketing, Sales, and Communications. Manager of Marketing, Communications and Citizenship and member of the IBM Portugal Board, she retired in April 2011 after having performed an executive assignment in Vietnam.
In 2004 she launched the IBM in Portugal Women Leadership Council.
Conceição Zagalo is now fully dedicated to volunteering and pro bono activities. She is the President of General Assembly of several ONGDs, Counsellor in several Associations, MBA teacher in a Business School.
Conceição addresses the gender equality area, is member of several communication, CCR and business juris while balancing her responsibilities with family and personal interests.
Family, jogging, travelling, reading, cooking, or gardening have a strong weight in her daily life.
Along her life Conceiçao Zagalo has received several recognitions from a wide range of organizations.
