According to a statement from the Gulbenkian Foundation, lawyer Margarida Couto has been appointed as a non-executive member, replacing Jorge Vasconcelos.
The board of directors at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation will now comprise its president, António M. Feijó, executive directors António Cruz Serra, Cristina Casalinho, and Jorge Vasconcelos, along with non-executive directors Graça Andresen Guimarães, Pedro Norton, Isabel Capeloa Gil, and Margarida Couto.
Jorge Vasconcelos, who holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Porto and a doctorate from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, is a guest professor at the European University Institute and the Vienna University of Economics and President of NEWES, New Energy Solutions, since 2007.
According to the biography provided by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, where Vasconcelos has been a non-executive director since 2022, he co-founded and was the chairman of the Portuguese Energy Economics Association and the Portuguese Energy Law Association, serving also as the inaugural president of the Energy Services Regulatory Authority.
Margarida Couto, on the other hand, holds a degree in Law and a postgraduate diploma in European Studies from the Catholic University of Lisbon’s Faculty of Law. She is a founding partner of the law firm Vieira de Almeida & Associados, where she has been since 1988.
“In recent years, she has focused her professional activities on Sustainability, particularly on ESG (‘Environmental, Social and Governance’) issues, coordinating the ESG Executive Program at [Vieira de Almeida] Academy and the ‘ESG Strategy and Reporting’ Program at the Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics (CLSBE), where she also teaches,” the statement notes, adding that Margarida Couto is also “responsible for the Executive Program Women on Boards, a female leadership promotion initiative of the VdA Academy launched in 2018.”
The Gulbenkian Foundation announced that the swearing-in ceremony is scheduled for Friday.
