A non-executive trustee of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation since 2022, Jorge Vasconcelos holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (1982) and a doctorate from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (1985). He is Visiting Professor at the European University Institute (Florence) and at the Vienna University of Economics. He has been Chairman of NEWES, New Energy Solutions, Ltd. since 2007, and serves on the boards of trustees and supervisory boards of several energy companies and investment funds, as well as advisory and strategic councils of various national and international institutions. Co-founder and Chairman of the General Assembly of the Portuguese Association for Energy Economics (APEEN) and the Portuguese Association for Energy Law (APDEN), he was also co-founder and Honorary President of the European Federation of Associations of Energy Law (EFELA).

Margarida Couto holds a Law degree and a postgraduate qualification in European Studies from the Faculty of Law of the Portuguese Catholic University. She is a founding partner of the law firm Vieira de Almeida & Associados (VdA), which she joined in 1988, and until 2021 her main professional activity was practising law in regulated sectors, social economy and human rights. Between 2018 and 2023, she was the partner responsible for the Social Economy and Human Rights practice at VdA, providing legal and strategic advice to the most relevant Foundations and Associations active in Portugal, as well as to several social impact projects. She was also the partner responsible for VdA’s Pro Bono Programme until 2023. In recent years, she has devoted her professional activity to Sustainability in general and ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) issues in particular, coordinating the ESG Executive Programme of VdA Academia and the ESG Strategy and Reporting Programme of the Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics (CLSBE), where she also teaches. She is responsible for the Women on Boards Executive Programme, an initiative promoting female leadership launched by VdA Academia in 2018, with a presence in Lisbon, Porto and Luanda, and is involved in various activities related to gender equality/SDG 5.

With these appointments, the Board of Trustees of the Gulbenkian Foundation is composed of the executive members: António Feijó (President), António Cruz Serra, Cristina Casalinho and Jorge Vasconcelos; and the non-executive members: Graça Andresen Guimarães, Pedro Norton, Isabel Capeloa Gil and Margarida Couto.

The inauguration ceremony will take place next Friday, 12 December at 09:30, in the Foundation’s Hall of Honour.