Paulo Portas

Paulo Portas holds a degree in Law from Universidade Católica Portuguesa. He co-founded O Independente. He was Minister of State and Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister between 2011 and 2015, and Minister of State and National Defence between 2002 and 2005. He led CDS for 16 years, becoming one of the youngest and longest-serving party leaders. He was elected to Parliament for 7 parliamentary terms. He founded Vinciamo Consulting, a strategic consultancy operating in Europe, the Gulf, Africa and Latin America. He is Professor of Geo-Economics and International Relations at Nova SBE. He has also taught in Madrid, Abu Dhabi and Shanghai. He is Vice-President of Câmara do Comércio e Indústria (CCIP), a businessman and consultant, and a member of the Board of Trustees of Fundação Champalimaud. He is Commissioner-General for the commemorations of the 900th anniversary of the founding of Portugal. He holds non-executive directorships at Mota-Engil (since 2023) and MDS (2025), and also sits on Tabaqueira's Supervisory Board (2025). Since 2024, he has also been part of TEAK's Family Office. “Membre d’Hounneur” of Académie du Royaume du Maroc (since 2023). He is the creator of the television programme Global. He is fluent in spoken and written Portuguese, English, Spanish, French and Italian.