Cláudia has served as Chief Executive Officer of Sonae since April 2019. Cláudia has been with Sonae since 1994, having held several positions in different businesses and sectors. Cláudia began her professional career at Sonae with the Universo credit card project, and in 1998 became responsible for the Consumer business unit and Marketing at Optimus. Between 2001 and 2018, Cláudia led Sonae Investment Management, a company dedicated to managing investments in information technology for retail and telecommunications. In 2013, Cláudia was appointed CEO of Sonae Capital, a publicly listed company with a diversified portfolio of investments in energy, real estate, tourism, fitness and industry. Cláudia currently acts as Board member of several other companies, including Efanor, MC, Worten, Zeitreel, Universo, Sierra, NOS, SonaeCom and Sonae Capital, among others. Cláudia holds a Bachelor degree in Management from Universidade Católica Portuguesa, an MBA from INSEAD and has attended several management courses at Harvard University and Stanford University.

Luís Laginha de Sousa was born in Setúbal in 1965. He graduated in Economics at the Portuguese Catholic University (1988) where he is also completed his MBA (1995). He attended the Corporate Finance Programme at the London Business School (2004). Luís Laginha de Sousa was Member of the Board of Directors of Banco de Portugal from September 2017 to November 2022. Before joining Banco de Portugal he held various managerial roles in a Portuguese and multinational companies and was, among other roles, Deputy Head of ICEP - Investimentos, Comércio e Turismo de Portugal (1993 - 1998); Executive Director of Caixaweb SGPS and various companies of the Caixa Geral de Depósitos Group (2000 - 2005); Chief Operating Officer of Euronext Lisbon, S. A. (2005 - 2010); Chairman and CEO of Euronext Lisbon, S. A. and also of Interbolsa, S. A. (2010 - 2016); More recently and among other activities, he had joined STJ Advisors LLP, as a Senior Advisor. From 1995 to 2017, Luís Laginha de Sousa was a lecturer at the Portuguese Catholic University.

Francisco Ribeiro de Menezes – Lisbon, 1965, married. Diplomat since 1990. Law Degree from the University of Lisbon, lectured at the University of Lisbon and Lusíada University in Lisbon. Posted to the Permanent Delegation of Portugal to NATO and WEU, Brussels (1994-1996) and to the Embassy of Portugal in Spain (2001-2005). Among other assignments, Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Jaime Gama) 1996-2001; Chief of Staff of the Secretary of State for European Affairs (Fernando Neves) 2005-2006 and of the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Luís Amado) 2006-2010. Ambassador to Sweden (2010-2011). Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister (Pedro Passos Coelho) 2011-2014. Ambassador to Spain (also accredited in Andorra) 2014-2020. Ambassador to Germany since 2020. Honors from several countries, including the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of Portugal, the Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III and Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic; Grand Officer of the Order of the Polar Star of Sweden; Commander of the Order of Merit of Germany. Several articles published. Francisco de Melo Torres Award for Economic Diplomacy, instituted by the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in 2023.

President of APAF - Portuguese Association of Financial Analysts. Executive Member of the Board of BPI Gestão Ativos, a Portuguese asset management company; strategy and supervisory functions in Real Estate Assets (Funds and Pension Funds), responsible for defining and implementing the investment policies from Open Funds, Closed Funds and Real Estate Management portfolios. Previously, Executive Member of BPI Vida e Pensões, a Portuguese leading life-insurance company; Banco BPI, Private Banking Head of Investments and Head of Investment Committee for High-Net-Worth Segment; Banco BPI, Deputy Director responsible for equity research in Portugal; Managing Director responsible for privatization operations and capital dispersion on the stock exchange (IPOs) led or participated in by BPI. CFA - Chartered Financial Analyst, from CFA Institute (Charlotsville, USA). Economics Degree (5 years “Licenciatura”) at FEP, University of Porto.

She graduated in Environmental Engineering from Instituto Superior Técnico in 2002, completed her MsC in Engineering Policy and Management and PhD in Environmental Engineering, both at Instituto Superior Técnico, in 2005 and 2011. Between 2002 and 2010, she developed research work at IN + Centre for Innovation, Technology and Development Policy Studies, especially in the areas of corporate sustainability and industrial ecology. Within these areas, she has worked on environmental policies, waste management, eco industrial parks and industrial symbiosis. She is author and co-author of scientific articles, books, and technical documents in industrial ecology. In 2006, she was a visiting researcher at the Centre for Industrial Ecology at Yale University in the United States. Between 2010 and 2016, she worked as a senior consultant at 3Drivers, where she developed sustainability projects, namely related to policy, strategy, and resource management from an industrial ecology perspective, applied to different sectors, such as municipalities, public services, or specific waste stream management entities. Between 2016 and 2019, she was assistant to the Minister of the Environment, for the areas of green growth and circular economy. In 2019 she was appointed Secretary of State for the Environment, a position she held until 2022. She is currently Associate Partner at Deloitte Risk Advisory for Sustainability and Climate.

Since 1 January 2019 Pedro has been Director of the Human Development Report Office and lead author of the Human Development Report. Prior to this, Pedro served as Director, Strategic Policy, at the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (from October 2014), and Chief Economist and Head of the Strategic Advisory Unit at the Regional Bureau for Africa (from 1 December 2009). Before that, he was Director of the Office of Development Studies (ODS) from March 2007 to November 2009, and Deputy Director of ODS, from October 2001 to February 2007. His work on financing for development and on global public goods was published by Oxford University Press in books he co-edited (The New Public Finance: Responding to Global Challenges, 2006; Providing Global Public Goods: Managing Globalization, 2003). He has published on inequality, the economics of innovation and technological change, and development in, amongst other journals, the African Development Review, Review of Development Economics, Eastern Economic Journal, Ecological Economics, Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Food Policy, and Technological Forecasting and Social Change. He co-edited several books including: Innovation, Competence Building, and Social Cohesion in Europe- Towards a Learning Society (Edward Elgar, 2002) and Knowledge for Inclusive Development (Quorum Books, 2001). Prior to coming to UNDP, he was an Assistant Professor at the Instituto Superior Técnico, Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal, teaching and researching on science, technology and innovation policy. He has degrees in Physics from Instituto Superior Técnico and in Economics from the Technical University of Lisbon and a Ph. D. in Public Policy from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, where he studied with a Fulbright scholarship.

Rui Rei has a bachelor's degree in Political Science and International Relations; and a post-graduate degree in Municipal Management and Modernization; as well as other specializations in areas such as Mobility Management, Cybersecurity and Innovation Management and Development of New Products and Services. Professionally, he held several offices at Alcatel-Lucent Portugal, such as Director of the Department of Innovation and Administrative Modernization; as well as Sales Manager in Angola. In 2014, he held the position of Chief of Staff of the Mayor of Cascais; and in 2015 he was appointed as Executive President of the municipally owned comporation "Cascais Próxima, E.M. - Management of Mobility, Urban Areas and Energy, where he was responsible for the implementation of the Mobility-service ecosystem "MobiCascais", which integrates in an single network all the mobility services of Cascais. Currently, Rui Rei is Executive President of Parques Tejo, E.M., the municipally owned corporation responsible for the management of urban parking and mobility in the municipality of Oeiras; in which his main project is the implementation of the Mobility-service ecosystem "Oeiras Move", based on the integration between the traditional activity of parking regulation with soft mobility services, bikesharing systems and public transportion, with a high degree of digitalisation and environmental sustainability.

Guilherme Blanc is Artistic Director of Batalha Centro de Cinema. From 2014 to 2017 he was Deputy for culture in Porto, and between 2017 and 2021 head of contemporary art and film for the city. He has worked over the years as an independent cinema and moving image curator, collaborating with institutions such as the ICA London and the Barbican Centre. He lectures film at BA and MA degrees at Universidade Católica - Escola das Artes since 2017.

Diana Coelho brings 15 years of experience as a management consultant in Commercial Excellence, after being both an in-house consultant and a Pricing Manager with global manufacturing companies and earlier on for a leading Consulting company. As part of major Pricing Transformation journeys, Diana spent eight years designing and managing B2B Pricing processes, and has successfully managed small and large teams, locally and in remote setups across countries. She has extensive experience in facilitating workshops, orchestrating work towards deliverables and managing stakeholders. Diana is based in Switzerland and since becoming an Independent Management Consultant in 2021, specialized in B2B Pricing and Revenue Management, she has been leading consulting engagements throughout Europe. She has also co-founded Ideal Price, and works with newly created ventures to help Founders establish its business foundations, supporting the design of business, revenue and pricing models. Graduated in Economics from FEP (2007), holds an Executive Master in Finance from Católica (2010) and is a Certified Management Accountant with CIMA (2014).