Unlocking Portugal: Investment Insights & Opportunities

AMC is presently an Adviser to the Executive Board of EDP - Energias de Portugal, after being a member of this body for 15 years, as well as CEO and Vice-Chairman of the Board of EDP Brasil, Chairman and CEO of EDP Renewables North America/USA and a member of EDP Renewables Board of Directors. Before that, he worked on the financial sector, becoming general manager at Bank Millennium BCP and member of the executive boards of MBCP’s insurance, pensions, and asset management companies. He was also Director of Eureko BV insurance group, Netherlands, and Vice-President of the Executive Board of PZU insurance group, Poland. He is currently President of AmCham Portugal/American Chamber of Commerce in Portugal, President of the Strategic Council of the Association for the Development of Portuguese Engineering (Proforum), Vice-President of the Portuguese Industrial Engineering Association (APGEI), Vice-President of the Portuguese Business Council for Sustainable Development (BCSD), and member of several boards of business schools in Portugal.

Hugo Santos Ferreira is the President of the Portuguese Association of Real Estate Developers and Investors (APPII). He is also Vice president of the Portuguese Confederation of Real Estate and Construction (CPCI). He has a bachelor's and a master's in law from Universidade Católica Portuguesa. He serves as COO of the Living LAB APPII SI, is a permanent member at the councils for SIL, Green Business Week, and Smart Cities Summit, is co-curator for housing and infrastructure of the Global Shaper Lisbon Hub of the World Economic Forum, and is vice president of the International Club of Portugal and honorary member of the Portuguese Association of Young Entrepreneurs Portugal-China (AJEPC).

Gonçalo Santos joined JLL in 2016 with the acquisition of Cobertura, as Director of Residential Projects in the residential department. Later that year, he was promoted to Associate Director and, in 2018, was invited to the capital markets department to lead the development team. Currently, he is responsible for the entire capital markets department in Portugal, a department that operates in several areas of investment (offices, retail, industrial and logistics, hospitality, alternatives, and private equity), as well as operations for real estate development (land and buildings for rehabilitation/conversion). At Cobertura, he worked as investment director, also leading the residential projects team. Before that, he was a senior investment consultant at Maintrust, having previously worked in real estate development for 10 years, both at Grupo Rui Ribeiro and at Qualivida-Lusonecso, a joint-venture with the Spanish company Acciona. He has a degree in management and an MBA from Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa. He is also a certified real estate appraiser.

Miguel Pernes graduated from Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), a Portuguese university in Lisbon, as an electrical engineer (1986-1991). He started his career in 1991 as a electrical engineer for ABB in the protection and automation systems department, where he had the opportunity to develop his skills in the engineering field, specifically on protection and substation automation projects. In 1997 he took the position of manager of the protection and substation automation department. In 2001 he was appointed as local division manager for the power products and power systems division within ABB, becoming a member of the executive commission of ABB in Portugal. In December 2011, he was appointed country managing director of ABB in Portugal, and subsequently integrated the executive commissions of ABB Spain and Portugal. With the acquisition by Hitachi Energy of ABB’s power system division, he assumed the role of Managing Director Portugal in 2020.

David Poston’s entire working life was in sales, experiencing many different aspects of how to look after a client. In 2005 he grabbed the opportunity to come to Portugal with his family and learn all about the Portuguese real estate market by experiencing every type of sale/purchase challenge there can be. He felt welcome in Portugal and has lived here with his family ever since. After being regional manager for one of the biggest real estate companies in the world, his vision to offer investors an unrivaled service drove him to build the Harland & Poston Group of brands tailored to help overseas investors build their portfolio.

Bernardo Maciel is CEO and Partner at Yunit Consulting and an entrepreneur with investments in the areas of textile fashion, catering, music, and corporate events. He has degrees in management and strategic change management from the Northwestern Kellogg School of Management, in business development from AESE Business School, and a postgraduate degree in business marketing and sales. His main passion is the creation and development of projects and businesses.