Ricardo Rio

He graduated in Economics at the Faculty of Economics of Porto, where he also completed the coursework of the MSc in Economics. He also completed the Advanced Course in Political Studies of the Institute of Political Studies at the Catholic University of Lisbon.

He was the General Secretary of the Portuguese Association of Financial Analysts and Director of the Capital Markets Institute of Euronext Lisbon. At the same time, he worked for several years as a public and business consultant, including in multiple Programmes of Porto Business School.

He is currently President of the Association's Board cross-border of municipalities “Eixo Atlântico do Noroeste Peninsular”, is President of the Executive Council of the Intermunicipal Community of Cávado and chairs the Boards of Directors of Municipal Companies Theatro Circo and InvestBraga.

Cláudia Simões

Cláudia Simões has a PhD in Industrial & Business Studies from the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom. She has a degree in Business Management and a Master in Business Management - Specialization in Marketing from the University of Minho. She is currently Associate Professor with Aggregation at the School of Economics and Management at the University of Minho in the area of ‘Marketing and Strategy’.

She is involved in research work with researchers from several countries, such as the United Kingdom, USA, Italy, Denmark and Brazil. She was a visiting researcher at Scheller College of Management (Georgia Institute of Technology) in Atlanta, USA; Open University Business School in the United Kingdom; and Warwick Business School (University of Warwick) in the United Kingdom. She collaborated in works at the business level involving institutions such as AICEP Portugal Global, Eixo Atlântico do Noroeste Peninsular and the Associação Comercial de Braga.

Carlos Duarte Oliveira e Silva

He has a degree in Systems Engineering and Informatics from the University of Minho, with Post-Graduation in Information Systems from the University of Minho. He completed the Advanced Course of Public Management at the National Institute of Administration.

He developed his professional activity at the University of Minho as Administrator of the Social Services. He was also Director of the Office of Information Systems of the University of Minho and Secretary of the School of Engineering of the University of Minho.