Governance

Graduated in Marine Biology from Lisbon Classic University, in 1986, with executive education at IMD (1995) and Harvard (1997), and Alumni Member of Stanford (2000). Member of the Board of Directors of Sociedade Francisco Manuel dos Santos, SGPS, S.E., since 2001. Executive President of Sociedade Francisco Manuel dos Santos B.V., main shareholder of Jerónimo Martins, SGPS, S.A., since its establishment. Member of the Board of Directors of Jerónimo Martins SGPS, S.A., since 2019, a position he also held from 1995 to 2001 and from 2004 to 2015. Since 1995, he has been Chairman of Unilever Fima, Lda., Gallo Worldwide, Lda. and JMDB Representação e Distribuição de Marcas Lda. Executive Board Member and Trustee of Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos, since 2009. Since September 2015, he has been Chairman of Oceanário de Lisboa, S.A. and, since December 2016, Chairman of the Board of Trustees and the Board of Directors of the Oceano Azul Foundation. Chairman of Movendo Capital B.V., since 2017.

Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees of Oak Foundation and a member of its founding family. He has directed the Oak Foundation’s Environment Programme since its inception in 1998. Oak’s Environment Programme funds ambitious initiatives to deliver climate action and protect marine resources from destructive industrial fishing and plastic pollution. He is a founding board member of OceansFive, and a member of the Board of Oceana and ClimateWorks. He is also ambassador for the Climate Leadership Initiative, which supports efforts to engage more philanthropists on climate issues.

Executive director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, trustee of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and Chair of the Board of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), a world leader in deep-ocean science and technology. Member of the Joint Oceans Commission Initiative, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a recipient of the Audubon Medal for Conservation, and is featured in the National Portrait Gallery.

Teaches Philosophy in the Departments of Philosophy and European Studies of the University of Lisbon, where he is Full Professor. Member of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences and from the Navy Academy. Was the scientific coordinator of the Gulbenkian Environment Program (2007-2011). He has an extensive bibliography and a large international experience as speaker on Philosophy, Environment, and International Relations.

Graduated in Marine Biology from Lisbon Classic University, in 1986, with executive education at IMD (1995) and Harvard (1997), and Alumni Member of Stanford (2000). Member of the Board of Directors of Sociedade Francisco Manuel dos Santos, SGPS, S.E., since 2001. Executive President of Sociedade Francisco Manuel dos Santos B.V., main shareholder of Jerónimo Martins, SGPS, S.A., since its establishment. Member of the Board of Directors of Jerónimo Martins SGPS, S.A., since 2019, a position he also held from 1995 to 2001 and from 2004 to 2015. Since 1995, he has been Chairman of Unilever Fima, Lda., Gallo Worldwide, Lda. and JMDB Representação e Distribuição de Marcas Lda. Executive Board Member and Trustee of Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos, since 2009. Since September 2015, he has been Chairman of Oceanário de Lisboa, S.A. and, since December 2016, Chairman of the Board of Trustees and the Board of Directors of the Oceano Azul Foundation. Chairman of Movendo Capital B.V., since 2017.

Tiago Pitta e Cunha has been Chief Executive Officer of Oceano Azul Foundation since its establishment in 2017. For over two decades, he has pursued an international career advocating for stronger ocean governance, having worked for ocean’s sustainability in the United Nations, the European Commission, the Portuguese government and the President of Portugal.

Member of the Oceano Azul Foundation’s Board of Directors and its Chief Scientist is a marine ecologist and conservationist, expert in marine conservation and in particular the creation, monitoring and implementation of marine protected areas. Associate Professor at ISPA – Instituto Universitário and researcher at MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre. Was deputy-head of the Task Group for Maritime Affairs that developed the National Ocean Strategy. Is a member of the Portuguese National Council of Environment and Sustainable Development.

Founder of Ecologic Institute, is currently Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Agora Energiewende, Germany, Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), Canada, non-executive Director of Oceano Azul Foundation. Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science and Adjunct Professor of German Studies at Duke University as well as Adjunct Faulty of the EADA Business School. In 2015, he was Visiting Scholar at the MIT. His research focuses on the theory and practice of think tanks and how they function in different political systems, the interactions among policy domains and international relations, and global governance on environment, resources, climate and energy.

Member of the Board of Directors of Oceano Azul Foundation since its establishment in 2017, João is also the Chief Executive Officer of Oceanário de Lisboa, S.A. since 2006. He holds a BSc in Aquatic Sciences from the Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar, Porto, Portugal, and a postgraduate degree in Advanced Management from the Portuguese Catholic University. He is member of the Board of Directors of Portuguese Association of Zoos and Aquaria. He has been President of the European Union of Aquarium Curators since 2014 and a member of the Executive Committee of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria, since 2013. He is also member of the Board of Trustees of Gil Foundation.

Heather has worked for the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) since 1995, as a postdoctoral research scientist, curator of London Zoo Aquarium, Head of Marine and Freshwater Conservation and now Senior Technical Advisor. She is an Honorary Professor at the University of Exeter and National Geographic Explorer. Since 2017, Heather has led the Bertarelli Foundation’s Marine Science Programme, a transdisciplinary research and conservation programme for marine science and conservation focused on the Indian Ocean, involving around 100 researchers from 26 institutions and 12 countries. This programme is an endorsed Action of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.

Former Chief Executive of the Marine Institute, Ireland’s national agency for marine research and development, which he led from November 1993 to October 2019. He has spearheaded the organisation’s expansion from a staff of 1 to over 200 with a budget over €62 million. He has overseen the delivery of two custom built multi-purpose research vessels, the Celtic Voyager and the Celtic Explorer and the design and construction of the Marine Institute’s world class headquarters at Rinville, Oranmore, County Galway and the major modernisation of its research facility in Newport County Mayo. Following his PhD in the National University of Ireland, Galway, worked at the University of Georgia, in the U.S. (1985 – 92). Was elected a Member of the Royal Irish Academy (MRIA) in November 2006 and received the NUI Galway Alumni Foundation Award for Natural Sciences in 2008. Peter was appointed in 2019 as a member of the EU Horizon Europe Mission Board for Healthy Oceans, Seas, Coastal & Inland Waters, and is on the Strategic Advisory Board, Field Earth & Environment, Helmholtz Association, Germany.

Executive Manager at the Oceano Azul Foundation since January 2018. Graduated in Law, from the University of Lisbon, with a postgraduate degree in Advanced Management from the Portuguese Catholic University. Program Coordinator of TVI´s news channel TVI24, at the leading Portuguese television network TVI, part of Media Capital Group, which belongs to the Spanish group PRISA. At TVI was also Head of Communication for the Newsroom and Management Adviser, among other functions from 1998 to 2017. Co-Founded an insurance Brokerage company, EGS – Corretores de Seguros from 1988 to 1998, and worked at a consulting company, Epersel – Estudos, Peritagens e Serviços from 1998 to 2000. Between 2002 and 2005 worked as advisor for the Minister of the Presidency of the XV-XVI Government of Portugal.

Ana Brazão is the Project Manager for the Blue Bioeconomy of Oceano Azul Foundation coordinating Blue Bio Value, an entrepreneurship programme co-promoted with Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. The programme includes an Accelerator dedicated to scaling up innovative and decarbonizing marine biotechnology startups and an  Ideation dimension, which aims at bringing entrepreneurs, scientists, engineers, techs and managers together to create business ideas based on R&D blue biotech projects. Ana holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon and a master’s in Environmental Engineering from NOVA School of Science and Technology. She is “water passionate”, having joined the Foundation in 2020 following six years working in freshwater conservation, and two years in sustainability in the corporate sector.

With over 20 years of experience in management, Andreia is the project manager of Blue Azores, a program that results from an international partnership between the Regional Government of Azores, the Waitt Institute, and the Oceano Azul Foundation, focused on the conservation and sustainable use of the Azorean Sea. She holds a degree in Mining Engineering and Georesources and an MBA in management. Andreia held several managers positions across different countries and sectors. She has been living in Azores since 2019.

Project Manager at the Oceano Azul Foundation, Flávia Silvia is responsible for the NGO capacity-building programme and for the implementation of a national network of organizations dedicated to the Ocean, with a special focus on the marine litter component. She holds a degree in Environmental Engineering at ISA/ULisboa and FCT NOVA. Before joining the Foundation, she worked as researcher and project manager at FCT NOVA and MARE focusing her research on environmental literacy and on collaborative decision-making processes, coordinating and collaborating on several National and European projects.

Project Manager at the Oceano Azul Foundation, Francisco Santarém is responsible for the development of Blue Natural Capital and Ocean Conservation programs, with a special focus on Marine Protected Areas. Before joining  the Foundation in 2022, where he  has been supporting projects in Portugal and Cape Verde, he collaborated with startups and non-profits in social impact training programs. Francisco holds a degree in Biology, with a specialization in Ecology, and a master’s in marketing management.

Rita Borges is the Project Manager of the Oceano Azul Foundation’s programs for ocean literacy. She is the coordinator of “Educar para uma Geração Azul”, a pioneer program developed in partnership with the Portuguese Education Ministry with the goal of bringing knowledge about the ocean to children in school. Before joining the Foundation, she was the executive director of a science centre that promotes scientific culture to the general public and children. Rita holds a PhD in Marine ecology.

Project Manager at the Oceano Azul Foundation, Samuel Collins manages the Foundation’s international initiatives and partnerships, with an aim to raise the profile of the ocean at the political and decision-making level. He has an MSc in Quantitative Methods in Biodiversity, Conservation and Epidemiology from the University of Glasgow and a BSc in Molecular Biology from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh.

Conservation Project Manager at Oceano Azul Foundation since March 2018, Vanda Lobo is responsible for projects that aim to protect, value, and promote blue natural capital. She manages programs which have the goal of supporting and implementing MPA’S and other sustainable uses of the ocean, like sustainability in fisheries. Graduated in Biology, she joined the Oceanário de Lisboa team in 1998, working as senior aquarist and providing support to the Curator for Conservation Projects. Vanda worked in several conservation projects in Brazil and as a consultant to AquaRio’s (Rio de Janeiro’s public aquarium).