Structure

Rui Almeida has been President of the British-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce since 2020, having served on its governing bodies since 2013.
He currently lives in Madrid, where he serves as Corporate Development Officer at Auxadi, a Spanish multinational in the Business Services sector, and as Independent Compliance Member for several subsidiaries of SAIPEM, based in Milan.
Previously, he was CEO and Managing Partner of the Moneris Group for 17 years, and sat on several audit and supervisory committees, including those of GRACE – Responsible Companies, EDP Ventures SCR, and Teixeira Duarte SA. He has also lectured in financial subjects at ISCTE – Executive Education.
Rui began his career at EY, where he worked in audit for over a decade across Portugal, the United Kingdom, Angola, and Mozambique.
He was the founder and Chair of the M&A Special Interest Group at MSI Global Alliance. Rui holds a degree in Management from ISEG – University of Lisbon and has completed several executive and postgraduate programs at institutions such as Cambridge Judge Business School, Yale University, the University of Pennsylvania, Porto Business School – University of Porto, AESE, and BPP University.
He is a specialist in M&A, governance, internal control, risk management, compliance, audit, and corporate finance, and is also a regular contributor and commentator on topics related to management, leadership, and finance.

Teresa was born in Lisbon. After graduating from Lisbon Law School, she completed her articles in 1996. During her traineeship, Teresa was the advisor on property law for an international group of food distribution, between 1995 and 1996. She then went on to work as a Tax Consultant in a multinational corporation in Lisbon, from 1996 to 1998. Teresa was a senior lawyer at an Anglo-Portuguese Law Firm from 1998 to 2002, when she left to practice as a sole practitioner. The rapid growth of her practice led her to set up her own firm, TP&A, in November 2005. She then went on to qualify as an English solicitor in 2008 completing her QLTT degree from the College of Law. Teresa has a Law Degree from Lisbon University, Faculty of Law and a post graduate degree on the Stock Exchange market from Lisbon Law School.

Was born in Toronto, Canada and is a Partner at the law firm at PLMJ Advogados, Sociedade Multidisciplinar, SP, RL, and head of PLMJ’s Faro Office. Carmen graduated from the faculty of law “Universidade de Lisboa” in 2002 and is a member of the Portuguese Bar Association since 2004; has an LLM in International Trade and Business Law from faculty of law “Universidade Católica Portuguesa” (2007) and has a University Extension Course in Arbitration from the faculty of law “Universidade Nova de Lisboa” (2011). Her main practice areas are Real Estate and Tourism, although she has expertise in contracts and real estate litigation.

João Luís Araújo is partner of Tax at Deloitte Legal TELLES, with over 20 years of experience in Tax Law, Financial Law, Projects, and Capital Markets.

Throughout his career, he has advised on international taxation, wealth planning, and asset holding structures, both domestically and internationally.

João Luís Araújo is particularly recognised for his involvement in complex cross-border transactions and Private Wealth Law matters, serving as a key point of contact for clients looking to invest, structure, or relocate assets in Portugal.

His work has been widely recognised by leading international legal directories, including rankings in Chambers and Partners and ITR – International Tax Review.

He is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences and is also the author of several articles and publications in the field of international tax law.

Bruce is the founding partner and CEO of Open Media, a publishing group based in the Algarve with a portfolio of print and digital media in the English, Portuguese and French languages. Bruce’s career as a publisher in Portugal spans more than 30 years, having worked on projects in the Algarve, Lisbon and Madeira as well as in other destinations such as Macau, China and Malaysia.

The Open Media Group’s titles include both lifestyle and news media. Well know titles published by the company include the Essential group of magazines, the weekly newspaper Portugal Resident (established 1989) and the Portuguese language online newspaper Barlavento (established 1977). Alongside publishing, the group is also organises events promoting Portugal such as the Living in Portugal seminar events held in the USA, Canada, South Africa and Brazil.

is the Head of Country at real estate consultants firm Savills. His practice centres on commercial real estate in Portugal. He is graduated in Economics and is the President of ACAI Associação de Empresas de Consultoria e Avaliação Imobiliária.

Pedro da Costa Mendes joined Cerejeira Namora, Marinho Falcão in 2023, where he works primarily within the Corporate practice, focusing on M&A, transactions, and distribution.
He holds a law degree from the Porto Law School of the Portuguese Catholic University (1994) and an LL.M (DES – Diplôme d’Études Spécialisées) in EC and International Law from the Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium. He also completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Tax Law (IESF) and pursued further specialised training at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C., in Practical Construction Law.
Pedro began his career at Philippe & Partners in Brussels before taking on roles at PLMJ, CNCM and EFACEC, where he served as Head of Legal Services from 1999 to 2011. He subsequently joined Telles prior to taking up his current position.
He is a Member of the International Distribution Institute (IDI) and serves as the IDI Country Expert for Portugal. He also served on the International Relations Committee of the Porto District Council of the Portuguese Bar Association (2002–2004).
Throughout his career, Pedro has completed advanced training programmes in international contracts, acquisitions, negotiation, conflict resolution, and taxation, in Brussels, Paris, London and Washington, D.C.

Tim is a Londoner and after university in France began his career at Ogilvy & Mather in London. Subsequently his career  took an international turn,  working also in Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, Turin and Milan. In 1995, he was named CEO of Ogilvy & Mather Japan, and relocated to Tokyo, with the responsibility to establish and build the Ogilvy presence in Japan. In early 2002, he returned to Europe with various regional responsibilities before moving to Lisbon to manage Ogilvy in Portugal. As retirement approached, Tim engineered the acquisition and subsequent merger with BAR, recognized as Portugal’s most awarded creative agency. After spending one year as chairman of the merged entity, Tim finally retired but remains in Lisbon.