Biography
Paulo Azevedo is the Chairman of Sonae – a multinational company that manages a diversified portfolio of businesses in the areas of retail, telecommunications, software, shopping centers and financial services.
Paulo Azevedo was previously CEO of Sonae for 12 years and, before that, CEO of Optimus.
Paulo Azevedo’s other business roles include chairman of EFANOR and BA Glass.
He is also a member of Allianz’s International Advisory Board. He was a member of the ERT – European Round Table for Industry for 13 years and has chaired the Steering Group for Employment, Skills and Impact for the last 2 years.
Paulo Azevedo has always been active in roles outside his management duties. He is the Executive Director of the Belmiro de Azevedo Foundation – dedicated to education – and of Espaço- T – dedicated to the fight against social exclusion – and, in the past, has been involved in various sectoral and general business associations, foundations and academia, having been the first Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of Porto.He was appointed President of the Installation Committee of BIOPOLIS – International Center of Excellence in Environmental Biology, Ecosystem Research and AgroBiodiversity. He is also President of Virídia.
More recently, he was appointed Visiting Professor at the University of Porto, leading an area of research into the future compatibility of socio-economic systems and earth systems at the University of Porto, Faculty of Sciences, Faculty of Economics and Biopolis.
In addition to his degree in Chemical Engineering from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Paulo Azevedo has an MBA from Porto Business School.
Paulo Azevedo is married with three children, enjoys sport and many outdoor activities and is currently devoting more time to protecting nature and biodiversity.