Dinner & Talk Leonor Beleza

Leonor Beleza earned her law degree from the University of Lisbon’s Faculty of Law and has built a career spanning both public service and private legal practice.

She currently serves as President of the Champalimaud Foundation, a role she assumed in accordance with the wishes of its founder, António Champalimaud.

Since 2008, she has been a member of Portugal’s Council of State and is also First Vice-President of the Social Democratic Party’s National Political Commission. In addition, she sits on several advisory boards and is involved in a range of social institutions.

Earlier in her career, she contributed to the revision of Portugal’s Civil Code (1976–1977).

Her government experience includes roles as Secretary of State at the Prime Minister’s Office (1982–83), Secretary of State for Social Security (1983–85), and Minister of Health (1985–90).

She has also served as a Member of Parliament and as Vice-President of the Portuguese Parliament (1991–94 and 2002–2005).

More recently, she was President of the General Council of the University of Lisbon from 2013 to 2021.