Career Award
It is with great joy and pride that we inform that ALEXANDRA MACHADO, Management alumna 84-90, is the Career Award Winner 2023!
The jury's choice was unanimous: "by the solidity and diversity of her brilliant career, having started in Academia, spending more than 25 years in the corporate world, where she played prominent positions at national and international level, in various sectors. She embraced the social sector with enormous impact, for which she was distinguished and rewarded worldwide. We consider that Alexandra Machado represents, unequivocally, the successful path that CATÓLICA-LISBON aspires for its Alumni, perfectly aligned with its mission."
Graduated with a Management degree in 1984-1990, Alexandra started as an assistant at CATÓLICA-LISBON from 1988 to 1992. She began her business career in 1990 at the Entreposto Group as Product Manager, and then spent seven years as Commercial Director at Jerónimo Martins. Later, she spent about a year as Sales and Marketing Director at Onyway.
From 2003 to 2012, Alexandra was Nike Country Manager in Portugal and Member of the Board of Nike Iberia, where she was involved in the Girl Effect Movement, of the Nike Foundation. Throughout her career, Alexandra has been a strong advocate that women can and should assume leadership positions as agents of change in society, and so she began to research more about the power of women in leading change in developing countries.
After a remarkable trip to Mozambique, the Career Award winner realized the tremendous potential of the country and the important role that women could play if they were freed from the vicious cycle of poverty and illiteracy. Therefore, in 2013, she decided to leave Nike and co-launched her own project as a social entrepreneur, in partnership with Luís Amaral - the Girl MOVE Academy.
Girl MOVE is a Leadership Academy based in Nampula, Northern Mozambique, that creates innovative education models that aim to amplify talent; increase gender equality and promote sustainable transformation in this environment.
In 2018, Alexandra was named an Ashoka Fellow, in recognition of her role as a social entrepreneur, and in 2021, she received the award for the best global project for Women's education from UNESCO.
This is a path and impact that well reflect the values of CATÓLICA-LISBON and its Alumni community, and it is an honor to award her the Career Award in this year, in which CATÓLICA-LISBON also celebrates its 50th anniversary as a pioneering school in Portugal in the Bachelor's degree in Business Administration and Management.
(Economics, 1977-1982) for her work at the head of the Food Bank Against Hunger;
Católica Lisbon School of Business & Economics annually promotes the attribution of the “Career Award” to honor one of its Alumni who, in the course of their professional career, have distinguished themselves in the light of criteria guided by the principles transmitted throughout their academic training, namely leadership, professionalism, ethics and social impact.
This initiative aims to distinguish those who, with a consolidated career and over 45 years of age, have more and better contributed to the quality of services provided by the companies and institutions where they work, in their most varied aspects, for the benefit of investors, employees, of other members of the business community and society in general, thus also contributing to the reputation of excellence of their School.
Candidates for the CATÓLICA-LISBON Career Award will be proposed by the Alumni of Católica Lisbon School of Business & Economics.
Alumni of Católica Lisbon School of Business & Economics who have completed a Bachelor's, Master's, Executive Master's (with degree) or CATÓLICA-LISBON MBA are eligible to receive the CATÓLICA-LISBON Career Award.
Employees of the School or previous winners of the Career Award are not eligible.
The nomination of an Alumnus for the Career Award will be formalized by completing a form available on the CATÓLICA-LISBON website.
The form will be accessible online during the nominations phase.
The Jury is selected annually and is constituted by a panel of independent personalities of recognized competence and reputability, with relevant experience in the business world, in academia and/or in the national or international economy.
For 2023, the Jury is constituted by:
- Vasco de Mello (President)
- Isabel Mota
- Margarida Couto
- Vítor Bento
- Sérgio Rebelo
The jury is responsible for analyzing the short-list of the 5 candidates with the highest number of nominations and deciding on the award attribution.
There will be no ranking of the remaining nominees.
The Jury will decide on awarding the Prize after analyzing the applications based on the respective “Curriculae” and recognized merits, establishing, at their discretion, internal weighting criteria that take into account factors such as: leadership, professionalism, ethics and social impact.
Nomination period: until April 30th, 2023
Jury decision: until May 26th, 2023
Award Ceremony: June 29th, 2023
Annually, the opening period for nominations for the Career Award will be announced on the various communication channels used by CATÓLICA-LISBON.
Class Reunions – Back to School
The Back to School Reunion is an initiative which celebrates every 5th anniversary of the class graduation. It allows former students of CATÓLICA-LISBON to relive good memories and provides each alumnus with the opportunity to go back to the experience of sitting in a classroom, next to classmates.