1977 – Born and raised in an industrial suburb of Lisbon, son of a hairstylist and a bus driver, both war refugees who had to flee from Angola in 1975.
1995 – Graduates high school at night, whilst studying to become a filmmaker during the day. As soon as he turns 18, gets a job at the local car factory, working in the assembly line, as a way to help his parents ease the financial struggle in the household.
1996 – With military service still being enforced in Portugal, Joao joins the ranks and becomes an officer with the Portuguese Air Force.
1997 – Gets married to Raquel. Starts a work placement at SIC TV (Euronext: IPR), a national broadcaster, doing the night shift.
1998 – Gets his Press licence and is offered a full-time job at SIC TV.
2003 – Enrols on a 4-year college degree in Marketing and Communications (night classes).
2006 – Is granted a sabbatical leave from SIC TV and moves to Brussels as an Erasmus student. Completes 14 subjects within 6 months, including Spanish.
2007 – Graduates with honours (top 3 class 2003-2007), with a major in Business Administration. Joins Amadeus (IBEX35: AMS) in Nice, as a Marketing executive.
2008 – Gets promoted to manager of Group Internal Communications, reporting to the SVP HR (ExCom), and relocates to the head office in Madrid.
2010 – First child, Maria, is born. Completes post-graduate studies in Human Resources, awarded by the London Business School.
2011 – Gets promoted to Head of Employee Engagement, running a team of +20 across the globe, with the opportunity to work closely with the CEO and the Executive Committee. Starts to deliver keynote presentations at international conferences.
2012 – Second child, Manuel is born. Qualifies as a Gallup Strengths Coach.
2013 – Moves to London and becomes an independent consultant. Works in brand and culture transformation projects with companies such as Ernst & Young, Kering (CAC40: KER), and Vodafone (FTSE100: VOD). Starts mentoring young British entrepreneurs with Virgin StartUp.
2014 – Is invited to become a consulting partner with Telos Partners, a British consulting firm specialised in strategic transformation. Works with a wide range of clients across the world, including Bayer (DAX: BAYN), BerryWorld, Boehringer Ingelheim, Havas Media, IMI (FTSE250: IMI), Novabase (PSI20: NBA), and Sanofi (CAC40: SAN). Becomes a qualified MBTI I practitioner (OPP).
2018 – Is invited to become a member of the Telos Partners Executive Committee and start an expansion operation in Latin America. Moves to Panama City with the family.
2020 – Becomes a certified Executive and Team Coach, awarded by Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching®. Founds Bluinstant. Moves to Lisbon, where he lives with his wife and two children.
