The Advisors Council helps us perceiving better the view and issues faced by those who do not reside in Portugal and intends to move to this Country.
They are senior individuals, with different nationalities, who are familiar with multicultural environments.
Bellow you can find their names, contacts, photos and some words concerning their background and how they think and feel Portugal and the company Portugal is Paradise.
Alain Truyts
I am a Belgian citizen of 58 years old who has spent all of his carrier as a manager in the Publishing and Printing business. For the time being, I work for a German Printing company. I spent most of my carrier with an International telephone directory publisher of which one operating company, Páginas Amarelas, was, and still is located in Portugal. During the 30 years I worked for that international group, I probably made about 80 business trips to Lisbon and I spent some holidays in other parts of the country. I always enjoyed working together with my Portuguese colleagues who were experts in combining business and pleasure and I made some good friends that I hope to meet again whenever I get the opportunity. Most of the time I worked together with Luis Meneses and Pedro Fidalgo, two highly valued colleagues with whom I organized many international meetings and conducted several negotiations with suppliers and authorities. I can highly recommend them for their professionalism, know-how and integrity. And of course, they know their way around in Portugal. If I ever would have been offered a job as an ex-pat in Portugal, I would have accepted it without hesitation. Now that our ways have parted, I often think on the good times I spent over there. Apart from a great business experience, with true professionals, there is the lovely climate, the great food and wines, the beautiful landscape and of course, lovely people that give you the feeling of being at home. When you leave Portugal and you haven’t seen it for a while, you get a much better understanding of the Fado.
Ik ben Belg, 58 jaar oud en heb bijna heel mijn carrière als manager in de uitgeverij- en drukkerijwereld gewerkt. Momenteel werk ik voor een grote Duitse drukkerij. Ik heb het grootste gedeelte van mijn carrière voor een internationale uitgever van telefoongidsen gewerkt waarvan één van de uitgeverijen, Pàginas Amarelas, in Portugal gelegen is. Gedurende de 30 jaar die ik voor deze internationale groep werkte, heb ik ongeveer 80 business trips naar Lissabon gemaakt en heb ik ook enkele vakanties in andere delen van Portugal doorgebracht. Ik heb steeds met veel plezier samengewerkt met mijn Portugese collega’s die deskundigen waren in het combineren van het nuttige en het aangename en ik heb daar veel vrienden gemaakt die ik graag terug zou zien mocht de gelegenheid zich voordoen. Ik heb vooral samengewerkt met Luis Meneses en Pedro Fidalgo, twee zeer gewaardeerde collega’s met wie ik vele internationale evenementen heb georganiseerd en met wie ik verschillende onderhandelingen met leveranciers en overheden heb gevoerd. Ik kan deze ex-collega’s ten zeerste aanbevelen omwille van hun professionalisme, know-how en integriteit. En bovenal weten ze de weg in Portugal. Indien ik ooit een functie in de hoedanigheid van ex-pat had aangeboden gekregen, had ik die zonder twijfel aangenomen. Nu dat onze wegen gescheiden zijn denk ik nog vaak terug aan de goede tijden die ik er doorbracht. Buiten de schitterende werkervaring, met echte vaklieden, is er het heerlijk klimaat, het lekkere eten en de excellente wijnen, het mooie landschap en natuurlijk, de vriendelijke mensen die je het gevoel geven thuis te zijn. Wanneer je Portugal verlaat en het een hele tijd niet ziet, ga je de diepere betekenis van de Fado beter begrijpen.
Alain Truyts
March 2013
Kapellen – Belgium
Elizabeth Wise, American Citizen, living in Spain
Portugal has changed so very much since my first visit – way back in the 1960`s . Already then I could devise a steady awakening of this neighbour country to Spain where I had decided to live. People were shy but very welcoming and I was completely at ease making my trips and learning its history. A few potholes in the then not so well kept roads kept my attention on my driving, but I could also say the roads in Spain were not too much better either at that time !
Some years later I had the wonderful opportunity of being able to travel monthly to Portugal in connection with my job as Sales Director of a Scandinavian paper company – and by then ,what a change ! Being an American living abroad it was of extreme importance for me to feel that my customers, and all with whom I was in contact, felt close. Was it also thanks to their knowledge of English ? Although speaking perfect Spanish, I realized that English was prefered – so English it was, to my great satisfaction !
I worked 15 years with the Portuguese newsprint market – travelling throughout the country, and what a beautiful country it is. No wonder so many families decide to settle down in Portugal . The people I´ve found always very correct, warm and attentive.
Now Portugal is Paradise is offering precisely, to help in making that decision a good one.
Jacek Kasz
PhD, MBA, Mech. Eng.;
Multicultural background, Born in Polland
Managing Director of Eurodruk-Kraków, previously General Manager and Member of the Board of RR Donnelley Europe. Has joined RR Donnelley as a member of a start-up team in Poland in 1994. Has held a number of various positions in Poland and US in operations, customer service, sales, business development, strategy and general management, prior to moving to his current role.
His background is in academia, where he held various teaching and research positions in mechanical engineering at the universities in Poland, Germany, Norway and USA, including Fulbright Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Published over 40 papers in the refereed scientific journals and conference proceedings. Currently adjunct professor of management at the universities in Krakow, Poland.
Holds PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Politechnika Krakowska and Technical University Berlin, MSc in Applied Mechanics from Politechnika Krakowska, and MBA from Oxford Brookes University. Alumnus of the Leadership Development Program of the Center for Creative Leadership at the Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, Florida.
Portugal is a wonderful country where you meet open people and find open horizons. Looking at the ocean from Cabo da Roca frees you mind and fantasy. Nothing seems impossible and everything, although invisible, is in your reach. Portugal is a sweet home from where you can reach the whole world. Come and see it!
March 2013
E-mail: jacek.kasz@gmail.com
Mikael Wirén
Sales and Marketing Director, Grupo Empresarial ENCE
Our team of 15 persons handles sales of Ence eucalyptus pulp from it’s three spanish mills (1,3 million tons annual production) to customers in EMEA. Turnover amounts to approx 800M€.
We are at present performing an overhaul of the sales area creating a multicultural team with an excellent group of individuals.
Just briefly I think that Portugal is a beatiful mix of green, blue and yellow. Green from a wonderful countryside that I have seen during my visits to the country either on purpose of business or leisure. I have for example been lucky enough to run through some wonderful forests while practising my favourite sport, orienteering.
Blue from the water that is an essential part of what makes Portugal so special and the yellow from the sun that caresses the numerous beaches along the cost.
E-mail: mwiren@hotmail.se
Living in Portugal is great! 