Corporate Governance: Acting on Boards

Nova School of Business & Economics

Carcavelos, Portugal

Nova School of Business & Economics (Nova SBE) was established in 1978 as part of Universidade Nova de Lisboa, a public research university founded in 1973 in Lisbon, Portugal. The school was created to bring rigorous economics and management education to a Portugal that had just emerged from four decades of authoritarian rule, with a founding mandate to connect the country's business community to international academic standards. Today, Nova SBE operates as an autonomous unit within the university and has grown into one of the most internationally recognised business schools in southern Europe, with a research-driven model that places quantitative methods, economics, and finance at its core. Accreditations and Rankings Nova SBE holds triple-crown accreditation from all three major bodies: AACSB accredited EQUIS accredited AMBA accredited Rankings: Financial Times European Business Schools ranking: 34th in Europe (2023) Financial Times Masters in Management ranking: 26th globally (2023) QS Global MBA Rankings: ranked among the top programs in Portugal (2024) Financial Times Executive Education Open ranking: listed among ranked European providers (2023) Executive Education at a Glance Nova SBE's executive education portfolio is structured around the school's core strengths in economics, finance, data and analytics, leadership, and sustainability. Open programs run alongside a substantial custom program offering developed for corporate clients across Portugal, the Iberian Peninsula, and Portuguese-speaking markets in Africa and Latin America. Programs are delivered in-person at the Carcavelos campus, online, and in blended formats, with durations ranging from two-day intensive workshops to multi-month modular programs. Flagship open programs include the Advanced Management Program, the Leadership Development Program, and a portfolio of short programs in areas such as financial management, digital transformation, and ESG strategy. Open program fees generally range from roughly €2,000 for short workshops to €15,000 or more for longer flagship programs, depending on format and duration. Campus and Facilities The Carcavelos campus, inaugurated in January 2022, sits on a 6.5-hectare site in Cascais municipality, roughly 25 kilometres west of Lisbon on the Atlantic coast, and was designed by the architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. The building is purpose-built for active learning, with flexible seminar rooms, collaboration spaces, a residential block for executive participants, and direct proximity to the beach, which the school uses deliberately as a backdrop for offsite sessions and networking. Lisbon itself adds a layer to the executive experience that matters: the city has become a genuine European hub for technology, venture capital, and international headquarters operations over the past decade, giving executive participants real-time access to a business ecosystem that is evolving faster than most European capitals. The 30-minute commute between the campus and central Lisbon means participants can move between sessions and the city's professional network without friction. Faculty and Research Nova SBE has approximately 150 faculty members, with a high proportion holding PhDs from North American and European research universities including MIT, Northwestern, LSE, and Bocconi. The school's research is concentrated in economics, finance, econometrics, sustainability, and behavioural science, with the Sustainability Lab and the Centre for Economics and Finance among the most active research units. Faculty regularly publish in top-tier journals including the Journal of Finance, the Review of Economic Studies, and Management Science, and many maintain active consulting or advisory relationships with public institutions and private firms that feed directly into the classroom. This combination of publication-grade research and practitioner engagement gives the executive programs intellectual depth without the detachment that can come from a purely academic faculty. Student Body, Alumni, and Career Outcomes Nova SBE's executive education cohorts draw heavily from Portugal and the broader Iberian Peninsula, with growing participation from sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, reflecting the school's deliberate positioning within the Portuguese-speaking world. The school's alumni network across all programs exceeds 30,000 people globally, with notable concentrations in financial services, consulting, energy, and technology firms operating in or from Portugal, including multinationals that have established European headquarters in Lisbon in recent years. For senior executives already working in or targeting Iberian and Lusophone markets, the alumni network is a practical asset rather than a theoretical one. Career placement data specific to executive education participants is not published by the school in a standardised format, which is consistent with most European providers at this level.