Rita Marques is a consultant and lecturer at Porto Business School, University of Porto. Her main interests are related to Territories and Social Welfare, Public Policy, Innovation and Technology, and Entrepreneurship. She is also a specialist in the Just Transition Platform and the Harnessing Talent Platform at the European Commission. Rita Marques was Secretary of State for Tourism, Trade and Services (2019-2022), during which time she was part of the Executive Committee of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). She was CEO of Portugal Capital Ventures (2018-2019) and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Fundação da Juventude (until 2018). She holds an MBA from the University of Southern California (2007) and a Master’s and Bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Porto (2000), as well as several Senior Executive Programs from London Business School, IE, Texas Austin and Católica – Lisbon. She was invited to join the international honor societies Beta Gamma Sigma and Phi Kappa Phi (2007).  She was awarded the Gold Medal by the Portuguese Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies (2022), and received the Leadership and Social Impact Award by the World Travel and Tourism Council (2021). Rita was elected Personality of the Year by the AIP | BTL Foundation and Publituris, the oldest trade publication in Portugal on Tourism, in 2024 and 2022, respectively. She is the mother of three children.