Our Leadership

António Horta-Osório completed a degree in Business Management and Administration at the Portuguese Catholic University (1987), later completing an MBA at INSEAD in 1991 and the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School in 2003. He has had a long and successful career in banking, beginning in 1987 at Citibank, followed by Goldman Sachs in New York and London. In 1993 he joined the Santander Group and created Banco Santander de Negócios Portugal (BSNP), becoming its CEO. He has held various management positions in Santander as CEO in Portugal, Brazil, and the United Kingdom, where he transformed Abbey National, acquired Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley during the Great Financial Crisis, and merged them into Santander UK in 2010. In 2000, he was appointed Executive Vice President of the Santander Group and a member of the Management Committee. In a personal capacity, he was Non-Executive Director of the Bank of England between 2009 and 2011.

In 2011 he was appointed CEO at Lloyds Banking Group, at the invitation of the UK Government, to lead the turnaround of the Bank, partially nationalised, following Lloyds's acquisition of HBOS, and succeeded in returning the bank to private ownership in 2017, with full repayment of taxpayers' money.

In May 2021 he took office as Chairman of the Board of Credit Suisse, a position he held until January 2022.

In June 2021 he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his work in banking and voluntary services in the areas of mental health and culture. He has received several honorary doctorates, notably from the Portuguese Catholic University and the Universities of Edinburgh, Bath, Warwick, and Birmingham in the UK. Among other honours, he has been awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit (Commercial Class), by the President of the Portuguese Republic; the Encomienda de Numero of the Order of Isabella the Catholic, by H.R.H. the King of Spain; and the title of Commander of the National Order of the Southern Cross, by the Brazilian Government.

Since April 2021, he has been Chairman of the Board of Directors of BIAL. He is Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Strategy Committee of the Impresa media group (since September 2022). He has also been a non-executive Director of the Champalimaud Foundation (since 2011); a non-executive Director of Stichting/Enable INPAR, the holding company of the Lemann family (since 2014); a non-executive Director of José de Mello (since September 2022); a non-executive Director of Teya Holdings, Ltd. (since 2024); and Senior Advisor at Mediobanca and Cerberus, among other positions.

Married, he is the father of three children. His hobbies include tennis, diving, collecting Portuguese decorative arts, and chess. He has Portuguese and British nationality.

António Portela holds a degree in Economics from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Porto and an Executive MBA from the Porto Business School. He began his professional activity at Roche pharmaceuticals in the United Kingdom, where he was a Medical Sales Representative and a Market Analyst. He also launched a Hepatitis C drug at Roche in the UK before returning to Portugal to join BIAL.

In 2004 he joins the BIAL team as Deputy Director of Marketing for Portugal. A member of the Board of Directors since 2007, he assumed the General Management of the International Department for three years, having been responsible for the expansion of the business, for the entry of the BIAL group into new countries, and for the coordination of new product launches internationally.

In January 2011 he became CEO of BIAL, marking the arrival of the fourth generation of the family at the head of the company founded in 1924 by his great-grandfather Álvaro Portela.

Among his other roles, he is the President of the Higher Education Coordinating Council (since October 2023), Chairman of the General Board of COTEC Portugal (since May 2022) and represents BIAL at the Business Roundtable Portugal (since May 2021). He is a member of the Board of Founders of Serralves (since May 2021), Trustee of the University of Porto Foundation (since December 2018), and a member of the Board of EFPIA - European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Association (since June 2017).

António is married and the father of three children. He is a former Portuguese national swimming champion and still competes today. His free time is dedicated to his family, the water and reading.

Joerg has a degree in Chemistry and acquired his Ph.D. in Germany on the synthesis of alkaloids as antimalarial agents. His professional career started in 1998 at Grünenthal Pharmaceuticals in Germany, where he led preclinical and clinical activities of the marketed analgesic Tapentadol (Nucynta/Palexia). From 2003 to 2006, he served as Head of Medicinal Chemistry at Barcelona-based Laboratórios Esteve. In 2006, Joerg joined AstraZeneca’s CNS/Pain Research Unit in Södertälje, Sweden, as Neuroscience Project Leader and Head of Lead Generation.

In 2012, Joerg moved to the US as Director for Research and Preclinical Sciences within AstraZeneca’s virtual Neuroscience Unit in Boston, and in this role was responsible for pioneering a novel concept of driving Research and Development via increased use of academic and industry collaborative networks. In 2016, Joerg build up the Neuroscience Proof-of-Concept unit for GlaxoSmithKline in Upper Providence, PA, and within three years created an innovative portfolio of clinical assets within Neuroimmunology. In 2018, Joerg joined Grünenthal as SVP of Neuroscience, based in Cambridge, US, and worked on designing and executing on the company’s new R&D organisation, its portfolio, as well as delivering a company-wide Pain disease area strategy. Joerg then built the Grünenthal Pain Innovation Hub in Cambridge, MA from 2019 to 2021.

In November 2021, BIAL appointed Joerg Holenz as General Manager of R&D, and, from March 2023, as Executive Vice-President and as BIAL's Chief Scientific Officer.

Throughout his career, Joerg worked predominantly with peripheral and central targets in the Pain and Neuroscience disease areas, where he delivered several SME and New Modality clinical candidates, as well as one marketed analgesic. He has edited, authored or contributed to more than 45 publications, 50 patent applications and several books and book chapters. In his free time, Joerg enjoys his family and two children, outdoor activities and traveling.

Max Bricchi has over twenty-five years of experience and leadership across Regional and Global Strategy, Marketing, Commercial, and end-to-end Portfolio Management. Max brings a broad background in the pharmaceutical industry from several roles, having a strong track record in pre-launch and launch of products across several therapeutical areas, including neurology, rheumatology, gastroenterology, dermatology, and rare diseases.

Max Bricchi joined BIAL on 1 March 2023 as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) and Executive Board Member, coming from Novartis (HQ, Basel, Switzerland) where, since 2020, he served as the Global Head Neuroscience Franchise. For 15 years, from 2005 to 2020, Max Bricchi served at UCB, where he undertook different positions in various locations of the company: Global Head Epilepsy Franchise, Japan, China, and International Markets Head Neurology - both positions based in Belgium -, Latin America Region Managing Director based in Mexico, US Group Director Immunology and Global and US Brand Director Biologics based in the United States.

Max´s professional career in the pharmaceutical industry started in 2002 at Schering-Plough Corporation as Global Product Manager of Immunology, in the US, and then in Germany as Immunology Division Manager.

Max Bricchi holds an MBA from IMD Lausanne, a Master’s in Quality Management from Buenos Aires Technologic Institute, and a degree as an Industrial Engineer from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

José Redondo completed a degree in Economics from the Faculty of Economics of the University of Porto (1983) and holds a Master's in Economics with a specialisation in Industrial and Business Economics (1993) from the same University.

He joined BIAL in 1986 and has been a Member of the Board of Directors of BIAL Holding, S.A. and of several BIAL Group companies since 1993.

José is currently Executive Vice-President of Finance and Operations, responsible for Finance, Management Control, Industrial, Quality, Supply Chain, Sustainability and Continuous Improvement, and is CFO of the BIAL Group, having previously held, among other positions, that of General Director of Finance and Operations (2021-2023), General Director of the Financial and Industrial Area (2019-2021), General Director of the BIAL Portugal Area (2007-2019), General Director of the BIAL International Area (2001-2007), Executive Vice President of BIAL Spain (1998-2007), and Chief Financial and Administrative Officer (1991-1998). Early in his career at BIAL he was also responsible for the Planning Office (1990) and was a Specialist in the Economic Advisory Office (1985-1989).

He taught at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Porto from 1983 to 1997, having taught several subjects in the course of Economics (Macroeconomics, Public Economics, Currency and Financing, International Monetary Economics) and Management (Organisational Structures).

In 1983-1984 he was a Technician at ICEP (now AICEP) with roles in the department of export incentives and in sectoral support to companies (paper and pulp).

He is currently also Chairman of the Supervisory Board of IBMC (Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology) and of i3S (an association that brings together three institutes: IBMC, INEB - Biomedical Engineering Institute, and IPATIMUP - Molecular Pathology Institute). Representing the BIAL Group, he participates in the management of various entities as a member of the Board of Trustees, including of the CIP (the Business Confederation of Portugal), of the National Health Council of Portugal, of APGEI (Portuguese Association of Industrial Management and Engineering), of APIFARMA (Portuguese Association of the Pharmaceutical Industry), and, as Vice-Chairman, of AEBA (Baixo Ave Business Association).

Born and raised in Porto since 1978, Miguel Portela has a degree in Economics from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Porto. He has taken several courses at the most prestigious management schools in Europe: Porto Business School, IESE Barcelona, London Business School, IMD Lausanne and IE Madrid.

He began his professional activity at the BIAL Group as an intern in the Production, Warehouse, Marketing and Sales, Human Resources, Procurement, Finance and Economic Advisory Departments. In 2005, after having worked as a Technician in the New Projects Department, he was appointed General Management Technician, providing support to the General Manager of Bial Portugal. In 2007, he became the head of the company's Human Resources and Logistics departments, having been appointed Manager.

From September 2010 to February 2023, Miguel accumulated the roles of Board Member and General Manager in the Corporate Division of BIAL Group. Since March 2023, he is the Executive Vice-President and Chief Corporate Officer and is currently holding responsibilities for the following areas: Human Resources, Digital Business, Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls (CMC), Legal and Intellectual Property, Regulatory Science, Audit and Corporate Compliance.

He has been a Board Member of Bial Foundation since February 2013 and, since April 2015, a Member of the Porto Business School Supervisory Board. In May 2021, he became a Member of the Founding Board of the Casa da Música Foundation and, since December of that same year, has been a Member of the Board of Trustees of the AEP Foundation (FAEP).

He was a top-level competitive swimmer, having been national champion for six consecutive years, breaking several national records – with emphasis on the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle – and having also proudly represented his country’s national team.

Richard D. Pilnik graduated with a degree in Economics from Duke University (1979) and completed an MBA in strategic planning and international marketing at the Kellogg School of Business, Northwestern University (1983), and additional advanced management programs at the Harvard School of Business and the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

With a career spanning over 35 years in the healthcare sector, Richard Pilnik joined the Board of Directors of BIAL as a non-executive member.

Richard Pilnik worked at US pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly for 25 years, where he held various international positions. As CEO and President for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, he has overseen over 50 countries with a turnover of over €4 billion, making Eli Lilly the fastest-growing pharmaceutical company in the region (2006).

He retired from Eli Lilly as the Chief Marketing Officer. From 2009-2014 Richard Pilnik worked at Quintiles Transnational (the leading global CRO - Clinical Research Organization) as Executive Vice President and President of Global Commercial Solutions and was part of the management team that launched the company's IPO on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: IQVIA).

Richard Pilnik is Chairman of Diamedica Therapeutic Solutions (NASDAQ: DMAC) and a non-executive board member at Lumanity Healthcare Services. Mr. Pilnik also dedicates time to coaching and mentoring new entrepreneurs around the world and is an investor/advisor in start-up businesses in the healthcare sector. He is an Emeriti Board member of the Duke University Fuqua School of Business.

Pierluigi Antonelli has over twenty-five years of experience and leadership and is currently Fresenius Management Board member and Chairman & CEO of Fresenius Kabi.

Pierluigi Antonelli has been working in the pharmaceutical industry for over 25 years having experience in Life Sciences, Biologics, Medical Devices, and Generic Drugs sectors. He has extensive operational expertise focusing on company transformations, product development, launching of new products in international markets, and business & strategy development.

In his previous positions, he served as CEO of Angelini Pharma and has held leading positions at numerous international corporations, including Novartis Oncology, Sandoz, Merck & Co, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and McKinsey.

He holds an MBA from Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, and a degree in Business and Economics from the L.U.I.S.S. in Italy.

Melanie Lee joined BIAL in April 2023 as a non-executive member of its Board of Directors.

Melanie latterly held the role of CEO of LifeArc, (2018-2023), a UK-based medical research charity. During her 5 years as CEO, she transformed the organization to become a major contributor to the UK life sciences sector for translation of new science into innovations for patients. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the UK Dementia Research Institute.

Melanie Lee has an extensive career of 30 years in life sciences research and in the pharmaceutical industry. Previously, she has been Chief Scientific Officer at BTG, as well as held senior positions at GSK, Celltech, and UCB. She has also held non-executive director positions at Lundbeck, BTG, and Sanofi and Trustee roles at Cancer Research Technology and Cancer Research UK.

Melanie has a degree in Biology from the University of York and a Ph.D. from the National Institute for Medical Research in London.

Among several distinctions Melanie Lee was awarded Honorary Fellowship of British Pharmacological Society (2021), selected as one of “25 Women Leaders in Healthcare” by Pharmaceutical Market Europe (2019), recipient of BIA Lifetime achievement award (2019), voted one of the leading UK 100 practicing scientists by the Science Council (2014) and recognised with the Queen’s Award - Commander of the British Empire Award (2009). She also holds an Honorary Postdoctoral Degree from the University of York (2004).