Team

Managing Director

Paulo’s work integrates AI and data consulting, innovation, change management, leadership and organisational development. B.A. in Economics and Ph.D. in Psychology from Yale University. He has ample experience of executive education and co-coordinates the Leading and Energizing Teams executive program at Católica-Lisbon. He has designed and led a wide range of inhouse training modules and workshops for managers of more than 50 organisations. His innovative training methods include mobilising groups to address organisational challenges, infusing transversal skills training into project-based learning. With 20 papers published in international peer-reviewed journals, he has deep experience of research and data analysis, including the multivariate statistical methods underpinning classical machine learning (plus Python, SQL, GenAI tools and prompt engineering). He was Assistant Professor at Católica-Lisbon School of Business and Economics, in Portugal, and Senior Lecturer at the University of Surrey Psychology Department, in the UK. He developed an AI-driven edtech project and has extensive management experience.

Linkedin

Rui helps companies re-architect their strategy, processes, and technology stack for the AI era—with a pragmatic method: start small, prove value fast, then scale. As founding partner of Darwin, an AI consultancy, he combines top-tier consulting fundamentals with hands-on product and platform building. Rui is an INSEAD MBA and former McKinsey consultant, and later became a serial tech entrepreneur focused on data-driven B2B/B2B2C software, in travel, hospitality, management software, financial  services, and retail/supply chain management. He has led work spanning AI-first product strategy, platform thinking, and operational rollout—connecting business objectives to concrete operating models, customer journeys, and the enabling data/IT architecture. He has a deep interest in data ecosystems and how new technologies reshape markets and organisational design. 

Linkedin

Marco brings 25 years at the intersection of business strategy, technology, and leadership. He has led multi-million-dollar digital transformations for Fortune 500 organisations including Nestlé, Novartis, and Expedia through Accenture - from strategy through execution across people, processes, and technology. Now he advises mid-sized companies and founders as they integrate AI into their operations and products. Marco is the founder of Polaris Digital (US) and a Partner at Ultrahaus Advisory & Product Studio (Toronto), a boutique firm that has delivered 500+ projects in 8 countries, across legaltech, healthtech, fintech, and more. A UCLA-trained strategist and ICF-path executive coach, Marco combines systems thinking with a hands-on, people-first approach — helping leaders not just adopt technology, but build the organisational capability to thrive with it.

Linkedin

Laurin Hagemann is a software architect and hands-on AI implementation partner who helps organisations make complex technology useful for their core business. He works at the intersection of AI-native product architecture, cloud and data infrastructure, security, systems engineering and organisational transformation. With a background in physics and deep software engineering, Laurin can move from strategic business goals to concrete implementation — whether that means machine-learning models, cloud migration, platform architecture, embedded systems, data pipelines or secure integration work. His strength lies in complex environments where technology, people and business processes have to change together. He helps teams clarify requirements, design pragmatic MVPs, build resilient systems and develop the technical confidence to operate them independently. He is the founder of LearnGraph, an open, learner-centred education technology initiative that uses AI to support personalised learning pathways. His work is guided by a simple principle: technology becomes valuable when people and systems can evolve together.

Linkedin

With over 20 years of experience in IT systems, Tiago leads and integrates teams contributing to the development and improvement of software-based products and services. He co-founded Colours’ Company, providing predictive data analysis, business-aware telephony, design and corporate branding, and media curation and distribution services across four business units. He has led advanced technology business units, architected complex solutions, worked on Big Data processing and engineering, and developed custom integrations, automated workflows and AI agents. A Python community member, Tiago is involved in several educational and training projects and has ample experience of designing and leading coding and software development workshops. Licenciate degree in Computer Science and Engineering.

Linkedin

Tarek is CTO at Satoripop, a Tunisia-based software and AI engineering company, where he leads the technical strategy across web, mobile, AI, cloud, and UX/UI initiatives. He specializes in turning AI ideas into production-grade applications—fast—without sacrificing architecture, reliability, or maintainability. He brings deep full-stack expertise and a track record of building high-performance applications and guiding multi-disciplinary engineering teams through delivery at speed.  Over the years, Tarek has worked on AI-driven products and platforms in multiple markets, spanning ecommerce, travel, hospitality, financial services, insurance and real-estate. This includes building AI-powered customer communication and booking experiences (NLP/ML and, more recently, LLM-enabled capabilities), as well as modern integrations across the hotel tech stack.  Tarek works in French, English and Arabic, and brings his entrepreneurial CTO approach to every engagement.

Linkedin

João helps organisations improve execution, align teams and build the operating capabilities needed for growth and transformation. He brings senior experience across operations, business development, sales, marketing, change management and digital product work. His career spans automotive, financial services, technology ventures and AI-enabled product development. He held leadership roles at BMW, Fiat Chrysler, Ford and UNICRE, and was Chief of Staff and Startup Partner at AI and product agency Altar.io. With expertise covering go-to-market systems, digital marketing operations, user acquisition, business development, and cross-functional delivery, João helps bridge the gap between AI-driven innovation and scalable growth. João co-founded Operação Nariz Vermelho, a non-profit that brings professional clown visits to children in hospitals, and digital initiatives focused on lifelong learning (partnering with Google for Education). He has a deep interest in future-of-work trends, lifelong learning and human-centric design.

Linkedin