An alumnus of the Business Administration and Management Programme (class of 2006), Rui Santos currently serves as Director of Corporate Procurement at SPAR Portugal. As part of the new feature about alumni from Católica Porto Business School, we wanted to get to know Rui a little better:

Most exciting professional challenge: Leaving the family business to join IBM and work in Spain (Madrid, Barcelona, and Bilbao). Transitioning to one of the largest companies in the world was incredibly enriching, and I learned a lot from fantastic people.

How Católica Porto Business School supported your professional journey: Católica Porto Business School provides the training that prepares us for the working world. Beyond hard skills, it focuses heavily on soft skills, which positively set us apart in the job market. I will always be grateful to UCP for awakening the professional within me.

Favourite book or podcast: “The Old Man and the Sea”, by Ernest Hemingway.

Most inspiring figure at our school: Professor Alberto Castro, an outstanding figure in our society. As a professor, he made everything clear from the outset; as a person, he never forgets a student, even outside UCP; as a citizen, he brings economics closer to the people.

Personal curiosity: I pursued management even though my greatest dream was to become a writer, which I realised last year with the publication of my book “O Tempo Através da Lente e outros Contos”. This year, my first novel will be published.