OUR TEAM
Meet who works behind the scenes at the Belgian-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce
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KATHLEEN FIGUEIREDO LAISSY
PRESIDENT
Kathleen began her career at the European Commission in 2008 with a Bluebook internship. She later joined an NGO dedicated to sustainable development, where she coordinated the Secretariat of the European Parliament's largest Intergroup in the areas of climate, biodiversity and development for five years. In 2015, she moved to the private sector, specialising in European Union regulatory affairs, before founding her own consultancy firm in 2017 – NOVO MUNDO INC – dedicated to European affairs. Since January 2023, she has served as Representative of the Regional Government of Madeira to the European institutions. In April 2025, she was elected President of the Belgian-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce, becoming the first woman to lead the institution in its 87-year history. Kathleen is a Portuguese, French and Angolan citizen, grew up in Brussels and holds a Bachelor's degree in International Relations and Development Studies from the University of Sussex (United Kingdom), a Master's degree in Development Management from the London School of Economics (United Kingdom) and a Postgraduate degree in Management from NOVA SBE (Portugal).
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PIERRE PONCELET
SECRETARY-GENERAL
Pierre is Belgian and discovered Portugal at a very early age, when he was 10, in 1968. Since then, the country has become his second home: it was there where he spent most of his youth and where his parents lived for over 50 years. An engineer by training, he later completed an MBA and then began a 35-year career at Solvay, where he worked in marketing, strategy, mergers and acquisitions, and finance. His career has always developed in international—and often global—contexts in the Group's historical chemical commodities universe. He lived in Brazil for seven years and in France for five, although Belgium remains the country where he has spent the most time. He is married to Patricia, with whom he has three children—two sons and a daughter—born in São Paulo. He will soon become a grandfather for the second time. Since leaving Solvay in 2018, he has remained deeply involved in various support and service initiatives: he actively contributes to the Belgian-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce (CCBP), Ingénieurs Sans Frontières Belgique, and the Amicale Royale des Retraités Solvay Bruxelles.
LUÍSA MONTEIRO DE QUEIROZ
SENIOR ADVISER
Luísa began her career at top-tier Portuguese law firms, including SRS Legal and PLMJ, where she specialised in litigation and corporate matters. In 2020, she joined DIA Group (later integrated into Auchan), taking on an increasingly strategic role and ultimately leading competition affairs, with a focus on complex competition law matters and unfair trading practices in the food retail sector. She holds an LL.M. in Competition Law and Economics from the Brussels School of Competition, where she graduated magna cum laude. She has also attended a Postgraduate Programme in Competition Law and Regulation at the University of Lisbon, and holds a Master’s degree in Civil and Criminal Law from Católica Porto Law School .
INÊS GIESTEIRA
DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER
Kathleen began her career at the European Commission in 2008 with a Bluebook internship. She later joined an NGO dedicated to sustainable development, where she coordinated the Secretariat of the European Parliament's largest Intergroup in the areas of climate, biodiversity and development for five years. In 2015, she moved to the private sector, specialising in European Union regulatory affairs, before founding her own consultancy firm in 2017 – NOVO MUNDO INC – dedicated to European affairs. Since January 2023, she has served as Representative of the Regional Government of Madeira to the European institutions. In April 2025, she was elected President of the Belgian-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce, becoming the first woman to lead the institution in its 87-year history. Kathleen is a Portuguese, French and Angolan citizen, grew up in Brussels and holds a Bachelor's degree in International Relations and Development Studies from the University of Sussex (United Kingdom), a Master's degree in Development Management from the London School of Economics (United Kingdom) and a Postgraduate degree in Management from NOVA SBE (Portugal).
DAVID PEETERS
GRAPHIC DESIGNER AND VISUAL IDENTITY MANAGER
Born and living in Portugal, but with paternal Belgian roots, David reveals a passion for arts and communication, which resulted on a Bachelor's degree in Communication Design at the Faculty of Fine-Arts at the University of Lisbon. Despite his young age, he thrives to develop his skills as a designer and artist, having in the past participated in small partnerships with entities such as the United Nations and the Lisbon Metropolitan. In 2025, his research also led him to participate at the popular GOGBOT Festival in Enschede, Netherlands. David first joined the team at the Belgian-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce while on his period abroad in Brussels, doing his Masters on Media and Information Design at LUCA School of Arts. Ever since then, and even nowadays back in Lisbon, he focuses his time on creating visual content and managing the Chamber's social media, sustaining an important communication bridge between the CCBP and its members.