With nearly two decades of experience in strategy, technology, and artificial intelligence, Sara Candeias is the Chief Data Officer at Banco Montepio, where she leads the Data & Analytics Division. Her mission is to transform the bank into a data-driven organization, ensuring that information is managed as a strategic asset capable of enabling faster, more accurate, and more sustainable decision-making, work that earned her the “Chief Data Officer of the Year” award from her peers in 2025 and a place on the “Top Women in Tech in Portugal” list.
At Nova SBE, she guides leaders in exploring the potential of data and AI with critical thinking and purpose, demonstrating that the competitive advantage of the future lies not in algorithms themselves, but in how people interpret and apply them.
Before joining the financial sector, Sara Candeias held leadership roles at Microsoft, where she coordinated digital transformation and cognitive services programs, and at BearingPoint, where she led strategic consulting and digital innovation initiatives. She previously collaborated with research centres and universities in Portugal and Brazil.
With a perspective that combines technical rigour, strategic vision, and human insight, Sara Candeias inspires leaders and organizations to integrate artificial intelligence responsibly, unlocking the value of data and promoting decisions that are more ethical, informed, and human.