António Feijó is the New President of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

LISBON — Professor António Feijó assumed the mandate of President of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation on 3 May 2022 during an official public ceremony. He was elected to the post by the Board of Trustees on 15 December 2021.

António Feijó has been a non-executive member of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Board since 2018. He is the first President with a Humanities background and holds a PhD in English and North American Literature from Brown University (USA, 1985), and a MA in English and North American Literature from the State University of New York at Albany (1979). He is a Full Professor at Lisbon University (Department of English Studies and the Programme of Theory of Literature). He was the Director of the University’s School of Arts and Humanities, and has held other senior administrative positions. He is the author of several books and essays related to English, American and Portuguese literature, and has translated William Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde into Portuguese, among other literary works.

In his inaugural speech as President, António Feijó highlighted that the Foundation is “a philanthropic institution which embodies the legacy left behind by a rare larger-than-life individual of his times and of his century: Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian.” He added, “any person who leads the Foundation at any given moment has the duty to protect the perpetual nature of that legacy.”

The former President, Isabel Mota, was honoured with a standing ovation for her 26 years of service to the Foundation, the last five of which were as President.