Gala Dinner & AmCham Tributes Awards Ceremony 2024: Celebrating Friendship and Embracing Freedom
June 25th, 2024 | Pestana Palace Lisbon
AmCham Tributes on Press:
ECO – Investimento americano em Portugal bateu recorde em 2023
Portugal News – The American Chamber of Commerce rewarded 5 companies for strengthening US Portugal ties
What a Special Night!
Under the theme “Celebrating Friendship and Embracing Freedom,” the 9th edition of the AmCham Gala Dinner was a moment for members, partners, and friends of AmCham to come together and celebrate FREEDOM!
Winners of the AmCham Tributes Awards 2024:
🏆 Endiprev – Portuguese company specialized in providing services for onshore and offshore wind turbines
🏆 Five9 – Californian company, one of the leading providers of cloud contact centre software based on artificial intelligence with office in Porto.
🏆 Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine Portugal – American company operating in the healthcare sector which in 2023 succeeded in bringing the Global Medical Safety Hub to Portugal.
🏆 Unbabel – A Portuguese company pioneering in developing AI-powered language operations has created collaborative projects and initiatives with entities in the USA.
The AmCham Tributes are awards that recognize organizations significantly contributing to the rapprochement and understanding between Portugal and the U.S., particularly in strengthening economic, trade, and investment relations between the two countries.
AmCham also recognized and rewarded talent, excellence, good practices, innovation and entrepreneurship, sustainability, and, above all, the friendship between Portugal and the U.S.
All this is possible because of our sponsors. A big THANK YOU to our Platinum sponsors Deloitte and FLAD, our Gold sponsors Aon and Microsoft, and our Silver sponsor Prosegur.
The Welcome Remarks were given by the President of AmCham Portugal, António Martins da Costa, and we had the honor of the participation of the Minister of the Presidency, Dr. António Leitão Amaro, U.S. Ambassador to Portugal, Ambassador Randi Levine, President of AICEP, Professor Doutor Ricardo Arroja, the winners of the AmCham Tributes 2024, and all our guests at this ceremony.
We are “Stronger together through partnership”!
CAISL – Carlucci American International School of Lisbon and AmCham have a long history of partnership and collaboration. This year, the presentation of the AmCham Tributes was made by Maria, Noor and Vida, all students at CAISL.
…and also a Broadway moment where dreams become magic. The MTL – Music Theater Lisbon, another partner of AmCham, gave an extraordinary show with Martim Galamba, the founder of MTL, Lily Arriaga, and Manuel Morais.
This year, 7 awards were presented: 2 Personality Awards, 1 Distinguished Partner Award, and the traditional AmCham Tributes.
AmCham Tributes Winners 2024:
– Endiprev: Founded in Portugal in 2009 by four young electrical engineers with the ambition to create a benchmark company in the wind industry, setting itself apart in the market especially in the area of service quality through a focus on training, safety, and innovation. Specialized in providing services for onshore and offshore wind turbines, it was selected by GE Renewable Energy, a subsidiary of the American General Electric, to provide engineering services for the commissioning of the wind farm located about 30 km off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, in the state of Massachusetts. With an installed capacity capable of powering 400,000 homes, this is the first large-scale offshore wind energy project in the United States, and this Portuguese company has become the first engineering service provider for the project. This project follows the previous contract for commissioning and maintenance of the pilot project at the Block Island wind farm, also in the USA.
To expand its activity, the company established its first subsidiary in Texas, USA, in 2016, reflecting the growth of the renewable energy sector in the country and creating a positive economic impact in the USA. Employing approximately 100 workers, including both American and Portuguese employees, fostering an exchange of experience, knowledge, and culture. In October 2023, the company participated in the commercial and investment mission to the USA organized by the US Embassy, AICEP Portugal Global, and AmCham Portugal.
Endiprev, employs a total of around 300 people. With offices in Porto and six other countries: France, the United States, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden, Endiprev exports accounting for 99.64% of total sales volume.Know more about Endiprev here.
– Five9: This Californian company, one of the leading providers of cloud contact centre software based on artificial intelligence, established its new European Research and Development hub in Porto in 2023. The Portuguese office will be the company’s engineering headquarters on this side of the Atlantic, encompassing capabilities in artificial intelligence, software engineering, and cloud operations, aiding in scaling the company’s growing international presence. It plans to hire 300 skilled professionals over the next few years.The choice of Porto was influenced by the city’s status as an emerging tech hub, well-connected and with a highly qualified talent pool, particularly in the field of engineering.Know more about Five9 here.
– Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine: American company operating in the healthcare sector, it has managed to attract new investment from the company to Portugal, bringing new lines of research. Simultaneously, it has collaborated with the relevant authorities to enhance the competitiveness of clinical trials and the development of clinical research centres, bringing experience and best practices from around the world, particularly from the USA.
Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, succeeded in bringing the Global Medical Safety Hub to Portugal in 2023 . This is a global service that supports the use and safety of all Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine drugs, aiming to provide medical and scientific knowledge in the evaluation and safety data of post-marketing drugs. Comprising around two dozen highly specialized researchers, PhDs, and healthcare professionals with scientific profiles ranging from medicine to other fields such as pharmacy, biochemistry, and biology.This Hub adds to the Contact Center dedicated to Covid-19, which was also brought to Portugal back in 2021.
Since 2018, Portugal has once again become a core country for J&J in terms of R&D, thereby increasing the number of trials and human resources dedicated to R&D. With an investment of around €5M in 2023 in clinical trials in Portugal, there are currently 44 ongoing J&J trials. Clinical trials offer various benefits to patients and healthcare professionals, who thus have early and free access to innovation, to hospitals that reduce their expenses, and to the Economy and the State.Know more about Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine here.
– Unbabel: With an unwavering commitment to innovation, Unababel aims to become the leading global translation platform, fostering understanding among cultures, businesses, and clients, enabling everyone to understand and be understood in any language. Founded in 2013, it has been a pioneer in developing AI-powered language operations. Leveraging the most advanced machine learning, natural language processing, and other AI technologies, it combines the speed of machine translation with the authenticity of human editing, delivering fast, cost-effective, high-quality translations in near real-time. This allows customer service and marketing teams to provide multilingual support through their digital channels.
To realize this vision, it has created collaborative projects and initiatives with entities in the USA, strengthening Luso-American economic and scientific relations, as exemplified by the following projects:
- Center for Responsible AI | Developing AI products with principles of responsibility This Center led is one of the largest centres dedicated to Responsible AI in the world. The Centre’s mission is to become an international reference, sharing knowledge and creating synergies in the scientific field with Carnegie Mellon University. It also collaborates with some of the brightest Portuguese’s minds working in the USA, such as António Damásio (USC), Pedro Conceição (UN), Francisco Pereira (NIH), and José Fonseca de Moura (CMU).
- MAIA – Multilingual Virtual Agents for Customer Service completed in 2023, was an initiative created in close partnership with Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), leveraging the expertise and collaboration of PhD students in the field of Computer Engineering from CMU, INESC-ID, and IT to create a multilingual conversational platform where AI agents assist human agents in customer support.
This Portuguese AI-powered and human-refined translation platform has secured its place, for the second time, on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing companies in California. Unbabel employs around 500 people, has an estimated revenue of approximately 50 million (the exact figures are not made public), and has offices in various parts of the world, including a major hub in Lisbon, as well as three offices in the U. S. – New York, Pennsylvania and San Francisco, where the headquarters are located.Unbabel expects to achieve unicorn status next year.Know more about Unbabel here.
The Awards
Personality Awards:
And the Personality Awards goes to…
Isabel Capeloa Gil: Recognized by Forbes US “50 Over 50” 2023 list, which honours women over 50 with significant impact, Isabel Gil has maintained a close connection to the United States for many years.In 1993, she pursued doctoral studies and research at the University of Chicago, followed by executive training in Finance at the prestigious Harvard Business School. She holds an Honorary Doctorate from Boston College, where she is also a Commencement Speaker. Isabel Gil has been a FLAD Fellow and a Fulbright Scholar at Western Michigan University. She was a Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University and participated in the International Leadership Visitor Program (ILVP) of the US State Department. This program led to the founding and development of the first joint doctoral school at UCP – the Católica Doctoral School.
Her connection to American universities is extensive: she is a Visiting Professor at the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) and has led seminars and lectures at various American universities, including NYU, Stanford University, Tulane University, San Francisco State University, UCLA, Rutgers University, UC San Diego, Northwestern University, and the University of Chicago.She led the ‘Connecting Oceans’ research network between the Universidad Católica Portuguesa and the University of Michigan (2003-2007), and founded the SACRU (Strategic Alliance of Catholic Research Universities) network, which includes Boston College.
Isabel Gil promoted the translational project between Universidade Católica Portuguesa and the American company Amyris Inc. She is also a member of the Steering Committee of the Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils in Washington, D.C., associated with the US Competitiveness Council.
Research and teaching at Universidade Católica Portuguesa are also developed through an extensive network of international partnerships with higher education institutions worldwide, including agreements with American universities such as Boston College, Kent State University, University of Maryland Baltimore County, University of South Carolina, and Western Michigan University.The desire to enhance student exchange is ongoing, with several exchange programs offering a unique opportunity to study on both sides of the Atlantic.
There are many more achievements to highlight, such as the university offering five annual scholarships to American students of Portuguese descent wishing to study at UCP, and a Católica-Lisbon student being named one of the top 100 business students in the US in 2022. Nevertheless, it is important to conclude by emphasizing Isabel Gil’s fundamental role in fostering this transatlantic connection.
Garrett McNamara: Thirteen years ago, an American surfer came to Portugal, surfed the giant wave at Nazaré, and put the Portuguese sea back on the world map.
His name is Garrett McNamara, and he his one of today’s honorees.
On November 1, 2011, 44-year-old Garrett McNamara achieved the unimaginable by surfing a 23.77-meter wave at Praia do Norte in Nazaré, and since then Nazaré became the Mecca of Surfing, the California of Europe.
We don’t need to explain why we are presenting this award to McNamara today, instead we would like to highlight a few of his quotes:
“My relationship with Portugal is for life.”
“I feel a certain responsibility to help the country as much as I can because I got everything I ever dreamed of from Portugal.”
Some highlighted facts & figures: According to the latest data, surfing contributes 400 million euros to the national economy, including industries, services, and events associated with the sport. Over 200,000 Portuguese practice surfing, 37.5% of the population purchases surf-related products even if they don’t surf, and the number of tourists due to this activity has a significant impact. It also has a psychological impact, promoting an image of dynamism, modernity, and progress for the country.
As McNamara teaches us, “Everything in life is like a wave. You have to be flexible and go with it because it’s always changing, it is never the same, and you have to adapt and accept it.”
The Personality Awards was delivered by the Minister of the Presidency, Dr António Leitão Amaro, Ambassador Levine, the President of AmCham Engº António Martins da Costa, Dr. António Lagartixo, CEO and Managing Partner da Deloitte.
Distinguished Partner Award
Rita Faden: This year the Amcham Board decided to award an Honourable Mention, the “Distinguished Partner Award”, to Rita Faden for her support and leadership of FLAD – Fundação Luso American para o Desenvolvimento.