Margarida Afonso

Margarida Afonso serves as the Head of AI Center of Excellence and Programme Manager at Optimizer since September 2025. In addition, Margarida holds a position as an Invited Engineering Professor & Researcher at Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto since September 2018, focusing on bridging academia and industry while preparing engineers for an AI-driven future. As a mentor and speaker with PWIT, Digieduhack, and ISEP since March 2020, Margarida inspires future tech leaders in digital transformation and AI. Previous experience includes roles as Senior Programme Manager at Celfocus, Program Manager for digital transformation at Sonae MC, and operational leadership positions at Oracle and Wipro. Margarida's academic pursuit includes a PhD in Artificial Intelligence with a specialization in Large Language Models at Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro and ongoing studies at Stanford University.