Biografia
Francisco Vilhena da Cunha is a Portuguese executive with over two decades of experience at the intersection of aerospace, defence, and technology strategy. He currently serves as CEO of GEOSAT, a role he has held since 2021, and sits on the board of the European Association of Remote Sensing Companies (EARSC) since 2022. He has also served on the boards of CTI Aeroespacial (2024–2025) and AED Cluster Portugal, the Portuguese cluster for the aeronautics, space, and defence industries (2021–2025).
Before GEOSAT, he was Chief Strategy Officer and later Strategy Lead at Omnidea (2019–2022), and President of the Board of +ATLANTIC (2018–2019). Earlier in his career he led Satellites & Applications at TEKEVER (2016–2019) and headed the Strategy & Development Unit at CEiiA (2014–2016).
His earlier roles span R&D programme management at EEA and Instituto Superior Técnico, business development at Almadesign, and advisory positions including Advisor on Offsets at Transparency International Defence & Security and Advisor to Portugal's Secretary of State for Science, Technology and Higher Education. He began his career at the think tank Inteli, progressing from Analyst to Head of Intelligence & Industrial Participation in the Aeronautics & Defence sector (2003–2009), and served as the European Commission's FP7 National Contact Point for Aeronautics, Space and Security (2007–2008).