Last updated on 31st March 2025
As promised, the new PSD government has changed. Apart from the President, only two members of the former executive remain in their original roles.
MIGUEL ALBUQUERQUE
President
Miguel Filipe Machado de Albuquerque was born in Funchal on May 4, 1961 (64 years old) and has been since 2015, the third president of the Regional Government of Madeira, after winning the internal elections of the PSD Madeira in the same year. Before, between 1994 and 2013 he was mayor of Funchal. With a degree in Law, he worked between 1986 and 1993, when he left the law to be No. 2 in the municipality, later rising to leadership. He started in politics in 1988, when he was elected deputy in ALRAM and chaired JSD Madeira between 1990 and 1992.
JORGE CARVALHO
Education, Science and Technology
Born in Porto da Cruz, where he was born in 1968 (57 years old), Jorge Maria Abreu Carvalho has been with Miguel Albuquerque since the first hour, being the only secretary with consecutive performance since 2015. Regional Secretary in the area of Education, he graduated in Physical Education and Sports in 1995 from the University of Madeira and has, since 2000, a master’s degree in Sports Sciences – Sports Management from the same institution. His first experience as a government official was between 2007 and 2011, as regional director of Youth.
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José Manuel de Sousa Rodrigues was born in Funchal on July 13, 1960 (65 years old), was a journalist by profession, and started working for Jornal da Madeira in 1978. He was part of the newsrooms of several media outlets including RTP; where he became famous, but he was also a correspondent in Madeira for the Diário de Notícias de Lisboa and the Independente. As a politician, he had his first election to ALRAM in 2000, having also been elected to the Assembly of the Republic in 2011. Since 2019 he has been president of the Regional Assembly of Madeira.
EDUARDO JESUS
Tourism, Environment, and Culture
Born on April 18, 1969 (55 years old), António Eduardo de Freitas Jesus graduated in Business Organisation and Management from ISCTE – Higher Institute of Labor and Business Sciences. He was Albuquerque’s first choice to oversee the areas of Economy, Tourism, and Culture, in 2015, he served as a deputy between 2017 and 2019, when he returned to the Regional Government. He was again promoted to Secretary for the Economy, Tourism, and Culture in 2024 and now moves to the Environment sector, where he is said that he will be keeping his focus on Tourism.
DUARTE FREITAS
Finance
With a degree in Economics, Duarte Nuno Nunes de Freitas was born on April 27, 1977 (47 years old) and is the current president of the Institute for Business Development of RAM. He is considered a professional with extensive experience in general administration within the administrative-financial area. He has led IDE since 2020 and was reappointed in 2022, where he succeeded Jorge Faria. Through his foresight, the island was able to face the pandemic financially. Always very reserved, discreet, and thoughtful in all his interventions, he worked directly with Rui Barreto and Eduardo Jesus and has now taken over as Secretary for Finance from Rogério Gouveia.
PAULA MARGARIDO
Inclusion, Work, and Youth
Paula Cristina Baptista Margarido was born on April 29, 1974 (50 years old) in Pampilhosa da Serra. With a degree in Law from the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon of Portugal, she is a lawyer by profession, with a master’s degree in Company and Business Law, she was elected deputy of the Republic in the XVI Legislature, which has since been interrupted, in what was her first foray into politics. She was president of the Madeira Regional Council of the Bar Association and a member of the General Council of UMa. She is president of the Commission for the Monitoring of Children, Young People and Vulnerable Persons of the Diocese of Funchal, a capacity in which she received an audience with Pope Francis due to sexual abuse allegations within the Church.
PEDRO RODRIGUES
Equipment and Infrastructures
Born on October 9, 1974 (50 years old), Pedro Alexandre Fagundes de Freitas Rodrigues is a civil engineer, with a degree from Instituto Superior Técnico, which he completed in 1998. He has more than 25 years of experience in the private-public sector, and was always through to succeed Pedro Fino. Up until now he was the Regional Director of Social Equipment and Conservation, exercising these functions since November 2019, being successively reappointed, after having entered the civil service through the Regional Directorate of Works.
NUNO MACIEL
Agriculture and Fisheries
Nuno Dinarte Gouveia Maciel, is 48 years old and has been a deputy in the Regional Assembly since 2019, councilor in the Municipality of Calheta and worked as a teacher at the BS/PE School of Calheta. He is a teacher by profession, having studied at the University of Madeira, between 1994 and 1999. Appointed as successor to Carlos Teles in the municipality of Calheta, his immaculate work in the Regional Assembly, with assertive multidisciplinary interventions, in matters of teaching, agriculture, fisheries, and the environment did not go unnoticed. Combining technical aspects with political oratory, he is admired for his administrative capabilities.
MICAELA FREITAS
Health and Civil Protection
Micaela Cristina Fonseca de Freitas was born in São Pedro on August 13, 1976 (48 years old), and is currently (still) president of the Social Security Institute of Madeira, IP-RAM, having started working in the civil service in September 2001, then as a senior technician at the Regional Civil Protection Service of Madeira. With a degree in Management from UMa and a postgraduate degree in Strategic Management and Tourism Development, she was already a member of the Development Society, after having held a series of positions at the Funchal City Council, between 2004 and 2015.