Chairs

Florinda Matos
General Chair | Meritorious Chair
Portugal
Florinda Matos is a Professor of General Management at ISCTE Business School, ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon, and an associate research fellow at DINÂMIA’CET – IUL – Centre for Socioeconomic and Territorial Studies, where she leads several international projects, including the CoVE Future Skills Factory. As the editor of several journals and books, she has authored numerous works on knowledge and intellectual capital management, resilience, sustainability, and digital transformation. She is a distinguished conference chair for numerous conferences in the fields of intellectual capital, knowledge management, and innovation. Additionally, she is the Founder and President of ICAA – Intellectual Capital Association and serves as Portugal’s ambassador for The New Club of Paris.

Suliman Hawamdeh
Meritorious Chair
Estados Unidos da América
Suliman Hawamdeh is a Regents Professor in the Department of Information Science at the College of Information, University of North Texas. A leading authority in the field of knowledge management, he serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Information and Knowledge Management (JIKM). He has founded and directed several academic programs, including the first Master of Science in Knowledge Management in Asia at the School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, as well as the Master of Science in Data Science at the University of North Texas. From 2010 to 2018, he served as a department chair and director of the interdisciplinary PhD program in Information Science. He has authored and edited numerous books on knowledge management, information science, data analytics, cybersecurity, and knowledge governance. With extensive industry and consulting experience, he previously served as the Managing Director of Information Technology Consultant. He has also held leadership roles as chair, founding chair, and president of several national and international professional associations and conferences, including the International Conference on Knowledge Management (ICKM). In recognition of his contributions to the field, he received the ALISE Award for Professional Contribution to Library and Information Science Education in 2020. He is also a distinguished member of ASIST.

Paulo Mauricio Selig
Meritorious Chair
Brasil
Paulo Mauricio Selig, Doctor in Production Engineering, was President of the Brazilian Production Engineering Association. He was a cofounder and coordinator of the Graduate Program in Knowledge Engineering and Management at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC, Brazil). Currently, he is the chairman of the International Conference on Knowledge and Innovation (ciKi), and a volunteer professor in the postgraduate program in Engineering and Knowledge Management at UFSC. His research and professional interests focus on the management and evaluation processes of organizations, with a particular emphasis on intellectual capital as well as the modeling of interorganizational networks, and the integration of Human Factors into operational safety management systems within the oil and gas industry.

Nuno Matos
GFIC Conference Co-Chair
Portugal
Nuno Matos is the Operational Director of Diagonal – Insurance Brokers, part of the Luís Simões Group. He is currently pursuing an MSc in Management of Social Economy Organizations at the Polytechnic Institute of Santarém. Having always worked in the business sector, he has been the Vice President of the ICAA – Intellectual Capital Association since its founding, where he conducts research and has published several works on Intellectual Capital Management and Knowledge Management in organizations.

Tereza Raquel Merlo
ICKM Conference Co-Chair
Estados Unidos da América
Tereza Raquel Merlo is a researcher, professor, practitioner, and consultant. She is a postdoctoral researcher at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) in a program affiliated with the Brazilian Institute of Information in Science and Technology (IBICT). At the University of North Texas (UNT), she teaches courses on Knowledge Management Tools and Technologies. She is also the CEO of Merlo Management Consulting, where she delivers global business solutions, focusing on business process improvement through data analysis and knowledge management systems. Her research explores Knowledge Management Systems and their impact on organizational strategies and operations. Her professional interests include business strategies, process improvement, sales strategies, business intelligence, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and leadership. She actively contributes to scientific committees for journals such as Knowledge and Performance Management, Knowledge-Based Systems, and the Journal of Information and Knowledge Management. Additionally, she serves on the international advisory board of the International Conference on Knowledge Management (ICKM) and has chaired several of its annual conferences. Most recently, she was invited to join the scientific committee for the Glossary of Innovation, Organizational Knowledge, and Scientific and Technological Information, organized by the Brazilian Institute of Information in Science and Technology (IBICT). She has authored and edited Understanding, Implementing, and Evaluating Knowledge Management in Business Settings, published by IGI Global, as well as AI and Data Analytics in Organizational Management. She is also the editor of the upcoming book AI-Driven Revolution: Transforming the Business Landscape, part of the book series Artificial Intelligence in Organizations: Transformative Technologies, Applications, and Impacts, published by World Scientific. Her extensive professional experience includes working with multiple Fortune 100 companies, where she has led projects and teams in deal management, cloud computing, data analytics, business intelligence, and sales operations and strategies.

Patricia de Sá Freire
CIKI Conference Co-Chair
Brasil
Patricia de Sá Freire is a Professor in the Department of Knowledge Engineering at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) and a Permanent Researcher in the Graduate Programs in Knowledge Engineering and Management and Administration at the same institution. She holds a Ph.D. and a Master’s degree in Knowledge Engineering and Management from UFSC and leads the ENGIN Laboratory – Engineering for the Integration and Governance of Knowledge and Organizational Learning. A specialist in Multilevel Governance, Knowledge Management, and Organizational Learning, she has been dedicated to developing frameworks, models, and methods aimed at organizational transformation and innovation, with a focus on knowledge integration in interorganizational networks and the development of governance systems for smart cities and public and private institutions. She is the author and editor of more than 20 books and has an extensive scientific output at both national and international levels. She also works as a consultant and leader of strategic projects focused on knowledge governance, networked corporate education, and neo-learning. She has received awards such as the INOVA UFSC and MAKE Brazil for her contributions to the fields of knowledge management and innovation.

Fernando Gauthier
Presidente do Comité Científico
Brasil
Fernando Ostuni Gauthier is a scholar in the field of Knowledge Engineering, currently serving as a Full Professor in the Department of Knowledge Engineering at the Federal University of Santa Catarina – Brazil. His research interests include knowledge engineering, ontologies, linked data, entrepreneurship and innovation, artificial intelligence, evolutionary computing, and digital education. Throughout his career, he has published extensively on these topics in prestigious international journals and conferences.