Maria Conceição Zagalo, born in Portugal in October 1952, has had a distinguished career spanning over three decades at IBM. Joining the company in June 1973, she held various leadership roles in Customer Engineering, Marketing, Sales, and Communications. Notably, she managed Marketing, Communications, and Citizenship and served on the IBM Portugal Board before retiring in April 2011 following an executive assignment in Vietnam. In 2004, she founded the IBM Portugal Women Leadership Council.

Currently, Conceição is deeply engaged in volunteer and pro bono work. She serves as the President of the General Assembly for several NGOs, acts as a counsellor for various associations, and teaches MBA courses at a business school. Additionally, she was a City Council Member for Lisbon during the 2017 mandate.

Conceição is committed to advancing gender equality and is involved in various communication, corporate social responsibility, and business forums. Her personal interests include family, jogging, travelling, reading, cooking, and gardening. Throughout her career, she has earned numerous accolades from diverse organisations.