We are used to seeing chefs as cooks. But they are also storytellers, entrepreneurs, curators, artisans, mentors, activists and, last but not least, creative thinkers whose approaches and wisdom can translate into other areas, like science.

After working in advertising agencies for more than twenty years, João Wengorovius, former CEO of BBDO in Lisbon, spent four years exploring the themes of creativity, authorship and the search for singularity, through haute cuisine. Following his training at the Alain Ducasse Centre de Formation in Paris, he travelled around the world from Shanghai to Lima, New York to Copenhagen, São Paulo to Paris, London to Melbourne, to discover what we can learn from twenty-one of today's most inventive and influential chefs, beyond cooking. The result of this work is the book “We, Chefs”. He has used what he learned to inspire institutions and individuals to think differently.

Biography

João Wengorovius is the author of "We, Chefs". He has been in the advertising industry for more than 20 years and was President/CEO of BBDO Group in Portugal, for the last ten.

João decided to leave BBDO in 2012 and take a sabbatical to immerse himself in the culinary world, and he spent several months training at Alain Ducasse Formation in Paris. He is currently focused on three main activities: Branding, Gastronomy and Technology. He is a Co-founder and Partner at Wengorovius & Bidarra, an independent consultancy advising CEOs and company boards on brand strategy and communications. He is a cook, a gastronomer, a food writer, a photographer and a keynote speaker exploring the themes of innovation and creativity through haute cuisine. He is also an investor and Board Member of Faber Ventures and a keen enthusiast of technology and invention.  

This event will be held in the Jerome L. Greene Science Center (L8-084). Light refreshments will be served.