Maria Isabel Torres Baptista Parreira Jonet was born in Lisbon in 1960. She is married and has five children. She graduated in Economics from the Faculty of Human Sciences at Universidade Católica Portuguesa in 1982. She has worked as a volunteer at the Banco Alimentar Contra a Fome (Food Bank against Hunger) since 1993, is President of the Portuguese Federation of Food Banks against Hunger, President of Lisbon's Food Bank against Hunger and member of the Board of Directors of the European Federation of Food Banks. It was while occupying this position that she supported the creation of 14 Portuguese Food Banks against Hunger. In 2008, the Banco Alimentar received the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian Prize. She is a member of the Strategic Council of the Expresso newspaper and of the Strategic Guidance Council of the Faculty of Economic and Business Sciences of Universidade Católica Portuguesa. Between June 2007 and December 2008 she was a member of the Strategic Council of Amadora Sintra Hospital. She worked on the European Economic and Social Committee, in Brussels, between 1987 and July 1993. She was also an assistant to the Administrative-Financial Executive of the Portuguese Insurance Society between March 1983 and December 1986 and to the Financial Executive of Assurances Général de France in Brussels (1987).

Last update: 2013