Helder Antunes

Early life

Hélder Manuel da Terra Fragueiro Marques Antunes was born on 6 July 1963, in Angra do Heroísmo (Nossa Senhora da Conceição), Terceira Island, Azores, to Armando Manuel Marques Antunes, an avionics and aerospace scientist from Torres Novas, and Carolina Bettencourt de Vasconcelos da Terra Fragueiro (Horta, Faial, 2 February 1937 - San Jose, California, 26 January 2014), a member of the Bettencourt family. Through his mother, Antunes is a descendant of Flemish explorers Willem van der Haegen and Josse van Huerter and related to 19th century Portuguese prime-minister, Ernesto Hintze Ribeiro. RTP journalist Pedro Bicudo described Antunes's parents as a "very well-known couple in the Azores", for his mother's prominent family background and his father's prominence in aviation and as a scout for Sporting CP.

Antunes spent much of his early life at the Lajes Air Force Base, on Terceira, where his parents and much of his family worked for the Portuguese Air Force. His family moved to Ponta Delgada, on São Miguel Island, in 1967, when Antunes's father moved to the private sector (SATA Air Açores). Antunes and his family stayed on the island until 1975, when the events following the Carnation Revolution motivated them to emigrate to Rhode Island in the United States.

Antunes lived in Rhode Island until 1983, when his family moved to San Jose, California, because Antunes' father was offered a position at Lockheed Martin, where he would later work on the Hubble Space Telescope project. Antunes started college at Georgetown University in 1982 but, with his family's move to California, continued and finished matriculation at San Jose State University. Once in California, Antunes and his father took over the management of and modernized The Portuguese Tribune, a bilingual newspaper based out of Modesto.

Racing career

Antunes started professional auto racing in 1983, shortly after his move to California. By 1987, Antunes had participated multiple times in the Nevada Open Road Challenge and the Silver State Classic, considered by Guinness World Records as the fastest road race in the world.

During his early years, Antunes raced Ford Mustangs and Chevrolet Corvettes at tracks such as Sonoma Raceway (then known as Sears Point Raceway) and Laguna Seca Raceway. Over the years, Antune placed in the top 3 various times in the Pony Express 100.

During his time as an automotive racer, Antunes designed some of the earliest data acquisition systems for racecars. His systems pioneered the integration of a car's computerized engine controls with real-time data acquisition and modeling, including the development of an engine "black box" aimed at converting engine data to be transmitted to a racecar's support team.

Silicon Valley

Antunes started his career in the Silicon Valley high-tech industry at Grid Systems Corporation as a support engineer, where he first met John Morgridge, CEO and Chairman of Cisco. After Grid Systems, Antunes went to work at Plus Development and two years later at CA Technologies, where he led the CA-Superproject. Following CA, Antunes worked for NetManage, as Director of Engineering, but he left the company for Cisco Systems.

Alongside his position at Cisco, Antunes is a General Partner, with fellow Portuguese Armando Perreira, at Perreira Ventures, a venture capital and consulting firm. Portuguese newspaper Expresso stated that Antunes and Perreira wanted to "transform good ideas from entrepreneurs into successful businesses".

Since starting his links between Silicon Valley and Portugal, Antunes had long stated the necessity of a Portuguese lobby in Silicon Valley, stating "Portugal needs to have an entity with its feet well-dipped in Silicon Valley." Antunes stated that, with a lobby, "Portuguese technological businesses could be contracted... through outsourcing." Antunes was eventually able to start a coalition of Portuguese businessmen in Silicon Valley and establish a Portuguese lobby.

In April 2016, Antunes became a member of the board of directors of Veniam, a company specialized in WiFi mesh networks.

Cisco Systems

Antunes joined Cisco Systems in 1998 as Senior Manager of Engineering, focusing on embedding security protocols into Cisco IOS. In 2003, Antunes was promoted to Director of Engineering, Global Solutions, and Network Services. Antunes and his team's work on the Dynamic Multipoint Virtual Private Network (DMVPN) earned them the 2004 Cisco Pioneer Award.

From January 2012 to December 2013, Antunes served as Managing Director of the Cisco IoT Group and directed the Smart Connected Vehicles Initiative, a part of the Connected Industries Group, which seeks to network vehicles and standardize on the underlying networking platform.

Since 2013, Antunes has served as Senior Director of Corporate Strategic Innovation, with the intent to resolve market disruptions, identify and foster innovative initiatives, and conduct Cisco's market strategy and leadership in IT.

IoT involvement and OpenFog

In February 2013, Antunes was a founding member of the Internet of Things World Forum Steering Committee, which "aims to accelerate innovation, inspire new ways to transform governments, industries and lives."

Antunes took part in and was a keynote speaker at the NASA-sponsored conference held at Ames Research Center, in July 2015, concerning the development of air regulations for drones. Antunes stressed the role of drones in the future of the Internet of Things, which Antunes is actively involved in through Cisco.

In November 2015, Antunes was named as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the newly formed OpenFog Consortium, a consortium founded by tech giants Microsoft, Cisco, Dell, Intel, ARM architecture, and Princeton University, for the standardization and promotion of fog computing.

Antunes was a member of the Fog World Congress 2017 Steering Committee.

Activity in Portugal

Antunes has played an important role in tying AICEP's INOV Contacto Program with Silicon Valley, with a strong emphasis on Cisco Systems. This program, which is mostly funded by the Portuguese government and European Union, takes recent university graduates from Portugal and trains them in international business and technology.

Antunes has been cited as an important person behind the installation of Cisco Systems in Portugal. Antunes was a key member in establishing the Cisco laboratory in Portugal and Cisco Portugal as whole.

Antunes' constant and plentiful work in connecting Portuguese students and businesses to Silicon Valley has earned him a reputation in Portugal as being an "ambassador of Portugal", a "true consul of Portugal in California", an "importer of talents", and a "consul of Portugal in Cisco".

In the Azores

Alongside INOV Contacto's program, Antunes also formed a similar program in conjunction with the Regional Government of the Azores, which works exclusively with Azorean university students and hosts them at Antunes' department at Cisco Systems headquarters in San Jose, California.

Alongside his partner at Pereira Ventures, Armando Pereira, Antunes often assist in the collaboration of businesses in Silicon Valley with start ups within the tech industry and otherwise in the Azores.

Antunes has long stressed the importance of the creation of an Azorean lobby, stating that the "creation of a formal lobby with the structure to foster innovating ideas from Portugal could expose them to the global market." The creation of a lobby in the Azores, according to Antunes, would allow the Azorean market to be open to the "authorities of foreign investment" and establish "contacts with the right people."

Antunes is a counselor to the Rede Prestige Açores, a network of notable Azoreans hosted by the Azorean government with the intent of development and knowledge dissemination for the benefit of the Azores.

In 2012, Antunes was included in a list, compiled by the Regional Government of the Azores, of the Most Notable People from the Azores.

Personal life

Antunes is married to Maria Guadalupe de Anda Antunes (née de Anda Jiménez; born Lagos de Moreno, Jalisco, Mexico), a broker, philanthropist, and cousin of Kim McLane Wardlaw (née Jiménez McLane), federal judge for the Ninth Circuit Appellate Court. He has three children: Francesca Alexandria, Christian Thomas, and Giancarlo.

Through his father, Antunes is cousin to Miguel Antunes Frasquilho, current Chairman of the Board of TAP Portugal and former Portuguese Secretary of State of the Treasury. Antunes was also nephew to Manuel Antunes Frasquilho, former President of the Port of Lisbon and the Lisbon Metro.

Antunes resides primarily in Morgan Hill, California, in southern Silicon Valley.

Awards

Antunes has received awards and accolades for his work both in Cisco and otherwise, such as for his work with the Portuguese government.

In 2012, Antunes was included in a list, called the National Selection, compiled by Revista Prémio, which listed the most powerful and influential Portuguese executives around the world and called Antunes "the guardian angel of Uncle Sam."

In 2012, Antunes was included in a list, compiled by the Regional Government of the Azores, of the Most Notable People from the Azores, a group of internationally recognized and noteworthy Azoreans.

National Honours

Published works