Sara Alexandra Valadas Silva Monteiro obtained a degree in Agro-Industrial Engineering from the
University of Lisbon, High Institute of Agronomy in 1996. Then, she decided to pursue a Phd in the same University which she conclude in 2001.
In the period of 2002-2006 she worked as a Postdoc fellowship at the New University of Lisbon, ITQB. In 2005, she participated in the COHiTEC program from COTEC, Portugal, which was a life changing experience that led to the founding of CEV.
COHiTEC supported the project’s business development stage, leading to the creation of CEV in 2006, co-founded by her, with the objective of developing new patented protein-based fungicides.
The business plan was presented publicly to potential investors and attracted a funding from a consortium of 4 investors. In early 2012, CEV signed a distribution agreement, with one of the top ten agrochemical companies to distribute the new fungicide platform globally. In January 2013, the CEV/ CONVERDE industrial production plant was inaugurated in Cantanhede, central Portugal. She was the technical director and a board member of both companies.
In the end of 2018, with CEV at full speed, she decided to embrace a new position as a director and the R&D manager of a multinational company, OROAGRI INT., now a division of the South African giant OMNIA Holding.