ESM appoints João Sousa Gião as General Counsel and Management Board Member

Luxembourg – The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) has appointed João Gião as its new General Counsel who will also join the Management Board. The appointment is effective as of 1 April 2024 but he will assume the new role as Acting General Counsel as of 1 January 2024.  

“I am very confident that João will be a competent and inspirational General Counsel and bring a precious set of skills to the Management Board. He has made important contributions to the ESM and the EFSF since 2011, and I am sure he will be successful in his new role thanks to his long experience in the ESM and his vast knowledge and high-level competence in financial markets,” said Pierre Gramegna, ESM Managing Director. 

“Let me also use this opportunity to thank the outgoing General Counsel David Eatough for his dedication and his outstanding contribution to the ESM since 2013,” added Mr Gramegna.

After starting his career in a private law firm, Mr Gião joined the European Financial Stability Facility (predecessor of the ESM) in 2011 and, as a member of the Legal division, was responsible for setting up many of the ESM’s processes and policies related to capital markets. From 2017 to 2020 he was a Management Board member of the Portuguese Securities Market Commission (CMVM). During the same period, at the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), he was an alternate member of the Board of Supervisors and of the Management Board and chaired the Supervisory Convergence Standing Committee and the Senior Supervisors Forum. 

He returned to the ESM as Senior Advisor to the General Counsel, and between September 2022 and September 2023, was also Acting Head of the Legal and Procurement division.

Mr Gião studied law at Lisbon University’s Law School and obtained additional specialisation in management at IMD, Lausanne. He lectures at Coimbra University Law School (Financial Law Institute) and is a published author in the areas of securities law, company law, and corporate governance. 

The ESM Management Board assists the Managing Director in conducting the current business of the ESM, in preparing the decisions of the Board of Governors and the Board of Directors and in seeing to their implementation.