João Nuno Mendes was born in Coimbra in 1973.
He graduated in Management from the Higher Economics and Management Institute – ISEG, in 1994, where he was assistant in the field of management.
He began his career path in auditing at Arthur Andersen, where he worked from 1994 to 1996.
He was Secretary of State for Planning from 1999 to 2002, tasked with the third European assistance framework.
He was economic advisor to the Cabinet of the Prime Minister from 1996 to 1999.
From 2002 to 2007 he was a director in the financial area of the Amorim Group business units, namely Amorim Imobiliária (real estate) and Amorim Turismo (Tourism).
He was a director for the development and international activities units at Galp Energia from 2007 to 2016.
He was Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Águas de Portugal group from 2016 to 2019.
Since May 2020, he headed the negotiations for the State Aid to be given to the TAP group.
He was Secretary of State for Finance in Prime Minister António Costa’s 2nd and 3rd Governments.