Rui Ladeira has a degree in Agricultural Engineering – forestry, from the Castelo Branco School of Agriculture.
He was Mayor of Vouzela from 2013, having previously been Deputy Mayor and councillor. He was also chair of the Municipal Assembly.
He was a teacher, trainer, and entrepreneur in forestry, his chose area.
As a forestry entrepreneur for a decade, he focused mostly on forest registering and planning in the region and the country.
He was also an Association Leader in the rural sector (agro-forestry) in the Lafões Rural Development Association - ADRL, where he set up the Forestry section and developed relevant projects, such as creating one of the first wildland firefighter teams in the country.
He was also Vice-Chair of the 3 Serras de Lafões Co-operative.
He was Vice-Chair of the Forestry Forum – Portuguese Forests Federative Structure.
He was member of the Committee to draft and analyse the PROF(s) of the Dão-Lafões region, in his quality of representative of forestry producers of the Lafões region in the Regional Directorate for Agriculture of Beira Litoral - Viseu
He was co-author in drafting the study and publication: ‘Structural infrastructure for the protection against wildland fires and interpreting the fire hazard charts for the Viseu district’’ (Publication by the Viseu Civil Government, 2004).