With a distinguished career spanning nearly three decades in the real estate and retail property sector, Cristina Moreira dos Santos currently serves as the Executive Director of Property Management and Leasing at Sonae Sierra, a role Santos has held since 2021. In addition, since 2022, Santos has been honored to act as the Chairwoman of the Portuguese Association of Shopping Centres, representing and advocating for the interests of the industry at a national level.
Her professional journey with Sonae Sierra began in 1995, and over the years, Santos has held a series of progressively senior roles within the company. These include serving as Executive Director of Property Management for Portugal and Spain (2016–2021), Managing Director of Property Management in Portugal (2009–2015), and Head of Property Management for the same region (2003–2009). Earlier in her career, she also worked as Regional Manager and Shopping Center Manager, gaining deep operational and strategic insights into the industry. Santos holds a Master’s degree in Engineering from Universidade Católica Portuguesa and completed the Advanced Management Programme (AMP) at INSEAD, further strengthening her leadership and strategic management skills.
“We are delighted to welcome such an experienced and inspiring woman as Cristina Santos to our ACROSS Advisory Board”, says Reinhard Winiwarter, Managing Director of ACROSS. “Cristina and her team at Sonae Sierra are setting standards throughout Europe with their projects. We are looking forward to an even more intensive exchange and to learning a lot from Cristina’s vision of the retail real estate world.”
Retirement: All the best to Jean Christoph Brexta
Jean-Christophe Brexta, who was most recently self-employed as Senior Consultant at Real Estate Intelligence and was previously CEO of Metro Properties for many years, is leaving the ACROSS Advisory Board. As such, he played a key role in shaping the retail real estate sector. Not only can he look back on a long and successful career, but he has also touched and inspired many colleagues, partners and competitors with his friendly and forward-looking manner.
“It is a big pity to lose such an experienced industry expert and character like Jean-Christophe”, states Klaus Striebich, Managing Director of RaRE Advise and Head of the ACROSS Advisory Board. ACROSS Manager and Director Reinhard Winiwarter adds: “Jean Christoph has always been at our side with his assessments of developments and innovations and has always set exciting accents in discussions. We thank him from the bottom of our hearts for his commitment to the retail real estate industry and the ACROSS Advisory Board – we will miss him in this group.”
Jean-Christoph Brexta has decided to retire and devote himself to projects outside the retail real estate world. The ACROSS Advisory Board and the ACROSS Team very much appreciated in working and collaborating with Jean Christoph, and thank him very much for everything and wish him lots of luck and good health.
About the ACROSS Advisory Board
The ACROSS Advisory Board was established in mid-2016. From day one, the Board’s stated goal has been offering its topic formulation expertise. Over the years, the board has not only grown, but it has also become more interdisciplinary, just like the retail real estate world itself. In addition to shopping center managers, the board includes architects, retail experts, financial experts, PropTech professionals, consultants, and outlet managers. The mix of expertise from the various areas that our industry has to offer makes the ACROSS board unique. That is not only because the mixed-use asset class is rising, but also because collaboration and embracing innovative approaches are essential to our business. The ACROSS Advisory Board is currently comprised of 31 members. That allows us to monitor current trends and changes within the industry closely and to be able to classify them.
