Emílio Rui Vilar was born in Porto on May 17, 1939. He has a law degree from the University of Coimbra (1961) and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Lisbon (2011).

He is currently Chairman of the Board of Founders of the Serralves Foundation, a member of the Superior Council of the Portuguese Catholic University, Senior Advisor to the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Chairman of the Ethics Committee of the Bank of Portugal and a Council Member of Europa Nostra.

In 1966, after his legal training and military service (1962 - 1965), he joined the Civil Service, where he worked until 1969. That year, he took on managerial duties at Banco Português do Atlântico, where he remained until mid-1973.

In the early 1970s, he joined the group of citizens who founded SEDES, of which he was the first president. His political career began in 1974 as Secretary of State for Foreign Trade and Tourism in the First Provisional Government. In the same year, he was entrusted with the Ministry of the Economy in the Second and Third Provisional Governments (1974/75). He was elected to Parliament in 1976. Between 1976 and 1978, he was Minister for Transport and Communications in the First Constitutional Government and, between 1986 and 1989, Director-General of the Commission of the European Communities in Brussels.

As a manager, he was Vice-Governor of the Central Bank of Portugal between 1975 and 1984, Chairman of the Management Board of Banco Espírito Santo e Comercial de Lisboa (1985/86), Chairman of the Board of Directors of Caixa Geral de Depósitos (1989-1996) and Chairman of the Audit Board of Banco de Portugal (1996 - 2014). He was Chairman of the Board of Directors of GalpEnergia between 2001 and 2002 and Chairman of the General Council of the Portuguese Institute of Corporate Governance (2007-2011). He was Chairman of REN between 2014 and 2015. He returned to Caixa Geral de Depósitos as Chairman (2017 - 2021).

He was a Board member (1996 - 2002), Chairman (2002-2012) and non-executive Board member (2012-2022) of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. He held the presidency of the European Foundation Center (EFC) from June 2008 to May 2011, having also chaired the Portuguese Foundation Center (2006 - 2012). In 1998, with Raquel Campos Franco, he began teaching Management of Non-Profit Organizations at the Catholic University in Porto.

He chaired the Supervisory Committee of the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos (1980-86) and was Commissioner-General for Europália between 1989 and 1992. Between 1989 and 1991, he was Vice-President of the Serralves Foundation. He launched Culturgest in 1993 and was a director of Porto 2001, SA in 1999. He was President of the General Council of the University of Coimbra (2017-2021).