Board of Directors
-
Ana Cabral GardnerChief Executive Officer & Co-Chairperson
Ana Cristina Cabral has over 20 years of experience as a senior banker at global investment banks in New York, London and São Paulo. Ms. Cabral is a former Head of Lat. Am. Capital Markets at Goldman Sachs in New York and a former Managing Director at the firm. Ms. Cabral has been involved in a large number of transactions over her career, totaling more than US$100 billion, five of which won the prestigious IFR “Deal of the Year” award, including the privatization of Vale in 1996 and the acquisition of Inco by Vale in 2006. Ms. Cabral has an MBA degree from Columbia Business School and a Master in Finance degree from London Business School. Ms. Cabral serves on the Advisory Board of Columbia University Global Centers and is a CCEC board member of The American School of São Paulo.
-
Marcelo PaivaDirector and Co-Chairperson
Marcelo Paiva is the Managing Partner and Co-Founder of A10 Investimentos. He is the portfolio manager of A10 FIA, the Corporation’s largest shareholder. Mr. Paiva has over 20 years of experience in asset management and investment banking in New York, London and São Paulo. Prior to A10 Investimentos, Mr. Paiva was a Portfolio Manager at the Mittal Family Office in São Paulo. Previously, he was a Vice-President at the U.K. asset manager Millennium Global in London, which, at the time, had over US$15 billion in assets under management and was one of the largest hedge funds in Europe. Mr. Paiva also held investment banking positions at Credit Suisse in London and UBS in New York. He has a Master in Business Administration from INSEAD in France and is a CFA Charterholder.
-
Bechara S. AzarDirector
Mr. Azar has over 17 years of experience of Canadian and international investment management.
Mr. Azar is the founder and managing partner of JISRAK, a Montreal based research firm specialized in sourcing and oversight of portfolios on behalf of international Limited Partners.
Previously Mr. Azar was a Director at Innocap (a US$ 50 billion alternative investment platform owned by BNY Mellon, Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec - CDPQ and BNP Paribas) in Montreal for over 10 years. Mr. Azar also worked for 5 years at HSBC Private Banking in Dubai, Geneva, London and New York.
Mr. Azar holds a MSc in Management from the HEC School of Management in Paris and a B. Eng. Electrical Engineering from the American University of Beirut. He is a certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM), Chartered Investment Manager (CIM) and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA). He is a native Arabic and French speaker.
-
Cesar ChicaybanDirector
Cesar Chicayban is the CEO and Managing Partner of Vila Rica Capital, an independent alternative asset manager focused on credit strategies and special situations. He has over 27 years of experience as a senior banker and advisor in New York, Geneva, London and São Paulo. Mr. Chicayban spent 22 years at Citigroup where he was the Global Market Manager for Citi Wealth Management in New York, responsible for over $300 billion in assets. Before that, he spent 6 years at Itaú-Unibanco and Santander advising institutional and retail clients.
Mr. Chicayban holds a B.S. in Economics from the University Federal Fluminense in Rio de Janeiro, an MBA from the University of Rochester – Simon Business School and he completed an Executive Development Program at Harvard Business School. He holds FINRA Series 7, 65 and 24 licenses.
Mr. Chicayban serves on the Board of Columbia University Global Center.
-
José Lucas Ferreira de MeloDirector
José Lucas Ferreira de Melo has over 40 years of experience in Board of Directors, Audit Committees, Banking C-Level, and Audit Firm partner positions.
Mr. Ferreira de Melo was a Board Member and, for 4 years, Chairman of the Audit Committee at B3 S.A. (Brazil’s Stock Exchange). Previously Mr. Ferreira de Melo was Board Member and Chairman of the Audit Committee at Dufry AG (Switzerland); and Board Member at Cetip S.A., International Meal Company S.A. (IMC); Restoque S.A. and Diagnósticos da América S.A.
Mr. Ferreira de Melo was a member of the Audit Committee at Banco Bradesco. He started his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and was a partner from 1993 to 1997.
In addition, Mr. Ferreira de Melo was a Director at CVM (Brazil’s Securities Exchange Commission) and chairman of the National Commission for Audit Rules of the Brazilian Accountants Institute.
For almost a decade Mr. Ferreira de Melo was a C-Level and executive officer at Unibanco S.A. and Unibanco Holdings S.A.
Mr. Ferreira de Melo was also an Executive Director at Febraban (Brazilian Banks Federation). Mr. Ferreira de Melo holds an Accounting Degree from AEUDF. He served as Director at Bienal de São Paulo for 2 mandates.
-
Alexandre RodriguesDirector
Alexandre Rodrigues is an academic focused on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
Mr. Rodrigues is a member of the Board of the Université de Sherbrooke, and for the last 27 years he has been teaching Environmental Management and Sustainability, Environmental Geotechnics and Soil Mechanics.
He has vast and unique experience in geotechnical issues, such as the beneficial use of industrial residues as a substitute for natural soils. Mr. Rodrigues led successful pioneering projects in the proper use of industrial by-products.
Mr. Rodrigues was vice-president of the Canadian Geotechnical Society in the 2000s and is presently a member of the Scientific Advisory Panel of the International Waste Working Group (IWWG).
Mr. Rodrigues has worked as a consultant for several companies in Canada, Europe and South America. Previously, he worked for Serrener Consultation, D&G Enviro-Group and Enge-Rio.
From 2002 to 2015, Mr. Rodrigues also supervised a humanitarian group in Peru, Haiti, Burkina Faso and Malawi.
Mr. Rodrigues holds a B.Eng. from PUC-Rio, Brazil; a M.Sc. (Mineral Engineering) from École Polytechnique de Montréal and a Ph.D. (Civil Eng. & Applied Mechanics) from McGill University.
Technical Consultants
-
Vicente LoboCo-Chairperson of Technical CommitteeVicente Lobo is trained as a mining engineer and has over 30 years of experience in executive roles at major Brazilian natural resource companies, including as COO of Bunge Fertilizantes and COO of Vale Fertilizantes. He also served as Secretary of Geology, Mining and Mineral Transformation at Brazil’s Ministry of Mines and Energy, where he was responsible for the program that included the creation of Brazil’s current mining regulator Agência Nacional de Mineração (ANM) and for updating the national mining code, which was a landmark event for the development of the Brazilian mining industry. He is currently Managing Partner at the mining consultancy firm Lobo Engenharia.
-
Wes RobertsCo-Chairperson of Technical Committee
Wes Roberts, M.Sc., P.Eng., MBA is a professional mining engineer with over 35 years of experience specializing in the economic evaluation and development of mineral deposits. Wes is a Director of Empress Royalty, Sparton Resources, Golden Share and Canadian Gold Miner. Over his career, he has gained extensive experience in mineral exploration, mining operations, project engineering and management as well as diverse mining engineering experience that includes precious metals, base metals, iron ore and industrial minerals. Wes has held numerous positions in the mining industry, which include Canada Talc Limited, Derry Michener Booth & Wahl, Davey International, Bharti Engineering, GMP Securities, Inco Ltd, Breakwater Resources Ltd (VP Corporate Development) and VP Mining to the Canadian law firm Heenan Blaikie LLP. Since then, he has held positions as Mineral Engineering Consultant with the American law firm Dorsey & Whitney LLP, Mineral Engineer for Gravitas Mining Corp and most recently as Mining Engineer at Principle Capital Partners. Wes holds a B.Sc. (Mining Engineering) and M.Sc. (Mining Engineering) from Queen’s University, and an M.B.A. (Finance) from the Schulich School of Business (York University).