Amec elects new board members and vice presidents

On April 22, Amec elected its new board of directors, composed of 15 members to hold office for two years. The board has 5 new members and 10 members were re-elected. Walter Mendes, CEO of Funcesp, was elected to chair the board. Two new members were elected for the management board, comprised of the CEO and 7 representatives of the association’s members. The Conselho Fiscal, with 3 members, was re-elected.
The board is formed by members with diverse views and perspectives, including independent fund managers, large financial institutions and foreign assets. Women are now represented in it with the election of Daniela Costa-Bulthuis, representative of the Dutch asset manager Robeco. In addition to Ms. Costa-Bulthuis, the new members are Carlos Takahashi, from BlackRock, Marcelo Arnosti, from BB DTVM, Elmer Ferraz, from Itaú Asset Management, and Marcelo Nantes, from Bradesco. Find below brief bios of the members of Amec’s board of directors, management board and conselho fiscal.
Board of Directors
Alexandre Silverio, Chief Investment Officer, AZQuest
Before becoming a partner at AZQuest, Mr. Silverio worked for Santander Asset Management, where he headed the variable income, multimarket and business analysis teams. He also worked at Gap Asset Management and Fleming Graphus Asset Management. This is his third term in office representing an independent management fund at Amec. “We have to advocate an agenda that benefit the community of investors as a whole,” he says.
In Silverio’s opinion, the challenge facing Amec’s board in this mandate is to reach consensus on a more unbiased and efficient way. He also believes that the association should continue to work to enhance the corporate governance of Brazilian companies. “The companies’ top managements should not concentrate only on generating value for controlling shareholders, they have to work to benefit all shareholders,” he concludes.
Carlos Takahashi, CEO, BlackRock in Brazil
Mr. Takahashi has been serving as the CEO of the world’s largest fund manager for Brazil since March. From 2009 to 2015, he was the head of BB DTVM, Banco do Brasil’s fund manager. BlackRock is a minority shareholder with relevant stakes in a number of companies across the world due to its participation in the market of index funds traded in stock exchanges. As it has shares of companies listed in these indexes, BlackRock is very concerned about issues related to the corporate governance of these organizations, reason why it is important for it to be a member of Amec.
Disseminating Amec Stewardship Code and boosting the representation of women on corporate boards are two points Mr. Takahashi highlighted as the main concerns of the board’s current mandate. “Our country has a rich ethnic diversity and we should focus on preparing and empowering professionals that can eventually participate in the companies’ boards”, he pointed out.
Daniela Costa-Bulthuis, Portfolio Manager, Robeco Latam Fund
Besides managing the fund of the Dutch fund manager for Latin America, Ms. Costa-Bulthuis is also responsible for Robeco’s equity investments in Brazil and in the Sub-Saharan Africa. In the sector since 1997, she previously worked at Petros pension fund and Normura. Ms. Costa-Bulthuis says that she will bring her experience in activism through the engagement mindset, a well-established practice among European asset managers. “Brazilian companies need to do away with the idea that there is an antagonism between controlling and minority shareholders, reason why engagement practices are so important,” she said.
About the under-representation of women on the boards of Brazilian companies, Ms. Costa-Bulthuis stated that there is a lack of professionals in the market qualified to occupy the position and that companies should take that into consideration when they prepare their succession plans.
Eduardo Penido, Partner and COO, Opportunity
Mr. Penido has been a partner and COO of Opportunity since 1994. Prior to that, he worked at ABN Amro Bank, Citibank, and Banco da Cidade. In addition to participating in Amec’s board, he is also a member of the boards of FIAFIN – the Ibero-American Federation of Investment Funds – and IIFA – the International Investment Funds Association. He was also a member of Bovespa’s board and served as a director at ANBIMA – the Brazilian Financial and Capital Market Association.
Elmer Ferraz, Head of Equities, Itaú Asset Management
Before heading the Equity area of Itaú Asset Management, Mr. Ferraz worked as a buy-side analyst at the asset, in addition to having worked at Banco Safra and PwC. He highlighted that, as a member of Amec’s board, he will bring the points of view of his institution, which is linked to Itaú Unibanco.
“Unfortunately, we continue to witness several cases of disrespect for the rights of minority shareholders and other capital market’s participants. With that in mind, I will focus on the defense of the best corporate governance practices and minority shareholders’ interests”, he said. He also pointed out the need of introducing new regulations for the Brazilian capital market.
Helder Soares, CIO, Claritas Investimentos
Mr. Soares has been the CIO of Claritas since 2001. Prior to that, he was a partner of Matrix, responsible for the bank’s proprietary operations, and also an analyst at Banco Patrimônio. He highlighted that Amec will soon have a new CEO and that one of the greatest challenges facing the association’s board is to integrate the new professional. “Mandatory operations, such as mergers, continue to be one of the main challenges in governance terms as minority shareholders are rarely taken into consideration in these operations,” he says.
Marcelo Arnosti, Executive Manager, BB DTVM
At Banco do Brasil for more than 20 years, Mr. Arnosti is also an economics and international relations professor. He highlighted that Amec’s focus is to defend the rights of minority shareholders and drive the development of the Brazilian capital markets, and that, as one of the association’s board members, he intends to work actively towards these objectives. He also stressed that, in a macroeconomic scenario with a one-digit Selic rate, the capital market is likely to attract more investors, meaning that Amec’s work will become increasingly important.
“It is important that more and more companies understand that a well-governed management creates value and that the search for higher profits in the short term through arguable practices will reduce the company’s value in the long term, negatively affecting its future,” he said.
Marcelo Nantes, Variable Income Superintendent, Bradesco Asset Management (BRAM)
Graduated in Aircraft Mechanical Engineering from the Technological Institute of Aeronautics (ITA), Mr. Nantes has been working for BRAM since 2018. Prior to that, he worked at the Black River Asset Management, Ashmore Emerging Markets Management, and Ventor Investimentos as a variable income manager. In his current position, he is responsible for the management of funds and for variable income and credit analyses, in addition to coordinating the multimarket management and quantitative strategies areas. “The board of directors has to focus on establishing the priorities to be debated by Amec to adjust eventual distortions in the Brazilian capital markets,” he says.
In the board member’s opinion, one of the main challenges for the implementation of good governance practices in Brazilian companies is the multiple interpretations allowed by the current legislation, resulting in an environment of legal uncertainties for all kinds of investors.
Marcos de Callis, Management and Strategy Superintendent, Votorantim Asset Management
With a vast experience in the analysis area, Mr. Callis started his career as a trainee at Citibank in 1987, where he worked until 1995. He also worked for Banco CCF Brasil, Schroders, and Itaú. He has been a member of Amec’s board since 2017. “I want to help improve the Brazilian capital market. To this end, we will continue supervising and calling the attention to operations conducted by listed companies that can harm minority shareholders, highlighting equitable practices and interacting with regulators, self-regulators and the Public Prosecutor’s Office to enhance the legislation in force,” he said.
Paulo Corchaki, CEO and Founder, Trafalgar Investimentos
Currently representative of an independent asset management firm, Mr. Corchaki has already represented a large bank and a foreign investor at Amec. He also headed the UBS’ asset in Brazil and served as the CIO of Itaú Asset Management before founding Trafalgar. “I understand these three different views, reason why I am a conciliatory voice in the board. Today, there are more foreign members and pension funds participating in the board, it is not as polarized as it used to be when most members were either local banks or independent fund managers,” he says.
Pedro Batista, Founding Partner, 3G Radar, partner, 3G Capital
Mr. Batista was a partner of Banco Pactual from 1997 to 2006. He has been recognized with several prizes for his analyses, such as the Institutional Investor and the LatinFinance Awards. Founding partner of Vinci Partners, where he headed the research team, he also worked at UBS Pactual. He has been at 3G Capital since 2013.
Pedro Rudge, Founding Partner, Leblon Equities
“The Brazilian capital market is much smaller than it could be,” believes Mr. Rudge, always confident in its development potential. With 22 years of experience in the Brazilian equities market, he worked for IP Capital, Bradesco Templeton, and Latinvest Asset Management. He is also a member of the board of directors of Springs Global S.A. Mr. Rudge pointed out that Amec gathers independent fund managers, which tend to have a more aggressive posture, and large banks, which usually take more conservative positions. “One of the association’s challenges is to find the appropriate balance between these two views”, he commented.
Rudge pointed out that the Brazilian market still faces many clear cases of conflict of interests involving controlling shareholders in detriment of minority shareholders. In the case of companies with ADRs, shareholders usually find more legal support in the US market. Such situations can be very harmful to the local market, leading investors to prefer to invest in foreign stock exchanges.
Peter Taylor, Director and Head of Brazilian Equities, Aberdeen
Mr. Taylor has been working at Aberdeen since 2007.  Prior to that, he worked in the international finances area at the International Finance Corporation, in Hong Kong.
Roberto Reis de Freitas Junior, Head of Equities, Santander Asset Management
Graduated in Civil Engineering from the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Mr. Freitas started his career as equity analyst at Sudameris in 2000. Later on, he occupied the position of fund manager at BankBoston, worked for ABN Amro, and was a partner of RXZ Investimentos. He has been responsible for the Equities area of Santander Asset Management in Brazil since 2012.
Walter Mendes, CEO, Funcesp
One of Amec’s founders, Mr. Mendes was the association’s CEO from 2009 to 2011. During that period, Amec started to be internationalized and its Technical Commission – discussion forum about governance issues – became more dynamic. He also participated in Apimec, which gathers analysts, and in Abrapp, which represents pension funds. Before joining Funcesp, Mr. Mendes was the CEO of Petrobras’s employee pension fund. “Now, I will be participating more actively in Amec as the chair of the association’s board. I hope to leverage my experience and help Amec continue to occupy a prominent position in the Brazilian capital markets,” he said.
Mr. Mendes highlighted that Amec is going through the process of selecting a new CEO, what represents a great challenge for the association. Another challenge is to combining the interests of local independent managers, bank and foreign management companies and pension funds. “We have to be able to find common denominators and continue evolving, growing and using our voice to influence the market. We also need to diversify our revenue sources and enhance our technical activities on knowledge sharing,” he said.
New Vice Presidents
José Alberto Baltieri, CFA
Graduated in Business Administration from the University of São Paulo, Mr. Baltieri has been working in the capital market since 2004. He started his career as an investment analyst at Socopa Corretora Paulista, covering several sectors of the economy. He served as a specialist of Small Caps and the Mining and Steel industry at Fator Corretora and, later on, as a buy-side analyst and Variable Income manager at Banco Espírito Santo (BES). Mr. Baltieri has been at Bradesco Asset Management since August 2010, serving as co-manager of the Dividends and Small Caps area and the manager responsible for BRAM’s Variable Income strategies. He became a CFA in 2014.
Paulo de Sá
Graduated in Mechanical Engineering from FEI, Mr. de Sá holds a postgraduate degree in Finances from FGV and a MSc degree in Business Administration from PUC. Working in the capital market since 1981, he started his career as a consultant at Price Waterhouse and, later on, he occupied a number of positions in several investment banks – at Unibanco and Credibanco as a business analyst and at Multiplic and Lloyds as an investment director. He has been serving as executive manager of Variable Income and Real Estate Investments at Funcesp since 2006.
 
Members of Conselho Fiscal
Fernando Fanchin, Partner, Manager and Variable Income Analyst, Teorema Investimentos
Before becoming a partner of Teorema in May 2015, Fanchin worked for Rio Bravo Investimentos, where he developed a solid work in the activism sphere. He also served as board member and alternate board member of Randon’s and Metalúrgica Gerdau’s conselhos fiscais, respectively.
Marcos Matsutani, Partner, Constellation Asset Management
Mr. Matsutani joined Constellation as a trainee in 2009 and currently he is responsible for the investments of the Infrastructure and Energy sectors. He is one of the founders and creators of Fundo Patrimonial Amigos da Poli, an endowment fund for the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo, founded in 2012.
Vitor Perito, Vice President, Franklin Templeton Investimentos in Brazil
At Franklin Templeton since June 2002, Mr. Perito is responsible for the Health, Civil Construction, Real Estate, Infrastructure Concessions, Air Transportation and Logistics segments.