LatinFinance - May/June 2015 - 4

NEWS
PEOPLE

The region's biggest oil and commodity producers shake up
their leadership. By Jennifer P. Roig

Oil change please
As the effects of the commodity
price crash reverberated,
several national exporters made
executive changes. In Brazil,
Vale's chief executive Murilo
Ferreira was named Petrobras
chairman, replacing the
former finance minister Guido
Mantega.
Colombia's Ecopetrol
appointed Juan Carlos
Echeverry, also a former
finance minister, as chief
executive, replacing Javier
Gutiérrez. In Chile, mining
company Codelco called
Alejandro Rivera Stambuk as
chief financial officer to replace
Héctor Espinoza, who had held
the post on an interim basis after
Iván Arriagada left in December.
Also in Chile, Sociedad
Química Minera (SQM) changed
its leadership as the market
regulator investigates five
former company directors.
Patricio Contesse stepped down
as chief executive, replaced
by Patricio de Solminihac
Tampier. Julio Ponce resigned
as chairman after 28 years,
although he remains controlling
shareholder. Juan Antonio
Guzmán now chairs SQM
board.
Elsewhere in Chile, César
Barros Montero resigned as
chairman of retailer La Polar.
On the other side of the Andes,
Oscar Cicchetti left his role as
CEO of Telecom Argentina to
take a post at Telecom Italia.
Mexican infrastructure
company ICA named Gabriel
de la Concha as CFO, a

4 L ATINFINA NCE.COM - May/June 2015

post held by Víctor Bravo,
who became head of ICA's
concessions unit. Ideal's CFO
Miguel Martínez Parra left
to take the same responsibility
at Spanish infrastructure and
renewable energy company
FCC.
Eugenio Madero Pinsón
became Rassini's chief
executive, replacing his
father and founder Antonio
Madero Bracho, who stays
as chairman of the board.
Juan Pablo Sánchez Kanter
was promoted as Rassini's
general financial director,
to replace Sergio Mauricio
Visintini Freschi. In Grupo
Aeroportuario del Pacífico
(GAP), Saúl Villarreal García
took over as CFO, after Raúl
Revuelta was appointed to the
same post at OHL Mexico in
January.
Wal-Mart de Mexico called
Pedro Farah, Walmart's
LatAm CFO, to replace Rafael
Matute as CFO. Matute is
retiring after 28 years at the
company.
LATAM CEO: Jane Fraser moves
up at Citi

Sergio Manuel Cancino
Rodríguez left his post as Grupo
Mexicano de Desarrollo's
chief financial advisor, and the
company's CEO Diego Xavier
Avilés takes over the role until a
replacement is named.

Itaú preps for Setubal
departure

Itaú Unibanco announced a
suite of senior promotions as
CEO Roberto Setubal nears
mandatory retirement age.
The bank named Marco
Bonomi as director-general
for retail, Cândido Bracher
director-general of wholesale,
and Marcio Schettini
director-general of technology,
operations and efficiency.
In Banco Pine, CEO Noberto
Nogueira Pinheiro has taken
on CFO responsibilities after
Norberto Zaiet stepped down.
BNP Paribas Securities called
Andrea Cattaneo to lead its
Brazilian unit, while Nelson
Fernandes stepped down from
the post.
In Mexico, Citigroup named
Jane Fraser as chief executive
for Latin America, one of a series
of senior appointments as the
bank restructures its leadership
ahead of the departure of
Manuel Medina-Mora on June 1.
Fraser will replace Francisco
Aristeguieta, who is moving
to be chief executive for AsiaPacific. He had been LatAm CEO
since 2012. In Apac, he takes
over from Stephen Bird, who
will become chief executive of
Citi's global consumer bank,

a position currently held by
Medina-Mora, in addition to
being chairman of Banamex.
Medina-Mora will remain as
non-executive chairman at
Banamex.
UBS hired Alexander van
Tienhoven to head its wealth
management unit for Latin
America and the Caribbean,
given his previous experience
as chief executive of Citi Wealth
and Investment Management
in Mexico and Latin America.
Greylock Capital hired
JPMorgan portfolio manager
Jonathan Prin as head of
research, to manage a team of
investment analysts covering
emerging market corporates
and sovereigns.
In the public sector,
Michel Janna left his job as
head of Colombia's public
credit office to become
financial vice-president of
Ecopetrol's transport and
logistics subsidiary Cenit. A
replacement had not been
named by late April. Panama's
government appointed
Ricardo Fernández as
the country's banking
superintendent for a fouryear term, replacing Alberto
Diamond. Fernández comes
from leading Citi's transaction
services at the Panamanian
unit.
Banxico chief Agustín
Carstens was picked to head
the IMF's primary advisory
board, replacing Singaporean
finance minister Tharman
Shanmugaratnam. LF
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