Odebrecht S.A. announced the creation of a Global Advisory Council (GAC) to support the governance and development of the group’s companies in areas such as corporate citizenship, sustainability and anti-corruption. Linked to the Company’s Board of Directors, the Global Advisory Council includes thought leaders from Brazil and various other countries who work in civil society organizations, academia and the private sector.

The new Council will meet for the first time next week, in São Paulo. The agenda includes working meetings with the Executive Board of Odebrecht S.A., the holding company of the Odebrecht Group, and a seminar in which 180 of the group’s business leaders from around the globe will participate. The main topics to be discussed in the seminar are the role of companies in society, the factors of long-term success and how to compete in challenging environments while upholding integrity, high ethical standards and transparency.

The creation of GAC is part of Odebrecht’s transformation that began with its decision, in March 2016, to collaborate fully with authorities and with the public commitment it undertook to act always with ethics, integrity and transparency.

“The Advisory Council will bring to the group a very rich set of international experiences that will be useful in day-to-day activities,” said Sergio Foguel, a member of the Board of Directors of Odebrecht S.A. and chairman of the new Council. The group’s executives also will be able to consult councilmembers for advice on any specific situations they face.

The rules for the Advisory Council’s functioning include holding at least two annual meetings, during which its members will hold working meetings with the Executive Board of Odebrecht S.A. and a seminar with leaders from the entire group.

Meet the members of the GAC:

Claudio Valladares-Padua
Co-founder and vice-president of the Ecological Research Institute (IPÊ), dean of the Environmental Conservation and Sustainability School of Higher Learning and a professor from the University of Brasília (UnB). He is a member of Fibria’s sustainability council and Natura’s Amazon Program. He also conducts research at Columbia University in New York.

Georg Kell
President of Arabesque Partners, a fund specializing in using artificial intelligence to assess the sustainability and performance of listed companies. He is the founding Executive Director of the United Nations Global Compact, the world’s largest voluntary initiative for corporate sustainability. Named one of the “100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics” every year since 2011.

Jermyn Brooks
Chairs the Business Advisory Board of Transparency International (TI) and the Steering Committee of the Siemens Integrity Initiative conducted by TI. After a successful career at PricewaterhouseCoopers, he started to work at TI in 2000, where he has held various positions, including executive officer and board member.

Lynn S. Paine
Professor and former Senior Associate Dean at Harvard Business School (HBS). She has written widely on the leadership and governance of companies that meld high ethical standards with outstanding financial results. She currently teaches in the MBA program of HBS, where she co-founded the required course on Leadership and Corporate Accountability. She holds a law degree from Harvard Law School and a doctorate in moral philosophy from Oxford University.

Mark Moody-Stuart
Chairman of the Global Compact Foundation and Vice-Chairman of the UN Global Compact. A director of Saudi Aramco since 2007, he served as Chairman of the Board of the Shell Group from 1998 to 2001 and of Anglo American from 2002 to 2009. After receiving a doctorate in Geology from Cambridge University, he worked for Shell in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

Newton de Souza
Vice-chairman of the Board of Directors and formed Chief Executive Officer of Odebrecht S.A. (2015-2017). He joined the group as general counsel in 1988. He served as member of the board of directors in all the group’s business areas. He also served as Chairman of the Board of Companhia de Concessões Rodoviárias – CCR. Previously he was a visiting lawyer at the law firm Dechert, Price & Rhoads in Philadelphia, a senior lawyer at the law firm Pinheiro Neto Advogados and senior counsel for the Latin America and Caribbean Division of the World Bank. He holds a law degree from Pontifical Catholic University of Sao Paulo (PUC-SP) and an LL.M. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Rubens Ricúpero
A member of the Board of Directors of Odebrecht S.A. since 2004, he was Dean of the Economics and International Relations School of the Armando Álvares Penteado Foundation (FAAP) from 2005 to 2017, and is currently Dean for Corporate Affairs at FAAP. A career diplomat, he retired after heading the Brazilian embassies in Geneva, Washington and Rome. He served as Minister of Finance and Minister of Environment. From 1995 to 2004, he served as Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in Geneva.

Sergio Foguel
Member of the Board of Directors of Odebrecht S.A., chairman of the Global Advisory Council and coordinator of the company’s Compliance Committee. He served as senior vice-president of Corporate Governance, Strategic Planning and People & Organization from 1977 and 2001. He is a member of the International Board of the Dom Cabral Foundation (FDC) and of other international committees. He studied and conducted research into learning and organizational development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and at Harvard University. He holds an M.Sc. in Business Administration from the University of California at Los Angeles, and a B.Sc. Civil Engineering from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS).

Tensie Whelan
Director of NYU Stern School of Business’s Center for Sustainable Business and former President of the Rainforest Alliance, one of the most important international organizations to promote business with sustainability, currently present in more than 60 countries. She was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics and has served on numerous advisory boards, such as Unilever’s Sustainability Board and the Nespresso Innovation Fund Advisory Board.

Vinod Thomas
Professor at the University of Singapore and at the Asian Institute of Management, in Manila, the Philippines. Former Director-General of Independent Evaluation Group at the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and Vice-President of the same area at the World Bank, where he also served as director for Brazil and as vice-president. He joined the World Bank in 1976 and has served in various positions. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago.