Advisory Board

Ronaldo Veirano is the founding partner of Veirano Advogados and is a highly regarded legal expert, recognized internationally for his statesmanship, facility with sophisticated legal issues and significant network of global contacts. Over the years, clients have sought his advice on a myriad of issues surrounding corporate law and operating in Brazil. He has served as an advisor to numerous corporations and their boards, along with governments and their officials from across the globe. An erudite and accomplished speaker, Mr. Veirano is frequently invited to address international audiences on a variety of complex legal subjects, trade issues and other topics that affect companies, countries and their growth.

In 1972, while a partner with U.S. law firm Baker & McKenzie, Mr. Veirano opened the firm’s Rio de Janeiro office. A true visionary, he predicted the impending changes to the Brazilian legal landscape and the opportunity for Brazil to become a significant player in international arena and, in 1996, formed Veirano Advogados. His goal was to establish a Brazilian firm that was built on deep legal knowledge, combined with superior client service, to serve the needs of Brazilian companies and international corporations that also recognized the crucial role Brazil would play in the world economy. Today, Veirano Advogados is considered among the leading law firms in Brazil with more than 270 attorneys across the country. Clients, peers and the media frequently recognize the Firm, and its attorneys for their significant accomplishments including selection by Chambers & Partners in 2010 for the first Latin American Client Service Award.

A recognized leader in Brazil and globally, Mr. Veirano has been actively involved in efforts to advance the development of business between Brazil and other countries. In 2000, he was appointed as Honorary Consul of Australia for Rio de Janeiro and has actively promoted business between the two countries. In recognition of his continued service and success, the Governor-General of Australia appointed Mr. Veirano as an Honorary Member of the General Division of the Order of Australia in 2009.

In early 2008, Mr. Veirano was nominated by the Brazilian Government to join the prestigious Fulbright Commission, which grants scholarships to Brazilian students to study, lecture or conduct research in the United States. In addition, the Brazilian government awarded Mr. Veirano with the Order of Rio Branco in the rank of Commander. The Order of Rio Branco was created in 1963 to recognize and celebrate the merits of Brazilian and foreign individuals who have significantly contributed to the promotion of Brazil’s relations with the world. In 2008, he was honored by the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro and was awarded the venerated Tiradentes Medal, given for service to the City

Olympia Ichochea, a Peruvian national, is an economist with a professional career in development economics, specialized in social sectors for over 25 years. Having worked with multilateral organizations – Development Bank of Latin America (CAF) and World Bank, Olympia has acquired extensive experience dealing with major development challenges in the Latin American and Caribbean region. She has combined expertise in policy design and project financing and management, identification of business opportunities and country and sector strategies.

At the Development Bank of Latin America, Olympia was responsible for leading the area of education and health in business generation, knowledge management and regional integration, for the 19 member countries of CAF. She led the development of a $US700 million project portfolio in education and health and managed technical assistance in multiple themes such as vocational and technical education and cross border health planning. At the Word Bank, Olympia extended her research skills, encompassing the conduct of social and institutional analysis for different sectoral projects. She also gained competence in networking, alliance-building and experience in operating in diverse cultural environments.

Olympia has an M.A. in Economics from Georgetown University and an M.A. in Area at Interdisciplinary Studies from University of California, Berkeley. Presently, she is living in Lima and pursuing new projects that promote private entrepreneurship with social impact.

Michel Levy was born in Egypt and emigrated to Brazil in 1957.

He graduated in 1977 from the Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo with a BSc in Civil Engineering, and in 1979 from Stanford University with a MSc in Engineering Management.

Levy started his career in 1980, working for a large Brazilian Trading company – Cotia Trading- managing agroindustry projects in Nigeria and Cameroun.

In 1982 he founded a computer retail business, backed by local investors. The business was sold in 1992, when then Levy started his executive career.

From 1992 to date, Levy has held CxO positions in several companies in the ITC industry, such as Motorola, Bellsouth-Safra Joint Venture, Promon Tecnologia, Telecom Italia and Microsoft. He was Microsoft Brazil CEO from 2006 to 2013.

Levy also invested in start-ups as an Angel investor and served as an independent member of Board of Directors of several companies.

Presently Levy is the CEO of Zatix/Omnilink, www.omnilink.com.br a fleet management and telematics company and is also serving as an independent member of two Boards: Benner Sistemas and Petronect.

Levy is actively involved with technology. In 2013 he participated in the Singularity University https://su.org/ Executive Program and is very interested in the IoT world.

Mariano Jenik was born in Buenos Aires in 1951. He studied Technology in the UTN (Universidad Técnologica Nacional) and immediately immersed himself in the business of international trading.

He began his foray in trading across the seas with a strong stint in the United States, living in New York, Miami and the Caribbean in order to position himself in the fish trading industry, building strong relationships with the American market.

He then returned to his homeland and from 1986 until 1989 acted as Director of DEMBOS S.A., which marked the beginning of his career in honey trading in the global market. In 1994 founded his own company, Honeymax S.A. (HMX) which he built from the ground up. As acting CEO Mariano has fully dedicated himself to honey trading from Argentina to the rest of the world, achieving to play a key role in the development of the Argentine honey industry.

In 1998 he went on to expand his business by creating HoneyLand S.A. (HNL), a company dedicated to the breeding of black angus in the province of San Luis. He continues to manage both HMX and HNL to the present day.

Through his endeavors in diverse markets with different countries Mariano has built long standing relationships that led to significant deals across the globe. As a leading honey exporter he helped create in 2003 a joint venture with Australian giant, Capilano. Said alliance was jump started with the aim of uniting forces in order to further strengthen the trading relationship between the two agro countries. Hence turning what could have been a negative competitive situation into a collaboration that would go on to benefit all parties.

John WH Denton AO is Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce, Paris.

John was formerly Partner and CEO of Corrs Chambers Westgarth, the leading Australian independent law firm.

John’s appointment to the ICC is the first time that an Australian has held such a position.

John is a member of the Board of the global infrastructure investor – IFM Global Investors. He is a member of the Board of the UN Global Compact. He is Asia Pacific Chair of Veracity Worldwide Advisory Board.

John is Co-Chair of the B20 “Financing Growth and Infrastructure” Taskforce, Chair (emeritus) of the Business Council of Australia’s Global Engagement Task Force; Chairman (emeritus) of the Experts Group on Trade and Investment in Indonesia; and a founding member of the Australia-China CEO Roundtable.

John was a member of the Australian Government advisory panel overseeing the development of the ‘Australia in the Asian Century’ White Paper. He was on the Government’s Cabinet sub-committee for the White Paper review process published in October 2012 and later a member of the Strategic Advisory Board advising the Government on implementation and emerging policy issues.

A former diplomat, John was a Panel Member of the Independent Review of Aid Effectiveness and was the founding Chairman of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees Australia for more than a decade.

John has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) and a Bachelor of Law from the University of Melbourne, and is a Harvard Business School Alumnus.

Bernard Wheelahan was born in 1941 and was educated at De La Salle College, University of NSW, University of Sydney and Stanford University. He holds a Bachelor of Science and Diploma of Education. In a distinguished corporate career, Bernard served as a Director of Karoon Gas Ltd, Chairman of Pacific Hydro Ltd, Chairman Bass Strait Oil Company Ltd,  Deputy Chair of Transfield Services Ltd, Chairman of  Gribbles Group Ltd, Director of Normandy Mining Ltd and President of Shell Venezuela.

Other positions held by Bernard included Chairman of the Council on Australian Latin American Relations (COALAR) from its inception in 2001 until 2009, Board Member of the RIO Foundation for a Sustainable Minerals Industry, Director of Save the Children Australia, Chairman of the Co-operative Research Centre for Sustainable Minerals Processing, Chairman of CSIRO’s Sector Advisory Committee on Petroleum, Director Shell Australia Ltd, Chairman of the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association and Director of the World Coal Institute.

In 2012 Bernard was awarded a Member Of The Order Of Australia AM (2012) for services to Business, Professional Associations, Australia/Latin America Relations, and the Community.

Bernard is married to Helen and they have three sons. He is a keen bridge player and golfer, a supporter of the Hawthorn Australian Football Club and since living in Venezuela from 1996-2001 has become immersed in Spanish language and Latin American culture. His leadership of COALAR has been instrumental in highlighting the need for enhanced business, cultural, and educational links between Australia and Latin America.