Rob Grant - President ABCC
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Until July 2014 Rob spent 18 years (the last 9 as CEO) helping position Pacific Hydro as Australia's most successful and dynamic international clean energy utility.
From small beginnings 20 years ago, the company became a leader in the hydro, wind and solar electricity markets in Australia and Latin America by developing world class development, delivery, financing and operations expertise in each of its business units to an award winning level. Rob is a passionate advocate for greater engagement of Australian businesses, education institutions and society with Latin America. He currently serves as President of the Australia Brazil Chamber of Commerce (ABCC), Director of the Australia Latin America Business Council (ALABC) and was a previously a Director of the Council of Latin America Relations (COALAR). |
Rodrigo de Luca - Vice President ABCC (QLD)
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Rodrigo is a partner at Stark Capital Partners since 2016 and responsible for managing investor relations and equity partnerships in the Asia-Pacific region. With over a decade’s experience as a corporate executive in Oil & Gas and Agribusiness, Rodrigo has played instrumental roles in the Project Management of major facility redevelopments, internationalizations and international trading. As a private investor, he has developed Brazilian Agribusiness’ interests internationally and domestically.
With extensive experience in facilitating mergers and acquisitions, Rodrigo has worked with corporates and private investors in Australia, Brazil, China and the USA. As the vice-president of the Australia-Brazil Chamber of Commerce (ABCC), Rodrigo has extended his skills to assist development between the Asia-Pacific region and Brazil. |
Cristina Talacko - Vice President ABCC (NSW)
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Cristina was born in Brazil and has a corporate legal background with more than 15 years experience in executive boards and management of not-for-profit associations.
Cristina was President of the ABCC from 2003 to 2013, Vice Chair NSW of the Australia Latin America Business Council (ALABC) and was a Board director of the Council on Australia Latin America Relations (COALAR) . Cristina is also an entrepreneur having founded Braust Pty Ltd and SalDoce Fine Foods, manufacturing allergen sensitive food products to Australia and export markets, winners of the NSW Export Awards 2016. She is a co-owner of the retail chain Naked Foods. She is a Director on the Board of the Coalition for Conservation group supporting industries seeking action in environmental issues, and a diretor of One Meal, a charity assisting the homeless in Sydney. Cristina is a benefactor of the Art Gallery of NSW and a graduate of the Executive Program Women & Power at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. |
Anna Carolina Santos - Public Officer & Director (NSW)
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Originally Swiss-Brazilian, Anna's upbringing across the continents has triggered her fascination for international experiences, and she has used her diverse mix of skills to work on projects that promote cross-cultural empowerment, collaboration and sustainability. She has set up associations in Guatemala and the Congo to give drug war widows and victims of survival prostitution profitable alternatives with purpose. She has also been increasingly involved with the charity Dress for Success and has helped the charity reach record figures during its most significant fundraising initiatives to date. She has recently come back into the Clean Energy space where she has been motivated to bring the best people into the industry in an effort to accelerate the transition to a clean future.
Anna thrives in creative and multi-cultural settings, and has a passion for bringing people together to work on ideas that will make the world a better place. Her family originally established the diplomatic bond between Australia and Brazil in the 1940s and this has sparked Anna’s interest in contributing to the growing relationship between the two nations via the ABCC. |
Greg Wallis - Director
Greg has a combination of public and private sector executive experience in Latin America, particularly Brazil, that is matched by few practitioners in Australia.In the public sphere, he served for 10 years as Australia’s Consul-General and Senior Trade Commissioner in Sao Paulo, as well as for four years in Bangkok, Thailand.
In the private sector, Greg held an executive position with Philips Electronics in Brazil, in addition to similar roles with technology companies in Canada, the USA and Australia.
He now runs his own international business advisory, the Caravela Group, with a focus on Brazil. Recently, together with his business partner, he conducted the first Australian Wine Fair in Brazil and is now finalizing agreements for Australian wineries new to the market. He is also assisting companies with market entry to Brazil in other industrial sectors.
In the private sector, Greg held an executive position with Philips Electronics in Brazil, in addition to similar roles with technology companies in Canada, the USA and Australia.
He now runs his own international business advisory, the Caravela Group, with a focus on Brazil. Recently, together with his business partner, he conducted the first Australian Wine Fair in Brazil and is now finalizing agreements for Australian wineries new to the market. He is also assisting companies with market entry to Brazil in other industrial sectors.
Fabio Bastian - Director (NSW)
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Fabio Bastian, born in the south of Brazil and resident in Australia almost 30 years, is a transformation CIO specialised in software technology with strong leadership, management and governance experience. He is the Chief Information Officer for Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, based in Sydney.
Fabio has led organisation wide change programs, implemented risk management frameworks and established governance programs. Amongst many impressive achievements, Fabio Bastian assisted the Australian Institute of Company Directors to establish as a digital leader and launched a SaaS online scheduling service for small businesses in the USA. As a graduate of the AICD Company Directors course and its other governance courses, Fabio has extensive knowledge of best practices and governance for directors and boards. His experience spans professional associations, startups, banking, internet and aircraft industries. With a rich technical background in distributed architectures, APIs, various programming languages and agile, he is always interested in hearing from people involved in software transformations. He is currently experimenting with IoT, golang and blockchain. |
Chaiene Deiro - Director (VIC)
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Chaiene is a Brazilian journalist who has been residing in Melbourne since 2019. Prior to her move to Australia, she garnered extensive experience in the marketing sector, working for global companies. After this, she opened her own business in Brazil specialising in communication strategies, generating innovative ideas to enhance influence, foster engagement, and deliver tangible results both online and offline across various industries. Currently, she is a marketing mentor, having assisted over 100 Brazilian entrepreneurs in successfully launching their brands globally.
Chaiene is the VIC Director for the ABCC (Australian-Brazil Chamber of Commerce). |
Anna White - Director (QLD)
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Anna is an Australian lawyer based in Brisbane who has specialised in environmental and planning law for over 10 years with Corrs Chambers Westgarth Lawyers. Anna’s practice involves advising both government and private sector clients on the environment and planning issues associated with major infrastructure, property development and energy and resources projects. In 2014, Anna undertook an international secondment with the Brazilian law firm, Veirano Advogados, where she worked in São Paulo. Since returning to Australia, Anna has become a founding member of Corrs’ South America Business Group which is working to promote business opportunities and engagement between South America and Australia.
Anna White is the VIC Director for the Australia Brazil Chamber of Commerce (ABCC). |
Paula Cope - Treasurer & Director Qld
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She is the director and founder of Cope Accountants and has over 10 years experience as an Accountant in Australia.
Her bachelor is in Business Administration and has finished her Master in Accounting at CQU Australia in 2008. She is a Certified Practising Accountant (CPA) and Registered Tax Agent. She has helped thousands of clients with their individual tax needs and also the business clients to start and growing their business. All the knowledge and experience gained along the way has helped her build the confidence to give the best advice to her clients in regards to business and tax services. Giving the best quality service is her goal as her clients always come first. As a business owner herself, she understand the issues that confront business owners. Her focus is truly understand her client’s business and work with them to achieve the best outcome in regards to growing their revenue, profit and business value. She is passionate about the success of her clients. |
Valeria Noleto - CEO Australia Brazil Chamber of Commerce
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“Brazilian born, but living in Australia since 2006, Valeria has extensive international experience running her own travel and relationship marketing business. She is passionate about travel and international opportunities having also lived in the USA, UK and Ireland.
She has a Bachelor degree in Public Relations, a Certificate of Proficiency in English from Cambridge University and studied English as a Foreign Language at the Harvard Extension of School in Boston, Massachusetts. She also has a Diploma in Public Relations from the London School of PR. Valeria has travelled extensively throughout Europe and has worked in Ireland for the Irish Group Kepak as an interpreter and travel manager. In Australia, Valeria has had a number of travel, events and administration roles and she has completed a Diploma in Business, Travel & Tourism with the Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG) where she has worked with both the Escape Travel and Flights Centre brands. Currently, she manages her own business (Personifi Travel) as a member of the FCTG Travel Partners. “ |
Simon Tarmo - Director (WA)
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Simon works with the Western Australian Government in the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD), in a TradeStart Advisor role that is also connected to the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade). This role is focused on supporting Australian exporters working with food and beverages, agribusiness and agrifood-tech.
Simon previously worked as the Publishing Director for leading B2B media company Aspermont Limited, responsible for a range of agriculture, energy and mining industry publications. From 2007-2017, Simon lived in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and in 2012 established the Brazilian operations for Aspermont, launching Brazil´s premier daily news service for the mining industry (Notícias de Mineração Brasil) and related products and services. Previously, Simon worked with the Australian Trade Commission in Belo Horizonte. He speaks fluent Portuguese and has a strong network of contacts throughout both Brazil and Australia. |