Team

José Augusto Gonçalves de Araújo Teixeira is our Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Teixeira is a Partner of Patria Investments Limited, where he currently serves as a member of its Management Committee and as Head of Marketing and Products. Mr. Teixeira is primarily responsible for Patria’s Global Product & Marketing strategy and development as well as for leading distribution efforts in Brazil. Previously, Mr. Teixeira served as the Head of Marketing and Investor Relations for Private Equity products between 2013 and 2020. From 2005 to 2013, Mr. Teixeira was fully dedicated to Anhanguera Educacional, Patria’s flagship investment in Education, where he held various senior positions: he served as Chief Financial Officer between 2011 and 2013, including oversight over the company’s robust M&A program; Investor Relations Officer between 2007 and 2013; Strategic, Commercial and Financial Planning Director between 2007 and 2011; and Financial Planning Manager between 2005 and 2007. Prior to the investment in Anhanguera, Mr. Teixeira focused on the development of Patria Investments Limited’s post-secondary Education thesis and worked at Anhembi-Morumbi University. Prior to joining Patria in 2004, Mr. Teixeira worked with the Latin American Research Sales team at Goldman Sachs in New York. Mr. Teixeira holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Economics from Amherst College.

Marco Nicola D’Ippolito has served as our Chief Financial Officer since our inception. Mr. D’Ippolito is also Managing Partner & Chief Financial Officer of Patria Investments Limited. Mr. D’Ippolito is a member of Patria Investments Limited’s Management Committee and is primarily responsible for finance, operations, shareholders relations, fund administration, legal, compliance, technology and governance. Before taking over as CFO, Mr. D’Ippolito served Patria Investments Limited as COO for four years. Before that, Mr. D’Ippolito worked at Patria Investment Limited’s Private Equity division, being responsible for different investments in the technology, logistics, healthcare, agribusiness and food industries. Mr. D’Ippolito was also responsible for fundraising initiatives within the Patria Private Equity business. In addition, Mr. D’Ippolito was the Chairman of the Board and Board Member of different portfolio companies. Before joining Patria in 2005, Mr. D’Ippolito worked for a Latin American family office as private equity portfolio manager between 2002 and 2005. Prior to that, Mr. D’Ippolito participated on the start-up, development and sale of an IT private company in Brazil. Mr. D’Ippolito holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado (FAAP) and an MBA from Instituto Brasileiro de Mercado de Capitais (IBMEC).

Ricardo Leonel Scavazza is the Chairman of our board of directors. Mr. Scavazza is a Managing Partner of Patria Investments Limited and is the Chief Executive Officer & Chief Investments Officer of Latin American Private Equity. Mr. Scavazza is responsible for all Latam Private Equity strategy at Patria Investments Limited. Before taking over as CEO & CIO for Private Equity Latam, Mr. Scavazza served as the Head of Private Equity Strategy in Brazil. Mr. Scavazza joined Patrimônio in 1999, became a Partner in 2005, and has worked on several new investments and acquisitions for the portfolio companies of Private Equity Funds I, II, III, IV and V. Mr. Scavazza held operating roles in several investments, including a tenure as Chief Executive Officer at Anhanguera between 2009 and 2013. He was Chief Financial Officer at DASA in 2001 and at Anhanguera Educacional from 2003 to 2006. Mr. Scavazza holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Management from Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV) and the University of Texas at Austin. Mr. Scavazza also holds an Master’s in Business Administration and Management from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Alexandre Teixeira de Assumpção Saigh has served as our Director of the Board since our inception. Mr. Saigh is the Chief Executive Officer and is a member of the Board of Directors at Patria Investments Limited since 2010. He is also one of our founding partners and Chairman of our executive-level Private Equity Investment and Divestment Committee. Mr. Saigh is also a Senior Managing Partner of Patria Investments Limited and an Executive Director of Patria Holdings Limited. Before taking the role as Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Saigh was primarily responsible for our Private Equity division being responsible for the start-up and development of this business within Patria. He held and currently holds board member positions in several of our funds’ invested companies. Mr. Saigh was one of the founders of Patria in 2001 (successor of Banco Patrimônio), developing and leading the efforts for Patria to become one of the leading private markets firms in Latin America. Mr. Saigh joined Banco Patrimônio in 1994, as a Managing Partner responsible for the development and execution of Patria Investments Limited’s private equity business. Between 1994 and 1997, while developing Patrimônio’s private equity strategy, Mr. Saigh was Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Drogasil, one of the leading drugstore chains in Brazil and Patria’s first private equity investment. Prior to joining Patrimônio, Mr. Saigh worked at J.P. Morgan Investment Bank from 1989 to 1994, as a Vice President for its private equity, corporate finance and M&A divisions. Mr. Saigh holds a bachelor’s degree in Financial Management and Hotel Administration from Boston University and a Post- Graduate Certificate of Special Studies in Administration and Management from Harvard University.

Pedro Paulo Elejalde de Campos will serve as a Director upon the completion of this offering. Mr. Campos is currently a Managing Partner at Arsenal Investimentos, a Brazilian based investment and advisory firm. Mr. Campos joined Arsenal in 2017 and is responsible for leading its investment banking activities. Prior to that, from 2011 to 2017, Mr. Campos was a Partner at Patria Investimentos, a Brazilian investment firm associated with Blackstone Group from New York, where he was responsible for Blackstone’s investments in Brazil and Patria Investment Limited’s investment banking operations. From 2003 to 2011, Mr. Campos was at Angra Partners, an investment and financial advisory firm, where he was a Founding Managing Partner responsible for its general management, investment committees (chair) and investment portfolios. In addition, during his career, Mr. Campos held the position of a Managing Director at Citigroup from 2000 to 2003, the President and CEO of GE Capital Latin America and Banco GE Capital Brasil from 1996 to 2000. Mr. Campos started his professional career in 1982 at J.P. Morgan offices in New York and left the firm in 1995 as a Vice President. Also, along his career, Mr. Campos has served as board director in several corporations and non-profit organizations. Mr. Campos holds bachelors’ degrees in Engineering and Business Administration; both from Universidade Federal do Rio Grande Sul.

Ricardo Barbosa Leonardos will serve as a Director upon the completion of this offering. Currently, Mr. Leonardos is a founding partner of Symphony (since 2002), a family business consulting firm focused on governance, succession, financial planning and family office. In this role, Mr. Leonardos structured and was the CEO of the Diniz family office for five years. Additionally, Mr. Leonardos is the vice-chairman of the Tecnisa S.A.’s board of directors (since 2006), an independent board member of Biosev S.A./Louis Dreyfuss Group (since 2013), a member of the board of directors of Associação Umane (since 2016), an independent member of the board of ASG Holdings/Athena Saúde (since 2020) and serves on the advisory board of the family holding companies Componente (since 2010) and Jaguari (since 2019). With over 30 years of experience in the capital markets and investments, Mr. Leonardos has worked in mergers and acquisitions, IPOs, privatization processes, portfolio management and investment funds. Mr. Leonardos is certified as an advisor by the IBGC-Brazilian Institute of Corporate Governance, as a consultant for family businesses by the Family Firm Institute of Boston, as portfolio manager authorized by the Securities and Exchange Commission and as an analyst by APIMEC. Mr. Leonardos holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Faculdade de Economica São Luis and an MBA from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University. He also holds a certificate in Technology Innovation in Planning Effective Investments in Technology Markets from Tel-Aviv University – Coller School of Management Business Leaders and in the Digital Immersion Program from Digital House of São Paulo.

Maria Cláudia Mello Guimarães will serve as a Director upon the completion of this offering. She is a partner at KPC Consulting Firm, a member of Petrobras’ Board of Directors, a member of Petrobras’ Audit Committee and president of Petrobras’ Environment, Safety and Health Committee. A former board member of Constellation Oil Services in Luxembourg, Ms. Guimarães also worked as Investment Banking Manager Director at Bank of America Merrill Lynch for almost 10 years. Before that, Ms. Guimarães had experiences at ING, Itaú Bank, Bank Boston and ABN AMRO working in several areas, such as investment banking, corporate finance, corporate banking, credit risk, debt restructuring and project finance, mainly focused on Natural Resources, Energy and Capital Goods companies. Additionally, Ms. Guimarães holds a bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) with a master’s degree from COPPEAD – UFRJ.

Norberto Whitaker Sobral Jannuzzi is a Partner at Patria Investments Limited & Head of Private Equity Healthcare Strategy Brazil. Mr. Jannuzzi is primarily responsible for managing funds and investments in Patria’s Private Equity business unit since 2011, responsible for several investments in funds IV, V and VI including Elfa, Natulab, Eve and Atrial. Mr. Jannuzzi was also CFO and CTO for healthcare portfolio companies between 2012 and 2016. Mr. Jannuzzi joined Patria Investments Limited in 2011 and became a partner in 2019. Prior to joining Patria Investments Limited, Mr. Jannuzzi was an investment lead at HAL Investments (Dutch Private Equity) based in its Latin America Office and was responsible for investments in the healthcare and retail markets. Earlier in his career, Mr. Jannuzzi was a Business Development head at Novo Nordisk Pharma (NVO) for Latin America between 2006 and 2009. Mr. Jannuzzi started his professional career as a management consultant at Accenture, focused on strategy projects and based in London and São Paulo between 2003 and 2006. Mr. Jannuzzi holds a bachelor’s degree with honors in Business Administration from the University of Bath/U.K. (1999-2003).

Peter Paul Lorenço Estermann is a Partner at Patria Investments Limited and Chief of Portfolio Management of Value Creation Business for Latam strategies. He has over 40 years of professional experience, including 12 years in agribusiness, 10 years in the industry for the transformation of polymers, paper and cellulose and refractory materials, 12 years in telecommunications and health services, and 6 years in retail. Previously, Mr. Estermann was the CEO of GPA (from April 2018 to November 2020), where he was responsible for the operations in the region, with over 100,000 employees and a revenue of R$60 billion. Mr. Estermann was also Infrastructure and Strategic Development Officer of GPA from June 2014 to October 2015. Mr. Estermann has developed his career in different industries and the service sector, and in large and leading companies with different areas of expertise, differentiated in terms of technology, management models and cultures. Mr. Estermann was CEO of Via Varejo S. A. (2015-2018, 2018-2019) and Vice-CEO and Chief Operating Officer of Medial Saúde (2006 – 2007). Mr. Estermann has held important positions in various European and Brazilian companies since 1981. Mr. Estermann holds a degree in Agronomy Engineering from the Federal University of Lavras – Minas Gerais and post graduate studies from Harvard Business School (“Making Corporate Boards more Effective” – 2008, “Audit Committees in a New Era of Governance” – 2008 and “Program for Management Development/PMD” – 1999).

Thiago Lima Borges is the current CFO of Smartfit. Mr. Borges is primarily responsible for managing the capital structure in a high growth multi-national healthcare company. Before joining Smartfit, Mr. Borges was the CFO and IRO of Arezzo&Co from 2009 to 2017 and was responsible for structuring key strategic initiatives to support the company’s high growth profile and also led the IPO process on the BOVESPA stock exchange. Prior to this, Mr. Borges worked at Tarpon Investments, where Mr. Borges served as an investment analyst covering the consumer/retail sector. Earlier in his career, Mr. Borges worked for nearly five years at Braskem, in different strategic areas. His last position was Senior Investment Analyst of the Vinylic market and products, managing operational investments and strategic planning. Mr. Borges started his professional career at Ernst & Young, working in sectors such as chemicals, energy and financials. Mr. Borges holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration at Unifacs and earned his MBA from Stanford University. In 2014 he was elected the best finance executive in the Brazilian retail industry and was awarded with Grand Prix for the Best Overall Investor Relation Program for small and mid-cap companies in Brazil.

José Antonio Toledo Vieira is currently the Operating Partner at Patria Investments Limited and also the CEO of Elfa Medicamentos, a Patria-owned pharmaceutical distributor in Brazil. Mr. Vieira has more than 30 years of experience in the Pharma Sector in companies like Novartis, AbbVie and AstraZeneca in Brazil, Portugal, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. Mr. Vieira started his career in Novartis where Mr. Vieira took several Commercial roles, having also worked for about 2 years for Novartis in Portugal. Mr. Vieira left to take over AstraZeneca Brazil as the Country President for 5 years, being transferred to Sydney where Mr. Vieira lived for 5 years as the Country President for Australia and New Zealand. In 2011, he moved to London to take a role as a VP in Global Commercial at AstraZeneca’s headquarters and returned to Brazil in 2013, with the mission to spin-off the Pharmaceutical division of Abbot in order to create AbbVie in the country. In early 2015, Mr. Vieira accepted the role of Country President at Novartis Brazil and joined Patria Investments Limited in November 2018. Nowadays, Mr. Vieira is also a Board Member to Elfa Medicamentos and Natulab Pharmaceutical in Brazil. Mr. Vieira is an economist, with an MBA from Business School São Paulo in Brazil and is also an AMP Harvard Alumni.

Fernando Machado Terni is the Operating Partner for the Healthcare Services platform at Patria Investments Limited, responsible for investments in Alliar, Athena and BioRitmo (since 2019). Mr. Terni first joined Patria Investments Limited in 2012 as CEO of Alliar. Prior to joining Patria Investments Limited, Mr. Terni served as CEO of Grupo Schincariol (today Heineken), a US$3 billion enterprise in the beer & soft drink segment. Mr. Terni was also the CEO of Nokia in Brazil and Senior VP for Latin America for five years, after being CEO of Intelig Telecom (today TIM), a long distance operator and internet provider. Mr. Terni served as Vice President for Energy Transmission and Distribution for 20 years at ABB (Asea Brown Boveri) where he began his career holding several positions in the energy and industrial segments. Mr. Terni holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from Escola de Engenharia Mauá and an MBA from Fundação Getulio Vargas, São Paulo. Mr. Machado Terni also holds an Executive MBA from The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and Executive Education from The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. 

Walter Domingues de Faria Jr is the CEO of Beauty Holding Co, a Patria Investments Limited invested company. Mr. Faria is in charge of the fast moving consumer goods distribution company project in Patria Investments Limited, focused on grocery and supermarket stores. Mr. Faria has a comprehensive expertise in general management and organizational development at fast moving consumer goods companies (Colgate-Palmolive, Coca-Cola, Clorox and Danone) and at the largest wholesaler distribution company in Brazil (Martins), a family owned company. Mr. Faria holds a bachelors’ degree in Business Administration from São Marcos University (1988), extension in Economy from São Paulo University (1989), General Management Program from USA Center for Creative Leadership (2005), General Management CEO Legacy from IMD & Fundação Dom Cabral (2016) and Board of Directors Program from Fundação Dom Cabral (2020).

José Roberto Ferraz has 32 years of international experience in the healthcare industry, leading organizations in a variety of segments such as surgery, specialty pharma, e-commerce and retail OTC. Mr. Ferraz has held senior executive positions at Livanova plc, Nestle Health and Johnson & Johnson and had board experiences in Brazil and abroad. Mr. Ferraz holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a postgraduate degree in International Marketing and Finance, both from Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV).

Gil Conrado Karsten is a Partner at Patria Investments Limited & Private Equity Divestment Latam. Mr. Karsten is primarily responsible for the Divestment process of all the Private Equity portfolio companies. In addition, Mr. Karsten is also a board member of the current portfolio companies of the food & beverages vertical: Delly’s, Superfrio, Frooty and Gran Coffee. Prior to this, Mr. Karsten managed a portfolio of companies in the same food & beverages vertical and worked on new business efforts in Patria Investments Limited’s Private Equity. In the beginning of his career at Patria Investments Limited, Mr. Karsten acted as Chief Operating Officer at LFG, a business unit of Anhanguera. Before joining Patria Investments Limited in 2008, Mr. Karsten worked for 5 years as Chief Operating Officer of a leading Brazilian retail company and as Export Director of a large consumer goods company. Mr. Karsten worked for more than 8 years in investment banking, at J.P. Morgan in New York and São Paulo and at Banco Patrimônio. Mr. Karsten holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV) and an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.

Pedro de Andrade Faria is a partner and founder of Kamaroopin Gestora de Recursos Ltda., or Kamaroopin, an investment management company that received an investment from one of Patria Investments Limited entities. Mr. Faria is primarily responsible for growth equities initiatives, mainly in the sectors of petcare, healthcare and finance at Kamaroopin. Before his partnership with Patria, Mr. Faria was a founding partner and portfolio manager at Tarpon Investimentos S.A. between June 2002 and May 2020. He was also the CEO of BRF S.A. between December 2013 and December 2017. In addition, Mr. Faria is the Chairman of the Board and Board Member of different companies such as Petlove Cayman Ltd, Zenklub – Tecnologias S.A. and Kepler Weber S.A.. Mr. Faria holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Fundação Getulio Vargas and an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Luiz Elisio Castello Branco de Melo is an Operating Partner at Patria Investments Limited with a demonstrated history of working in the retail industry, including food and beverage retail, e-commerce, clothing, and others. for over 35 years. As CEO of Natulab, Mr. Melo has been responsible for leading and developing Patria’s F&B Portfolio and its healthcare products. Before joining Patria, Mr. Melo held senior executive positions in Submarino, Lojas Americanas, Lojas Renner, Hortifruti and GPA. Mr. Melo holds a degree of Civil Engineering from Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (1983) and an Advanced Executive Program in Business Administration and Management of Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Management (2014).

Flavio Uchoa Teles de Menezes is a Partner & Chief Investment Officer for Constructivist Equity Fund (CEF) at Patria Investments Limited. Mr. Menezes is primarily responsible for the supervision of the Constructivist Equity Fund. Before taking over as CIO for Constructivist Equity Fund, Mr. Menezes served as one of Patria’s officers since 2012 in the Public Equities business unit. Mr. Menezes was the founder and investment officer of Mainstay Asset Management, an investment management boutique, from 2007 to 2012. Before that, he was partner and Chief Investment Officer at GPS – Global Portfolio Strategists, a leading investment advisory company, from 2001 to 2006. He started his career at Banco Patrimônio in 1991 as an equity research analyst and portfolio manager, becoming a partner in 1996. He was also a Vice President and co-head of equity asset management for Chase Manhattan Bank in Brazil. Mr. Menezes also serves at the Boards of Directors of Tenda, a listed Brazilian homebuilder, where he leads the Audit and Finance Committee, CVC Corp., one of Latin America’s leading travel services companies and at the Fiscal Board of Unidas, Brazil’s second largest mobility company. Mr. Menezes holds a BA in Business Administration from Fundação Getulio Vargas and an MBA with a concentration in Finance and Accounting from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.