Mike Coffey
CEO
RISI

Mike Coffey was appointed RISI's Chief Executive Officer in May of 2009. Prior to this appointment, Mike was COO for RISI and had been with the company for two years. Mike comes to RISI from CMP Media, a B2B information company he joined in 2003 where he played numerous roles in product development, technology, and acquisition evaluation/integration. Constantly seeking customer feedback and input, Mike is passionate about RISI's products and customers' uses of those products. An analytical thinker, he holds a bachelor's degree from Rensselaer in upstate New York.

Renata Mercante
Editor, PPI Latin America
RISI

Renata Mercante joined RISI as Editor of PPI Latin America in September 2006. She works in RISI's São Paulo office and covers news, prices and market developments in the Latin American pulp and paper sector.

Renata joined RISI from ABTCP, the Brazilian pulp and paper technical association, where she spent five years covering the Latin American pulp and paper market. In her role as Editorial Coordinator at ABTCP, Renata was responsible for putting together the editorial for O Papel and Nosso Papel magazines as well as preparing the news for the association's website and co–ordinating their Buyers Guide publication.

Renata has interviewed many of the CEOs at the leading pulp and paper companies and visited many mills in Brazil and other Latin American countries. She speaks fluent Portuguese, English and Spanish and has a working knowledge of Italian and French. She holds a degree in journalism and communications from the Casper Líbero University in São Paulo and also in law at Ibirapuera University in São Paulo.

Marcelo Strufaldi Castelli
CEO
Fibria

Mr. Castelli was appointed as CEO of Fibria on 1st of July 2011. Previously he served as Fibria's executive officer of Paper, Planning, Procurement and Forestry Operations and Technology from August 28, 2009. Mr. Castelli also serves as the supply chain and strategy director of Fibria, where he has served as member of the executive board since December 2006. In addition, since joining Fibria in 1997, Mr. Castelli held various positions, including recovery, utilities and environment manager, general manager of the Jacareí mill and associate director of operations. Prior to that, Mr. Castelli worked at Suzano, Bahia Sul and Aracruz. Mr. Castelli holds a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Universidade de Mogi das Cruzes and a degree in Business Administration from Faculdades Associadas de São Paulo (FASP). Mr. Castelli has also attended courses at IMD in Switzerland and holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Fundação Dom Cabral (FDC).

Antonio Maciel Neto
CEO
Suzano Papel e Celulose

Antonio Maciel Neto became CEO of Suzano Papel e Celulose S/A on June 1, 2006. From 1999 to May 2006, Maciel held important positions at Ford Motor Company, including CEO of Ford South America Operations and Corporate Vice-President. From 1993 to 1999 he was CEO of the Itamarati Group, Ferronorte Participações S.A. (Ferropasa) and Cecrisa Revestimentos Cerâmicos S.A. He was also Chairman of the Board of Ferroban and a member of the Board of Directors of Gradiente Eletrônica S.A., and Cecrisa. Previously, he was Executive Secretary of the Brazilian Trade and Industry Ministry. Maciel worked for Petrobras for ten years. He is member of the Board of Directors of ADM (Archer Daniels Midland) and of Marfrig Alimentos S.A. He is also a member of Advisory Board of Ayrton Senna Institute. He has a degree in mechanical engineering from Rio de Janeiro Federal University (UFRJ) and has attended several Executive Training Programs at Harvard University, and IMD among others institutions.

Douglas Albrecht
Chairman of the Board
Celulosa Argentina

Douglas Albrecht is co-founder of Grupo Tapebicuá, the controlling shareholder of Celulosa Argentina and Fanapel where he has served as the Chairman of the Board since May 2007. Mr. Albrecht is also co-founder and director of Patagonia Bioenergia, one of the world’s largest producers of soy based biodiesel. Previously, Mr. Albrecht co-founded Farmacity, the leading retail chain of pharmacies in Argentina, for which he served as a director from 1997 to 2004, and earlier in his career worked for the Boston Consulting Group and the World Bank. Mr. Albrecht holds a degree in social studies from Harvard College, as well as postgraduate degrees from Harvard Business School and Cambridge University. He has resided in Argentina since 1995.

Eduardo Posada
CEO
Gondi Group, México

Mr. Posada holds a BSc in Economics with specialty in International Trade and Economic Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science in the United Kingdom. For fourteen years he worked for family owned businesses in Colombia, mainly in the construction of low cost housing and also in the sugar industry. In 1991 he joined Smurfit Latin America in Venezuela and then worked in México as General Manager, moving to Regional Director Corrugated Division, Vice President of Treasury & Strategic Planning, and Vice President of Folding Cartons. In early 2004 he joined Gondi Group as Chief Operating Officer, and was promoted to Chief Executive Officer in 2007. Overall, Mr. Posada has twenty years of experience in the paper and packaging industry.

Paulo Eduardo Rocha Brant
CEO
Cenibra

Paulo Eduardo Rocha Brant took over as CENIBRA CEO in April 2010. His previous jobs include several top executive positions with BDMG (Development Bank of Minas Gerais) and BEMGE (Bank of the State of Minas Gerais) from 1979 through 2008. Subsequently, he was Secretary of State for Culture of the State of Minas Gerais up to April 2010, when he joined CENIBRA. A native of Diamantina city, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, he has a degree in Economics from the Catholic University of Minas Gerais and an MBA from the Federal University of Minas Gerais, as well as a Corporate Strategy course in France's INSEAD. Moreover, Paulo Brant has held a position as President of several Brazilian associations.

Henrique Rodrigues Alves Aretz
Chief Investment Officer
VBI Timberland

Mr. Aretz holds a degree in Business from FGV in Brazil and an MBA from London Business School. Prior to his current role at VBI Timberland, Henrique was for 5 years the Chief Investment Officer at Brazil Timber, the first and largest Brazilian forestry property manager, and one of the sponsors of VBI Timberland. Before that, he developed an extensive international experience in the financial markets, at Goldman Sachs (Switzerland/UK) and Lehman Brothers (UK/USA), completely dedicated to mergers and acquisitions in the Natural Resources field . Prior to that, he was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company (Brazil), again entirely dedicated to the Natural Resources sector.

Juan G. Tavarez
Vice President
Citi Investment Research Latin America

Juan Tavarez is a Vice President with Citi Investment Research & Analysis, where he specializes in coverage of the Latin American Pulp & Paper and Agribusiness sectors. Juan achieved Runner-Up ranking in the Institutional Investor magazine's 2010 poll for the Latin America Pulp & Paper Sector. He joined Citi in 2003 as part of the LatAm Research team covering Pulp & Paper, Metals & Mining, Oil & Gas, Chemicals, and Agribusiness. Juan graduated from Baruch College with a B.A. in Finance.

Wilson Troque
Production Manager
Editora Moderna

Wilson has been the Production Manager since 2001. Previously, he held positions in logistics and commercial management.

He has a Masters in Production Engineering (2003) where he specialised in supply chain management, a degree in Business Administration (1997) and a degree in Mechanical Engineering (1991).

Pedro Martins da Silva
Executive President (CEO)
Instituto Verificador de Circulação (IVC)

Pedro Martins da Silva became Executive President (CEO) of Instituto Verificador de Circulação (IVC) in 2010. Previously he served as External Relations Director at Procter & Gamble Brazil (P&G). IVC audits paid circulation of newspapers and magazines and also websites metrics in Brazil. The organisation is affiliated and founder of International Federation of Audit Bureaux of Circulation (IFABC), where Pedro Silva currently holds a seat at the Executive Board. Pedro began his career as a Performance Engineer at an Airline Company in Brazil after earning a degree of Aeronautical Engineer at Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica (ITA) in 1984. Pedro joined P&G in 1990 where he worked in Manufacturing, Logistics, Human Resources and Marketing before becoming External Relations Director in 2001. At this position he represented P&G in many Industry Associations including the Presidency of the Board of ABIPLA (Cleaning Products), IVC and ABIMIP (OTC). He also held board positions at ABIHPEC (Personal Care), FIESP and ABIA (Food). Pedro is fluent in English and Spanish.

Mário César Martins de Camargo
CEO
Grafica Bandeirantes

Mário César Martins de Camargo, 54 , Business Management graduate from Fundação Getulio Vargas, chief executive for Gráfica Bandeirantes since 1992, has been president of ABTG Associação Brasileira de Tecnologia Gráfica, 1988-1992, Abigraf São Paulo 1995-2001, Sindigraf São Paulo 2004-2010, Abigraf 2001-2008 and 2009-2011, FIESP vice president 2004-2015; chairman of ABTG Certificadora; has visited all DRUPAS since 1977 and several other trade shows, seminars and workshops; speaker at several latin American printing seminars; vice president Conlatingraf 2009-2013.

Elizabeth de Carvalhaes
CEO and Executive President
Bracelpa

Elizabeth de Carvalhaes, who has extensive experience in negotiating with governments and international markets, was instated as the CEO and Executive President of the Brazilian Pulp and Paper Association (Bracelpa) in September 2007. In Brazil, her role is to negotiate public and industrial policies that drive the growth of companies and the expansion of the industry’s participation in global trade.

Communicate the good practices of pulp and paper companies on national and international levels; strengthen the industry’s image; and debate issues related to this sector with government authorities and the National Congress, are among the main action strategies of her position.

As the Brazilian pulp and paper industry’s representative at the United Nations Organization’s Food and Agricultural Administration (FAO) and at the International Council of Forest & Paper Associations (ICFPA), Elizabeth faces a major challenge on the international scope:  namely, to favorably position the industry’s planted forests in the negotiations of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), currently the biggest multilateral negotiation involving more than 200 countries in the search for a global climate policy.

Elizabeth de Carvalhaes began her professional career at Volkswagen do Brasil.  She also held the position of vice-president of the Associação Nacional de Fabricantes de Veículos Automotores (ANFAVEA), the automobile industry’s trade association.

Patrick Nogueira
Commercial Director
Grupo Orsa

Patick Nogueira became Commercial Director of Grupo Orsa in 2005. Previously he served as Orsa's Sales Director in the Packaging division. His current responsibilities include nationwide packaging sales and worldwide market wood pulp sales. Patrick began his career as a trainee at Aracruz Celulose in 1995 at the mill in the city of Aracruz. A native of Vitoria, Espirito Santo, Brazil, he has a degree in mechanical engineering from the University Espirito Santo and an International Executive MBA from the University of São Paulo. Having lived 4 years in the UK, Patrick is fluent in English. He currently holds a position as Vice President of the Brazilian Corrugated Cases Association (ABPO) and recently became a delegate in the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).

Emilio Rietmann
Executive Director
ERB - Energias Renováveis do Brasil

Emílio Rietmann has over 20 years' experience in energy generation from biomass projects, agriculture sector and commodities trading, having implemented several projects in Latin America. His capabilities have enabled the ERB to formulate complete solutions in renewable energy (both thermal and electric) for industries, as well as developing full projects for potential biomass suppliers, such as sugarcane mills and agricultural processors. Before joining ERB, he was an independent consulting and worked implementing projects for major companies in agriculture and ethanol segments. At Infinity Bioenergy, one of the leading companies in the ethanol industry in Brazil, he was responsible for designing all the projects related to power generation from sugarcane bagasse. He is specialized in developing the whole project involving energy and biomass, from the short rotation forest, energy crops and wastes from agriculture to the energy production facilities, including energy pellet plant, thermoelectric generation plant and cogeneration plants. Previous experiences include soybean trading, wheat and sugar from Brazil to Europe and Asia. He has comprehensive knowledge of the total cycle of the business, including trade, risks analysis, financial structure operations, TCF (trade commodity financing), futures and options hedges and logistic. He worked in partnership with the most important commodities groups, such as ADM, Bunge, Cargill and Glencore.

Marcos Assumpção
CFO, Commodities Business
Itaú

Marcos Assumpção works at Itaú BBA as the sector head covering Steel & Mining and Pulp & Paper since 2009. Prior to Itaú BBA, Marcos worked at Merrill Lynch for four years, covering the Latam Steel and Pulp & Paper sectors. Marcos holds a BSc. from the Federal University of Brasilia and an executive MBA from Coppead (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro). He also holds a CFA® designation. In 2010 he was ranked #1 analyst for the Pulp & Paper sector and #2 for Metals & Mining in Institutional Investor’s Brazil ranking and #2 for Pulp & Paper and runner up for Metals & Mining in Institutional Investor’s Latam ranking.

Fabio Arruda Mortara
President
Abigraf Nacional

Fabio Mortara holds a Master of Science from Cornell University, NY and a Master in Business Administration. In 1988 he took up the position of Director and founder of Paper Express, a digital printing firm, pioneer in Brazil. After this he was Marketing Manager for BOVESPA - Bolsa de Valores de São Paulo, São Paulo Stock Exchange and then Consultant in marketing and agribusiness. Prior to this Fabio held the positions of Product Manager, Agroceres; Financial Analyst, Dupont do Brasil; Economic Assistant, A. B. P. L.B.; Marketing Assistant, Cia. Bandeirante, Insurance Company and Comercial Coordinator, Marpro-Marketing Projects. Fabio has published several articles in newspapers and magazines in Brazil about a wide variety of subjects such as agribusiness, prepress, digital printing, printing, printing technology in media.

João Fernando Borges
Forestry Director
Stora Enso Latin America

João Fernando Borges is the Forest Director of Stora Enso Latin America Division. His
current responsibility includes the strategy and development of forest plantation bases in
Latin America. His 35-year professional experience has been mostly in the pulp and paper
sector in different regions of Brazil. He worked also as Forest Economics and Forest
Inventory professor and as forestry consultant.  Graduated in Forest Engineering at
Federal University of Paraná, post-graduated in Forest Management at the same
University and took MBA in Business Administration at FGV.

Celso Oliveira
CEO
Brazil Biomass and Renewable Energy

Celso Oliveira is the CEO of the Brazil Biomass and Renewable Energy and President of the Brazilian Biomass Industry Association and Renewable Energy.

Priya Patel
Family Care Brazil Category Director
Kimberly Clark

Priya Patel holds a degree in Business Administration from Fundação Getúlio Vargas and an MBA from Fundação Dom Cabral. Prior to her current position at Kimberly Clark, she worked for Unilever for 16 years, leading brands like Omo (the biggest brand in Brazil in revenue), Surf, Comfort, etc. Her career is focused on FMCG businesses.

Prof. Laércio Couto
Member of the Board
World Bioenergy Association

Laércio Couto, born in Tocantins, Minas Gerais, Brazil, has a degree in forest engineering and a M.Sc. in forest science at the Federal University of Viçosa in Brazil, a Ph.D. in forestry at the University of Toronto in Canada, and a post doctorate in forestry and agroforestry at Colorado State University in USA.

As a forest engineer, he worked from 1968 to 1975 in reforestation projects in São Paulo, Paraná, Bahia and Pará. In 1975, he joined the Federal University of Viçosa as a professor and researcher. Before retiring in 2003, he was the head of the Department of Forestry and Director of the Society for Forest Research. He is an Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Forestry of the University of Toronto, a board member of the World Bioenergy Association, chairman of the board of the Brazilian Network of Biomass for Energy and a forest consultant for several companies in Brazil. He advised several theses in forestry and agroforestry at the Federal University of Viçosa, published more than 100 scientific papers and made several technical presentations in Brazil and other countries. He was also a forest consultant for the Brazilian Agency for International Cooperation in Chile and Central America.

David Katsnelson
Senior Economist, Macroeconomics
RISI

David Katsnelson joined RISI in July 2010, and is responsible for the collecting, analyzing, forecasting, and communicating macroeconomic data and its relevance to clients throughout the forest product industry. He is the editor of RISI's Monthly Economic Commentary and the Economic Outlook chapters that appear in all RISI forecasts. Prior to joining RISI, David had been working at IHS Global Insight as an economist in the Country Analysis and Forecasting Group, as well as consulting for the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation, a think-tank in Cambridge, MA. David worked for more than a decade in the financial industry as a trader for boutique hedge funds and brokerages in New York and Boston. He also co-founded ProSeed Capital Holdings, an international venture capital company, serving as its CFO and VP of US Operations. David received his MBA in International Economic Policy from Brandeis International Business School, and his B.A. in Economics from the University of Chicago.

Rod Young
Chief Economic Advisor
RISI

Rod Young started modeling and forecasting in the pulp and paper industry in 1977. Since then, his work in international pulp and paper markets has received worldwide recognition.

In March 2005, he became President and CEO of Paperloop, which was later renamed RISI in 2006. Rod Young has remained an active contributor to RISI's forecasts since stepping down as RISI's CEO and being named Chairman in 2007. Rod, a founding member of RISI, has 32 years of experience tracking and reporting on the global pulp and paper markets. In 2009, Rod took on responsibility for ensuring that all RISI's economic analysis meets or exceeds the industry's expectation for excellence and accuracy when he took on the role of RISI's Chief Economic Advisor.

Rod received a Master of Science degree in Forestry Economics from Virginia Polytechnical Institute in 1977 and also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Forestry from Michigan State University.

Kurt Schaefer
Vice President, Fiber
RISI

Kurt heads up RISI's analysis of the pulp and recovered paper segments of the industry. His primary responsibilities are focused on the area of papergrade pulp. He publishes a monthly commentary and forecast on the world pulp market, World Pulp Monthly. He also produces RISI's long-term pulp forecasts, focusing on variables such as pulp consumption, capacity, production, production costs, and pricing. In 2009, Kurt helped to develop RISI's Outlook for Global Recovered Paper Markets, a successful multi–client study. In 2010, he is leading a team of RISI analysts and economists doing a multi–client study of China's fiber markets. Just prior to joining RISI, Kurt was Director of Pulp & Paper Forecaster. As the sole economist working on Forecaster, he was responsible for forecasting prices and market conditions across all of the major grades of paper and paperboard in North America. His work on Forecaster included developing detailed end–user driven demand models for the key grades, including newsprint, coated papers, and containerboard. He also directed a number of projects, including a major long–term study of global newsprint markets. In 1995, he received the designation of Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). He jointed RISI in January, 1996.

Bob Flynn
Director, International Timber
RISI

Robert (Bob) Flynn is Director, International Timber for RISI, the leading information provider for the global forest products industry. Bob has more than 30 years experience in the forest industry, including 9 years as a forester for Champion International in Oregon. He has spent the past 20+ years as a consultant to the industry, with a focus on analysis of timber supply and demand trends outside of North America; international trade of logs, woodchips, and biomass; and trends in international timberland investment. He joined RISI in April 2006, and has published two reports on China's timber supply and demand; a global comparison of planted forest economics and investment attractiveness for tree farm development; a profile of India's forest products industry; an analysis of the impact of Russia's log export tax on Asian log markets; annual reports on international trade in woodchips and biomass; and most recently he published a report on South American plantation forestry and bioenergy markets. He holds a BA degree in geography from the University of Texas, a BS degree in forest management from Northern Arizona University and an MS in economics from the University of Oregon.

Esko Uutela
Principal, Tissue
RISI

Esko Uutela was born in Finland and has worked as a pulp and paper industry consultant for his whole professional career of more than 30 years. He graduated from the Helsinki School of Economics (Marketing) in 1976 and from the University of Helsinki (Faculty of Forestry) in 1979. Since 1991 he is residing in Germany.

After working for close to 18 years for a large forest industry consulting company in Helsinki and Munich, Esko decided to establish his own forest industry consulting company EU Consulting in Starnberg, close to Munich in Germany in August 1994. EU Consulting increasingly specialized in offering consulting services for two sectors: the tissue and recycled fiber businesses. In March 2007, RISI acquired EU Consulting.

Esko has carried out numerous private client projects, as well as published regularly worldwide, comprehensive multi-client studies on tissue business developments and global recycled fiber markets. He is now fully integrated with RISI's team of economists and responsible for all forecasts and market analyses related to the tissue sector. He is also the chief editor of RISI's tissue multi-client reports, including Outlook for World Tissue Business (published annually), World Tissue Business Monitor (quarterly) and US Tissue Monthly Data. In addition, Esko's long consulting experience with deep business and industry understanding has substantially extended RISI's capabilities to carry out comprehensive private client studies in the tissue and recovered paper sectors.

Patricia Perez
Economist
RISI

Patricia Perez has worked for RISI for five years. Working as Economist at RISI's office in São Paulo, she is responsible for gathering information and providing analysis on the Latin American pulp and paper industry. She also coordinates the elaboration of the Latin American Pulp and Paper Forecast. Patricia comes to RISI from the University of São Paulo where she earned her Bachelors degree in Economics and served as a market analyst for the pulp and paper industry at the Center for Advanced Studies on Applied Economics (CEPEA).

Jesse Neese
Technical Service Manager, Mill Intelligence
RISI

Jesse Neese joined RISI's Mill Intelligence team in January of 2006 as a Senior Product Manager and Analytical Engineer to develop the cost models for RISI's Wood and Timber Cost Benchmarking portfolio of products. In May of 2010, Jesse assumed the responsibilities of Technical Service Manager to focus on training and direct customer support for RISI's Mill Intelligence customers.

Prior to joining RISI, Jesse worked in the wood adhesives industry for nine years in various sales and technical support related roles.

Jesse has a Master of Business Administration degree from Louisiana Tech University, a Master of Science degree in Wood Science and Engineering from Oregon State University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Forestry from Stephen F. Austin State University.

Mike Jones
Director, Cost Benchmarking Packaging and Tissue
RISI

Mike Jones has worked for RISI for eight years. Prior to that he worked eight years for Jacobs Consultancy (Jacobs-Sirrine Consultants) until RISI acquired the benchmarking group in 2002. He focuses on benchmarking competitive cost studies for linerboard, corrugating medium, kraft packaging, bleached board, and retail and commercial tissue. He has a total of sixteen years benchmarking experience in a range of grades and geographies. Prior to that, Mike worked fifteen years for International Paper. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Chemical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology.

Derek Mahlburg
Economist, Graphic Paper
RISI

Derek Mahlburg is an economist for the RISI North American graphic paper service, assisting with the North American forecasts and commentaries. His responsibilities include maintaining the North America and World Capacity Reports, and he has played a key role in various studies.

Derek completed his undergraduate education at the University of Kansas, where he majored in Economics, and holds a Master's Degree in Economics from the University of Missouri.