Wednesday = Feijoada CEO Summit

I did not have Feijoada on this particular Wednesday.  I admit I was secretly hoping to find the dish on the menu for lunch.  It wasn't there, but I had a great time anyway- and  I had much more energy after eating than I have the past few Wedesdays!  

Yesterday I attended the Ernst & Young and Endeavor CEO Summit and it was great. I didn’t know this but I think the “E” in CEO is actually for Entrepreneur not Executive – yea they got me too. The location, Hotel Unique, was amazing and from the outside looked like a modern version of Noah’s Ark.

It was an all day event with 950 attendees, eight panel discussions with some of the most influential businessmen and women in Sao Paulo and Brazil, and dozens of entrepreneurs from some of the most innovative companies in all of Latin America (see below for a brief summary of the panelists).

After listening to all of the speakers, adjourning for several coffee breaks, and devouring an amazing lunch (I loved the squash/pumpkin stuffed ravioli) we and other members of the E&Y team headed to the bar restaurant atop Hotel Unique, which had one of the most amazing views of the city.

Amazing city view

I want to say a very special thank you to the E&Y Strategic Growth Markets (SGM) and Marketing team for inviting us and putting together a great event; more specifically Guilhereme Sampaio, Carolina Pereira, Vivianne Ianagui, Beatriz Guido and Adriana Barreto.

The E&Y People that make the magic happen: Leonardo, Guilherme, Carolina, Vivian, Beatriz and Adriana

E&Y CR Fellows

Another shot of the rooftop view

Read more for the Agenda and List of Panelists

Turning employees into protagonists

Rafeal Klein – President of Viavarejo (One of the largest electronics retailer in South America)

The challenge of reinventing an executive

Paul Kakinoff – President, Gol Airlines (2^nd largest airline in South America)

Succession planning

Nelson Sirotsky – Chairman, RBS Group (Media conglomerate)

Happiness

Ricardo  Guimaraes – Founder, Thymus (Branding company)

Panel - Great women, great ideas

Adriana Machado – President, GE Brasil

Rosangela Lyra – President, Dior Brasil

Dr.  Janete Vaz – Co-founder, Labotoria Sabin    

Panel – The look of the investor

Martin Escobari – Executive Director, General Atlantic Brasil

Zeca Magalhaes – Founder, Tarpon Investments

Juan Calos Felix – Managing Director – South America, The Carlyle Group

Panel – The new consumer

Guilhereme Paulus – Founder, CVC (Largest Brazilian travel and touring agency)

Segio Habib – President, JAC Motors Brasil (Autodealer)

Panel – E-Growth

Claudio Gora – Founder, Locaweb (One of the largest webhosting companies in South America)

Julio Vasconcelos – Founder, Peixe Urbano (think Brasil version of GroupOn)

Daniel Wjuniski – Founder, Minha Vida