The Board of Directors of Petrobras approved this Monday (27) the name of Caio Mario Paes de Andrade as a new member of the agency and president of the state-owned company. With that, he will replace Fernando Assumpção Borges, who has held the presidency on an interim basis since June 20.
There were 7 votes in favor of the government nominee and 3 votes against in the voting, which began at 11 am.
Andrade was appointed to the post by the federal government in May of this year, to replace Jose Mauro Ferreira Coelho . Coelho, on the other hand, held the position for just over 60 days, and resigned on June 20 due to criticism from politicians after a new adjustment in gasoline and diesel prices.
The expectation was that Andrade’s name would have to two to four votes against the nomination . The number would not be enough to prevent the election, with the government having a majority in the body after appointing six of the ten current councilors.
Last Friday (24), the Eligibility Committee of the state-owned company approved Andrade’s name, allowing the vote. The approval, however, was not unanimous . The name received three votes in favor and one against. According to the analyst CNN Raquel Landim, there were disagreements about his knowledge and experience to occupy the position.
One of the committee members argued that the executive does not have a clear knowledge of the Petroleum and has no experience running large companies. The biggest company run by Andrade until now had around 100 employees.
According to the minutes of the Committee meeting, Andrade denied having received any “specific or general guidance” from the government to change current policy of Petrobras fuel prices, which follows the international price of a barrel of oil.
Despite the statement to the company, last Wednesday (22) the president Jair Bolsonaro stated that, if elected, Caio Paes de Andrade would change the directors of Petrobras to give a “new dynamic” to the company and change the import price parity policy “if applicable”.
The initial expectation was that Andrade’s name would only be elected at an Extraordinary General Meeting of shareholders in July, respecting the time required between the announcement and the call. However, Coelho’s resignation allowed the entry of the new president to be brought forward.
Who is Caio Mario Paes de Andrade?
The new president of the state-owned company has a degree in Social Communication from Universidade Paulista, a postgraduate degree in Administration and Management from Harvard University and a Master’s in Business Administration from Duke University.
The executive comes from the Special Secretariat for Debureaucratisation, Management and Digital Government of the Ministry of Economy, where he is responsible for the Gov.br platform. In 2019, he moved from the private to the public sector, where he served as president of Serpro (Federal Service for Data Processing), a public company providing Information Technology services, until August 2020, when he went to the secretary of the Ministry .
Andrade was also a member of the Board of Directors of Embrapa and PPSA (Pré-Sal Petróleo SA).
Source: CNN Brasil
