Mario Garnero
Encyclopedia
Born in 1937, Mario Garnero obtained a law degree from the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo) where, as a student, he presided over the "Centro Acadêmico 22 de Agosto" (the University's Law Students' Association).
Mario Garnero is chairman of the board and principal shareholder of the Brasilinvest
Brasilinvest
Brasilinvest, created in 1975 by businessman Mario Garnero, is the first private development agency installed in Brazil. It was founded and consolidated as a classic "banque d'affaires" or "merchant bank", with 80 associates in 16 countries...
Group, a business organization established in 1975 as a private business agency operating along the lines of a classic "banque d'affaires" or merchant bank, which has a present net worth estimated in US$700 million.
The establishment of the Brasilinvest Group, which has already attracted investments in the range of US$12 billion to Brazil, gathers partners from 16 different countries, some of which are still minority shareholders. In addition, Mario Garnero is president of Jurisul – the Interamerican Institute for Juridical Studies on Mercosur, president of Forum das Américas, and of the United Nations Association
United Nations Association
The United Nations Associations are non-governmental organizations that exist in various countries to enhance the relationship between the people of a member state and the United Nations, raise public awareness of the UN and its work, promote the general goals of the UN and act as an advisory body...
-Brazil.
After becoming director of Volkswagen
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
do Brasil in 1979, Garnero chaired the National Automakers Association and subsequently chaired the National Confederation of Industries (CNI
CNI
CNI is the abbreviation for a number of organizations and companies, including:* Centro Nacional de Inteligencia, the Spanish secret service agency.* Church of North India...
). He was one of the main supporters of that time's recently developed Brazilian Ethanol Program, named Proálcool.
As the Chairman of NEC do Brasil in the beginning of the 1990s, Mario Garnero was the pioneer in bringing the mobile phone technology to Brazil.
Throughout the years, Garnero became a personal friend of some of the most influential personalities in the world, including Secretary of the Treasury William Simon
William Simon
William Simon or Bill Simon may refer to:* William E. Simon, former Secretary of Treasury of the United States* William H. Simon, Columbia Law School professor* William S. Simon, president and CEO of Walmart U.S....
, Secretary of Defense William Cohen
William Cohen
William Sebastian Cohen is an author and American politician from the U.S. state of Maine. A Republican, Cohen served as Secretary of Defense under Democratic President Bill Clinton.-Early life and education:...
, banker and statesman David Rockefeller
David Rockefeller
David Rockefeller, Sr. is the current patriarch of the Rockefeller family. He is the youngest and only surviving child of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, and the only surviving grandchild of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, founder of Standard Oil. His five siblings were...
, Presidents Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
, Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
and Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
Valéry Marie René Georges Giscard d'Estaing is a French centre-right politician who was President of the French Republic from 1974 until 1981...
, German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt
Helmut Schmidt
Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt is a German Social Democratic politician who served as Chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982. Prior to becoming chancellor, he had served as Minister of Defence and Minister of Finance. He had also served briefly as Minister of Economics and as acting...
, among others.
It is reported that Garnero once managed to work out a meeting between a delegation of 70 American businessmen and Ernesto Geisel
Ernesto Geisel
Ernesto Beckmann Geisel, was a Brazilian military leader and politician of German descent who was President of Brazil from 1974 to 1979.-Early life and family:...
, Brazil's President during the late 1970s, which brought a major wave of foreign investment to Brazil. Henry Kissinger
Henry Kissinger
Heinz Alfred "Henry" Kissinger is a German-born American academic, political scientist, diplomat, and businessman. He is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and...
was also a guest of his during the difficult years of Brazil's foreign debt negotiations. More recently, in 1996, it was President George H. W. Bush who came to Brazil under Garnero's invitation.
Apart from his business, this is a kind of "private diplomacy" that few people carry out like Garnero. Back in 1965, he took the initiative of inviting Senator Robert F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
to visit Brazil. As a result of Kennedy's visit, Mario Garnero decided to found an institution to debate environmental and hemispheric issues in the Americas, which happened in 1978, with the creation of Fórum das Américas, Brazil's pioneer "think tank
Think tank
A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...
" on democracy and regional economic integration.
These initiatives are added to the creation in 1998 of the United Nations Association-Brazil, following a meeting in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
between Mario Garnero and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the UN from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006...
, who later visited São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
under the invitation of Fórum das Américas. UNA-Brazil is part of a group of similar institutions to be found in 115 countries, working as a bridge between the United Nations, its principles and values, and the Brazilian civil society.
As chairman of UNA-Brazil, he supported the media coverage by Brazil's most important newspaper of the Independence Process in East Timor
East Timor
The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, commonly known as East Timor , is a state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...
, that brought to the attention of a large Brazilian audience the popular consultation in that Asian Portuguese-speaking territory, approved by the UN Security Council, that eventually led to the independence of that country from Indonesia. He also led the campaign throughout Brazil so that José Gregori could be elected to the United Nations Human Rights Award
United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights
The United Nations Prizes in the Field of Human Rights were instituted by United Nations General Assembly in 1966.They are intended to "honour and commend people and organizations which have made an outstanding contribution to the promotion and protection of the human rights embodied in the...
given in 1998.
Mario Garnero has been the recipient of many awards and recognitions such as the Industry Metal of Merit-State of Piauí
Piauí
Piauí is one of the states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country.Piauí has the shortest coastline of any of the non-landlocked Brazilian states at 66 km , and the capital, Teresina, is the only state capital in the north east to be located inland...
Federation of Industry, Man of the Year from the Brazilian American Chamber of Commerce (1984), Padre Anchieta Trophy: Man of Vision, Visconde de Cayru Award, Great Knight of the Order of Anhanguera—State of Goiás, Marechal Rondon Peacemaker Medal, Salesman of the Year—Brazilian Association of Sales Director (1980), Grand Master—Order of Military Merti—Brasília, Citizen of São Paulo and, most recently, the Global Vision Personality Award 2008.
Garnero is the author of several publications, including Brazil in the World—Views on Brazil's Role in the Global Market (2008), Tough Deal (1988), The Imperative of Dialogue (1983), Why I Do Believe (1983), Energy: The Future is Today (1980) and Salzburg Letter (1975). His most recent book, JK, The Courage of Ambition, describes Garneo's appreciation of the personality and legacy of Juscelino Kubitschek, who was president of Brazil in the late 1950s and to whom Mario Garnero was a close friend and collaborator while still a young student leader.
Many universities in the United States, Europe and Asia have already welcomed Mario Garnero as a guest speaker. His lectures, books and op-ed articles on Brazil's role in the globalized world are viewd by many as a must for all who want to understand and do business with Brazil.
Father of the Ethanol Car
In the year of 1979 Mario Garnero held the position of director for Industrial Relations of Volkswagen Brazil and was subsequently appointed president of the National Association of Automotive Vehicle Manufacturers (ANFAVEA).1979 was a crucial year for the Brazilian economy as the petroleum crisis pushed the federal government to consider imposing a ration on gasoline use which would ultimately mean disaster for the sales in the automotive industry.
Garnero, as president of ANFAVEA, visualized the car empowered by ethanol as the only solution for the ongoing fuel crisis and took the first step for its implementation on a national scale.
Initially, Garnero convinced and got the approval of the presidents of the four major automobile producers in Brazil—Joseph O'Neil, president of Ford, Wolfgang Sauer, president of Volkswagen, Joe Sanchez
Joe Sánchez
Joe Sánchez , is a former New York City police officer and author who published books about corruption within the New York City Police Department, or NYPD. Upon exposing the illegal acts committed by some high-ranking NYPD officers, Sánchez was arrested on the basis of false allegations which were...
, of General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
, and Silvano Valentino, of Fiat
Fiat
FIAT, an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino , is an Italian automobile manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial, and industrial group based in Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont. Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors including Giovanni Agnelli...
—to establish the audacious goal of producing 1 million cars moved by ethanol, which at the time corresponded to the entire automobile production of the preceding year. The quartet, under Garnero's leadership, left behind any idea of competition to unite themselves around the historic objective of transforming the fleet of cars from gasoline to ethanol.
Afterward, Garnero elaborated together with Brazil's National Industry Confederation (CNI) a complete business plan which sanctioned the possibility of the production of 1 million cars moved on ethanol, thus eliminating any technical doubts on the feasibility of the process.
Garnero then produced a document which contained the signatures of over 800 of the most prominent leaders of the Brazilian economy, all in support of the production of the ethanol empowered automobile. The private sector by that time was entirely mobilized.
Finally, Garnero persuaded his friend and president of the Republic, General João Batista Figueiredo, to engaged himself in the cause and launch the "One million ethanol cars" operation, which conveyed governmental support to the ethanol and sugarcane producers in order to guarantee the sufficient availability of ethanol fuel and also to the automotive industry in order to be thoroughly equipped, in a period of only four months, for the transformations caused by the substitution of gasoline by ethanol.
Three years later and 90% of Brazil's new automobiles were consuming ethanol fuel, notably cheaper then gasoline.
Mario Garnero still today is called the father of the ethanol car in the private initiative, remembered by his tireless contribution for the implementation of over 1 million ethanol cars while president of the National Association of Automotive Vehicle Manufacturers and also for his unshakable belief in the future of alternative energy.