Odebrecht has named Luciano Nitrini Guidolin as the company’s new chief executive officer (CEO), replacing Newton de Souza.
Guidolin will continue the business restructuring process and meet the challenge of bringing Odebrecht back to growth based on the group’s commitment to always operate with ethics, integrity and transparency, the company says.
Guidolin is considered in the group as the leader of a new generation of entrepreneurs, says the company. He will replace de Souza, who served as the CEO since 2015 and now will become vice chairman of the board of directors of Odebrecht.
“The change is one more step in Odebrecht’s transformation process. Over the past two years, de Souza played a decisive role in coordinating the negotiations that led to the signing of the leniency agreement with Brazil’s Federal Prosecution Office (MPF) and with US and Swiss authorities. Similar agreements are being negotiated in other countries,” says Odebrecht.
Guidolin began his career at Odebrecht as an intern at the companies that eventually would become Braskem. For 12 years, he worked in various departments at the petrochemical producer (sales, planning, marketing, technology and exports) before rising to the position of executive officer. He worked for three years to help build and expand ETH, today Odebrecht Agroindustrial, before becoming its chief financial and planning officer. He also served as chief financial officer of the holding company Odebrecht SA before returning to Braskem, where he served for five years as executive vice president of the polymers unit in Brazil and Europe and of technology and innovation. In early 2017, he became chief investment officer of Odebrecht SA, which expanded his vision of the group to encompass all businesses.
Guidolin, 44, is a São Paulo native of Italian descent, with a BS in Production Engineering from the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo (USP) and an MBA from Harvard University.
Under Newton’s leadership, Odebrecht created a new governance model, with more independent directors and a stronger compliance system. Newton started the business restructuring process by divesting several assets to bolster the group’s liquidity, which included the sale of Odebrecht Ambiental 15 days ago. At the same time, an agreement with Brazil’s largest banks enabled the company to reinvest the proceeds of the sale – approximately R$2.5 billion – in the business, giving the group some cash cushion for two years.
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