Murilo Pinto de Oliveira Ferreira: Industry Veteran

When government owns a substantial part of a company you can bet it will raise a lot of noise publicly when the company is not doing well. Government is basically run by politicians. They may genuinely be concerned but they also get political mileage. They will want changes in top management.

The problem here is if the one who will get appointed is the favorite of some powerful politician and may not be the right person for the job. Fortunately for Vale SA, which is considered the second largest mining company in the world, the choice in 2011 was an industry veteran.

The one chosen to lead the mining giant was Murilo Pinto de Oliveira Ferreira, he was appointed as CEO of Vale in the early part of 2011. Prior to his appoint the Brazilian government which has direct and indirect stakes in Vale had frequently criticized the company in recent years for not spending more on domestic steel and fertilizer output to generate jobs.

His appointment eased concerned about a less qualified person holding the CEO post. Ferreira is an over 30 year industry veteran. He started his professional career at Vale in 1977 as a financial and economic analyst. He would later perform important roles such as CEO of Vale Inco, which currently integrates Vale’s operations in Canada.

They chose the right man at the right time calming market concerns.