Continuing its workshop series, BayBrazil presents:

Doing Business with Brazil, a workshop on the economic outlook & case studies of U.S. companies that are expanding to Brazil

Sponsored by BayBrazil & Silicon Valley Bank

Despite slower growth and concerns over inflation, Brazil keeps a comfortable position as a destination for investors around the world.

Over the last 12 months ending July 30, foreign direct investment in the country totaled $72.2 billion, placing Brazil among the top five FDI destination, behind only to China, the U.S. and India.

Last March, the Brazilian government announced that the nation has become the world's seventh economy after having expanded 7.5% in 2010, the strongest in 24 years.

Analysts predict that Brazil’s economy will pick up more steam as consumer confidence continues to grow and the country prepares to host the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games.

Most of Fortune 500 corporations already operate in Brazil and an increasing number of small and mid-sized companies are laying the groundwork to debut in the country.

Some of these companies will be featured in this workshop!

Join us to discuss Brazil’s economic environment, the trends and opportunities in sectors such as IT, energy and biotech, and the business case studies of well-known Silicon Valley firms that have recently started operations in Brazil.

Agenda:

3:00pm: Introductions

3:15pm – 4:15pm Presentations:

Destination Brazil – the economic scenario

Speaker: Fred Aslan, VP, Venrock 

IT intelectual property issues – how to stay competitive in Brazil

Speaker: Sergio Garcia, Partner, Reed Smith

Entrepreneurship ecosystem and e-commerce in Brazil

Speaker: Renata S. Quintini, Principal, Felicis Ventures

4:15pm - 4:30 Break

4:30 – 6:30pm Presentations:

The Biofuels Industry

Case studies: Solazyme; speaker; Sonia Sousa, Director of Comercialization

                     Silver Spring Networks, speaker: Marco Mahrus, Sr. Mgr. Global Development

Medical Devices & Biotechnology in Brazil

Fred Aslan, VP, Venrock

Case study: Advance Medical

The Sports Industry

Case study: podSport, speaker: Colin Spooner, Managing Director

Social Media in Brazil

Case study: Linkedin, speaker: Vicente Silveira, Director of Engineering

6:30pm – 6:45pm Q&A session & final remarks

6:45pm – 7:30pm Cocktail reception – complimentary appetizers, soft drinks and wine will be served.

Speakers BIOs

Fred Aslan, VP, Venrock

Fred Aslan joined Venrock in 2006 and is focused on the medical device and drug development sectors. At Venrock, Fred has led multiple investments, and presently serves on the Board of Directors of Receptos, Inc. Fred is also founder and CEO of ADVANCE Medical, a Venrock portfolio company that is focused on the commercialization of medical technology in Brazil and other countries in Latin America. 

Prior to Venrock, he was with Atlas Venture assessing investments in medical devices and biotechnology.  Earlier in his career, Fred was director of business development and head of investor relations for CuraGen Corporation, an oncology-focused drug development company.  In this role, he was responsible for strategic planning, the in-licensing of a clinical stage oncology product, securing sell-side analyst coverage and helping raise over $100 million. Prior to CuraGen, he worked at Boston Consulting Group where he advised biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Fredreceived his B.S. in Biology from Duke University, M.D. from Yale University School of Medicine and M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.

Sergio Garcia. Partner, Reed Smith

Sergio Garcia is Chair of the Global Technology Transactions Team. He advises clients in industries as diverse as clean technology, renewable energy, biotechnology, medical devices, internet and digital media. Sergio serves as outside general counsel to many of his clients, and as transaction counsel in venture capital investments, strategic transactions and mergers and acquisitions.

One of Sergio’s more notable recent transactions was his representation of the University of California and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in connection with a $500 million ten‐year research collaboration with British Petroleum for the development and commercialization of alternative fuel technologies through the Energy Biosciences Institute, created specifically for this purpose.

Prior to joining Reed Smith, Sergio was a partner at a prominent Silicon Valley‐based law firm, and previously served as Vice President, Legal and General Counsel of PDL BioPharma, Inc.

Marco Mahrus, Sr. Mgr. Global Development, Silver Spring Networks

Marco Mahrus manages global development in the Europe and Latin America regions at Silver Spring Networks. Driving the early phases of market validation and startup operations, Marco opened the company’s São Paulo office in Brazil in 2010 and established the company’s anchor partners and clients in the electric utility industry. Combining technology and energy sector experience, Marco is helping utilities reach their strategic energy goals by delivering a networking solution and powerful applications including consumer engagement, advanced metering, peak load management and integration of renewable energy sources.

Prior to Silver Spring, Marco led growth of the consumer electronics market in wireless networking at Atheros Communications and, at Intel Corporation, he supported Centrino notebook customers around the globe.  Marco holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from University of Michigan and is a graduate of the Harvard Business School.  A global citizen, Marco was raised in a European and Middle Eastern family, lived in South America and Europe, and currently resides in Palo Alto, California with his wife.

Renata S. Quintini, Principal, Felicis Ventures

Renata joined Felicis Ventures in 2011, where she focuses on opportunities in e-commerce, education and health.

Before joining Felicis, she was an institutional investor at the Stanford Management Company, where she helped manage the endowment’s venture capital portfolio and build out its micro-VC exposure. She also worked at JPMorgan’s Tech, Media and Telecom group in San Francisco and coordinated the business, legal and fundraising strategy for a Brazil-based social media start-up. Prior to pursuing her MBA she practiced tech M&A law both in Brazil and Silicon Valley, her last position being with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom in Palo Alto.

Renata has a Law degree from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, an LL.M in Law, Science and Technology from Stanford Law School and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Vicente Silveira, Director of Engineering, LinkedIn

Vicente Silveira is an experienced Internet professional, with a passion for social media and a strong belief in the potential of emerging countries such as his native Brazil. He currently works as Director of Engineering at LinkedIn, focusing on building a safe, scalable and engaging professional network site. Prior to joining LinkedIn, Vicente worked for VeriSign (now Symantec) for 8 years in product and international teams. He started his career as a founding employee of CertiSign which became one of the first successful internet startups in Brazil. He has a Computer Engineering degree from PUC-Rio and currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his family.

Sonia Sousa, Director of Commercialization, Solazyme   

Sonia Sousa serves as Director of Product Commercialization in Fuels & Chemicals for Solazyme Inc. since 2010. Between 2008-2010, she was CEO of SpectroScape a start-up company with offices in the US and Switzerland. Dr. Sousa served as Business Development and Strategic MarketingDirector for the Life Science Solutions Unit at Agilent Technologies, Product Development Director at Thermo Fisher, Strategic Innovation & R&D Manager at DuPont, among other positions. Her background spans from product development, R&D management, strategic alliance and evaluation of potential acquisitions in the renewable energy, life science and specialty chemical industries. She is currently a member of Silicon Valley Angles, and serves in the advisory board of SECCO2 and Power Self. She also volunteers at Taproot Foundation, and Nesst. Dr. Sousa holds a MBA degree from Pepperdine University, a PhD in Chemistry - Analytical Spectroscopy from Utah State University and BS degree in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering - Oswaldo Cruz - Sao Paulo University.

Colin Spooner, Managing Director, PodSport

Colin Spooner is the co-founder and Managing Director of podSport, a marketing consultancy specializing in assisting brands with entering the Brazilian market.  For the past 4 years Colin has run Business Development for San Francisco-based Advertising Agency Pereira & O'Dell (Muscle Milk, Lego, Corona, University of Phoenix, Intel). 
The consultancy, launched in partnership with Nizan Guanaes and parent company Grupo ABC, provides leadership, knowledge, experience and connections to brands seeking to enter the burgeoning Brazilian economy; particularly in light of the unprecedented back-to-back global events in World Cup 2014 and Olympic Games 2016. 
Colin has nearly 20 years experience in advertising, marketing and business development.  Colin has owned and operated his own boutique agency, was a professional triathlete and attended California State University Sacramento.  Colin lives in San Francisco with his wife Melissa, he is currently studying Portuguese and thinks Bacalhau is worthy of being its own currency.