BRASA Summit at Northeastern University – Student Learning

BRASA Summit at Northeastern University

Brazil and emerging markets in the spotlight

During October 11-12, 2019, more than 500 Brazilian students from across North America gathered at Northeastern for the largest undergraduate conference of Brazilian students in the United States, the BRASA Summit. The event was organized by the national union of Brazilian students and

Northeastern students, led by Daniel Sneyers ('21) and Eric Halpern ('21), with great support from Center for Pop-up Markets and other areas of the Northeast.

Over the course of the weekend, students participated in panels, discussions, networking sessions and professional development opportunities, with more than 40 renowned speakers from Brazil, including CEOs, tech entrepreneurs, investors, politicians, philanthropists and public sector leaders. Students also had the opportunity to interact and interview with 20 leading companies during full-day career fairs, including Anheuser-Busch InBev, Strategy&PwC, Itaú, Unibanco and technology unicorns such as Nubank, Stone Payments and Loggi.

On Friday, speaking events were held in Blackman Auditorium with networking sessions in the Curry Student Center, and Saturday's all-day program was held in Northeastern's brand new Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Complex (ISEC) conference center.

Raj Echambadi, the former Dunton Family Dean of the D'Amore-McKim School of Business (2017-2021), opened the summit. Ravi Ramamurti, Director of the Center for Emerging Markets, welcomed the opening panel on “The Private Sector in Brazil” that the Center for Emerging Markets wishes to deepen ties with entrepreneurs and policy makers in Brazil. The panel that followed included Fernando Alves (CEO of PwC Brazil), Claudia Sender (former CEO of Latam Airlines Brazil operations), Adriana Machado (former CEO of General Electric-Brazil) and Clarissa Lins ( director of both Petrobras and Vale ).

The BRASA Summit marked the development of stronger relationships between Northeastern and Brazil, including NEU's Brazilian community of over 100 current students and a strong alumni network. Other notable speakers at the BRASA Summit were:

• Nicola Calicchio, Chairman of McKinsey Latin America (and Chairman of the Global Client Council)
• Ana Paula Assis, President of IBM Latin America
• Hugo Barra, VP of Virtual Reality at Facebook (Oculus)
• Augusto Lins, CEO of Stone Payments (Fintech, IPO'd for $8B)
• Founder and CEO of VTEX (Brazilian Cloud Tech Company)
• Luiza Helena Trajano, Founder and President of Magazine Luiza (leading Brazilian retailer)
• Liliana Ayalde, former US ambassador to Brazil
• Ivana Ferreira, Managing Director for Latin America at NASDAQ
• Ramon de Paula, Mars Program Executive/Head of Mars Missions at NASA