South America Beachhead Advisory Board

Stephen O’Sullivan

Chair

Stephen O’Sullivan leads a team of lawyers forming part of the Corporate Department at Mattos Filho Advogados, one of Brazil’s largest firms and one that offers a full corporate service to its clients.
 
Born and educated in New Zealand, Stephen is also an English-qualified solicitor. He was previously a partner at London-based Richards Butler (now Reed Smith Richards Butler).
 
Stephen has worked for 15 years in Brazil and his practice focuses on dealing with international clients who have business there.
 
With a thorough knowledge of corporate, tax, finance, labour, regulatory, intellectual property issues in the Brazilian market, he is well placed to assist businesses with both their entry into Brazil and ongoing business strategies there.

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Sergio Silva Alcalde

Sergio has an eclectic background with strong experience in public policy. He spent thirteen years as a professor at the University of Chile in the undergraduate and graduate School of Economics and Business. Since then he has worked  for government departments such as the Central Bank of Chile,  the National Planning Office (ODEPLAN, today known as MIDPLAN) where he was member of the economic team responsible for the Income and Value added Tax Reform, and at ODEPA (part of the Department of Agriculture ).
 
Sergio is founder and President of Fundacion de Cultura Empresarial an independent organisation dedicated to the analysis and diagnosis of Chilean economic and business reality. Sergio is also founder and rector of the International School of Culinary Arts and Services, a member of the Board of the CFC Capital S.A, vice president and shareholder of TW Logistics, and a board member and shareholder of DESCO, a construction and real estate development company.
 
Sergio Silva Alcalde graduated “magna cum-laude” from the University of Chile with a Bachelor of Science in Economics, and did his Master of Arts in Economics at the University of Chicago.

Alberto A. Lopes Da Silva

Graduated in Business Administration, started his career at the International Department of Banco do Brasil involved with the assistance to the exporting and importing companies and particularly with the negotiation of shipping documents and practices for documentary credits. In 1987 founded WCA Consultoria a consultancy company for foreign trade business, leading specialists in export, import and drawback operations. He is dedicated to services comprising administrative treatment according to the Brazilian export and import regulations, support in currency exchange contracts, operational document flow, logistics, and management of processes.

Martin Cartwright

Martin Cartwright is a successful Chilean horticulturist and fruit grower and owns his own farming business, Agricola Ponderosa.
 
Martin lived and studied in New Zealand for six years.
 
He obtained his Diploma in Agriculture and then a Diploma in Valuation and Farm Management from Lincoln University during this period.
 
In 2011 he was awarded the Lincoln University International Alumni Award for his work in furthering the relationships between New Zealand and South America.
 
Martin brings to the Beachhead role experience in food and beverage industry including; funding, product development, developing sales and marketing strategy, manufacturing, logistics management, insights into consumer market.
 
Martin has worked extensively with a number of New Zealand businesses for more than 30 years, helping them understand the idiosyncrasies of doing business in Latín America. 

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Jorge Forteza

Jorge Forteza is an Economist with specialization in Corporate Strategy, Competitiveness and Governance. He is advisor to leading multinational corporations, large local groups, and public sector organizations in Argentina and other Latin American countries.
 
He is a Professor in Strategy and Competitiveness at Universidad de San Andrés in Argentina, where he serves on its Board of Directors. Jorge also participates in the board of several NGO´s in Argentina.
 
Previously, Jorge was a Partner and Senior Vice President at Booz Allen Hamilton, for over 22 years, based in Paris, Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires. He has also published books and other articles on Internationalization strategies in Latin America. Jorge was the recipient of the Prime Minister´s Latin American Fellow Program in 2008.

Dr Gustavo Richardson

Born in Argentina to a New Zealand father, Dr Gustavo Richardson holds both New Zealand and Argentine citizenship and has extensive family ties in the South Island of New Zealand.
 
Gustavo directs his own law firm in Buenos Aires and has a mutual collaboration agreement with New Zealand law firm Anderson Lloyd Lawyers. Specialising in credit risk and debt collection, he is active in commercial and financial law and provides legal advice to the retail, banking and financial sector.
 
In recent years, Gustavo has assisted as legal and strategic advisor to several New Zealand firms that have established operations in Argentina, and Uruguay. He graduated from the Argentine Navy School and was a Marine Corp Officer for 15 years before his retirement to graduate as a lawyer from the University of Buenos Aires. Gustavo completed an MBA as well as executive training in negotiations, intellectual property and legal mediation.