Ricardo Villela Marino

Ricardo Villela Marino is a partner of Itaú Unibanco and Chairman of the bank’s Latin America Strategic Council, where he spearheads innovation and exploration of growth opportunities across the region. Previously, Ricardo was CEO for Itaú Latam operations (Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay). He also served as President of the Federation of Latin American Banks (FELABAN) and was designated a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. Ricardo began his career in Banco Credit Comerciale of France (CCF) and later worked with fixed income and equity markets for Banco de Investimentos Garantia (CSFB). His global outlook was honed in part during his tenure with Goldman Sachs Asset Management in New York and London, where he was a portfolio manager for Emerging Markets, including EMEA, Asia ex-Japan, and Latin America. Ricardo also created the Business Intelligence division of Itaucard, running the derivatives desk and managing both Itaú´s multi-billion-dollar middle-market credit portfolio and the bank’s domestic mortgage business. For three years, including the merger period between Itau and Unibanco, Ricardo was the company’s Chief Human Resources Officer.

Ricardo currently serves as President of Instituto PDR, a Sao Paulo-based non-profit organization that catalyzes social and civic entrepreneurship among young people. As a member of Itaú Unibanco’s founding and ownership family, Ricardo and his family have deep roots in their community and a commitment to merging technology with traditional values of service and integrity. Ricardo serves on the boards of Banco Itaú Unibanco Holding Financeira and the MIT Sloan School of Management Latin America. He is also Vice Chairman of Itau Corphanca Chile.

He is an engineer from the University of São Paulo, with an MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management and a thesis on “Managing the Family Business'' from Harvard Business School. He is also an alumnus of Stanford University’s Executive Program on Leadership. ​