Thula Pires is a black woman of axé (a popular Brazilian musical genre), mother of Dandara and ballerina. She holds a Master’s and a Doctor’s Degree on State Theory and Constitutional Law by the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, where she works as adjunct professors in these same areas. At the same university, she is also Graduation Coordinator at the Department of Law and General Coordinator of the Interdisciplinary Center for Reflection and Afro-descendant Memory (NIREMA, in Portuguese). Thula was a visitor professor at the African Gender Institute of the University of Cape Town (CAPES/PRINT/2020). She is a CRIOLA associate and member of the Amnesty International General Assembly in Brazil.

Gabriel Visconti has a B.A and a master’s degree in Economics from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), in addition to an Executive MBA from the Postgraduate Institute of Business Research (COPPEAD). Visconti is an economist at the National Development Bank (BNDES) where he joined in August 1998, assuming different functions in the Social, Financial, Foreign Trade and Planning areas. He was for 6 years the superintendent of the Area of ​​Public and Social and Environmental Management, being responsible for Amazon Fund as well as for forest restoration projects, innovation in sustainability, conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. He is currently the head of the Strategic Planning Department at BNDES. He was a member of the Deliberative Council of the BNDES Social Security Foundation between 2010 and 2016.

Thula and Gabriel, welcome to iCS!

Know our others board members and iCS staff here !