Investing in Brazil's Brightest

Sonia Villalobos believes that change in the financial industry begins in the classroom.

In 1988, she sat behind a desk with dreams to transform Brazil's economy. In 2018, she stands behind a podium encouraging her students to do the same.

In 2016, Sonia Villalobos, CFA, made the decision to share her financial expertise with the next generation of professionals. She became a professor at Insper, a higher education institution with a curriculum focused solely on business, economics, and engineering.

Villalobos began earning her degree at São Paulo's esteemed Fundação Getulio Vargas when Brazil was in a period of stagnation, inflation, and crisis now known as the "lost decade." From 1981 to 1992, GDP increased by only 1.4 percent annually. The massive amount of foreign debt accrued during the soaring economies of the 1960s and 1970s was rearing its head, and the International Monetary Fund imposed harsh austerity measures to enable Brazil to meet its payments.

The CFA Program was a way for Villalobos not only to understand her foreign peers, but to earn their respect. Throughout her career, Villalobos witnessed the transformation of a national economy, opened her own consultancy firm, Villalobos Consultoria Ltda., and sat on the board of Telefônica Brasil, historically one of Brazil's ten-largest listed companies. But it's her next chapter, cultivating the generation of talent that will continue in her footsteps, that excites her most.

At Insper, Villalobos teaches Brazil's next generation of finance leaders how socially responsible investing and diversity in decision making can make a positive difference in the world without sacrificing professional success. "Ethical decision making and success in the finance industry go hand-in-hand," said Villalobos.