Our Leadership

He holds a degree in Business Administration from IMES, a degree in Accounting from Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas (Pontifical Catholic University of Campinas), and a master's degree in Corporate Governance from Laureate/FMU. Permanent Full Member of the Academia Paulista de Contabilidade (São Paulo Academy of Accounting). His main professional experiences for the last five (5) years include: (i) Member of the Board of Directors of Caixa Econômica Federal (CEF); (ii) Member of the Independent Investigation Committee of BRF, (iii) Completed training and specialization courses in Corporate Governance at IBGC, as well as specialization courses at Teaching Institutions Abroad, including universities (Singularity, Yale), and international technical missions in various countries, (iv) Served as Coordinator of the Finance and Accounting Commission of IBGC for approximately 5 years, and (v) Coordinator and/or member of Audit Committees at companies such as CCR Group, Previ, Tupy, Natura, SulAmerica, among others operating in the capital markets. He served as COO in consolidated operations across 11 countries at PwC South America for approximately 12 years and as an Independent Auditor for approximately 35 years, assessing risks and internal controls for customers, maintaining continuous interaction with the principles and rules of Audit and Risk Assessment of corporate entities in the national and international market. He is a speaker at associations and universities such as IBGC, Associação Paulista de Contabilidade, Insper, and IBEF, among others.

He graduated in Electrical Engineering from Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul ("UFRGS") in 1978, with a specialization in Finance also from UFRGS in 1993, Mr. Francisco has extensive experience as a C-Level executive and independent director in various industries such as technology, electrical and automation equipment, telephony and engineering services, electricity, transmission and distribution, insurance and pension, food, diagnostic medicine, real estate, car dealerships, Retail and footwear, serving for 28 years on Boards of Directors, Advisory Boards, Fiscal Councils, and audit committees at publicly held and family-owned companies. Mr. Francisco also holds a PhD in Business Administration from the University of São Paulo (USP), a Certificate in Business Strategy from Columbia Business School, with Graduate Studies in Digital Business from the Emeritus Institute of Management (a collaboration between MIT and Columbia University), and has completed his executive training at several internationally renowned schools such as Wharton, Stanford, Harvard, NYU (New York University), Duke University, INSEAD (France), McGill University (Canada), NUS (National University of Singapore), Cambridge University (United Kingdom), IESE (Spain), Tsinghua (China), and IMD (Switzerland). He has also worked for 26 years as a university professor in Undergraduate, MBA, and executive education courses. He currently holds the position of member of the Board of Directors and/or Advisory Board at Alibem S.A. and Grupo InBetta S.A., as well as serving as a fiscal director at BB Seguridade Participações S.A..

She holds a degree in Production Engineering from Poli-USP and an MBA from the Wharton School - University of Pennsylvania with majors in Accounting and Finance. She has been a member of the Audit Committee of Voke (formerly Agasus S.A.) since August 2022. She has been a full member of the Supervisory Board of Yduqs Participações S.A. since 2019, and of the Supervisory Board of Raízen S.A. since August 2022. She was Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Locaweb Serviços de Internet S.A. from May 2021 to April 2023. She completed the IBGC course – Supervisory Board in Practice in April 2017. She has over 20 years of experience in the financial market, from 1995 to 2017, including positions as Head of Institutional Investor Relations at Itaú Unibanco, Sell-Side Equity Research Analyst at Itaú BBA, responsible for the Banking and Financial Services sector (Top Analyst according to Institutional Investor Magazine), and responsible for the Talent and HR Analytics Department and PMO of Risk Culture and Member of the Risk Steering Committee of the Itaú Unibanco conglomerate. She also worked as a Fixed Income Trader and Portfolio Manager at Banco SRL and Banco Inter American Express in São Paulo. Since 2017, she has been a member at Lucas Melo e Associados Ltda., working as a consultant, and is an Associate Partner at MBA Empresarial, providing consulting services for university admissions abroad.

He holds degrees in Business Administration from Sociedade Universitária Augusto Motta – SUAM (1978) and in Accounting Sciences from Faculdade – SOMLEI (1980). He has been a full member of the Supervisory Board of YDUQS Participações S.A. since 2008. Additionally, he is a member of the Supervisory Board of the following companies: Parnaíba Gás Natural S.A., a publicly-held company in the oil and gas sector, since 2014; Magnesita Refratários S.A., a company in the refractories industry, since 2008. Additionally, he is listed as the managing member of the following companies: Griffe Serviços Contábeis Ltda., in the field of tax and accounting consulting and auditing, since 2013; Rio Vermelho Empreendimentos e Participações Ltda., in the real estate sector, since 2005; Boat & Plane Time Sharing do Brasil Ltda., in the business management consulting sector, since 2005; Ocean Explorer do Brasil Ltda., in the field of business management consulting, since 2005; Belavia Administração e Participações Ltda., in the field of business management consulting, since 2010; Hainan Administração e Participações Ltda., in the field of business management consulting, since 2010; He has served as a member of the Audit Committee of Grupo SBF S/A since March 2019 and has previously served as a member of the Supervisory Board of Lojas Americanas S.A. (2000 to 2010), South American Lighting Participações S/A (2016 to 2019), Magnesita Refratários S/A (2008 to 2012), Allis Participações S.A. (2012 to 2015), and of the Supervisory Board of Oi S/A (since April 2016). He worked in external auditing at PwC for 3 years and in the controllership department of ??Banco de Investimentos Garantia S/A for 15 years.

Ms. Mara Silva is a Senior finance executive with 30 years of experience in M&A, strategic and financial planning in multinational companies, graduated in Business Administration with an emphasis in Foreign Trade from UNA, with graduate studies in Logistics from COPPEAD/UFRJ, and in competitiveness from UFMG. She holds an MBA in business from Fundação Dom Cabral. Between 2006 and 2016, she worked as a strategic planning manager for M&A at Vale S.A., and between 2016 and 2018, she worked as a planning manager at Gol Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes. From 2018 to 2019, she worked as a senior manager at Imerys, and between 2020 and 2022, she served as head of transformation at Latam Airlines, being responsible for global cross-functional projects focused on cost reduction and revenue growth, and a member of the approval committee for key digital and cultural transformation projects.

Graduated in Law from Universidade Mackenzie and in Accounting from PUC-SP, with a Master's degree in Tax Law from PUC-SP (2008). Registered with the Brazilian Bar Association under number 71.409 and accredited by the IBGC as a member of the Supervisory Board. Evany worked for 23 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers Public Accountants, and during that time, she spent 15 years in the Risk & Quality department and as an Officer of the TAX department. Today, she provides legal and tax consulting services, focusing on Quality Control Policies, Data Protection, and Confidentiality, and is a member of the Legal Consulting department of ??the law firm Reis, Varrichio e Carrer Sociedade de Advogados. 

Mr. Zaher is a graduate in Law and Education. He has been active in the education market since the early 1970s, having established educational institutions in the cities of Araçatuba, São José do Rio Preto, Araraquara, São Carlos, and Ribeirão Preto. In the 1980s, he acquired the controlling interest in Sistema COC de Educação, headquartered in the city of Ribeirão Preto, State of São Paulo, leading the strategic growth planning of COC Group and transforming it into a diversified educational system with nationwide operations. Today, he leads the SEB Group, a prominent institution in the field of basic education.

He holds a degree in Economics from Universidade Católica da Argentina and an MBA in Business Administration from Austral University - IAE. He has been Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company since 04/18/2018, and a member of this Board since September 2017, in accordance with the definition of Independent Director in the B3's Novo Mercado Regulations, a position he holds concurrently with that of member of the People and Governance Committee. He is a Managing Partner at Advent International and has 26 years of experience in private equity, having led numerous transactions. Currently, the company focuses on investments in the education and healthcare sectors in Latin America. Before joining Advent International, he worked for 3 years at Grupo Perez Compac, where he was involved in various privatization projects in Argentina, especially in the energy, oil, and gas sectors. He was a member of the Board of Directors of Faculdade da Serra Gaúcha and Kroton Educacional, a publicly-held company in the education sector.

He is a graduate in business administration with an emphasis in finance from Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV) and completed the Advanced Management Program at the University of Pennsylvania (Wharton), United States. He was an Investment manager at Geral do Comércio Corretora de Câmbio e Valores Mobiliários from 1991 to 1992, and from 1992 to 1994, he worked as a portfolio analyst at Montgomery Asset Management in San Francisco, California. Mr. André Pires served as Executive Officer of Geral do Comércio Corretora de Câmbio e Valores Mobiliários for two years (from 1994 to 1996), Officer of Banco BBA Creditanstalt for a period of one year, and Managing Officer of BNP Paribas Asset Management, an asset management company, from 1997 to 2004. He served as Investment Officer and Vice President of Finance at Gerdau S.A. from 2004 to 2010, and from 2012 to 2015, he served as CFO of the leading Brazilian company producing steel and one of the main suppliers of long steel in the Americas. Mr. André Pires served as CFO of Ultrapar S.A., a company operating in the fuel distribution sector through Ipiranga and Ultragaz, from 2015 to 2020. Currently, he serves as CFO of Aegea Saneamento e Participações S.A., since 2020, the largest private sector basic sanitation company in Brazil, in addition to being a member of the Board of Directors of SPE1 and SPE4 (Águas do Rio), a sanitation concession in the State of Rio de Janeiro, and Corsan (a sanitation company in the State of Rio Grande do Sul).

Mario Ghio Junior was the Chief Executive Officer of Somos Educação, Chief Executive Officer of Basic Education at Kroton, Chief Executive Officer of Abril Educação, Chief Executive Officer of Anglo, Ática, and Scipione, Chief Executive Officer of Avalia, Officer of Teaching Support at Estácio, Officer of Teaching Systems at Santillana Group, General Officer of Sistema UNO, General Officer of Sistema COC, General Officer of CPV Vestibulares, and Chemistry Teacher at Anglo Vestibulares, all companies whose main activity is education and teaching. Director of the NGOs Todos Pela Educação, Instituto Verdescola, and Fundação Pitágoras, and member at MindMakers and Daquiprafora. He holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from Poli/USP (1994), a degree in Business Administration from Anhembi-Morumbi (2006), and an Executive MBA from INSPER (2013).

He holds a degree in Economics from Fundação Getúlio Vargas in Rio de Janeiro and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is currently an independent member of the Company's Board of Directors, a position he has held since September 2017, in accordance with the definition of Independent Director in the B3's Novo Mercado Regulations. He holds this position concurrently with his membership on the Audit and Finance Committee, the Academic Committee, and as Coordinator of the non-statutory Performance Monitoring Committee. He joined Advent do Brasil Consultoria e Participações Ltda. in 2011 and is the Officer responsible for the health and education sectors in Brazil. Additionally, he is a member of the Board of Directors of CI&T (NYSE: CI&T), a publicly-held company in the Technology sector. In recent years, he participated in Advent's investments in Easynvest, Nubank, Ebanx, CI&T, Merama, United Medical, Fleury, Allied, Terminal de Contêineres de Paranaguá, and Fortbrás. Before joining Advent, he was an associate at AT Kearney in São Paulo and New York for four years.

Ms. Thamila Zaher is a graduate in law and business administration from Centro Universitário UniSEB, a graduate in Strategic Business Management from Fundação Getúlio Vargas (MBA FGV – SP), and a graduate in Modern Education from PUCRS. Between 2014 and 2016, she served as a Member of the Board of Directors of Estácio Participações S.A. (currently YDUQS). Between 2016 and 2017, she served on the Board of Directors of WIDE. Between 2013 and 2021, she served as a founding partner of T4CORP and is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Maple Bear Global Schools and Instituto Orofacial das Américas (IOA). Except for the position on the Company's Board of Directors that she held between 2014 and 2016, the other companies indicated above are not part of the economic group of the Company, nor are they controlled by any shareholder that holds, directly or indirectly, an interest equal to or greater than 5% in the Company. She does not hold management positions in voluntary sector companies. She is a shareholder and a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Board of Sistema Educacional Brasileiro S.A. (“SEB Group”), an educational conglomerate focused on basic education.

With a degree in engineering, he was CEO and is a director at Locaweb Internet S.A., where he has held various positions since 2008. He is an independent member of the Company's Board of Directors, as defined by the B3's Novo Mercado Regulations for Independent Directors, a position he holds concurrently with that of a member of the Academic Committee since 2018, having become Coordinator of this Committee in 2022. He is a director at Digipix S.A., an e-commerce company specializing in photography, photo books, and photo gifts; Lojas Quero-Quero S.A., a retail company specializing in electronics, construction materials, and furniture in southern Brazil; and Allied Tecnologia S.A. He was responsible for the launch of the Submarino.com website, served at the company as technology officer, and later held the position of CEO. He served as President of Submarino.com during the Company's IPO on Bovespa and during the merger with Americanas.com that resulted in the company B2W. He was an independent director for the companies CETIP-- SA, Laboratórios Fleury S.A., and International Meal Company S.A.. 

With over 25 years of experience at major multinational corporations, he has worked at Shell, Banco ABN Real/Santander, Vale, and Atento across multiple specialty areas. He holds an MBA from MIT Sloan, with finance specializations from FGV and PUC-Rio, and a bachelor’s degree in marketing from PUC-Rio. His most recent role was CFO at Yduqs.

Computer Engineer graduated from the Aeronautics Institute of Technology (ITA), with 30 years of professional experience in Planning & Management, Shared Services, and Finance. He served as a consultant at McKinsey and as an executive at Vale for 16 years. He joined Yduqs in 2020, where he led the Infrastructure, Shared Services Center (CSC), Financial Planning, Procurement, and Controllership areas.

Executive with a solid background in higher education, with over 15 years of experience in academic management. He has led numerous projects focused on quality, efficiency, and innovation in education and has been responsible for the financial and operational management of YDUQS’s Medical School business unit since December 2017. He is a physician, holds a specialization in Medical Education from USP, a PhD in Neurology from UNIRIO/RJ, and an MBA in Business Management from IBMEC. He also serves on strategic boards in the sector, such as Board Member of Hardwork Medicina, and acts as an evaluator for the Medical School Accreditation System of the Federal Council of Medicine (SAEME) and the Ministry of Education (BASis/INEP).

Claudia Romano studied Leadership at the Dom Cabral Foundation, Integrated ESG Management at PUC-Rio, holds a degree in Social Communication with a Journalism specialization from Faculdade da Cidade, and was a partner at For Joy Comunicação. With 20 years dedicated to education, she has been honored with the city and state's highest honors: the Pedro Ernesto Medal in 2019 and the Tiradentes Medal in 2022.

She also holds positions in other organizations such as the Human Rights Committee of OAB/RJ, the Business Council for Sports, Leisure, and Social Development of ACRJ (Commercial Association of Rio de Janeiro), and the City Council of Rio de Janeiro. Claudia Romano is also the Vice President of SEMERJ (Union of Maintaining Entities of Higher Education Institutions of Rio de Janeiro), Council Member of ANUP (National Association of Private Universities), and the Solar Meninos de Luz School. Additionally, she serves as an Ambassador of Culture at the Cidade das Artes Foundation.

With a wide and consistent network of contacts built in years of career in the private spheres, government (federal, state and municipal), third sector institutions and opinion leaders, acts directly and indirectly, as a facilitator in the Company's various fronts, to strengthen the institution's image of academic excellence, and to show the educational market, the regulatory body and society that it is possible to combine growth in scale with teaching quality, always in line with the best ESG practices - environmental, social and governance.

Has extensive experience in the development of Strategic Partnerships, Social Responsibility and Sustainability. In the Strategic Partnerships area, she forges alliances that benefit all the Company’s stakeholders, creating asset value for YDUQS’s services and products, as well as continuously seeking better negotiation conditions to generate additional revenue or new business opportunities. She structured the Social Responsibility and Sustainability Program strategically focusing on five pillars: sports, culture, citizenship, school and innovation/entrepreneurship, which are integrated into YDUQS’s other areas and the Company’s branding, depending on the results achieved.

She also created the Tax Benefit Committee focusing on the approval of tax incentive projects by the Culture Law, the Sports Law, ISS, Funcad, Pronas, Pronom and other programs. She led the establishment of criteria for the selection of projects that require the participation of students and provide practical experience that enriches the development of students beyond the classroom.

Ms. Romano, as head of Branding, Corporate Communications, Media Relations and Institutional Relations, is in charge of guiding, coordinating, supervising and evaluating external and internal communications, as well as supervising the Company’s PR agencies. She is also responsible for crisis management and works to quickly transform contingencies, uncertainties, problems, and risks into positive solutions for YDUQS, in addition to dealing in person with the press, companies, public agencies and the government.

Holds a degree in Psychology from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), an MBA in Business Administration from FGV-RJ, and is a certified board member by IBGC (Brazilian Institute of Corporate Governance). Joined Yduqs in May 2025 as VP of People, Management, Infrastructure, and Integration. Previously served as Director of HR and Sustainability at Icatu Seguros, HR Director at Generali Seguros, and held roles in infrastructure at Andrade Gutierrez and in finance at BTG Pactual.

A Production Engineer with a specialization from IESE, Rodolfo has built experience across the retail sector, private equity ventures, and education. Throughout his career, he has worked in Finance, Planning, and Operations. He joined Yduqs in 2017 and was appointed Director of Partner Operations in 2019, taking on responsibility for the nationwide network of partner learning centers. In 2024, he was promoted to Senior Director of the division.

With a professional career spanning over 35 years, which began in the industrial sector, Adriano moved into the education industry 28 years ago. He holds a degree in Business Administration, a Master's in Economics from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, and an MBA in Educational Institution Management from the Pedro Leopoldo Foundation. He joined the Company in 2011 to lead the brand's expansion into Northern Brazil. Throughout his tenure at Yduqs, he has been actively involved in acquisition processes in the region and, in 2024, assumed leadership of the company's operations in both the Northern and Southern parts of the country.

With more than 25 years of experience across Marketing, Sales, Growth, and Innovation, Eduardo has held leadership positions at companies including CNA, Claro, Oi, Shell, and Yahsat. Most recently, he served as Vice President of Marketing, Sales, and Technology at CNA Group, the country’s largest language school franchise. Eduardo holds a degree in Marketing from PUC-Rio and a Master’s degree in Psychiatry from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), where his research focused on the impact of screen exposure on human behavior. He has also completed executive programs in innovation and technology at leading international institutions. He serves on the board of the Brazilian Association of Advertisers (ABA) and is the founder of Instituto Delete, an organization dedicated to promoting the conscious and responsible use of screens and digital technologies. In 2025, Eduardo was named one of the world’s 10 most influential CMOs by Cannes Lions, the organization behind the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.