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XIII Annual MIT Latin American Conference: Latin America’s top business leaders to gather at MIT to explore building a solid financial base for a sustainable future

Conference open free of charge to the public

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 13, 2010 — In the wake of the Great Recession, Latin American countries face the challenge of building a solid financial base while providing quality education for all, developing clean and diversified sources of energy, and using natural resources in a sustainable way.

On April 24, top business leaders, government figures, and academics will gather under MIT’s iconic dome in Cambridge, Massachusetts to explore the fundamentals of shaping a new development cycle during the XIII Annual MIT Latin Conference. This year’s them, “Building Bridges to a Sustainable Future”, will address the unique opportunities these countries have to implement pending reforms, leverage natural resources, and initiate an era of integration and development across the region.

Panel topics will include:

• The Founder’s Perspective: Entrepreneurship in Latin America
• The Wall Street Perspective on Latin America
• The Integration of the Americas: The Next 1 Billion People Market?
• Land of Resources: Energy and Food as Tools for Growth
• Growth of the Consumer Base
• The Leader’s Perspective on Latin America

Slated key note and panel speakers will include, among others:

• Pratini de Moraes, Chairman, Brazilian Beef Export Industries Association (ABIEC); He has held several positions in the Brazilian federal government;
• Natalisio Almeida, COO, Banco Itau, the largest bank in Latin America;
• Helio Rottenberg, CEO, Positivo Informatica, the largest PC Manufacutuer in Brazil and largest educational conglomerate in Latin America;
• Jose Carlos Grubisich, CEO, ETH, bio-energy arm of Odebretch, the largest infrastructure conglomerate of Latin America; and
• Mario Garnero, Chairman, Brasil Invest, known as the “Father of the Ethanol.”

Academics from MIT Sloan will include, among others, Dean David Schmittlein, Deputy Dean Richard Locke, and Bill Aulet, managing director of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center.

For more information and to register, please visit: www.mitlac.com

The MIT Latin Conference is sponsored by Jornal do Brasil, widely known as JB, is a daily newspaper founded in 1891 and published by Editora JB in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The MIT Latin American Conference is a student-organized event held once a year that gathers influential leaders from business, government, academia, and society in Latin America. In this context, speakers share their views and debate about opportunities and challenges for the region. Last year more than 500 people attended including business leaders, students and professors from MIT and other leading institutions.