UNICA Announces its Technical Director, Antonio de Padua Rodrigues, as Interim CEO

SAO PAULO, April 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA) today announced that its Board of Directors has named the organization's Technical Director, Antonio de Padua Rodrigues, as interim CEO, taking over from Marcos Jank who announced his resignation on March 27th. Rodrigues will act as interim CEO until the conclusion of a selection process, now underway, for a new chief executive.

A member of the executive team at UNICA since 1990, Rodrigues has been in the sugar-energy industry for more than 30 years and is the organization's Technical Director since 2003. He is a former Administrative and Financial Coordinator of the Brazilian government's National Program for the Improvement of Sugarcane, known as Planalsucar, and was also Administrative and Financial Supervisor for projects backed by Industry and Technology Secretariat at the Federal Industry, Trade and Technology Ministry. In 1983, he played a leading role in the introduction of SPCTS, the Sugarcane Payment System by Saccarosis Content, where he remained as a Consultant until 1990.

Marcos Jank became Board Chairman and CEO at UNICA in July of 2007 and has since spearheaded a period of significant achievements for the sugar-energy industry. Accomplishments include a much more intense dialogue with all levels of government; progress in various areas relating to labor, the environment, social concerns and the regulatory framework; and the establishment of a strong international presence with offices launched in Washington, D.C. and Brussels. These were crucial steps for the non-renewal at the end of 2011 of the steep tariff imposed by the United States on imported ethanol. UNICA has also adopted a proactive stance with respect to its communication strategy, expanding the flow of information to meet the demands of Brazilian and international media and undertaking initiatives that have enhanced the industry's image in Brazil and abroad. These included the 2009 and 2011 editions of the Ethanol Summit and the largest institutional communication initiative in Brazil's sugar-energy industry, the award-winning AGORA Project, involving 19 companies and organizations from the sugarcane productive chain.

"It has been a great honor to serve an industry that is so important to national life and is increasingly vital for the planet, given the growing range of low carbon solutions that sugarcane offers; the sector has a very promising future and I'm sure that the work done so far will provide a solid base for the progress that we will witness in the future," said Jank, who brought forward his departure from UNICA because of national and international commitments linked to future activities in his professional life.

"We want to put on record our appreciation to Marcos for his hard and wide-ranging work running UNICA since 2007, making a real impact on the sugar-energy industry on a great many fronts, both inside and outside Brazil," said UNICA Board Chairman Pedro Parente. "We wish him every success in the new challenges that await him."

ABOUT UNICA

The Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA www.unica.com.br) is the representative body of the country's main sugar mills, ethanol distilleries and bioelectricity production units in the South-Central region of Brazil, particularly in the State of Sao Paulo. UNICA members companies are responsible for more than 50% of Brazil's sugarcane production and 60% of its ethanol production. In the 2010/11 harvest, Brazil produced about 620 million tons of sugarcane, from which 37.8 million tons of sugar and 27.4 billion liters of ethanol were produced.

MORE INFORMATION:
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Elizabeth Alves - (55) 11 3643-2707 - bethalves@cdn.com.br
Andrea Benedetti - (55) 11 3643-2730 - andrea.benedetti@cdn.com.br