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Mario joined Teneo with more than 25 years of experience in government, business and academia in the United States, Europe and Latin America.
Mario started his career in the banking sector in Geneva before joining GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) in 1988 to support the first ever multilateral negotiations on trade in services during the Uruguay Round. He assisted more than 50 countries with their services liberalization offers – a crucial element in the success of the round.
In 1996, Mario joined Brazil’s Minister of Finance, Pedro Malan, as Deputy Secretary for International Affairs at Finance, where Mr. Marconini served as Chief Services Trade Negotiator for the Free Trade Agreement for the Americas (FTAA) and the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR).
In 1998, he assumed the role of the Foreign Trade Secretary, Brazil’s highest-ranking trade post in government, where he spearheaded a de-bureaucratization program and revamped import-licensing procedures. In this role, Mario earned the highest award for government service in Brazil from President Fernando Henrique Cardoso: Commendatory of the Order of Rio Branco.
Since 1999, Mario has assisted companies, governments, business associations, international organizations and other institutions and stakeholders on matters relating to corporate affairs, institutional and government relations, trade and investment, market and regulatory intelligence. He has also intermediated and developed business on behalf of clients from around the world in ventures in Brazil and Latin America. He served as the Brazilian Counsel in the U.S.-led advisory team to the regional aircraft manufacturer Embraer in its WTO case against Bombardier.
Prior to joining Teneo, he presided over ManattJones Marconini Global Strategies, a strategic international consultancy affiliated to Manatt, Phelps and Phillips. Alongside his consultancy, Mario was the Executive Director of Brazil’s newly created Center on Foreign Relations (CEBRI) from 2001-2005.
In addition to his role at Teneo, Mario is the Director for International Negotiations at the Federation of Industries of the State of Sao Paulo (FIESP), Brazil’s most prominent industrial association, and the Vice President of CECOMÉRCIO, a commerce and services center, comprising more than 600,000 member companies established in Brazil. He is a member of the Council on Global Trade of the World Economic Forum, Geneva, and of the Advisory Board of the European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE), Brussels.
He holds an M.A. in economics from the Graduate Institute of International Affairs in Geneva, an M.A.L.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and an M.A. in political science from Illinois State University. He is an associated professor at the School for Advanced Advertising and Marketing Studies, a top business school in Brazil, and an academic advisor at the Rio Branco Diplomatic Academy at Brazil’s Ministry of External Relations (Itamaraty).
Welcome to this edition of the Weekly Political Compass from Teneo’s political risk advisory team! This week, we are taking a closer look at Brazil-China relations. Meanwhile, approval ratings have improved for Japan’s prime minister, the opposition’s vote in Turkey may split, electoral reform has been suspended in Mexico,…
This week, Peru continues to face severe volatility. Meanwhile, a regional summit in Argentina marks the first trip abroad of Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva since his recent inauguration. Bilateral agreements between Argentina and Brazil may be more substantive than anything emerging from the summit. Separately, Argentina’s debt…
The three branches of government are acting fast to restore normalcy in the second week of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s administration following the storming of government buildings yesterday, 8 January. Existing protesting impetus should wane with the arrests of protestors and decisions implicating governors and mayors who do not…
This week, Peru remains in crisis amid congressional resistance to bringing elections forward. In Brazil, there will be another attempt to vote for a spending cap waiver ahead of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s inauguration on 1 January. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) should release the…
A year ago, political, corporate and market leaders across the globe contemplated what the buildup of Russian forces along Ukraine’s borders would portend. While the U.S. administration and intelligence community warned that a Russian invasion was likely, many corporate leaders and market participants were nevertheless taken by surprise when it…
This week, Peru’s political situation remains unsettled as new President Dina Boluarte tries to rein in protests that followed the ousting of Pedro Castillo. In Brazil, an increase to the government spending cap continues to work its way through Congress. Meanwhile, there may not be time to approve contentious electoral…
This week, Mexico’s electoral reform has mobilized hundreds of thousands of people who oppose what is seen as a regression in electoral transparency and independence. Brazil’s political transition could see ministerial appointments start. In Peru, tensions remain high as President Pedro Castillo awaits the arrival of a regional delegation to…
President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been successful at signaling that his government will respect the broad-based coalition of political forces that supported his election. He has appointed VP-elect Geraldo Alckmin, a former presidential contender and centrist politician who migrated from historical PT-nemesis PSDB to the socialists (PSB), to…
This week, Brazil’s transition takes some initial steps following Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s election victory and the dismantling of post-vote truckers’ protests. Colombia’s tax reform should be signed into law ready to take effect from January 2023. In Chile, the governing coalition faces a test of strength in Congress…
Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won the presidency yesterday, 30 October, by a little over two million votes or a difference of 1.8 percentage points (50.9-49.1%) over incumbent president Jair Bolsonaro, who remains silent since the announcement of Lula’s victory. Unlike in his two previous presidential mandates in…
This week, trade-related uncertainty in Mexico will continue as President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) increasingly opts for loyalty over technical expertise. In Brazil, there was no clear winner in yesterday’s presidential debate less than a fortnight before the run-off vote. Chile marks three years since the mass protests and…
This week, Brazil’s presidential election campaign resets in the wake of a closer-than-anticipated first-round result yesterday, 2 October. In Cuba, the regime is in full crisis mode after days of protests over electricity outages caused by Hurricane Ian. The US will be getting down to details as Colombia’s President Gustavo…
President Jair Bolsonaro had been urging his supporters to attend the celebration of Brazil’s bicentennial Independence Day on 7 September, for a few months In doing so, his interest was clearly electoral, not civic. He aimed to fire up his base – which attended in significant numbers. Bolsonaro’s focus was…
This week, there is apprehension in Brazil about the politicization of tomorrow’s Bicentennial Independence Day military parades. Chile’s constitutional reform process is not over despite the overwhelming rejection of the new constitutional draft by voters last weekend. In Argentina, the attempted assassination of Vice-President Cristina Fernandez (CFK) will keep political…
This week, Colombia holds its first-round presidential vote, with two candidates vying for a second place that would put them into a run-off against the leftist Gustavo Petro. A flurry of US diplomacy involving Mexico, Brazil, and other countries in the region reflects challenges…
This week, in Argentina, inflation remains at the top of the agenda in what will be a difficult few days for an embattled government. Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro has revived his attacks on the voting system. Meanwhile, problematic security conditions in Colombia could influence…
President Jair Bolsonaro has opened a new front of conflict with the Supreme Court (STF). He issued a pardon on 22 April for an allied federal congressman, Daniel Silveira from the right-wing Brazilian Labor Party (PTB) from Rio, who was sentenced by a 10-1 ruling to eight years and nine…
This week, Mexico holds a presidential recall referendum that President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) hopes will recharge his authority; separately, Mexico’s Supreme Court could make an important ruling on the constitutionality of electricity reforms. In Brazil, an expansion of an important cash transfer program is…
As an electoral year, 2022 legislative bills will tend to advance only as they reflect the electoral interests of Congress or the government. President Jair Bolsonaro remains the main rival to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the polls – but Lula's poll lead means that a run-off is not…
Speaking at the Climate Summit organized by US President Joe Biden on 22 April, President Jair Bolsonaro read the prompter and said virtually all that his new foreign ministry had put on paper for him to read. That was already a major feat. It showed that the pressure exerted by…
Guillermo Lasso’s 11 April election victory in Ecuador could be seen as a win for pro-market parties across the region. Against significant odds, Lasso defeated a well-organized left-wing rival, seemingly bucking an incipient Latin American leftist revival (Mexico in 2018; Argentina in 2019; and Bolivia in 2020), which is widely…
Municipal election results in November will not have much influence on the economic agenda. Elections for the presiding officers of both chambers of Congress will delay decisions until February 2021. Only then will it be clear whether government clout or congressional independence will prevail as the driving force of the…
As previously signaled, an increasing distance between President Jair Bolsonaro and Congress was making it easier for House Speaker Rodrigo Maia to champion singlehandedly the pension reform cause. However, pro-Bolsonaro and pro-reform demonstrations on 26 May, coupled with an apparent truce across hitherto feuding branches of government, have shortened that…
The most likely run-off scenario pits the far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro (PSL) against Fernando Haddad, heir to former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of the leftist Workers’ Party (PT) . Odds in fact have increased in favor of such an outcome after Haddad became the official PT on 11…
The ten-day nation-wide trucker strike may be waning, albeit slowly, but its effects are long-standing.It has crippled not only supply chains, causing shortages and disruptions, but also an evolving consensus within the political establishment in favor of reformist economic policies. This has significant implications for the October 2018 general and…
Voter intentions have remained largely unchanged following the imprisonment of Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva. This is somewhat surprising, as many believed the former president’s campaign had fueled the rise of the rightwing Congressman Jair Bolsonaro and stifled the candidacies of other leftist politicians. The exit of as polarizing a…
There are a host of elections across the region in 2018, led by Brazil and Mexico. Populism will remain a viable electoral offering but the risks posed by populist candidates should not be exaggerated. Electoral noise and blackspots of political turbulence will not detract from positives, including: an ongoing if…
