Our Team

Cidadis has a network of professionals to help develop our cities, counting on some of the leading experts in their fields. We always call on the specialists who are best suited to our customers’ needs, valuing them more for their past achievements than just for their technical know-how or academic qualifications.

Our collaborators have an outstanding commitment and capacity to deliver, whether in the design or the implementation of strategic projects. They all share our values and give us an edge in our capacity to work out solutions that really meet the challenges of our cities today.

Managing Partners

Antonio Carlos Ramos

With a degree in civil engineering from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and an MBA in finance from IBMEC-RJ, Antonio Carlos Ramos has over 15 years’ experience in the financial services industry, occupying the position of senior executive with Accenture. In 2002 he took over the public sector vertical in Brazil. In 2011 he started working directly in the public sector, where he coordinated the strategic planning process and consultative board for Rio de Janeiro city. As Undersecretary for Processes and Technology of the Chief of Staff, he coordinated the development of key strategic projects, including new management models, new communication channels with citizens, strategic procurement models, technology solutions, and methods for reducing the bureaucracy of public services.

Jean Caris

Jean Caris has a degree in economics from the State University of Rio de Janeiro, an MBA from COPPEAD, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and a master’s in city governance from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. He began his career in the private sector, holding executive positions in a startup and in the planning, management, and budgeting area of Vale. Between 2009 and 2016 he was employed as Undersecretary to the Chief of Staff of the Rio de Janeiro City Hall. He was responsible for introducing a new management model based on strategic planning, meritocracy, and management routines. He also coordinated a number of one-off projects, including the city’s public service hotline (1746), a public-private partnership for sanitation in the west zone, and the design of the public-private partnership for the Transolímpico express bus service.

Specialists

Roberta O. Guimarães

Public Administration

Roberta Guimarães has a doctorate in economics from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and has worked for the last ten years in the public sector, including as Undersecretary to the Chief of Staff of the Rio de Janeiro City Hall (2009 - 2016). In this post, she ran a number of top-management programs for the city, such as the service delivery agreement, the 2012 - 2016 strategic plan, and the Visão Rio 500 long-term city planning project. She also coordinated the Cartão Família Carioca children’s allowance scheme and Rio Mais Fácil business legalization service, the latter of which won a Sebrae award in 2016. She worked for two years (2007 - 2009) in the Rio de Janeiro State Treasury. She has worked as a professor of economics at the Federal Fluminense University and was involved in founding the NGO Rio Como Vamos.

Washington Fajardo

Urban Planning

With a degree in architecture and urban planning from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Washington Fajardo served as President of the Rio de Janeiro world heritage protection agency, IRPH, and as Special Advisor on Urban Affairs to Mayor Eduardo Paes between 2009 and 2016. As a public policymaker, he created: (i) the legal mechanism responsible for funding the renovation of historic buildings during the redevelopment of the dock area of Rio; (ii) the restoration of private historical properties through conservation grants provided by Pro-APAC, an unprecedented public policy that won the national cultural heritage award in 2014; (iii) the Carioca Design Center; (iv) the Historical and Archaeological Circuit for the Celebration of African Heritage in the Rio dock area; and (v) the Urban Archaeology Laboratory. He writes about cities and architecture for O Globo and El País Brasil.

Sergio Besserman

Sustainability

An environmentalist and member of the WWF Brasil board, Sergio Besserman has been active in the climate change arena since 1992, serving on the Brazilian diplomatic mission to a United Nations Conference of the Parties on two occasions. He was previously the President of Instituto Pereira Passos, the Rio de Janeiro urban planning entity, and is currently chairman of the Technical Chamber for Sustainable Development and Metropolitan Governance for the city. He lectures in Brazilian economics at PUC-Rio and is a commentator on sustainability for Globonews television channel and on city affairs on CBN radio station. He has been an employee of BNDES since 1988 and was president of the national statistics agency, IBGE, from 1999 to 2003, where he was in charge of running the 2000 Census.

Pedro Succar

Operations and Processes

Pedro Succar has a degree in engineering from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (2007) and an MBA in real estate business management from Fundação Getúlio Vargas (2010). He began his career in the real estate market in 2007, focusing on business development and incorporation, which granted him considerable experience in project management. From 2013 to 2015 he was manager of the Glória Marina in Rio de Janeiro, where he was actively involved in renewing the infrastructure and adapting it to meet the needs of the 2016 Olympics. In 2016 he worked with the Municipal Olympic Committee, where he was in charge of the Deodoro sports venues.

Vinicius de Oliveira Alves

Technology and Processes

Computer engineer graduated from PUC Rio in 2000, with a specialization in knowledge management from COPPE/UFRJ and a Master's degree in Administration from COPPEAD/UFRJ. He has more than 20 years of experience as an executive of companies in the areas of technology and market intelligence. He also has experience as an entrepreneur in the Health and Retail sectors. Vinicius has extensive experience as a consultant in the areas of Technology, Processes, Strategy and Management. At Cidadis he led projects for the development of strategic planning and review of goals and initiatives for large municipalities.