Matthias Buttner, Ambassador of InterNations ExPat Community Campinas Brazil

Matthias Buttner, Ambassador of InterNations ExPat Community, Campinas Brazil

Matthias Buttner, Ambassador of InterNations ExPat Community, Campinas Brazil and  also the president of the Alumni-Club of the University St. Gallen in Brazil, The Campinas InterNations community recently celebrated the first anniversary of serving the region and I had the pleasure of meeting many of the members. In this interview we talk about Brazil, the Intercultural challenges and exciting opportunities for expats in the Brazil.

Listen to the Talk 2 Brazil interview by Tom Reaoch with Matthias Buttner:
 PLAYor DOWNLOAD

Matthias is a Swiss citizen with permanent residency in Brazil (Campinas area), Matthias has worked 11 years in the in-vitro diagnostics and pharmaceutical industry in Latin America, out of which nine years alone in Roche's Diagnostics Division in Brazil and Latin America. He has a proven track-record in business development, general management and start-up management, with a focus on Brazil. By his personality, he is a rather entrepreneurial and innovative individual, and by academic training, he is a Business Administrator and Economist from a leading international university (St. Gallen in Switzerland). He is fluent in German (native language), English, Portuguese and Spanish.

 "Brazil is not for beginners" is a famous line of the Brazilian musician Tom Jobim. Helping Swiss small- to mid-sized companies navigate through the difficult business waters in Brazil is Matthias' main mission today at the Swiss Business Hub in Sao Paulo. 

Besides his work and family, he persues academic research interests in the field of expertise, expert performance and deliberate practice related to management and leadership.

Juergen Keller, President South American Travel

Juergen Keller, President South American Travel

 Jürgen (Juergen) Keller, President South American Travel, was born in Southwest Germany, and has studied in his home country, as well as Spain, Portugal and Brazil. He wrote his Masters Thesis on “Strategies for Economic Development of South America as Promoted by the World Bank” at the World Bank library in Washington, D.C. During this time, Jürgen was also a tour guide in Europe. While working as Export Manager for an international company, the itch to share his love of traveling inspired him to start the company SouthAmerica.travel in 1999. 

Listen to the Talk 2 Brazil interview by Tom Reaoch with Juergen Keller PLAYor DOWNLOAD on LA Talk Radio 

About SouthAmerica.travel: SouthAmerica.travel LLC is a US-based travel agency and incoming tour operator with offices in Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, and Lima. They offer 4* & 5* luxury South America tours to Peru, Brazil, Ecuador, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Colombia.

Licensed and bonded in the US, the company has been sharing its love of South America travel since 1999, and is proud of its A+ rating by the Better Business Bureau. They are members of the ATSA, USTOA, SATA, and BTOA. The company stands by its commitment to offer valuable travel packages, trust-worthy sales practices, and real-world South America travel expertise

Jennifer Sikes, Marketing and Communications Professional and Sonia Gill, Marketing and Advertising Professional

Jennifer Sikes, Marketing and Communications Professional and Sonia Gill, Marketing and Advertising Professional

Jennifer Sikes and Sonia Gill, two very successful women, both trailing spouses have followed their husbands to Brazil. 

Listen to the Talk 2 Brazil interview by Tom Reaoch with Jennifer and Sonia :PLAY  or DOWNLOAD.

 Jennifer Sikes is an American and has experience encompassing strategy, operations, marketing, and communications in the for-profit and non-profit sectors. Most recently, she spent several years with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle, USA. Her roles included chief of staff to the Chief Communications Officer and interim director of operations for the 80-person communications team. Prior to that, she served as manager of leadership information, overseeing the team that created and distributed information to support a wide range of external activities for the foundation¹s executives, and as a program officer on the foundation¹s U.S.  Program Advocacy and Education teams.

Jennifer began her career as a strategy consultant helping companies improve their marketing, sales, and online strategies. She has also managed internal and external communications in the consulting and software industries.

She holds an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and a BA in History from Yale University. She has lived in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, since 2011, and has traveled extensively in her personal and professional life across Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, and South America.

Sonia Gill, Indian National, Marketing and Advertising Professional with 15 years of work experience in the marketing and communication field.

Before going on a sabbatical Sonia was with Infosys Ltd, an Indian Multi National - Information Technology firm. She has successfully spearheaded large marketing projects in her role as marketing lead for the BPO unit of Infosys. Having grown within the company, she has enjoyed working with very learned people, from across the world.

Before Infosys, Sonia was with Visa Cards as Marketing Manager for South Asia ( India, Pakistan, Srilanka, Nepal and Bangladesh). It was by far one of her most favorite stints, as a non Banking professional, coming from a hard core advertising back ground. This role opened her horizons and made her look beyond vanilla advertising and account management. She has also worked with J.Walter Thompson and Ogilvy and Mather, some of the leading advertising firms across the globe.