L–R: Susan Segal, Rubens Ometto Silveira Mello, Luis Lacalle Pou, Andrés Gluski, Carlos N. Guimarães. (Image: Paula Abreu Pita)

L–R: Susan Segal, Rubens Ometto Silveira Mello, Luis Lacalle Pou, Andrés Gluski, Carlos N. Guimarães. (Image: Paula Abreu Pita)

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Americas Society Honors President Luis Lacalle Pou and Businessman Rubens Ometto

At our 2023 Spring Party, we recognized Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou with the Gold Insigne and Brazilian business leader Rubens Ometto with the Gold Medal.

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New York, June 14, 2023—Americas Society awarded the Gold Insigne to Uruguay’s President Luis Lacalle Pou and presented the Gold Medal to Brazilian businessman Rubens Ometto Silveira Mello, chairman of Cosan, Compass Gás & Energia, Comgás, Rumo and Raízen.

They received the awards at the organization’s 41st Spring Party, held on Tuesday, June 13 at Cipriani 25 Broadway in New York City.

“Each of our honorees has accomplished so much and provided much-needed leadership in an ever more challenging world. Tonight stands out, particularly as we are honoring a leader from the private sector and a leader from the public sector—highlighting the need for leadership and cooperation between the public and private sectors as the path for success and opportunity,” said Americas Society/Council of the Americas (AS/COA) President and CEO Susan Segal.

“We honor President Lacalle Pou with the organization’s highest honor for his outstanding leadership and vision of Uruguay. At a time when our region is facing incredible challenges, Uruguay stands as a true model of democracy and economic progress, not just for Latin America but for the world,” said AS/COA’s Chairman and AES President and CEO Andrés Gluski.

“I am very proud and honored to be here with you tonight,” said President Lacalle Pou, upon receiving the award, which he said was for the people of Uruguay. The president also mentioned a 1989 event, when his father campaigned for the presidency of the country and people cheered. “My mother told my father, 'they don’t cheer for you because of what you have done, but for what they think you are going to do.' So I receive this award with honor, thinking about what is yet to be done,” he said.

Mello was awarded the Gold Medal for his outstanding leadership as one of the most important and impactful business leaders in Brazil and the Hemisphere, becoming a key player in the global energy transition, constantly innovating and championing sustainability and democracy throughout his career.

“It is an honor to be here in this house founded by this giant, David Rockefeller, and that celebrates friendship in both hemispheres of the American continent. A house that promotes the principles of free trade, private-sector initiatives, and democracy that are so dear to us Brazilians and to me particularly,” said Mello when presented with the Gold Medal. “Today, I receive this award with gratitude in my heart, as well as with love for my family that has always supported me and for my team at Cosan, my second family.”

Past honorees of the Gold Insigne have included Michelle Bachelet, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Mauricio Macri, Lenín Moreno, and Iván Duque.

Previous recipients of the Gold Medal, first presented in 1977, include David Rockefeller, Miguel Alemán Velasco, César Alierta, Luis Almagro, Alejandro P. Bulgheroni, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Gustavo A. Cisneros, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Oscar de la Renta, Antonio del Valle, Gina Diez Barroso, Jamie Dimon, Laurence D. Fink, Carlos Fuentes, Bruce Flatt, Enrique Iglesias, Muhtar Kent, Andrónico Luksic, Thomas F. McLarty, III, Manuel Medina Mora, Luis Alberto Moreno, Stanley A. Motta, Peter Munk, Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, Brian J. Porter, William R. Rhodes, Luis Carlos Sarmiento Angulo, Roberto Egydio Setubal, Mario Vargas Llosa, Lorenzo H. Zambrano, Ernesto Zedillo, Pilar Arosemena de Alemán, Eduardo Eurnekian, Albert Bourla, and Marcelo Claure.

View images of the event. (Credit: Paula Abreu Pita)

About the honorees

Luis A. Lacalle Pou, the president of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a Uruguayan politician and member of the Partido Nacional. He was born on August 11, 1973. He began his political career in the department of Canelones, for which he was elected legislative Representative in 2000 and re-elected for the following legislative periods: 2005–2010 and 2010–2015. In 2014, he was elected Senator of the Republic for 2015–2020. During the years 2011 and 2012, he presided over the House of Representatives; in 2013 he was a presidential candidate for the Partido Nacional, and he disputed the internal elections in 2014. At that time, he was elected presidential candidate to represent the Partido Nacional in the October 2014 national elections and also in the second round of voting in November of the same year. He served as Senator of the Republic from 2015 until August 2019. On June 30, 2019, he was elected as a candidate by the Partido Nacional to run for the national elections of the year and later, in August 2019, Lacalle Pou resigned from his seat in the Senate to devote himself to the election campaign. In October 2019, the Partido Nacional was the second-most-voted-for political party and, with Lacalle Pou as its leader, it disputed runoff voting with the Frente Amplio in November. For the second-round voting between both parties, Partido Nacional formed a coalition of different political groups, which resulted in the victory of the Partido Nacional, making Lacalle Pou the president of the Uruguayans. He assumed office on March 1, 2020. Lacalle Pou graduated as a lawyer from the Universidad Católica del Uruguay in 1998. He married Lorena Ponce de León, with whom he has three children: Luis, Violeta, and Manuel.

Rubens Ometto Silveira Mello is the chairman of Cosan, Compass Gás & Energia, Comgás, Rumo and Raízen, as well as the controlling shareholder of these companies. Mello has more than 30 years of experience in managing large companies and in the administrative and financial areas. Prior to joining Cosan, Mello worked as advisor of UNIBANCO directors - União de Bancos Brasileiros S.A. from 1971 to 1973 and, from 1973 to 1980, he was the finance director for Indústrias Votorantim S.A. He holds a degree in mechanical production engineering from the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo (1972). One of the most active entrepreneurs in the agribusiness sector, he also serves as a board member at UNICA - the Federation of Sugarcane Industries of São Paulo State, and has been a member of Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Industrial (CNDI) since 2015. Mello was elected Engineer of the Year by the Engineering Institute in 2006, Entrepreneur of the Year in 2010 by Dinheiro magazine, Man of the Year in 2013, by Chamber of Commerce Brazil United Kingdom, Man of the Year in 2014 by Chamber of Commerce Brazil USA and Railroader of the Year by Revista Ferroviária, in 2016.

Press contact: mediarelations@as-coa.org