Pestana has been chosen as the chief commercial officer to replace Maggie Sanchez who was sacked after, what was described, "incompatibility of philosophies". 

Also dismissed, along with Sanchez, were David Alstadter and Rogerio Ludorf.

Pestana will be responsible for the Games' sponsorship, ticketing and licencing programmes as well as negotiations with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) regarding Rio 2016's share of broadcasting rights and international sponsorship agreements.

Pestana will report to the chief executive, Leonardo Gryner, who had also been acting as interim chief commercial officer.

Pestana will be supported by sponsorship sales director, Rodrigo Frazao, partner services director, Henrique Leal and head of licencing, retail and concessions, Sylmara Multini, who were also appointed today. 

Pestana, who has a degree in engineering and postgraduate degress in business management from Harvard Business School nd Dom Cabral Foundation/INSEAD (the European Institute of Business Administration), as well as in Finance from Getulio Vargas Foundation, joins Rio 2016 following a successful career in the media.

He was chief executive of two of Brazil's largest business newspapers - Gazeta Mercantil and Valor Economico - as well as the Bom Dia Communication Network and the Diario de Sao Paulo newspaper.

He was also superintendent of Folha Group's newspapers and magazines, a board member of Folha de S.Paulo newspaper and Plural Publishers and Editors, and chairman of the board of the UOL online media portal and Internet company.

Leal (pictured) is a marketing specialist, an expert in communications strategic planning, mainly customer relationship management (CRM) and digital marketing.

He has more than 20 years' experience in marketing and advertising and has worked in large advertising agencies such as Ogilvy and Young and Rubican.

Before joining Rio 2016, he was vice-president of Sun/MRM, the digital marketing and CRM agency of the McCann Erikson Group.

Multini is a business administrator with a degree from the University of Sao Paulo.

She has extensive experience as an executive in the marketing area, mainly in sales, sponsorship, concessions and licensing for large corporations such as Volkswagen, the Walt Disney Company and Mattel.

Before joining Rio 2016, Multini held the position of licencing director for Warner Bros Latin America.

"Hiring a professional of the highest caliber such as Flavio Pestana and the other new members of the commercial department ensures the confidence and reliability we need to conduct such a record-breaking sponsorship programme and develop new revenue generating programmes for staging memorable Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2016," said Carlos Nuzman, the President of Rio 2016.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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