Fernando Madeira Is Appointed Chief Executive Officer For Terra Latin America
Coral Gables, FL (May 09, 2006)
Fernando Madeira Is Appointed Chief Executive Officer For Terra Latin America
Terra Networks, the largest Internet company in
Spanish and Portuguese, announced a reorganization of its executive leadership.
Fernando Madeira was appointed the new Chief Executive Officer for Terra Latin
America, leading the top Internet portal in 18 countries including the U.S., Latin America
and the Caribbean. Prior to his appointment, Madeira served as General Manager at
Terra Brazil, a position he held since 2002.
In his new role as CEO, Madeira will be responsible for the products and services of all
communities, such as Gaia, and the Internet Multimedia Content Platform. Areas of
focus include optimization of online advertising opportunities, broadband service
penetration, plus content and services available in the network of sites.
“Our goal for the new appointments and reorganization was to consolidate Terra’s
leadership in the region, where we already have 1.7 million broadband subscribers,”
stated Madeira.
Prior to joining Terra Networks when he was 19 years old, Madeira worked in Silicon
Valley, California. He developed an office automation platform for UNIX operating
systems. In 1989, Madeira along with four other cofounders developed a platform for
Internet access during the time when the Internet was at its early stages of
development. In 1999, Telefónica Group acquired their online work which was the
foundation for what is now known as Terra Networks. Telefónica is one of the largest,
integrated, global telecommunications companies, with a strong leadership position in
the Spanish and Portuguese speaking world. Accordingly, a large percentage of
Telefonica’s business is outside of Spain, the home market of Telefónica.
A native of Brazil, Madeira obtained his undergraduate degree at Pontifícia
Universidade Católica (PUC-RS) and specialized in Business Administration at Insead.
He held the positions of General Manager for Terra Brazil for three years and prior to
that, Director of Marketing. Madeira has worked in Terra’s Brazilian operations for 16
years. Paulo Castro, Terra Brazil’s Director of Planning, will serve as his successor.
About Terra Latin America
Terra Latin America has operations in 18 countries. It is the regional market leader with
4.7 million broadband and ISP subscribers and 38 million visitors a month (Source:
Internal Web Analytics Tool, Jan 2006).
Countries served by Terra Latin America include: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia,
Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico,
Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, the United States, Uruguay and Venezuela.
Terra Networks’ U.S. operations are based in Miami, Fla. and led by CEO Fernando
Rodriguez.
Press Contacts:
Deborah Vallejo
210-244-2390
Deborah.Vallejo@bromcomm.com
