Speaker biographies

Michael May launched a consulting practice focusing on matters pertaining to regulatory and congressional issues in April 2004, after spending nearly thirty years working on the Americas, specifically Brazil, Argentina, and the Southern Cone. He possesses particular expertise in developing unique strategies and solutions for companies striving to enhance their overall profitability through market access. Mr. May has assisted U.S. firms in obtaining contracts in Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay against Chinese and European competition and has advised on sales and investment opportunities. In addition to other projects, Mr. May also served as an adviser to the secretary general of the Organization of American States, César Gaviria. Prior to starting his own business, Mr. May spent nearly five years as vice president for Latin America with Digital Angel Corporation and was responsible for launching its Latin American business. He also spent five years as vice president of government and external relations for DIRECTV Latin America, developing and implementing the company’s government/external relations policies in the region and in Washington, with special emphasis on the respective congresses. Previously, Mr. May directed the Mercosur-South America Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. One of his major accomplishments was the establishment of the Mercosur Congressional Study Group in the U.S., Argentine, and Brazilian congresses. During this time, Mr. May also did consulting on Mercosur. Mr. May has also worked for the Upjohn Company in Bogotá, Colombia, and managed the Western Hemisphere affairs of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He also served on the staff of Senator John Glenn (D-Ohio).

Roger F. Noriega is a visiting fellow at AEI, coordinating the Institute’s program on Western Hemisphere issues. Twice appointed by President George W. Bush (and confirmed by the U.S. Senate) and with a ten-year career on Capitol Hill, Mr. Noriega’s breadth of experience offers strategic vision and practical insight on the Americas. As assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, Mr. Noriega managed a 3,000-person team of professionals in Washington, D.C., and fifty diplomatic posts to design and implement political and economic strategies in Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean. As U.S. ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), Mr. Noriega coordinated complex and sensitive multilateral diplomacy in a thirty-four-member international organization to bolster OAS efforts to promote trade, fight illicit drugs, and defend democracy. Mr. Noriega has held various other positions, including senior policy adviser with the U.S. mission to the OAS; many program management and public affairs positions with the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Department of State; press secretary and foreign policy adviser for former representative Robert Whittaker (R-Kans.); and research assistant for the secretary of state of Kansas.

The Honorable Antonio Patriota took office as the Brazilian ambassador to the United States in February 2007. He began his career at the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Relations, in Brasília, where he worked as an adviser to the head of the United Nations (UN) division from 1980 to 1982, as an adviser to the secretary general for political affairs from 1990 to 1992, and as the deputy diplomatic adviser to the president of Brazil from 1992 to 1994. Overseas, Ambassador Patriota served as a member of Brazil’s Permanent Mission to the International Organizations in Geneva from 1983 to 1986; as a political counselor at the Brazilian Embassy in Beijing from 1987 to 1988; as head of the economic section of the Brazilian Embassy in Caracas from 1988 to 1990; and as a political counselor at Brazil’s Permanent Mission to the UN from 1994 to 1999, where he was a member of Brazil’s delegation to the UN Security Council in 1995 and from 1998 to1999. Ambassador Patriota also served as minister counselor at Brazil’s Permanent Mission to the International Organizations in Geneva from 1999 to 2003, where from 2001 to 2002 he was Brazil’s deputy permanent representative to the World Trade Organization. Upon his return to Brasília, he served as secretary for diplomatic planning in the office of the minister of foreign relations. He was promoted to the rank of ambassador in December 2003 and served as chief of staff to the minister of foreign relations, Ambassador Celso Amorim, from May 2004 through May 2005. Prior to his selection as Brazilian ambassador to the United States, Ambassador Patriota served as under secretary general for political affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Relations. 

Bill Perry is the principal at William Perry & Associates, a Washington-based firm providing consulting services to governments and the private sector throughout the Western Hemisphere. He is also a director of the Americas Liberty Forum, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and the Washington representative of the Interamerican Ethanol Commission. From 2002 to 2005, Mr. Perry served as senior adviser to the assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs. Previously, Mr. Perry has served as the chief staff person for Latin America on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and director of Latin American affairs at the National Security Council. He was in charge of hemispheric issues for the Bush-Quayle campaigns of 1988 and 1992 and the 2000 campaign effort of George W. Bush. Immediately before entering government service, Mr. Perry was the director of the Latin American program at CSIS from 1981 to 1985. He has also taught or conducted research at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, the School of Advanced International Studies at the Johns Hopkins University, the Stanford Research Institute, and the Political Science and International Relations Department at the University of Brasília.

Paulo Sotero Marques is the director of the Brazil Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. From 1989 to 2006, he was the Washington correspondent for Estado de S.Paulo, a leading Brazilian daily newspaper. Mr. Sotero has also been a regular commentator and analyst for the BBC Radio Portuguese-language service; Radio France Internationale; and Rádio Eldorado, in Brazil. Since 2003, he has been an adjunct lecturer at Georgetown University both in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and in the Center for Latin American Studies of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. Prior to joining Estado de S.Paulo, Mr. Sotero worked as a correspondent for Istoé weekly magazine and the financial newspaper Gazeta Mercantil. A native of the state of São Paulo, Mr. Sotero started his career in journalism at Veja weekly magazine in 1968 and held positions as staff reporter in Recife; stringer in Paris; full-time correspondent in Lisbon; assistant editor for Latin America in São Paulo; and correspondent assigned to cover the Palácio do Planalto, the Brazilian president’s office, in Brasília. In 1987, Mr. Sotero received the Maria Moors Cabot Award Special Citation from the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. He is also the recipient of the 1993 Distinguished Visiting Lecturer award from the Foreign Service Institute of the U.S. State Department. In Brazil, he was awarded the 1978 Prêmio Abril de Reportagem for a Veja cover story on Paraguay and for an investigative report on the assassination of Chilean general Carlos Prats in Buenos Aires.

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