cristina cunha

Bio Summary

I had the privilege to spend my childhood in the Amazon region. At 17, after passing the entry exam to College, I moved to the USA to study at Goshen High School. Back in Brazil, I gave up on my dream of becoming a Physicist to attend the Aeronautics Institute of Technology (ITA), where I graduated in Computer Science, the only course that admitted women. I then joined Citibank's Management Trainee program and, for the next seven years, held various positions in banking: Trade Desk Back-Office (ING Bank), Auditor, Compliance Officer, Risk Manager, Investment Product Manager (BankBoston).

After MBA at INSEAD, France, I joined The World Bank Group / IFC, in Washington D.C., where I led investment projects, including the opening of the first microfinance bank of Mozambique. Also met the First Lady of Brazil to discuss the development of microfinance in the country and worked in the management of the Bank’s US$10 billion pension fund.

As Associate Director at INSEAD, in France, helped improve MBAs employment prospects by opening job markets in Asia, Europe, Americas and preparing them for the recruitment process. This led me into the field of Leadership Development. I then obtained certifications in Coaching (London), NLP (Paris), Psychometrics; had five-year training in Psychoanalysis; concluded specialization in Neuroscience & Applied Psychology; wrote a book on Psychopathy and other Personality Disorders (www.amazon.com/author/thaysdanobrega). While working for YSC (London-based Business Psychology consultancy), I had the opportunity to deepen my knowledge by conducting in-depth personality assessments of over 100 senior executives.

As Management Consultant at Accenture, Hay Group, A.T. Kearney, worked in a variety of projects, including Market Entry Strategy, Post-Merger Integration, Turnaround, Innovation, Culture, Change Management, Organisational Development.

Employment History

Head Of People

Indigo

October 2018 - May 2019

São Paulo, State of São Paulo, Brazil

Acted as Head of People. Implementation of day to day processes, including talent acquisition; recruitment; onboarding; salary, benefits & work level structure; leadership assessment; performance evaluation; incentive plan; i ...see more

Senior Consultant

YSC

July 2013 - August 2015

São Paulo, State of São Paulo, Brazil

• Assessment Centre: Project management and administration of assessment center to assess Latin-America based executives of French multinational. Assessment was carried out in Spanish, reports were written in English, debriefing session, at the headquarter, was conducted in French. Assessment of United Nations executives. • Leadership Development: Assessor and coach responsible for the local delivery of global Leadership Assessment and Development programs. • Talent Management: Delivery of Talent Management, Succession Planning in global multinationals and family-owned business conglomerates. • Team Building: Delivery of individual assessment and coaching to improve team effectiveness and dynamics in American start-up. • Personality Assessment: Developed process using a combination of concepts from neuroscience, psychology, psychometrics, psychoanalysis, and neurolinguistic programming to reach an in-depth understanding of the personality to help improve performance, remedy dysfunctional behaviours, and attain greater clarity and sense of purpose through knowledge of personal values, strengths, unconscious patterns, blockages, blind spots, and basic assumptions. • Learning & Development: Development of distance learning course on "How to Deal with Toxic People". Management of executive education programs, from planning to implementation, including content definition. • Career Development: Administration of career-related workshops and delivery of over 500 hours of counselling to MBAs. Coordinated recruitment activities, including meetings with clients across the globe to understand their staff needs. Advised companies on how to target female candidates. • 360 Feedback: Administration of 360 Feedback of heirs of family business conglomerate for succession planning project in partnership with McKinsey. • Psychometrics: Certification in major tests and 7 years of experience in test application and interpretation.

Senior Associate

Kearney

June 2011 - August 2012

São Paulo, State of São Paulo, Brazil

Developed a market study and entry strategy for an Asian heavy transportation equipment company interested in Brazil. Led the “Best Innovator”, an annual survey and contest among Brazilian companies. As part of this, Tha ...see more

Senior Consultant

Korn Ferry

March 2008 - May 2009

São Paulo, State of São Paulo, Brazil

Designed and delivered organisational development (OD) and change management strategies, processes and interventions; prepared and facilitated workshops to help senior management clarify business strategy, design operating mo ...see more

Assistant Director

INSEAD

November 2004 - June 2006

77300 Fontainebleau, France

Responsible for the job placement of MBAs both in France and Singapore; meetings in London, Hong Kong, New York to understand banks’ staffing needs; advised companies on how to target female candidates; organized and delive ...see more

Investment Officer

IFC - International Finance

January 1999 - December 2002

Washington, DC, USA

World Bank / IFC (USA): Led investment project to open Mozambique’s first microfinance bank, met Finance Minister, Central Bank Governor to increase access to capital; performed financial analyses, built forecasting models, ...see more

Investment Product Manager | Risk & Compliance Manager | Auditor

Bank of America

October 1992 - December 1996

São Paulo, State of São Paulo, Brazil

BankBoston (acquired by Bank of America): Managed team across countries to launch the bank’s first offshore Investment Fund; designed and implemented the bank’s Risk Management strategy: adjusted processes, worked closely ...see more