Early Life
Rubens Ometto Silveira Mello was born in Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil, on February 24, 1950. He comes from a family with deep roots in agriculture. His great-grandparents were Italian immigrants who started agricultural activities in the region. Ometto earned a degree in production engineering from the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo (USP) in 1972. He also holds a graduate degree in Finance from UNIMEP, and an MBA from Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV) with an extension at Ohio University.
Rise to Success
Before joining Cosan, Ometto worked as an executive at Unibanco and then as a financial director at Grupo Votorantim. He entered the family business in the second half of the 1980s, taking on the presidency of Cosan. Under his leadership, Cosan expanded significantly, focusing on the energy and infrastructure sectors. Ometto led the company's growth, making Cosan the largest sugar and ethanol producer in Brazil and one of the largest in the world. In 2007, he became the world's first ethanol billionaire.
Key Business Strategies
Ometto's strategic vision transformed Cosan into a major player in the agribusiness and energy sectors. He expanded Cosan through acquisitions and partnerships, including a joint venture with Shell, Raízen. Cosan has grown to control major subsidiaries including Raízen (a joint venture with Shell focused on biofuels and sugar), Rumo (Latin America's largest rail operator), Compass (a natural gas distributor), and Moove (a lubricants producer), overseeing operations across agriculture, infrastructure, and renewable energy sectors that span over 1.3 million hectares of farmland.
Philanthropy
Rubens Ometto Silveira Mello is involved in philanthropic causes and serves on the board of Gerando Falcões and the Advisory Board of Instituto de Cidadania Empresarial (ICE). In 2022, he donated R$4 million to the NGO Gerando Falcões.