On the evening of this Thursday (27), Grupo Globo's Valor Econômico newspaper held the 20th edition of the Valuable Executive. For the second year in a row, the award recognized Miguel Setas, CEO of EDP, a company that operates in all segments of the electricity sector, as the best business leader in the Energy category. 

The selection of the 23 awarded executives, active in different sectors of the Brazilian economy, was made based on the analysis of more than 450 names raised by 14 executive recruitment companies affiliated to the Association of Executive Search Consultants (Aesc), which brings together more than 350 companies in 70 countries.

In order to define the winners in each category, the evaluation considered aspects such as the executive's performance at the head of the company in 2019, history and reputation of leadership in the market. This Friday, the newspaper circulated with the special Valuable Executive, which brings a profile of each of the honorees.

“It is a great satisfaction for us to receive, for the second consecutive year, an award of such prestige. Above all, it is a recognition of the work of more than 10,000 EDP employees and its business partners. We would like to dedicate this award to all professionals in the Brazilian electrical sector, who, in a selfless and courageous way, kept the national electrical system in full operation during the pandemic that still plagues Brazil. To all of them we want to pay our due and fair tribute”, says Miguel Setas, president of EDP in Brazil.

Under the executive's management, in 2018 and 2019 EDP achieved the best financial results in its history in the country and became recognized in the market for anticipating the delivery of major infrastructure works. Between 2014 and 2018, three hydroelectric plants were delivered in advance against the schedule of the National Agency of Electrical Energy (Aneel) and, in 2018 and 2020, two batches of transmission lines completed before the regulatory schedule. This year, the Peixe Angical and Lajeado plants, both managed by EDP, took first and second positions in Aneel's ranking of the best hydroelectric plants in operation in the country.

In the field of innovation, EDP is a pioneer in electric mobility, being at the forefront of emblematic projects, such as the implementation, in 2018, of the first electric vehicle supply corridor linking Rio and São Paulo, and the announcement, in October 2019, installation of the first and largest ultra-fast electric vehicle charging network in South America, in the state of São Paulo. The Company was also notable for the construction and delivery of solar plants to large customers such as Banco do Brasil, Claro, Grupo Globo and Multiplan.

In terms of social responsibility, EDP is the biggest sponsor of the reconstruction of the Museum of the Portuguese Language and the first company to sponsor the recovery of the Ipiranga Museum - a joint investment of R$ 32 million. This year, the Company allocated more than R$ 10 million to initiatives to combat the pandemic, such as the purchase of respirators and PPE for the public health network, the execution of electrical works for field hospitals and the donation of 350 tons of food and personal hygiene kits to vulnerable communities and indigenous peoples. In all, these initiatives have benefited more than 400 thousand people across Brazil.

Miguel Setas has led EDP in Brazil since 2014 and has been a member of the EDP group's worldwide board since 2015. The executive, of Portuguese origin, has been in the country since 2008 and, before EDP, he was president of the Brazilian operation of EDP Renewables. Setas is a physical engineer with a postgraduate degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering. He started his career as a consultant and has held leadership positions in several sectors, such as Oil and Gas, Telecommunications and Transport.

About EDP in Brazil

With over 20 years of experience, EDP is one of the largest private companies in the electricity sector operating throughout the value chain. The Company, which has over 10,000 direct and outsourced employees, operates in Generation, Distribution, Transmission, Trading and Energy Services. It has six hydroelectric and one thermoelectric generation units, and serves about 3.5 million customers through its Distributors in São Paulo and Espírito Santo, in addition to being CELESC's main shareholder in Santa Catarina. In Brazil, it is a reference in areas such as Innovation, Governance and Sustainability, having been in the B3´s Corporate Sustainability Index (ISE) for 14 consecutive years.