CEO at Mãe Terra / Unilever.
"Yacoff is a trailblazer in Brazil on thinking and implementation regarding communication and corporate reputation. In addition to vast experience in large organizations, his trajectory as a successful entrepreneur gives him a confident and realistic view on the strategic challenges of brands."
Host of the program De Volta Pra Casa/Cultura FM; Former Communications Officer at Petrobras under Philippe Reichstul; former Secretary of Social Communication of the São Paulo State Government under Mario Covas; former Corporate Director at Grupo Abril; former Director and Editor of Gazeta Mercantil.
“I've known Yacoff for decades. Great person and great professional. I had the opportunity to interact more closely with his work when I was responsible for communication at Petrobras, under the leadership of Philippe Reichstul. Our entire sponsorship program was revised and reorganized by his company. Yacoff established a system of public bids, aligned with the company's transparency goals. Clear and grounded concepts that were flawlessly executed. This was an anthological project where before there was chaos. Since then, I’ve witnessed his development as a top executive recognized for his work and leadership, his ability to reflect and offer new concepts. He's a true expert.”
Member of the Global Leadership Team and LatAm Leader at Ashoka; member of the Boards of Directors at the São Paulo Sustainable Institute, Avina Foundation and Conectas Human Rights, and the Grants Committee at the Good Energies Foundation.
"Yacoff is what I would call a serial entrepreneur who works brands in an innovative way. Having merged Significa with Edelman, two brands of high value, and assuming the role of CEO seemed to me the perfect demonstration of his consistent trajectory with branding and values. As a board member of the largest network of social entrepreneurs in the world, Ashoka Brazil, I have the privilege of continuing to learn from his entrepreneurial capacity, his inquisitive mind and key principles."
Executive President at Abracom - Brazilian Communications Agencies Association.
"I closely followed the work of Yacoff Sarkovas on the board of the Brazilian Association of Communication Agencies - Abracom, where he showed clear-eyed leadership and an accurate reading of the most sensitive aspects of the Brazilian PR market, pointing out trends, analyzing scenarios and helping us articulate the agency's strategies for the valuation of agencies."
CEO at Carol Cone On Purpose.
"Yacoff Sarkovas is one of world’s visionaries regarding the power of purpose to advance corporate success. For decades he has been an intimate counselor to the “C” suite to effectively guide their purpose journeys for business and societal impact."
Executive Director at ICE - Business Citizenship Institute; former Executive Director at Ashoka.
"It is an honor to recommend Yacoff Sarkovas to different Boards in Brazil. I have known him since 1995, when he was already well known at EAESP-FGV, teaching the Culture Economy course. His pioneering work on purposeful brands led us to undertake some projects together. In 2002 I became the Director at Ashoka Brazil and, when restructuring the Board, I invited Yacoff to participate. His vast experience contributed to Ashoka working more structurally on its brand and long-term partnerships. As an advisor, he has always exceeded our already high expectations. Quick to understand our problems and programs, he contributed with diagnoses and reflections that have been very helpful. Yacoff is pleasant and open to immerse himself into new areas, while giving us insights into pragmatic communication that at the same time acknowledges the dreams and actions that can help us create a better world."
Consultant for Family Businesses and Associate Partner at Bridge Business Advisors; former Executive Director at Votorantim's Family Council.
"His experience is significant. He has major contributions to offer to the market. Yacoff is an outstanding advisor to Boards and Committees."
Regional Director at SESC-SP.
"Experienced manager who deals with fundamental questions in the cultural activities area: management, financing and fundraising. And, what he does, he does with much accuracy and commitment."
Senior Lecturer at ECA - School of Communications and Arts – Journalism and Publishing Department at USP - University of São Paulo – Brazil; Full Professor and Researcher in Communication Sciences in Technologies and Communication in Digital Environments.
"The name Yacoff Sarkovas was and is for me and for many others, a traditional and positive reference in the world of culture and entertainment. If, as part of his audience, I had already developed admiration at a distance for his cultural endeavors, this grew even further upon closer cooperation with him in the field of corporate communications. His innovative performance in communication projects for the business world and his recognition that the academic world, of which I am a part, is an integral part of the market activity, only increased my admiration. I wish him much success!"
Full Professor at ECA - School of Communications and Arts at USP, University of São Paulo; Member of the Scientific Council at IdEA - Institute of Advanced Studies of Unicamp, Administrative Council of Santa Cruz College, Advisory Board at OSESP Foundation, Advisory Board at Aberje - Brazilian Business Communication Association, Ethics Board of Abracom – Brazilian Association of Communication Companies, Advisory Board at the Agência Pública; Columnist at the O Estado de S. Paulo Journal.
"For a long time, Yacoff has impressed me with his talent, sensitivity, competence, and the rare ability to put together a very fine repertoire of culture with remarkable expertise in management, administration, planning, and governance. Currently, Yacoff impresses me with all of that and even more with the unparalleled experience he has accumulated over a productive and very successful career. And, if it wasn't enough, he's still a jovial fellow, with an exuberant future ahead of him."
Member of the Board of Directors and former President at Porto Seguro.
"I was fortunate enough to meet him at a very important stage of my career when I was leading a large insurance company that sought to strengthen its Brand and clearly position its values and principles. In several meetings I was challenged by Yacoff's profound and assertive questions, a key characteristic of his, and which often led me to seek answers that would trigger actions of great relevance. Through Yacoff, the company and I were able to consolidate concepts based on the importance of a Brand´s reputation and it is perfectly feasible to measure, over time, the result of decisions and attitudes taken back then. It is always a pleasure to have coffee or lunch with him, because we always leave with homework. Yacoff is a great provocateur and I really like that."
Founder and Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors at Natura &Co (Natura, Avon, The Body Shop and Aesop); Chairman of the Board of Directors at RAPS - Network for Political Action for Sustainability; Founder and Member of the Board of Governance at the Arapyaú Institute.
"Yacoff is a longtime partner, respected and admired for his ability to assess organizations and their contexts, seeking spaces at the intersection of the public and the private and designing brand expressions that generate benefits for all. He's an ace!"
CEO at Aegea Saneamento; member of the CEOs Legacy at the Dom Cabral Foundation.
"I had the opportunity to work with Yacoff when he was CEO at Edelman. He and his team were instrumental in defining and strengthening Aegea's position as a provider of public service to society and its different stakeholders. His work has contributed to the establishment of communication standards and crisis management definitions, protecting and leveraging the company's reputation."
President of the Akatu Institute for Conscious Consumption; former Director and Adviser at the Ethos Institute.
"Yacoff Sarkovas was one of the pioneers and became a reference in the development of branding linked to values and purpose. It is a privilege to share ideas, problems and solutions with him, which always enriches discussions, whatever the starting point."
Director at G&R Gestão Empresarial; Member of the Boards of Directors at Repsol YPF, Latam and TAM; Chairman of the Board of Directors at Fives Group; Member of the Supervisory Board at Peugeot Citroen; former President at Petrobras, during Fernando Henrique Cardoso's administration.
"Yacoff's contribution to a Board of Directors under much pressure from both stakeholders and shareholders adds much unique value. Working with him was very reassuring, especially in moments of crisis."
Chairman at Klabin's Board of Directors and member of the Boards of Directors at Martins, Tarpon, Cataratas, Baumgart Group and TCP; former president of FIESP and Sebrae-SP.
"It's not difficult to recommend Yacoff. All you need is a conversation and one can perceive he is a sophisticated professional with a solid culture, diverse experience, maturity, serenity and good judgment. I have known him for decades and I follow him, even as a client at some point, in his ability to add value. He is a person you want to have around."
Associate Founder and Director at Nextt 49+; Professor at Unifesp - Federal University of São Paulo; Former Director at ESPM - School of Advertising and Marketing.
"Yacoff Sarkovas is a pioneer in the application of concepts that seek to integrate public and economic interests in Brazil. His trajectory is marked by creative leadership: concern with training a new generation, enthusiasm to promote new things and to share each of them with different stakeholders. Wherever he went, he left behind his innovative brand, always consistent and forceful. He has the unique ability to find new solutions, see the unusual, persevere and believe that it is possible to do better. This creative obstinacy brought to the Brazilian scene a new chapter, impacting a generation."
Judge of the Court of Justice of São Paulo; former President of CNDA - National Copyright Council; author of reference works and legal opinions on copyright issues.
“I worked with Yacoff Sarkovas in the 1980s, when we together faced intricate copyright issues regarding performing rights of musical works. Since that time and during his professional career, Yacoff has reinforced the remarkable characteristics of his personality that he displayed back then: inventiveness and proficiency in the planning and execution of a challenging project that he continues to build on today in various fields of the Brazilian cultural sector.”
President & Owner at Meio & Mensagem Group.
"I have known Yacoff for many years, since the early 1990s. He is a focused, dedicated and competent entrepreneur, successful in any of the initiatives he has been involved with, demonstrating leadership and knowledge. In the communication area, his expertise has always made a real contribution to adding value and adjusting the positioning of important brands."
Marketing Director at SulAmérica Seguros
"Yacoff Sarkovas, throughout his professional career, was a great partner of SulAmérica. With ability and competence, he helped us structure our entire Cultural and Sports Sponsorship Policy and brought us another vision on how to engage our diverse stakeholders."
CEO at Sonae Sierra Brasil.
"Yacoff Sarkovas is a brilliant mind, who supported us in repositioning the Sonae Sierra Brasil brand, using all his competence and empathy in understanding the Company's values when defining new attributes and brand attitude towards all its Stakeholders. Pioneering, genuine, persuasive and conciliatory, Yacoff is one of the most knowledgeable professionals on engagement, reputation and corporate purpose in the Brazilian market."
President at Avon Brazil, former President at Flora, former COO at Natura.
"Yacoff always forces us to go deeper in what we are doing and proposing. He has depth in everything he does."
Chairman and Founding Partner of Lew'Lara \ TBWA; Member of the Superior Council of ABAP - Brazilian Association of Advertising Agencies; Vice-President of the Councils of the APP – Sao Paulo's Association of Propaganda Professionals; CONAR - National Council for Self-Regulatory Advertising; CENP - Executive Board of Standard Norms; Member of the Communication Council at the Maria Cecília Souto Vidigal Foundation; Member of the Boards at ABP - Brazilian Association of Propaganda; ESPM - School of Advertising and Marketing; ICE - Business Citizenship Institute; Childhood Foundation; São Paulo Biennial Association; OSESP Foundation and the APAA – Sao Paulo´s Friends of Art Association.
"Pioneering and multimedia, Yacoff has always used his curiosity to seek intangible meaning in relationships between people and brands. Thought-provoking and analytical, he offered a new vision of the purpose of companies and their connections to society, developing content that revealed engaging and mobilizing causes. He is now putting his experience and talent to use at different Boards and will surely continue to contribute to a market in which competitiveness and sustainability are present values in a more inclusive society."
Founder and Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors at Natura &Co (Natura, Avon, The Body Shop and Aesop).
"I became an admirer of Yacoff over our many years of professional interaction, for his worldview, experience, sensitivity and way of thinking. I trust the quality of his contribution to companies and to society."
Executive Director at the OSESP Foundation.
"Yacoff is one of those people with whom there is no such thing as a dull conversation. He is always constructive, a keen explorer of human issues, with sensitivity and ability to synthesize. He lives for causes he believes in. Here, at the OSESP Foundation, we started our individual giving program in 2005 with the design and operation led by him. The program has grown and is now one of the largest in the country. His performance on our Advisory Board has already contributed a great deal to rethinking of the institution's position and future vision of our scope of activity. It’s a pleasure to have him with us."
CEO at Instituto Alana.
"I consider Yacoff a pioneer, in the highest degree of nobility that this word entails. He was the first to unite technology, humanity, art and data and to put it in a blender of innovation, and by doing so, he built his reputation. He is an example of coherence and consistency."
Editor of the blog Caminhadas Urbana (Urban Journeys) and “Espaço Público e Urbanidade em São Paulo” (Public Space and Urbanity in São Paulo); Former President of Abril Education; former Vice President of Abril Publishing.
"As a strategist, Yacoff has always mixed genuine curiosity with a profound understanding of transformations in the external environment. As a manager, he reconciled a desire for seeking out new models within a climate of personal growth. Yacoff is a valuable member of any board seeking diversity and strategic coherence for significant results."
CEO at EDP Brasil, Vice-Chairman at EDP, President at the EDP Institute
"I met Yacoff Sarkovas as part of the management of EDP's social and cultural investments in Brazil. I was impressed by his strategic vision and systemic approach to corporate reputation and stakeholder engagement. Yacoff is surely one of the national references in this area."
Director-President at IDIS - Social Investment Development Institute.
"I appreciate and admire Yacoff's ability to contribute in very differentiated ways to the debates and projects he gets involved in. Yacoff will surprise you! His vast experience, coupled with his tireless curiosity, bring new perspectives and a dynamic look at problems and their solutions."
Chief Executive Officer at ABERJE - Brazilian Business Communication Association; Full Professor at ECA - School of Communications and Arts, University of São Paulo.
"Throughout difficult years for business activity in Brazil, impacted mainly by political, ethical and economic crises, Yacoff Sarkovas has built a unique and successful career, internationally recognized for his technical competence, ethical rigor and the results achieved for his clients and for society. However, my testimonial would be not be complete nor do justice to his trajectory if I did not highlight the caring, civic, and unique humane qualities he displays."
Founder and Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors at Natura &Co (Natura, Avon, The Body Shop and Aesop); Former president at the SOS Mata Atlântica Foundation and IEDI - Institute for Industrial Development Studies.
"Reputation has become a basic and crucial element for the success of a business. Yacoff Sarkovas brings together a rare and intense sensitivity in capturing the essence of brands and managing the corporate image, contributing decisively to boosting the company's ties with its various stakeholders, and generating concrete results for business activity. This was also his contribution to Natura."
Vice President of Institutional Relations and Sustainability at Vivo-Telefônica Brasil; former Director of Institutional Affairs and Corporate Communication at Gerdau.
"I met Yacoff when he was the head of Significa. I was always impressed with his concern for innovating with a differentiated approach in bringing together the non-profit and the business sectors. Afterwards, I was a client at Edelman, the agency that he led. He had expanded his concept of innovation in a new style of corporate communications agency with a vision focused on building brand value, multidisciplinary and pragmatic, both in the team profile and in the delivery of results. This positive restlessness makes him constantly seek out new challenges."
President and CEO at Edelman worldwide
"Yacoff Sarkovas is a pioneer in marketing communications. He understands the inextricable linkage between brand and corporate reputation. He has been an important partner to successful global and Brazilian brands such as Natura."
Chairman of the Board of Directors and Shareholder at Grupo Estado.
"I worked for many years with Yacoff, from the formulation to the implementation of projects related to the activation and reframing of attributes of the Estadão brand, always with great success."
Co-founder and Managing Partner of Cause; former Chairman of the Board at ABERJE – Brazilian Business Communication Association; former Director of Corporate Affairs and Government Relations at Natura.
"I learned a lot from Yacoff Sarkovas, one of the most skilled and able consultants that I've met. He's a project strategist and implementer in the social, environmental and cultural areas. An unmatched contribution. I am very grateful for the journey of learning and friendship."
Associate Researcher at IBRE - Brazilian Institute of Economics at FGV - Getúlio Vargas Foundation; Partner of Reliance, Folha de S. Paulo columnist; Former Economic Advisor to Senator Tasso Jereissati.
"Yacoff will surprise you. He is part of the small group of businessmen who have an absolutely enviable and unique biography. At age 12, he gets his first job. He works, enrolls in the electronics technical school and starts businesses with music and copyrights. He develops the technology and creates the first company that keeps track of the music played on radios in the country. Technologies come and go and so does Yacoff. He creates a highly respected brand building consultancy firm which later becomes part of the world's largest public relations agency. Earlier he was successful as a producer of performing arts. So many lives in one! But Yacoff has a profound interest in all things Brazilian and it is in that regard that we both talk frequently. He follows in detail the mistakes and accomplishments of the various economic experiments and shares the anguish of all of us who saw a society that seemed to be finding a way forward but eventually lost itself again. Yacoff at 60, who has both adult as well as young children, keeps up with all the trends. He knows where things come from and where the wind blows. He is a huge asset."
President Latin America at Kimberly-Clark Corp.
"I worked closely with Yacoff in Brazil, between 2014-2017, and since the first moment appreciated not only his vast experience and knowledge engaging teams and consumers thru the use of deep insights to generate rooted content but also his fantastic charisma which allowed our companies’ relationship to solidify and build many winning programs on Sustainability, Corporate Image and Institutional topics amongst other programs. I wish Yacoff continued success and am sure he will continue thriving as he has always done."
Executive Superintendent at FFHC - Fernando Henrique Cardoso Foundation.
"Yacoff is a unique professional. He brings together what is generally separated: entrepreneurial capacity and sensitivity to the symbolic, understanding of the corporate world and the universe of culture, realism and creativity. All this and more than 40 years of experience behind him."
General Superintendent at the Amazonas Sustentável Foundation, former Secretary of State for Environment and Sustainable Development of Amazonas.
"I've known Yacoff for many years. I had the opportunity to share meetings on different topics, in different contexts and situations: events, work meetings, etc. One of Yacoff's most striking features is his ability to strategically analyze and synthesize. With shrewd and clear thinking, Yacoff has much to contribute in this new stage of his successful professional career, as a member of Boards of Directors and their Committees, and as an independent consultant in Corporate Purpose. In this new area, I'm sure his performance will be just as brilliant."