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 In a career that spans two decades, the first realization is that no bio or resume can totally encompass Luiz' breadth of experiences. That is why he has meticulously captured a lot of his experience in a full online vitae.

   Brazilian-native, Luiz had a variety of professional experiences while studying Journalism in Brazil. He has worked in advertising agencies, worked as a reporter for Folha de S. Paulo (largest newspaper in the country) and Abril Publishing (largest publishing group in Latin America), served as public relations for large firms like Alcan Aluminun and others, and even produced institutional videos. His interest for the electronic media and new communication technologies brought him to Michigan in 1990 for a Master's degree in Telecommunication by Michigan State University (MSU).

   His Master's thesis was turned into a book on pay-TV that has become mandatory reading back in Brazil for Communications college students. He has returned many times to his country to offer lectures on various topics and also collaborate with the trade press. He continued his education by focusing on the International Marketing strategies of Telecom firms. He pursued a PhD degree at MSU that was mostly composed of MBA courses geared towards international marketing management. Upon the completion of his last doctoral course in 1996, he was recruited right out of college by DIRECTV. The satellite television technology had just been deployed in the U.S. and the company was interested in new talent with the language and technical skills to help launch the service in Latin America.

   Luiz was on the ground floor of the DIRECTV venture in California, starting in the Engineering Department as a main liaison to the Brazilian telecasting. He hired and trained over 60 technicians to perform various duties in centers across the continent. His team captured data that yielded key performance indexes for the company, based on which upper management bonus was calculated. He was actively engaged in the company customer loyalty efforts and helped build a research group with over $1 million dollars in budget to execute numerous qualitative and quantitative studies throughout the region. He helped form a network of intelligence executives within the company, who collected strategic information and shared through a networked system implemented by Luiz.

   Before the company was acquired, Luiz also helped build call centers in Argentina and Florida, designing and implementing software to collect survey data and analyze it through SPSS software. After almost six years at DIRECTV, Luiz then took on a couple of projects aimed at the U.S. market. The first was the launch of Telefutura, the last broadcast network to be launched in America. Telefutura is owned by the Univision Group and is aimed at U.S. Hispanics. Luiz participated in the negotiations with Nielsen to acquire ratings data for the new network, hired and trained ratings analysts and implemented the computer systems to register programming schedules and report on performances. His analyses contributed to the formulation of early program schedules in the network.

   As Telefutura was successfully launched in 2001, Luiz accepted a position as Director of Research at WGBH, the Boston TV/Radio station responsible for most of the public television productions on radio, TV and Web. Luiz rebuilt a research department, recycling staff, implementing new technologies and reports. Due to family reasons, he ended up returning to Florida with Sony Pictures Television International in 2003. As Director of Marketing & Research, Luiz filled a totally new position within the company, merging market data with marketing strategies for Latin America for the first time. He recruited, hired and trained managers for both areas and developed standard operating procedures for interfaces with various departments throughout the continent. He collaborated with the industry associations to implement new research and became the first client to the DIRECTV ratings service that he had initially designed while working at that company.

   In 2004, Luiz took flight on his own, joining a winning team of marketing consultants in Fort Lauderdale. At Starmark International, Luiz created programs to track the efficiency of marketing campaigns using new technologies and concepts. When TiVo, the pioneer digital video recording company, started plans to launch a new TV audience service based on its clickstream data, Luiz was recruited to design the initial reports and guide engineers on the deployment of a top-notch syndicated ratings service. Stop||Watch launched in 2006 with Starcom, IPG and many important clients added all the time.

   In 2008, after 7 years away, Luiz returned to DIRECTV to launch the first RPD audience ratings service of Latin America. He also organized a new corporate research department with projects totaling over US$8 million/year. For the Ad Sales Department, Luiz is currently reorganizing systems and procedures to more than double inventory capacity and sales potentials.

Carla Ponte is a Brazilian producer and journalist with over 20 years of experience in television that has been marking her path believing in the power of storytelling in different genres, from factual to drama.

From 2008 to 2012, as a Production and Development Supervisor for Discovery Networks Latin America/Hispanic, she was responsible for dozens of shows in different channels, increasing dramatically the Original Production growth in Brazil, achieving International prizes - including an International Emmy Nomination in Current Affairs for The Assassination of Jean Charles – and high ratings with TV Series just as City Eagles, which première put Discovery Channel at #1 on Brazilian Pay TV.  

In 2013, Carla Ponte took part in the 1° NETLABTV which selected eight out of 1800 projects presented to Brazilian Pay TV Channels and was a consultant for the 1° Programa Globosat de Desenvolvimento de Roteiristas, that brought to Brazil the Story Seminar with Robert McKee and the Script Workshop with Marta Kauffman, Dan Halsted, Barry Schkolnick, plus Master Classes with Marta Kauffman and Anthony Zuiker.

In that same year she signed as the Production Supervisor for the Kids TV Series Que Monstro Te Mordeu?, awarded with Prix Jeunesse Iberoamericano 2015. Created by Cao Hamburger and Teo Poppovic, the 50 episode Series was a coproduction by Caos Produções and Primo Filmes premiered on TV Cultura and was acquired by Discovery Kids and Netflix. This production led to a collaboration work with Primo Filmes involving TV Projects and specially the TV Series Criminal, created by Paula Knudsen – an Emmy International Nominee Screenwriter. The project received a development grant from São Paulo’s Government after competing against over seven hundred others and is now in negotiation for future production.

Carla Ponte’s career includes passages through MTV as a Producer, Bandeirantes Networks and TV Cultura as an International Editor, TV1 as Sales Manager and various Production Houses as a producer/writer.

Carla Ponte has a degree in Journalism from University of São Paulo – USP.