Arthur Castelo Branco

HEC Paris

“I’m just a curious guy who is passionate about numbers and people.”

Hometown: Felixlandia, Minas Gerais – Brazil

Fun fact about yourself: My family is quite big (50 people +), and I love it

Undergraduate School and Degree: Bachelor in Industrial Engineering, UFABC (Brazil)

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school? Procter & Gamble, Senior Finance Manager (Paris, France)

Where did you intern during the summer of 2023? Bain & Company (São Paulo, Brazil)

Where will you be working after graduation? Eli Lilly, Financial Planning Manager for France (Paris, France). I’m very excited to join Eli Lilly in this historical moment, with a pipeline filled of breakthrough medicines (e.g. Alzheimer, Obesity, Cancer) that will make life better for millions of people.

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School: I engaged in a number of positions that had impact in the MBA community and helped me to strengthen my leadership skills, such as the following:

CFO of MBAT. Renowned as the MBA Olympics, the MBAT is the largest gathering of MBA students in the world (1,5k+ students, USD 600k+ budget). As the CFO, I had a strong influence in the event planning and execution.

Consulting Club Leadership Team: I helped MBA students succeed in consulting interviews via organising case cracking sessions, developing learning plans, and establishing partnerships with target consulting firms.

The Executive Committee (TEC): TEC is an exclusive leadership program from HEC (24 students selected amongst 160+). During the program I had the opportunity to meet top executives and industry leaders about a wide range of topics (e.g. business, politics, work-life balance).

HEC Ambassador: As an ambassador, I helped HEC MBA recruiting department by participating in recruiting events/panels to share my MBA experience and connect with prospective students.

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? The achievement I am most proud of is winning the HEC Paris Leadership Award. The Leadership Award takes place in the end of the MBA program and is voted by all the students from Class of 2024 (approximately 300 students). Having the recognition of my peers on my leadership efforts and impact during our MBA journey was very special to me.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? My transition from the office of Procter & Gamble Brazil to the one in France. I arrived in France in the post-pandemic context where commodities inflation was impacting considerably the profitability of the business. Thanks to my Latin American experience on dealing with volatility and inflation, I was quickly able to put in place actions that brought significant impact and helped to offset the inflationary pressure. Thanks to these results, I was recognized by my P&G France CEO and CFO less than six months upon joining the office.

Doing all that while also adapting to a new country, new culture and a language that I didn’t speak before was the biggest achievement of my career.

Why did you choose this business school? It was the collaborative spirit of the HEC community, the structure of the MBA (16 months + specialization), and finally the outstanding strength of HEC Paris brand in Europe.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? Charles-Henri Larreur, who was our Structured Finance professor during the Finance specialization. It was a combination of strong practical experience with in-depth knowledge of the topic and a mastery in the skill of teaching in a very didactic way. These made every single class unforgettable.

What was your favorite course as an MBA? It was definitely Structured Finance. I remember discussing with some friends in the beginning of the MBA on how curious we were to understand how someone could use debt to buy a company (classic Leveraged Buyout). After this class, we not only learned perfectly how to do that, but also many other “complex” finance topics, such as securitization, became simple to understand. I consider myself a much more well-rounded finance professional after that class.

Looking back over your MBA experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently and why? There are a few people in my class that I would have been more intentional about connecting with. The MBA has so many activities going on at the same time that eventually it’s easy to get caught up with activities that take a lot of space (especially academics).

What is the biggest myth about your school? That HEC is located in Paris! HEC Paris is actually not in Paris, it is in a small city called Jouy-en-Josas.

What did you love most about your business school’s town? The fact that HEC is located in a small town makes the relationships between the students stronger. Most people live on campus, and all the parties and events also happen there. This creates a very special bond between everyone in the cohort, hence the famous collaborative aspect of the HEC community.

What surprised you the most about business school? Many aspects, but I would highlight the quality and the diversity of the students. I’m always amazed by how inspiring HEC people are, each in their own special way.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? The classmate I admire the most is Nasheed Jamal. As an extremely smart MIT / Georgetown graduate and fellow of the American Academy of Neurology, her humility and compassion for others is what impresses me about her. She is a true inspiration to me.

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list? Impact and Team work.

What made Arthur such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2024?

“Arthur was part of my group in TEC, an exclusive, on-Campus group that provides students a sounding board of trusted peers who offer them diverse perspectives to help them make better decisions in their personal and professional lives. TEC is deepened by one-to-one sessions with mentors and small-group discussions with business leaders. I had a series of one-on-one sessions with him, as well as witnessed him working with his 12 classmates in his group on activities.

Arthur has above average mental abilities but more importantly he has outstanding leadership qualities. He has organized several activities in which he demonstrated a great sense of organization and managed effectively a reasonably large group of MBA students. His strength has been to be able to lead and manage the group by making sure they understood the common goal and agreed upon the actions to take. Keep in mind that he worked with them as a peer, and not as a manager. On top of that, they were, as MBAs, rather full of diverging opinions. Arthur got everyone on board. In short, he is a great inspiration to his peers and an exceptional organizer.”

Thierry Voiriot
Co-chair of The Executive Committee (TEC)
MBA Program, HEC Paris

DON’T MISS: MBAS TO WATCH: CLASS OF 2024