Graças Foster

On 9 February 2012, Foster was elected to serve as a member of the Petrobras Board of Directors and after a nomination by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, she was chosen to take over the helm of the company as the Chief Executive Officer, replacing José Sérgio Gabrielli [pt], who had served as the head of the company for seven years. She was also named a Member of the Executive Board and Member of the Board of Directors of Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras.

On the day that Foster was named as the new head of Petrobras in January 2012, stockholder shares in the company spiked, gaining nearly four percent. By April 2012, Foster's personal and professional integrity came under fire, when the Brazilian press began aggressively questioning business transactions that had taken place between Foster's husband and Petrobras. In 2010, the newspaper, Folha de S.Paulo, reported that a company controlled by Foster's husband, over a time span of three years, successfully negotiated business contracts to supply Petrobras with electronic equipment, resulting in financial gains in excess of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Despite the deflection and discrediting of scrutiny by the media, public confidence in the company have waned, resulting in a loss in shares of over 30 percent in 2012. Concerns with the company's viability continue, focusing on a wide range of issues including delivery and procurement delays in offshore operations, maintaining profitability, while balancing costs with a low price point of domestic sales, and importing refined products from overseas. Additional concerns center around meeting demands, while not only meeting expectations, but increasing supply to an estimated 4.5 million barrels a day, from 2.3 million. Successfully meeting these goals require leadership to address any possible equipment bottlenecks, resulting in decreased cycle time and deliver. Challenges also include the development of new cutting-edge drilling technologies, while maintaining corporate environmental regulatory standards, which safeguard against spills at offshore fields.

In April 2007, Foster was honored by the Order of Rio Branco with the merit rank of Commander, presented by the Ministry of Foreign Relations of Brazil. The following year, she was named Executive of the Year by the Institute of Brazilian Finance Executives. In 2009, she was the recipient of the Tiradentes Medal, presented by the Legislative Assembly of the State of Rio de Janeiro. In 2011, she was made a Knight Commander of the Admiralty Order of Merit, and in 2012, she received the Inconfidência Medal, the highest decoration conferred by the Government of the State of Minas Gerais, in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the social, cultural and economic development of Minas Gerais and Brazil.

In January 2003, Foster was appointed to serve as the Secretary of Oil, Natural Gas, and Renewable Fuels at the Brazilian Ministry of Mines and Energy. During this time, she also began serving as the President of Petrobras Química SA (Petroquisa), a role which accompanied her appointment as the Director of Investor Relations. She simultaneously served as the Executive Manager of Petrochemicals and Fertilizers, which was affiliated with the Downstream Management of Petrobras. In May 2006, Foster began serving as the President of Petrobras Distribuidora SA, with responsibilities as the Financial Director of the company. In September 2007, she was named as a member and officer of the Executive Board and Gas and Energy. In 2010, she became the first woman to serve in a management role in the company, when she was elected to the executive board of gas and energy.

In 1998, Foster was working for a Petrobras unit that was involved importing natural gas from Bolivia. During this time, she met Dilma Rousseff, who in October 2010, would be elected to serve as the first female President of Brazil. In 1998, Rousseff was a relatively unknown energy official, serving in Rio Grande do Sul in southern Brazil. Foster and Rousseff developed a lifelong professional relationship, based in their mutual support of the leftist Workers Party, which rose to power in 2002, resulting in the election of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as the President of Brazil. At this time, Rousseff was named the head of the board of directors of Petrobras, serving for seven years during the administration of da Silva.

She attended the Fluminense Federal University, graduating in 1978 with a Bachelor's degree in chemical engineering. In 1979, she began postgraduate studies, earning a master's degree in nuclear engineering from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. In 1999, she earned her MBA from the Getulio Vargas Foundation.

Foster joined Petrobras as an intern in 1978, utilizing her master's degree in chemical engineering. She was hired as a chemical engineer in 1981 and went on to serve in managerial roles in the Gas and Energy Business Unit and at the Leopoldo Miguez de Mello Research and Development Center, as well as the Transportadora Brasileira do Gasoduto Bolivia-Brasil.

Maria das Graças Foster (née Silva; pronunciation (help·info); born 26 August 1953), commonly known as Graça Foster, is a Brazilian business executive and chemical engineer. She was the CEO of Petrobras-Petróleo Brasil, Brazil's state-controlled oil company, which is located in Rio de Janeiro. She was the first woman in the world to head a major oil-and-gas company. In April 2012, she was listed on the Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. In 2014, she was recognized as the 16th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine. She was ranked by Fortune in 2013 as "the Most Powerful Woman in Business" (outside the U.S.) for the second year in a row.

Maria das Graças (née Silva) Foster was born on 26 August 1953, in Caratinga, Minas Gerais in southeastern Brazil. By the time she was two years old, Foster's family moved from Caratinga to a favela, also known as a shanty town community, outside of Rio de Janeiro. The area, known as Complexo do Alemão was extremely poverty stricken and ridden with crime. Overpopulation, drug trafficking, unsanitary conditions, malnutrition, pollution, and diseases, along with high mortality rates remain widespread in the poorer favela communities. The conditions in Complexo do Alemão necessitated consistent occupation and monitoring by Brazilian security forces.