Mateus Zanini Pires is a Master of International Affairs candidate at UC San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy, concentrating in International Economics and Energy Policy. He works at the intersection of capital markets and development policy, with a focus on energy and infrastructure finance in Latin America.
Mateus recently worked as a Consultant with the Institute of the Americas’ Critical Minerals Program, co-authoring a strategic report on Brazil’s critical minerals sector, and as a Graduate Research Assistant studying urban water scarcity in India at GPS.
Before graduate school, he spent six years in Brazilian corporate finance at Suzano’s treasury desk, then moving into business intelligence covering banking and credit markets. He is building toward a career in development finance, working to connect capital markets with sustainable energy and infrastructure outcomes across Latin America.