By Brazil Stock Guide — Daniel Stieler’s resignation as chairman and board member of Vale has shifted the center of the governance dispute opened by Previ at the Brazilian mining giant.
Vale (VALE3; VALE) said on Monday that it had received a letter from Stieler announcing his resignation, effective immediately. As a result, the first item on the agenda of the extraordinary shareholders’ meeting scheduled for July 22 — a vote on his removal from the board — has lost effect.
The remaining agenda items, however, are unchanged. In practice, the meeting will no longer decide whether Stieler should leave. He is already gone. The focus now moves to the recomposition of the board and the choice of its next chairman.
Stieler, an accountant and former president of Previ, had served on Vale’s board since 2021 and had chaired it since 2023. He had originally been nominated by Previ, the pension fund for employees of Banco do Brasil, which later led the push for his removal.
That makes the dispute more delicate. Previ is not only challenging Vale’s current governance structure; it is also trying to replace a chairman it once helped bring onto the board.
The extraordinary meeting was called at Previ’s request. The fund had sought Stieler’s removal, the election of José Maurício Pereira Coelho to the board and the appointment of Manuel Lino Silva de Sousa Oliveira, known as Ollie Oliveira, as board chairman.
Coelho, Previ’s nominee for the board seat, is a banker and economist. He is a former president of Previ and a former chairman of Vale’s board. He also serves on the boards of companies including Ultrapar, Hidrovias do Brasil and Santander Brasil.
Vale’s management, in turn, recommended Ieda Gomes as an alternative candidate for the board seat. Gomes is a chemical engineer with a long career in gas, energy and infrastructure. She previously led BP Brasil and Comgás and has served as a corporate director.
For the chairmanship, the names before shareholders are Oliveira, backed by Previ, and Marcelo Gasparino da Silva, Vale’s current vice-chairman.
Oliveira has been an independent director at Vale since 2021 and lead independent director since 2023. A Portuguese executive, he has more than four decades of experience in corporate finance, strategy and mining, including roles at groups such as Anglo American and De Beers. He also coordinates Vale’s Audit and Risk Committee.
Gasparino is a lawyer, independent director and vice-chairman of Vale’s board. He has been a full board member since 2020, after earlier serving as an alternate director, and also sits on the boards of Eletrobras and Banco do Brasil.
Vale’s board is expected to meet to elect an interim chairman until the shareholders’ meeting. The July 22 meeting will be maintained to choose Stieler’s replacement on the board and the miner’s next chairman.
The resignation spares Vale the public strain of a direct shareholder vote on Stieler’s removal, but it does not end the dispute. For Previ, his exit represents a political victory before the meeting. The next test is whether the fund can turn that pressure into enough shareholder support to influence the succession at the top of Vale’s board.
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