Team

Stephan Winkler

President

MA Politics, Philosophy & Economics, Oxford University

Stephan has been working for Forest International Ltd., a forestry focused private equity firm - and majority shareholder of EFISA - since 2004 and has been Managing Director since 2007. He has been active in South America since that time and manages a portfolio of companies in Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia. Stephan became chairman of EFISA in 2016.

Romano Diel

VICE PRESIDENT & MANAGING DIRECTOR

BSc Forestry Engineering, Brazil

The co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of EFISA (est. 2012). Romano has 20 years’ experience in the Paraguayan forestry industry. He founded EFISA’s predecessor, Emprendimientos Forestales S.A., Paraguay’s leading forestry services company, in 2003 and since then has planted over 20,000 hectares of eucalyptus plantations across Paraguay. The decision to enter into industrial wood processing in 2012 led to the formation of Empresa Forestal y Industrial S.A. (EFISA).

CHARLIE SICHEL

CFO

MA (Hons) French & Spanish, ACA (Chartered Accountant), MBA (Insead)

Charlie joined the Winkler Group as Group CFO in 2017. He has overseen the Growth of EFISA over this time, and has been instrumental in the build out of its wider Strategy. Having trained initially as a Chartered Accountant, Charlie spent most of his career at ED&F Man focused on trading Sugar, Coffee, and assessing Commodity value chains. He then spent a year at INSEAD (Europe’s #1 Business school), before spending 2 years working in Private Equity with Alvarez & Marsal. He has a MA from Edinburgh University in Modern Languages, is a Chartered Accountant, and holds an MBA from INSEAD Business School. Charlie also spent a year in the British Army, having trained as an Officer a RMA Sandhurst.

CARLA ORTIZ

ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGER

Economics, Paraguay

RODRIGO DIEL

OPERATIONS DIRECTOR

BSc Administration
BSc Industrial Engineering (in process)

Rodrigo Diel has worked with both Emprendimientos Forestales S.A. and EFISA from the beginning. He was made a director and chief operating officer in 2016. In charge of all industrial processes from harvest through logistics to processing, Rodrigo combines administrative expertise with a high degree of practical engineering know-how, which is he is currently complementing by completing a BSc in Industrial Engineering.

RODOLFO GARCETE

FORESTRY PLANTATIONS MANAGER

BSc Forestry Engineering, Universidad Nacional de Asunción

Rodolfo began working in the Paraguayan forestry sector in 2003 and gained considerable experience in the management of both native and planted forests since then. He has overseen the planting of over 14,000 hectares and the management and maintenance of over 15,000 hectares of eucalyptus plantations. Rodolfo joined the EFISA team at its founding in 2012.

NICOLE THIESSEN

COMMERCIAL MANAGER OF FORESTRY