Honorary Chairman of the Brazilian Center for International Relations (CEBRI). President of Brazil for two consecutive , from 1995 to 2003. His presidency was marked by economic stability, social security, economic and public istration reforms, as well as broader access to social policies. He had previously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Finance Minister, and as a two-term senator.

He began his career as a professor of sociology and political science at the University of São Paulo (USP) and founded the Brazilian Center of Analysis and Planning (CEBRAP). During the Brazilian military dictatorship, he lived in exile in Chile and and taught at Princeton University, the University of California at Berkeley, and the University of Cambridge. He received a PhD in sociology from USP.