Maria das Graças Silva Foster is the CEO of Petrobras-Petróleo Brasil, state-controlled oil company. Graça Foster is also CEO of Gaspetro, of the gas pipeline company TBG and of TAG. She sits on the Boards of Transpetro, Petrobras Biocombustível S.A., Braskem S.A. and IBP. According to the Forbes Magazine she is among the richest and the most influential women in the world.
Background
Maria das Graças Silva Foster was born in Caratinga, Minas Gerais in southeastern Brazil. By the time she was eight years old, Foster's family moved from Caratinga to a favela. Foster characterizes her childhood as "happy, joyful but very difficult". She had always worked to help support her mother and children and pay for studies.