11 July 2011
Data storage and management company NetApp named Wilson Grava as vice president and general manager for the Latin American and Caribbean region, based in Miami.
NetApp of Sunnyvale, Calif. wants to expand its presence in the Latin American region. It now has more than 100 employees and contractors in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela and Puerto Rico.
The company tapped Grava, 47, for his experience in the data management business in the region. As Symantec Corp.’s vice president for Latin America for six years, Grava helped Symantec grow to more than 500 employees and contractors in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Panama. From his Miami base, he helped the company increase regional sales by more than 20 percent yearly. He also helped Symantec integrate and expand the operations of Veritas Software Corp., which it bought in 2005.
Born in Brazil, Grava obtained his bachelors of science degree in data processing technology at Universidade Mackenzie in Brazil and his Executive MBA in marketing from the Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing in Brazil.
He worked for more than a decade for Computer Associates, first in Brazil, quickly moving up the ranks from support analyst to marketing consultant, area manager to manager for international operations based in Brazil. He rose to country manager for Venezuela, regional manager for Mexico and Central America, and then, regional manager for Hispanic Latin America.
In 2002, he joined Network Associates International, now McAfee Inc., as vice president for Latin America and the Caribbean, opening its new regional headquarters in Miami.
Grava said his biggest challenge in the new position “is to re-engineer NetApp's organization in Latin America” and extend the company’s “leadership position into the emerging markets in the region. “
Fluent in Portuguese, English and Spanish, Grava outside work enjoys tennis, exercise, boating and volleyball. He was captain and then coach of his university volleyball team. He is married with two children.
NetApp began in 1992 and now has more than 10,000 employees and 130 offices worldwide. It posted sales of $5.1 billion in fiscal 2011. With stock publicly traded on the Nasdaq Exchange, it is part of the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 indexes.
For more information on the company, visit www.netapp.com.