The highly anticipated 2022 Person of the Year Awards Gala Dinner took place at The Glasshouse and was attended by nearly 1,000 participants from the business, financial, and diplomatic communities, many traveling from Brazil. The program honored, as Brazilian Person of the Year, Luiza Helena Trajano, Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Magazine Luiza – and as American Person of the Year, Virginia (Ginni) M. Rometty, Former Chairperson, President, and Chief Executive Officer of IBM. Special awards were bestowed upon two non-profit organizations – Instituto de Pesquisas em Tecnologia e Inovação (IPTI) with the Entrepreneurship in Social Responsibility Award, and Mantena Global Care with the Community Impact Award.

The Person of the Year Fellowship Program is funded by proceeds from the Person of the Year Awards Gala Dinner, and conducted in partnership with Instituto Ling and Fundação Lemann and has co-supported over 138 Brazilian students who have already graduated or are studying to obtain graduate degrees from top tier American universities.

In addition to the gala, a series of parallel events sponsored by institutions such as Financial Times, Banco Itaú, BTG Pactual, Bank of America, Citi, Forbes Brasil, and J. Safra Group contributed to making the week of the gala “Brazil Week” in New York.

The POY has become the premier event of the Brazilian-American community in the United States, and its success has enabled the Chamber to expand its annual programming to further develop the ties between Brazil and the United States.