Gustavo Alejandro Perez - Managing Director, Latin America - BGRS

Name: Gustavo Alejandro Perez

Position: Managing Director, Latin America

Company: BGRS

Professional Background

BGRS, Managing Director, Latin America (Brazil): 2013 – Present

EY, Executive Director, Brazil Tax Diversified Group and Resource Management (Brazil): 2010 – 2013

EY, Executive Director, Brazil Global Mobility Leader (Brazil): 2010 – 2011

EY, Human Capital Executive Senior Manager, (Brazil): 2005 – 2010

EY, Human Capital Manager (Argentina): 2002 – 2005

EY, Tax Manager (Argentina): 2000 – 2001

Career Insider

Q: Why global mobility, and how did you get started in the industry? 

A: I started in the industry by accident. I joined Arthur Andersen in Buenos Aires, Argentina, as a tax intern and my first assignment was preparing individual expatriate tax returns for corporate clients during the busy season. 

Fresh out of college I did not have a clue as to what an expatriate was; however, after the busy season, I realized that I could not pursue a career in corporate taxes. Why? Because I loved working with people and I wanted something centered on that.

 Speaking and meeting executives from all over the world was an invaluable experience for both my personal and professional growth. On top of that, the opportunity to work with tax colleagues from other Andersen offices in the Americas and Europe allowed me to open my mind, understand differences, develop different ways of working and communicating and make new friends who I could visit when traveling abroad.

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Q: What at BGRS keeps you going to work every day?

A: The people, the clients, the diverse and interesting challenges of my role, and last, but not least, my team.

Q: What are you proud of achieving in your career and what's next? 

A: I am proud of being recognized by Worldwide ERC for my contributions to the industry. ERC has always been important to me. The EY Chairman Values Award I received in New York was also a big and memorable milestone in my career. The award was the ultimate recognition of a talent development initiative I led and implemented for the EY Brazil tax interns.

Industry Insider

Q: How do you think the global mobility industry has changed over the years?

A: The global mobility industry has changed dramatically over the years – from a pure transactional function to a strategic and talent development-focused one. Global mobility professionals have also changed to include a diverse population with various skills and strengths. Furthermore, the global workforce demands international assignment experience for career development, especially for more senior roles. Career advancement to key roles within an organization without international experience is rarely seen today, so global mobility is now seen as fundamental to succession planning as well.

Q: What do you think is the primary thing hindering the global mobility industry's progress? 

A: That’s a tough one. We have seen great progress and no doubt with the pace of change in the global workplace increasing in speed, we should proactively anticipate more. Many will embrace that and those that do are positioned for continued success.

Q: What is the most important strategic tip you can give to companies handling global mobility?

A: Understand where global mobility fits in your organization’s talent strategy and how it can be an enabler to the business to support its business goals, growth and expansion.

Visionary Insider 

Q: How well do you think issues surrounding diversity and inclusion are handled in the global mobility sector? What could they do better?

A: Diversity and inclusion are top priorities 

There are still many things to be done in these areas and global mobility should follow the trend and walk side by side. 

However, success will depend upon the company´s overall strategy for diversity and inclusion and how key stakeholders support them. The global mobility function is an accompanying actor and enabler but not the solution to the surrounding diversity and inclusion issues. What I see is the commitment of companies to work on these topics in their agenda and that´s what I think really matters.

Q: What more can be done to improve current global mobility practices to benefit talents on the move?

A: Listen to talents on the move and see how their needs can be factored in the current global mobility practices to make the assignee experience better is definitely the way to go.

Integrate mobility into the talent management strategy of the organization and consider the overall business strategy as a whole.

Q: What are the major developments you currently see happening in the industry, and how do you feel about them?

A: The digitalization of the industry, the consolidation of industry players and the centralization and standardization of the global mobility processes are among the major developments going on in the industry nowadays. I observe them taking place and see how I can better adjust to the changes and keep an open mind on them. Whatever the developments are, I think that we should not lose the perspective that our industry is about people. As such, the employee experience should be heavily emphasized in designing new models. If we forget this, we are lost. In my opinion, any change should always factor human element into the equation since by the end of the day, people are the change and transformation drivers in any major development.

Either/Or…

• Short-term or long-term assignment? Why not both?
• Airbnb or serviced apartments? Airbnb for vacation, serviced apartments for business
• Excel or global mobility software? Both, the old excel spreadsheet is still a valuable ally
• Lump-sum or flex-ben? Depends on the circumstances
• Facebook or LinkedIn? LinkedIn
• Outlook or Gmail? Outlook
• Taxi or Uber? Taxi
• iOS or Android? Android
• Mac or PC? PC
• Computer or tablet? Both
• Work hard or play hard? Can you really play hard without working hard?