Isabella da Costa Mendes
Founding partner and co-CEO
Isabella is an established Emerging Markets professional, with 30 years’ experience across law, investment banking, structuring, and consultancy.
Her expertise lies in the origination and structuring of complex transactions, with a particular interest in infrastructure. In 2015, she founded Catara Consulting, an investment advisory firm. Isabella’s background in Emerging Markets includes management of the advisory practice at FKS Capital Partners, a structured finance and principal investments firm working across global financial markets. She has worked as Head of London and Africa Capital Solutions at Renaissance Capital, Head of Emerging Markets Credit Structuring at Morgan Stanley as well as at JP Morgan.
Isabella also brings detailed experience in corporate governance, being an independent non-executive director of ICBC Standard Bank plc, chairing its Board Risk Management Committee, and a member of the NYU Law International Alumni Advisory Board. She speaks English, Portuguese, French and Spanish and holds an LL.B from the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, an LLM from New York University and a Graduate Degree in Accounting from Fundaçāo Getulio Vargas, as well as the International Directors’ Certificate from INSEAD.
