Maria Elena Pereira Johannpeter is the Director of Federasul (Commercial Associations Federation - Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil), a member of the Citizenship Council of FIERGS (Federation of Industries - Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil) and the Executive Vice- President of Parceiros Voluntários (Voluntary Partners), a non-governmental, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, dedicated to the development of organized volunteer work culture in the State of Rio Grande do Sul - Brazil. Parceiros Voluntarios was founded in January, 1997 and has more than 6,000 volunteers registered, whose ages range from 14 to 90. Recently, Mari Elena became Vice President of the Brazilian Committee for the International Year of the Volunteer/2001. Maria Elena is married to entrepreneur Jorge Gerdau Johannpeter, the President of Grupo Gerdau (steel mill) which is the largest private group in Brazil.
