Marcelo Rech, 55, President of the World Editors Forum, is the first Editorial Vice President for the RBS Group, one of the leading media groups in Brazil.  With its HQ in Porto Alegre, southern Brazil, the group owns 18 TV stations, 2 community TV stations, 25 radio stations, 8 newspapers and internet portals, among other media businesses.

Marcelo was a former reporter, specialized in internal and international conflicts. Among his coverages are five expeditions to Antarctica, the fall of the Soviet Union and the economic transition in Russia, the Gulf War, the war in the Balkans, the UN intervention in Mozambique, the crisis in Cuba and several coup d’etats and military risings in Latin America, besides many investigative pieces and extensive stories in Brazil.

In 1993, he became managing editor of Zero Hora, the main newspaper of RBS. Between 1997 and 2008, he was the editor of Zero Hora and the other seven newspapers of the group. From 2008 to 2011, Marcelo was appointed the first Content Director of RBS, in charge of media operations in four media platforms, which involved about 1,100 journalists and 800 people from different sectors and regions.

In 2012, he became general director of the four RBS newspapers situated  in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, and in 2013 Marcelo was assigned executive director of Journalism, a position that includes the editorial ethics guidelines within the Group.  

In 2015 he was named as the first ever RBS group Editorial Vice President.

Marcelo has a BA in Journalism from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul and attended extension programs in the Media Management Center, at Kellogg, and in media strategy at Harvard Business School. 

Since 2008, he has been a member of the board of the World Editors Forum and in 2013 he became the first chairman of the board of WAN-IFRA Latin America. He is also director of the Interamerican Press Association (IAPAS) and a member of the editorial committee of the Brazilian Newspaper Association (ANJ). He also integrates the superior councils of Palavra Aberta (“Open Word”), an institution in defense of freedom of expression in Brazil, and CONAR, the Brazilian self-regulatory system for advertising. In 2015, he was appointed by ANJ as a member of the Communication Council of the Brazilian Senate.