OREANDA-NEWS. Delta Air Lines' (NYSE: DAL) board of directors today announced Sergio Rial as its newest member, effective immediately. Rial serves as chief executive officer of Marfrig Global Foods, a multinational company based in Brazil with operations in the food and food service sectors in Brazil and 15 other countries.

"Sergio brings significant insight into global business, particularly in Delta's key market of Latin America and extensive financial experience as a former chief financial officer of a global corporation," said Daniel A. Carp, Delta's non-executive chairman of the board. "We are excited that Sergio is bringing his talent and knowledge to Delta's strong and independent board of directors."

Prior to joining Marfrig as its CEO in 2012, Rial served in various leadership capacities with Cargill, Inc., a Minneapolis-based global provider of food, agriculture, financial and industrial products and services. At Cargill, Rial served as chief financial officer from 2009 to 2011 and executive vice president from 2011 to 2012. He also was a member of Cargill's board of directors from 2010 to 2012.

From 2002 to 2004, Rial was a senior managing director and co-head of the Investment Banking Division at Bear Stearns & Co. in New York.

He is currently a director of Cyrela Brazil Realty S.A. and served as a member of board of directors of The Mosaic Company from 2010 to 2011.

Rial received a law degree from Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and an economics degree from Universidade Gama Filho. He also has an MBA from the Brazilian Capital Markets Institute (IBMEC - Sao Paulo).