Hi, I’m Cris Pinciroli.
All my life, I’ve been passionate about high performance. But how to sustain this on the long term? How to avoid burnout?
I’ve been a professional water polo player, financial executive, entrepreneur, wife, and mother of three girls.
Everything I have experienced in life, along with the scientific study of the science of happiness, has given me the background knowledge and inspiration to found WeTeam in helping teams to unlock their potential and live a life of excellence and happiness.
My Family
My father, Pedro Pinciroli Junior, is a former water polo player. He competed for the Brazilian national team in the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, and in 1968 in Mexico City. My mother, Olga Pinciroli, played an important role in the introduction and development of the sport in Brazil and in the world.
I am the eldest daughter of three siblings. Since I was a child, my father encouraged me to practice sports. At 5, he swam beyond the surf with him in the Guarujá Sea, off the coast of São Paulo. At 7, I started swimming and at 16 I joined the first Brazilian women’s water polo team.
In 1990, my mother became director of the Brazilian Federation of Women’s Water Polo. That same year, I was elected one of the 7 best players in the world.
At 30, I became mother with the birth of my daughter, Alissa, who today, in the midst of her academic training, is also dedicated to water polo. In 2005 my second daughter, Giorgia, was born. In 2012, it was Olivia’s turn to come into the world. Their arrival in my life made me rethink decisions and make changes in my life that today result in WeTeam.
High Performance Athlete
I was 15 years old when, finally, women’s water polo started in Brazil. The following year, I joined the Brazilian water polo team, where I was team’s captain for 15 years. In 1990, I participated in my first World Swimming Championships in Perth, Australia – eight days of intense competition against the best teams in the world. At 20, I was in the Final Cup in Los Angeles. That’s when I received an invitation to play professionally in Italy, in one of the great water polo teams.
At 21, I started my career as a professional athlete in Rome. At 23, I received an offer to play for Orizzonte Catania, in Sicily. For the first time in the history of the Italian club, we lifted the European Cup. In 1998, I participated in my third World Championship in Perth, Australia and was selected for the World Star Team. At 27, we competed in the Pan American Games in Winnipeg, the city where my father’s team had won the silver medal for Brazil 32 years earlier, in 1967.
Career as an Executive
In 1996, after spending a season in Europe, I returned to Brazil and started my corporate career at Unibanco, one of the largest financial institutions in Brazil, while still playing for the Brazilian national team. I worked in Finance with Strategic Planning and in Human Resources with focus on organizational behavior and human development tools. I did my MBA from FGV in São Paulo and an associate degree from the Kenan-Flagler School of Business at the University of North Carolina.
In 2005, I became Ombudsman, or customer representative, responsible for Itaú-Unibanco’s Excellence and Quality team. Later, I worked in sales. In 2012, already living in the United States, I started in the Private Banking Division of Itaú Miami. Later, I became Executive Director of Human Resources at Itaú’s Private Banking Division in Miami, New York, Bahamas and Chile.
In 2018, a new purpose emerged: the desire to help develop each person’s ability to achieve a balanced, fulfilled, successful and happy life.
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