Trustee Emeritus at the Brazilian Center for International Relations (CEBRI). Chairman of LIDE - Grupo de Líderes Empresariais no Brasil (Brazilian Business Leaders Group). He was Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade from 2003 to 2007. He is a member of the Board of McLarty Associates.

He is on the Board of Directors of Telefônica Brasil and BRF S/A. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of Instituto ETCO, of the Leadership Committee of Mei/CNI, of the Advisory Board of IAS, of the Supervisory Board of Japan House, member of the Wise Group CNI/KEIDANREN); member of the Iberoamerican Council for Productivity and Competitiveness (Madrid) and an honorary member of the Board of Directors of the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation and Trustee Emeritus of the Board of CEBRI - Brazilian Center for International Relations.

He was President of the Board of Directors of Sadia and member of the Global Ocean Commission. Minister Furlan has a degree in Chemical Engineering from the Faculty of Industrial Engineering (FEI) and in Business Administration from the University of Santana, São Paulo. He specialized in Administration and Finance at FGV-SP in 1980 and in AMP at INSEAD, Fontainebleau-France in 1991.