Gustavo Mariani came to energy through finance. An economist who graduated from the University of Belgrano and one of the first Argentines to obtain the international CFA credential, in 1998, he spent years measuring assets and investment portfolios before ending up at the head of the country’s largest integrated energy company. Today he is CEO and vice chairman of the board of Pampa Energía, the company he founded in 2005 together with Marcelo Mindlin, Damián Mindlin and Ricardo Torres, and which is listed both on the New York Stock Exchange and in the Argentine market.
His path explains much of how he manages the company today. Mariani is not an executive hired from outside to lead it: he is one of the owners. He is part of the control group that retains around 20% of Pampa’s share capital, and that dual role — partner and leader — gives him a freedom to plan for the long term that few professional CEOs have.
From financial analysis to control of an energy company
Mariani’s career began in 1993, when he joined Grupo EMES, then known as Grupo Dolphin, the investment company of Marcelo Mindlin and his partners, as an analyst. He rose quickly: first portfolio manager, then managing partner. Between 2001 and 2003, he served as chief financial officer of the conglomerate that grouped IRSA, Cresud and Alto Palermo, with real estate, agricultural and commercial assets.
The turn toward energy came with a series of acquisitions that would later come together in a single company: co-control of Transener, management of Edenor, and thermal and hydroelectric power plants spread across the country. In November 2005, those pieces gave shape to Pampa Energía, which made its Wall Street debut in 2009. Mariani was co-CEO until 2016 and executive vice president until 2018. His career also includes a striking detour for someone from finance: between 2011 and 2018 he was a director of King Agro, the carbon-fiber spray boom company for sprayers founded by his brothers Guillermo and Gabriel, which John Deere fully acquired in 2018.
The bet on Vaca Muerta and oil
For much of its history, Pampa carried the label of an electricity and gas company. It leads power generation in the country and is the fourth-largest gas producer, with just over 10% of the total. In 2025, it reached a record of 17 million cubic meters of gas per day, although on average it sells close to 13 million, because demand sets the pace. Much of that gas travels through the TGS network, the transporter co-controlled by Pampa, where Mariani is vice chairman of the board. Regarding the current framework, with a government pushing agreements between private parties and less state intervention, he was clear: “We view it very favorably.”
The most recent chapter took him into new territory. Under his leadership, Pampa committed in 2025 to a record investment of nearly US$1.1 billion, with between 70% and 80% directed to Rincón de Aranda, its unconventional oil area in Neuquén. The area already has around fifteen completed wells, between twenty-five and thirty drilled, and about fifteen in production. The goal: to reach 50,000 barrels per day by the end of 2026, with annual sales close to US$1.2 billion at current prices. To move that crude, Pampa participates in the Vaca Muerta Sur pipeline, with capacity for 500,000 barrels per day to the San Matías Gulf, designed for exports. And in gas, Mariani brought the company into a consortium with Pan American Energy, Harbour and YPF, with a 20% stake, which expects the first floating liquefaction vessels toward the end of 2027 to turn Argentina into an exporter of liquefied natural gas. The economist who began by measuring portfolios now signs those disbursements, and his bet is tied to the pace at which the country transforms its reserves into production and dollars.
