Marcio Araujo de Lacerda is married with three children and is an administrator. He was born in Leopoldina and spent his childhood and adolescence in Inhapim. By the age of 17 he moved to Belo Horizonte, where he studied at the Federal Technical School. In 1965 he started his first job at the Minas Gerais Telephone Company. He was a political activist during the military dictatorship and was sent to prison for four years. This repression was common during the military dictatorship. This prohibited him from returning to his previous job. He then started a successful career as an entrepreneur, creating two telecommunication companies active in 16 Brazilian states as well as Chile and Bolivia. In 2003, he took the position of Executive Secretary of the Ministry of National Integration. From April 2007 until May 2008, he was Secretary of Economic Development for the State of Minas Gerais. In 2008, he was elected mayor of Belo Horizonte. In 2012, he was reelected on the first ballot. The Datafolha and Ibope Institutes have, three consecutive times, elected him the best mayor in Brazil.
