Celebrating 2022 Hispanic Heritage Month
Greeting from the COO
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¡Feliz Día de los Muertos!
We have entered the fourth quarter of the year, and 2022 will quickly come to a close in a few months. October is Hispanic Heritage month, but the NAA celebrates our heritage every day of the year.
Last June, we had our first event with The Blackstone Group to help young Latino professionals get into alternative investments. The NAA continues to change the lives of Latinos and the face of the industry.
Coming up in November, we have two events planned to expose future young Latino investors to prolific Latino investors.
The first is a webinar with José E. Feliciano, Co-Founder and Managing Partner from Clearlake Capital Group, on November 10 from 12 pm to 1 pm EST to learn about his life story and his entrepreneurial journey.
The second is a series of in-person panels across private equity, private credit, and real estate with BlackRock on November 16 from 5pm to 8:30pm PST in Santa Monica, CA. The NAA is critical to making a larger impact within the Latino community and driving the changes necessary for a prominent future.
This month, we kicked off our Fall 2022 CIO meetings with CalSTRS. We have 14 LPs who will present to the membership and expect to add a few more meetings over the next month. Our membership continues to be extremely engaged and asks insightful questions to help understand the investment philosophies of these institutional investors. The NAA strives to pave the way for the fund managers of the next generation.
Please continue to peruse our October B&B for other important information about CIO Asset Class Connections, upcoming events, and job opportunities. Once again, we want to give thanks to all who contribute to this effort and encourage you to send your news so we can brag about you!
Un abrazo,
Jose Miguel Guzman
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NAA Voices
Advocacy Efforts -- News from the SEC
Solange Brooks, CEO, NAA
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The issue of diversity and inclusion in the asset management industry is a priority of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Its Asset Management Advisory Committee (AMAC) listened to industry concerns and recommendations to create additional transparency and to increase access to traditionally underrepresented firms, including women- and diverse-owned firms. In July 2020, NAA provided testimony to AMAC on this topic. (Read testimony here).
Further, SEC Chairman, Mr. Gary Gensler, sworn into office on April 2021, reached out to NAA to hear our views, concerns, and recommendations on diversity, inclusion, and ESG. With the legal assistance of our NAA member Linda Igarashi from Sheppard Mullin and Gerson Guzman, past Chairman of NAA Inc., a thoughtfully produced letter with our recommendations and concerns was prepared in January 2022.
After these discussions and recommendations from industry groups, including NAA, on October 2022, the SEC published a FAQ addressing two key recommendations. One of the questions is whether, under its fiduciary duty, an investment adviser may consider factors relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion. The SEC answered YES. An investment adviser is required to have a reasonable belief that the advice it provides is in the best interest of the client based on the client’s objectives. Please read the full answer at the direct link to the FAQ:
Additional recommendations are still under consideration by the SEC. Although this is not a regulation nor a rule, it is particularly good news. It indicates the direction the SEC is leaning and that we were heard. The next step is to make it official. As has been mentioned before, it is a long communication process to be heard by federal officials, but in important matters that impact our NAA members, we have to be relentless.
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NAA National Tour - Fall 2022
Message from CalSTRS
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Dear NAA Leadership and Members,
Thank you for hosting CalSTRS at NAA’s CIO Capital Connection. CalSTRS appreciates our partnership with NAA and enjoyed learning more about each of the NAA members.
Diversity is a core value of CalSTRS: “Strength: We ensure the strength of our system by embracing a diversity of ideas and people.” Building teams and relationships that exhibit diversity, equity, and inclusion are essential in achieving CalSTRS’ financial and return objectives. CalSTRS’ efforts to expand Diversity in the Management of Investments began over 30 years ago. We are committed to measuring and managing our progress in educating, attracting, hiring, developing, promoting, paying, partnering with, and investing in a diverse array of practitioners within CalSTRS and across the financial markets.
If you have any questions related to CalSTRS Investments, please feel free to reach out. I welcome the ongoing dialogue.
Best regards,
LaShae
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LaShae Badelita
Investment Diversity Officer
California State Teachers' Retirement System
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NAA Members' Recognitions
Marcos Rodriguez, Palladium Equity Partners
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Marcos Rodriguez, Palladium Equity Partners, LLC, was the keynote speaker at the AAAIM Conference in NYC. Palladium Equity Partners has been a supporter of AAAIM since its founding. Rodriguez's speech was impactful, touching, and relevant. He discussed his origins and the origins of Palladium, as well as the Firm’s efforts to be a leader in diversity, equality, and inclusion. Congratulations to Jim Park, Ginger Lew, and the rest of the AAAIM team on a great conference!
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NAA Members' Recognitions
Stacie Olivares, 50 Most Powerful Latina by ALPFA
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ALPFA, the country’s largest Latino professional association, highlights the most powerful and influential Latinas in business, entrepreneurship, and civic engagement while empowering and encouraging the next generation of Latina leaders to reach their full potential.
Announced each fall as part of Hispanic Heritage Month, the MPL list highlights 50 of the most powerful and influential Latina trailblazers. These women are changing the face of business in America and empowering the next generation of Latina leaders to reach their full potential.
About Stacie Olivares:
Stacie Olivares is a board director, Chief Investment Officer, and advisor to founders, funders, and policymakers on capital markets, financial security, DeFi, ESG, and DEI. She advances economic value and equity through innovation in finance, technology, policy, and media.
Olivares serves on the corporate boards of Core Scientific (NASD: CORZ), Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA), and Mission Advancement Corp (NYSE: MACC), the nonprofit boards of the Latino Community Foundation and Hispanic Heritage Foundation, the advisory boards of UC Berkeley’s College of Letters & Science and the California Emerging Technology Fund, and as an advisor to Good Scout Capital, Mogul, SUMA Wealth, and Safety Nest.
Nominated by President Biden and confirmed by the United States Senate, Olivares was appointed to the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board in June 2022, where she oversees the world's largest defined contribution plan, the Thrift Savings Plan, on behalf of its 6.5 million participants. From 2019 until 2022, she served as California Governor Gavin Newsom's appointee to the board of administration of CalPERS, the largest public pension fund in the United States with $500 billion AUM and healthcare benefit provision for its 2 million members.
Olivares was Chief Investment Officer of Lendistry, a minority-owned CDFI and fintech lender from 2019 to 2020 and of the $29 billion California Organized Investment Network (COIN) insurer ESG investment fund from 2011 to 2018. She was also the Senior Advisor on blockchain to the 4th largest insurance market in the world, guiding its implementation of distributed ledger technology. Prior to working at Morgan Stanley from 2008 to 2011, Olivares led the State of California’s economic advisory board from 2002 to 2007 guiding the State's leadership on economic strategy, bond issuance, global capital markets, and legislation on its $1.7 trillion economy. She joined the State from Palm, Inc. where she led 4 of Palm’s 5 major smartphone global accounts with $40B+ combined market cap value.
She is an alumna of the University of California at Berkeley and Harvard University.
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New Member Spotlight
Logan Allin, Founder and Managing Partner, Fin Capital
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Logan Allin is the Founder and Managing Partner at Fin Capital. Fin started in 2018 and has built a full lifecycle global asset management platform with Early Stage, Growth Equity, and Public strategies. Fin is a specialist asset manager focused on B2B, Enterprise SAAS businesses in FinTech. We invest in greenfield sub-sectors located in the US, Mexico, Canada, EU/UK, Latin America, and Israel. Fin Capital was named after the “Keel Fin,” which forms the foundation of every vessel, enabling it to stay on track, balanced, and upright through volatile waters. Similarly, at Fin, we believe we serve as a hands-on fiduciary in steering our Portfolio Companies and Investors through the global Financial Technology waters.
The inspiration for Fin stemmed from the observation that there was limited funding and support of FinTech software and B2B businesses. We recognized that by making investments in alignment with our ESG framework and investment processes, there were opportunities for positive domino effects on the lives of consumers and businesses while supporting double and triple-bottom-line companies.
As former corporate and start-up operators, the Fin team takes an active value-added approach, leveraging its differentiated Operating Playbook to steward its portfolio companies with business development, capital formation, corporate development, board advisory, and talent sourcing. Fin developed its own "OS", Lighthouse, leveraging AI/ML and data science for its team, founders, and LPs. Fin currently manages approximately $1B in AUM, has offices in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and London, and has over 100 portfolio companies globally, including 13 unicorns.
Fin is a signatory of the UN PRI and incorporates ESG metrics into its investment processes and portfolio management. Fin has a strong and genuine commitment to DE&I initiatives both within the firm and across various company boards and management teams. Our current team members are approximately 40% of DE&I employees, including LatinX, and we have a goal of increasing further representation. As part of its commitment to these principles, Fin supports the Investment Diversity Advisory Council (IDAC), National Association of Securities Professionals (NASP), Historically Black Colleges and Universities VC (HBCUvc) and has a goal of establishing a Donor Advised Fund in 2023 to support charitable organizations that are engaged in uplifting groups that have been historically underrepresented. We are pleased to join the New America Alliance (NAA) to help advance the economic development of the American Latino community and look forward to collaborating closely with the organization in the areas of entrepreneurship, corporate advocacy, and public service.
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NAA National Tour - Fall 2022 Save the dates! |
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Strategic Partners Events |
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RFPs and Career Opportunities |
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NAA supports matching high-quality professional talent with institutions across the United States. Interested candidates, please reference New America Alliance in your application and notify Jodi Towner at jtowner@naaonline.org once submitted so we may be aware of your candidacy.
Employers, you may submit information on current high-level and high-impact job vacancies to Jodi Towner at jtowner@naaonline.org.
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