Fundamental Fairness

It has officially been 2 years since we released our first ever episode! In honor of our two-year anniversary, we will be rounding up some of our top-performing episodes over the last two years.

But before you tune in, we’d like to share that we will be undergoing some exciting new changes and will be taking a break to refresh and come back stronger than ever. And, although we will be taking a short break, we invite you to follow me on social media, @seandsalas, so that you stay in the loop of what’s happening at the intersection of Fintech and financial inclusion.

Thank you for tuning in to Fundamental Fairness, stay tuned for more episodes coming soon.

March is Women’s History Month – a wonderful time to celebrate the accomplishments of strong women throughout history. Likewise, it’s also a great opportunity to spotlight the incredible women of today who are breaking boundaries and inspiring the next generation of leaders. 

In this episode of Fundamental Fairness, we are rounding up some of the trailblazing women who have joined the podcast these past 2 years. We will be highlighting their major accomplishments and their outstanding achievements in the financial sector.

Tobin McDaniel is the Head of Invest at SoFi, a FinTech company at the forefront of helping members get their money right. The Invest business includes a wide selection of investing capabilities, including Robo advice, ETFs, crypto, IPOs, and brokerage. Prior to joining SoFi, Tobin held a variety of roles at Charles Schwab, including leading Digital Advice, launching Schwab’s innovation labs, and serving as Chief of Staff to the company’s chairman Chuck Schwab. His other experiences include time as a strategy consultant with McKinsey & Company and starting his career as a chemical engineer. He has a BS in chemical engineering from Carnegie Mellon and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. 

Kathryn Van Nuys leads FinTech for the Global Startup Business Development team at Amazon Web Services (AWS) where she is responsible for the development and execution of AWS’s strategic initiatives in FinTech. Kathryn partners with leading FinTech investors and startups to help them be successful on AWS and to engage more deeply across Amazon.com business units. Kathryn’s career has been focused on capital markets, business development, and strategic relationship management. Prior to AWS, she was the head of capital markets for Credibly, a small business funding platform, and before that at Pave, a marketplace consumer lender. Kathryn started her career at Citigroup in debt capital markets and also worked at Lehman Brothers and Guggenheim Partners.

Michelle McKenzie is an experienced international development professional, entrepreneur, investor, speaker, and host of WHERE'S THE FUNDING?, a podcast that discusses the challenges faced by Black entrepreneurs in the US and globally to access funding to grow or scale innovative ideas and demystify entrepreneurship and the fog around funding. Michelle uses her platform to discuss the importance of diversity, equity, inclusion, and access to capital for underrepresented founders and the importance of greater financial inclusion and access to funding to those founders in the US and global entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Bill Cilluffo is a Partner and Head of international investments at QED Investors, a leading venture capital firm focused on investing in early-stage, disruptive financial services companies in the U.S., U.K., and Latin America. He leads QED’s Investment teams in Latin America, Europe, and Asia. Prior to joining QED, Bill spent nearly 20 years at Capital One, spanning several roles and leading several businesses. His career included scaling Capital One in the areas of the market, product development, and credit policy. He spent a few years in business development roles spanning the telecom, medical finance, and small business finance industry. Bill then pivoted his career to general management and spent his last 3 years leading Capital One’s Co-Brand and Private Label credit card business, building the business nearly from scratch to one of the top few players in the US market.

Former commercial banker and second-time founder, Keren Moynihan has over 15 years of experience in the financial sector as a banker, advisor, and mentor. She has built a start-up called “Boss Insights” to provide fintech, private, & traditional lenders with their business clients' financial data in minutes. Before Boss Insights, Keren earned her JD/MBA from York University, she then started her career working at a division of the TSX and then moved towards commercial banking at RBC. Her first startup was an impact company financing large buildings to be energy-efficient.

Ramona Ortega is the Founder and CEO of ‘Mi Dinero, Mi Futuro’ or My Money My Future, which is a mission-driven FinTech company that combines tailored content and simple to use tools to help people manage their money with confidence.  MMMF’s personal financial management platform automates budgeting, guides individuals through all their financial decisions, and helps them choose the best financial products from a curated selection of partners.

Previously, Ramona was an attorney in New York where she worked on complex securities litigation and corporate matters at the SEC and U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Prior to her career in law, Ramona was a human rights advocate and a founding member of the U.S. Human Rights Network.

Lucy Arellano Baglieri is the Chief Strategy Officer and Senior Vice President at Low Income Investment Fund. She oversees LIIF’s Strategy, Development and Public Affairs team, and leads the implementation of LIIF’s strategic plan and social justice initiatives.

Prior to joining LIIF in 2020, she served as Chief Strategy Officer for the Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA), leading the organization’s regional and national work focused on economic and racial equity initiatives in Latino and immigrant communities across the country. Her work draws on her own lived experience as a proud immigrant from Mexico and a career dedicated to communities facing the deepest inequities, working largely across Black and Latino communities.

In this episode of Fundamental Fairness, we will uncover the top 3 Fintech industry trends that are expected to lead the conversation well into 2021 and beyond with Peter Renton, co-founder and Chairman of Lendit Fintech, Founder of Lend Academy. 

Peter Renton is the co-founder of LendIt Fintech, the leading news and educational resource for the Fintech industry. He has been writing about this industry since 2010 and he is the author and creator of the Lend Academy Podcast, the first and most popular podcast on lending and fintech innovation. He is considered one of the world’s leading experts on marketplace lending and speaks regularly on the topic around the world.

Elena is a FinTech entrepreneur with over twenty years of business development, sales, and management experience. Before TurnKey Lender she worked on several successful products in Silicon Valley and founded two companies where at different times she headed up finance, sales, and marketing. She often shares her expertise at industry events and in the media. For two consecutive years Elena was listed among the top 100 women in FinTech by Lattice80, and is named one of top 25 female leaders in financial technology in the 2020 Financial Technology Report.

In this episode of Fundamental Fairness, we will dive into the future of banking with Saul Martinez, to unravel the digital transformation in a complex and rapidly changing world.

Saul Martinez is currently a Managing Director at UBS and has 22 years of experience in equity research and investment banking at various Wall Street firms. Saul has led teams analyzing banks, consumer finance companies, and life insurers in the US and Latin America. Saul has a Masters in Public Affairs focused on Economics from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and he graduated summa cum laude from UCLA with a Bachelor's degree in Political Science.

Daniel Vogel is the Co-founder and CEO of Bitso. He is among the youngest entrepreneurs and leaders of technological innovation in Latam. Accompanied by a sense of social responsibility, Bitso has become a company committed to the development of efficient, competitive, accessible, and inclusive financial services in Latam. Daniel holds two degrees from Stanford University (BA in Economics, BS in Computer Systems Engineering) and a Master ́s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Harvard Business School. In November 2016, Daniel was included in "Innovators under 35 Mexico 2016", an award from MIT Technology Review. He has also received several awards such as the Global Endeavor Entrepreneur, Gold Winner MassChallenge 2016, 33 Most Innovative Startups in Mexico, Digital Leader Mexico, among others.

Most recently, Bisto closed a $250M Series C Round, valuing the company at $2.2 Billion dollars. It’s worth noting for our audience, Daniel is a very close friend of mine and I am a proud early stage investor in Bitso.  So yes, I am biased!

The GameStop, AMC, Blackberry are all retail stocks that have become the cause, symptom, and/or epicenter for much of what's been going on in the market for months, if not years. What we saw happen earlier this year was an online war between members of a reddit subforum and hedge funds. From the availability of liquidity, to the role of short sellers, to regulation of free market trading among retail or robinhood investors, this sage leaves us with many more questions than answers.

This week’s guest is Andres Garcia-Amaya to tease out answers related to this discussion.  Prior to starting the FinTech startup Zoe Financial, pairing financial advisors with individuals to better manage and build their financial wealth.  Andres was an Executive Director at JP Morgan Asset Management (JPAM) where he helped oversee $300bln in Assets. He is a CFA charter holder and obtained an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he received both the Joseph Wharton Fellowship for outstanding record of academic achievement, and the Toigo Foundation Fellowship.  Andres is frequently featured as a market expert and commentator on CNBC.

How can a Biden-Harris administration elevate POC small business owners in the COVID Era?

COVID-19 is presenting us with two crises, a health crisis and an economic crisis, especially with the public health crisis dramatically reducing economic activity and overall spending. Due to communities of color being hit the hardest, this pandemic has highlighted the US’s face of inequality and racism even more.

Today, I sit down with Claire Kramer and Mark Madrid to discuss this and further impacts of COVID-19 on Black and Brown communities.

Claire Kramer is the Assistant Vice President and Director of Community Development Analysis at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Claire leads a team that promotes economic opportunity by equipping community stakeholders with rigorous data analysis and tools to make impactful investments. One such example of this is the Small Business Credit Survey that was launched by the New York Fed and has been widely covered by the likes of Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, CNN, and more.

Mark Madrid is the CEO of the Latino Business Action Network (LBAN). As a non-profit organization, LBAN focuses on strengthening the U.S. by improving the lives of Latinos, empowering Latino entrepreneurs to grow their businesses through research, education, and ecosystem development. After a successful career in banking, the 2008 Great Recession led Mark to chart a purposeful course, circling back to his Latino roots and harnessing the economic value of Latinos. This led him to launch the next era of his career.

As President and Co-Founder of New American Funding a company that provides homeowners and future homeowners a variety of home financing options at competitive rates; fulfilling their needs in a manner that enhances their standard of living in realizing the American Dream. New American Funding is headquartered in Tustin, CA with 198 nationwide branches, and has 3,200+ employees. As a role model for women in business, she continues to guide the company in a progressive direction by creating a diverse and inclusive culture. Patty champions the underserved in the housing sector and leverages 39 years of mortgage experience as a national influencer and active servant in her community.

Her expertise and influence extend to numerous committees within the industry, including the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) the Housing Counseling Federal Advisory Committee (HCFAC) and the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Affordable Homeownership Advisory Council. Patty is a former member of the Fannie Mae Affordable Housing Advisory Council and both Freddie Mac’s Community Lender Advisory Board and Affordable Housing Council.

Outside the office and into the community, she currently serves on the National Park Foundation Board of Directors and is a member of the Executive Board of Big Brothers and Sisters (BBBS) Orange County.

Patty is politically involved in the current and future states of mortgage banking, and visits Washington, D.C. to lobby on behalf of the industry and homeowners.ample, shaping both New American Funding and the housing industry overall.

Beatriz is the Co-founder and CEO of Suma Wealth. Beatriz was the co-founder and President of mitú, the leading digital media brand for young Latinos in the U.S. Under her leadership, she went on to raise $50M in funding, led by some of the most successful venture capital groups in California. She is currently the President of her family’s foundation “Acevedo Foundation.” For the past 30 years, the Foundation has provided scholarships for students who lack the financial means to pursue higher education. Most recently Beatriz co-founded a LA Collab initiative that focuses on doubling Latino/a/x representation in Hollywood in front and behind the camera.

Beatriz began her career as a young radio and television host. Her work has earned her three Emmy Awards, an MTV Music Video Award, two Streamy Awards, a Media Correspondent Award, among others. She has also created a variety of branded content and marketing campaigns targeting millennial youth for numerous blue-chip brands. She is a passionate and sought-after speaker who enjoys discussions around diversity as good ROI, female leadership, and the impact of Latinos in the American economy. Notable engagements include White House Summit: Latinas in the Economy, Cannes Lion Festival: How to Target the New Mainstream Economy (Latino Millennials), TED Jeffersonian Dinner: The ROI of Diversity, SXSW: Busting Bias in Media and Tech, and The Power Women's Summit: Equal Pay: When Women are Paid Less, America Loses. She has attended premier institutions UCSD, NY Film Academy, UCLA, and Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Javier Saade is Managing Partner of Impact Master Holdings and Venture Partner at Fenway Summer Ventures. He is chairman of the board of a private equity-owned financial services firm and serves on the Boards of Trustees of The Nature Conservancy and The Organization of American States Pan American Development Foundation. Saade also holds seats on the Global Board of Advisors of DocuSign, the Corporate Social Responsibility Board of Univision, and the Board of Advisors of Harvard University’s Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship. He is a founding member of Fast Company’s Impact Council and a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) and the Latino Corporate Directors Association (LCDA).

Previously Saade was one of the highest-ranking Latinos during the Obama administration and the SBA programs he oversaw have invested over $128 billion into more than 300,000 companies. Before his White House appointment he spent time at organizations that include McKinsey & Company, Booz Allen & Hamilton, Bridgewater Associates, Global Emerging Markets and Abbott Laboratories. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MS from Illinois Institute of Technology, and a BS from Purdue University.

Welcome to episode 2 of Fundamental Fairness. Join Camino Financial CEO, Sean Salas, and our special guest Co-Founder and managing partner of Harlem Capital, Henri Pierre-Jaques. Learn why empowering minority entrepreneurs is essential to thriving during the "new normal" economy.