Ivelisse Rodriguez Simon, from Los Angeles-based women-led asset manager Avante Capital Partners, explains why creating a culture that supports women and diverse professionals is key to their success
Ivelisse Rodriguez Simon, from Los Angeles-based women-led asset manager Avante Capital Partners, explains why creating a culture that supports women and diverse professionals is key to their success
You are a founding member of Avante, the largest female- and minority-owned private debt firm in the US. Why did you feel it was important to start a woman-owned private credit and structured equity fund?
When Jeri Harman started Avante and recruited me to join her, I was pregnant with twins and on bed rest! Our firm was founded with a deep understanding of what it takes for a firm to attract and retain women. We started Avante to build a firm that looked and acted very differently to the rest of the industry. Asset management is a $70tn industry in the US, but only 1% of asset managers are owned by women or minorities. We wanted to build a company that proved diversity was an asset, and that would help pave the way for others. Of our 13 full-time employees, 10 are women, minorities, or both. We have women at all levels of our organization, from Analyst to Associate to Vice President and Partner. And we are huge advocates for other women- and minority-owned firms. We want to see them all succeed!
Preqin data shows that women occupy 31.5% of junior roles in alternatives, but account for just 12.2% of senior roles. Why do so few women make it to the top, and how is Avante able to buck the trend?
I think many women find it difficult to stay in senior positions because they find it challenging to balance work and children. Many of my female peers from my graduating class at Harvard have exited the industry because they needed to focus on family. It’s a real shame and a waste of talent when you don’t retain women – they can add enormous value to your firm.
At Avante we’ve been really careful about creating a culture and an environment that supports women through all stages of their lives, including when they become mothers. We allow for meaningful maternity leave, support diversity, and have cultivated a flexible work environment .
People can be just as productive working from home – I think we’ve seen that with the pandemic. We have found that when you provide women (and men!) with positive working conditions, they are even more loyal and more committed, and they perform even better. I was certainly extremely grateful to Jeri for providing that for me when I first joined her at Avante. As proof, I am still with Avante almost 12 years later and have moved from Vice President to Managing Partner.
Has COVID-19 and the shift to remote work leveled the playing field for women?
I think what COVID-19 has proven is that you can be highly productive even when everyone is working from home. Our firm had our best year ever in 2020, and our office has been shut since March of last year. It certainly proved what we already knew: with the right team, firms can provide flexible work structures and not lose any productivity. We have an incredible group of smart people with high integrity – our team actually ramped up their effort last year despite working from home most of the year.
I hope that the lockdown has helped more organizations change their minds about flexible work arrangements, and that more private equity firms start to adopt flexible work structures so that women can maintain a better work-life balance and stay in private equity or private credit longer, instead of rolling back their ambitions.
In your career, have you ever felt that your ethnicity and gender was a disadvantage?
I have never thought of my ethnicity or gender as a disadvantage. I’m Puerto Rican, so I’m both a woman and a Latina. I always thought of my background as a meaningful advantage; it made me unique, it made me interesting, different. I am proud that I am a woman, proud that I am a Latina. It is now my passion to encourage other women and people of color to join this industry. I know that we will be better off as an industry and as a country with more diversity in investment management; it will in turn increase the number of women- and minority-owned firms that get funded and more communities that benefit.
Have you ever felt discounted by your male peers?
Over my career I have found that way more men are considerate and supportive of women than the opposite. Those very few that weren’t I would ignore completely. My experience is that most men want to see more women succeed in our industry. They have mothers or sisters or daughters, and I think they understand that the industry is far behind in gender equality.
The majority of people I’ve worked with have been male, and I’ve learned a lot from them. They’ve been big fans and big supporters and big advocates, and they have really helped me to succeed.
There are always going to be a few people who don’t say or do the right thing, but we shouldn’t let that be an obstacle or barrier. Women can bring really huge value to firms and they should recognize that, have confidence in what they bring, and be proud of who they are.
How do you promote diversity and inclusion at your firm?
The most important thing we do is commit to maintaining a diverse team. Just having diversity – through recruiting and retaining diverse people – creates an inclusive environment. We try to expose more women to the industry through internship programs. Last summer, we launched the Small Business Investing Scholars Program for women and people of color and we got six firms to join. In the coming summer, 25 firms will be joining us in the program, and most of these firms are owned by men who are really excited to bring diversity to their teams. I think they see the value in diversity and they’re already convinced that it’s an important initiative.
We often hear in the alternative assets industry that female and minority representation is lacking because there is a lack of qualified female and minority candidates for roles. What is your response?
We all know that the lack of pipeline is a terrible excuse and is no longer relevant. If you are only looking for the traditional investment banker from the Ivy League school, then you are not going to find much diversity. However, the good news is that many backgrounds can be successful in private equity. Candidates with untraditional backgrounds can be very accretive and additive to their firms. If you expand your search to include people from different backgrounds, from different industries with different experiences, and from different schools, you are going to find all kinds of fantastic, diverse candidates.
My favorite line from a former boss of mine is: “If you think the same way that I think, then what do I need you for?” I love that because that’s exactly how we think at Avante. We want to hear everybody’s opinion. And we want it to be different from our opinion! So we celebrate those differences.
Do you think Avante’s focus on diversity and inclusion gives you an edge with LPs?
I think LPs have realized that diversity isn’t just a matter of social good. Diverse teams actually produce better outcomes. Our team has performed extremely well over the last 10 years, and our LPs appreciate and respect that. A lot of our success comes from our diversity and we are really proud of our performance and of our team.
About Ivelisse Rodriguez Simon
Based in Los Angeles, Ivelisse Rodriguez Simon manages the fund’s portfolio and new deal activities. She joined Avante in 2009 as a founding member and has over two decades of middle-market debt and equity investment experience.