September 21, 2023- This year’s Illinois State Treasurer’s Annual Diversity in Investments Forum, an event that attracts financial industry thought-leaders from around the country to share thoughts on diversity, equity, and inclusion best practices, had Mischler Managing Director and head of Corporate Cash Strategies La-Yona Rauls serving as co-panel member for the program topic “How to Form Minority-Majority Partnerships”.
Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs (top left), Mischler Mgn. Dir. La-Yona Rauls (bottom left), LA County Employees Retirement System (LACERA) Board Member Gina Sanchez and Attucks Management President Winston Blake with La-Yona Rauls (bottom right).
The Diversity in Investments Forum is an event that gives minority, women, veteran, and disabled-owned investment firms the opportunity to learn how to position themselves for business opportunities with the Treasurer’s Office. In addition to the informative component of doing business with the State of Illinois, the forum also serves as a networking event for diversity firms. Finally, the forum traditionally has a group of distinguished panelists to discuss various issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion. La-Yona Rauls, Managing Director and Head of Corporate Cash Strategies for Mischler Financial, the financial industry’s oldest service-disabled veteran owned & operated broker-dealer, was one of three panelists to discuss the topic on “HOW TO FORM MINORITY-MAJORITY PARTNERSHIPS AND GET ON THE PLATFORM.”
In the financial services industry, there are various obstacles for minority-owned firms to gain access to and grow from institutional capital. As such, emerging managers or diverse-owned firms are often limited in their capacity for growth. Therefore, there is a need for majority-owned firms and institutional investors to partner with minority[1]owned businesses to help them grow to scale and realize additional profitable business opportunities. The panelists discussed the importance of these types of relationships, how to build them, and how to make them mutually beneficial.
This year’s event, the 8th Annual Forum conducted by the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office was hosted by BMO U.S.
