Fireside Chat – Impact Investing                      

Lucas de Beaufort is Lead Investment Officer for the Investment Funds team at IDB Invest, where he makes investments in multisector private equity and debt funds throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Lucas has over 20 years of debt and equity experience in this region.

Before joining the IDB Group in 2019, he was responsible for raising and investing the Central American Mezzanine Infrastructure Funds (CAMIF I and II) at LAP Latin American Partners, where he also served as Head Investor Relations. Before that, Lucas co-managed a $1bln Latin infrastructure fund at EMP Global. Prior to that, he was Investment Officer for the Latin American department of Dutch development bank FMO.

Lucas holds a master’s degree in Corporate Law from Leiden University in The Netherlands and a MA in International Economics and Latin American Studies from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) where he was a Fulbright scholar.

Fireside Chat – Portfolio Diversification             

Keith Collister started his career in the City of London, and for the past nearly three decades has worked in the Caribbean, both in the Bahamas, and in Jamaica with roles that have included analyst and fund manager for what is now called Sagicor, and the start up from scratch of both a stockbroker and a mutual fund for Grace Kennedy. He is a leading financial journalist and commentator, and has written for Latinfinance, Latintrade and the UK Banker magazine, as well as for both the Gleaner and the Observer.

For more than two decades he has been a member of both the PSOJ economic policy committee and the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC) Economic Affairs and Taxation committee, and now chairs the latter, as well as being a member of two of their other committees. He is Executive Chairman of ATL Pension Fund, Chairman of Sandals Foundation and advises the Sandals/ATL group Executive Chairman on the regional and global economy.

He holds degrees in economics and finance from Cambridge and the London School of Economics respectively, as well as an MBA in International Banking and Finance. He has been on the board of a number of quoted companies in Jamaica, and is currently a board member of Eppley (the local quoted financial services associate of the Musson group).

He is a current director of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce, and a former director of both the Planning Institute of Jamaica and the Statistical Institute of Jamaica, as well as having been on a number of other Government related financial committees on economic policy. He is also a director of the Caribbean Alternative Investment Association, which focuses on the development of the private equity market in the region.

Fireside Chat – Portfolio Diversification  

Fireside Chat – Portfolio Diversification                

As the Head of Wealth, Elizabeth James is charged with the strategic direction and expansion of Sygnus’s Wealth Management Division. She leads an innovative team focused on delivering creative and personalized financial solutions to corporate and individual clients. Known for her motivational leadership style and superb relationship management skills, Elizabeth has a solid reputation as one of the region’s most well-respected investment bankers.

Elizabeth has twelve years of experience providing cutting-edge leadership and strategic direction in Wealth Management services. She possesses an MBA in International Business and is a Certified Financial Planner. Prior to joining Sygnus, Elizabeth held several leadership positions at NCB Capital Markets as a Regional Manager in the areas of Private Wealth, Retail and Corporate Sales. Elizabeth has significant experience in offshore banking and was instrumental in the strategic development of Private Wealth at NCB Capital Markets Cayman. She now plays a key role in Sygnus’s rapid expansion into the Caribbean.

Known for empowering clients through financial literacy, Elizabeth is passionate about helping to structure and create a financial future for her clients and their families. It is one of the hallmarks of her success. Through Sygnus’s commitment to innovation in portfolio management and investment advisory, she expands the horizon of financial possibilities for her clients.

Fireside Chat – Impact Investing             

Jennifer Pryce is President and CEO of Calvert Impact. For 25+ years, Calvert Impact has strived to make markets work for more people, more often, by investing in communities overlooked by traditional finance. Calvert Impact invests globally across a range of sectors including affordable housing, environmental sustainability, microfinance, renewable energy, small business, and more.

Over the past decade, Jenn has lead Calvert Impact with a focus on innovation, sustainability, and scale. The work of Calvert Impact includes direct lending and investing, arranging, syndicating, advising, and developing new investment products. Calvert Impact is committed to ensuring impact investing is accessible to all investors, large and small, having worked with over 20,000 individuals, institutions, and advisors to raise more than $4.0 billion since their founding.

Jenn began her career in the Peace Corps in Gabon, worked as an equity analyst at NeubergerBerman, on the investment banking team at Morgan Stanley’s London office, and led the Washington DC office at the Nonprofit Finance Fund. She studied engineering at Union College and holds an MBA from Columbia University. Jenn currently serves as a Forbes contributor, a lecturer at Oxford Saïd School of Business and sits on various boards, including the UNICEF Impact Investing Fund.

Fireside Chat – Impact Investing             

James Connor is co-founder and CEO of Acrecent Financial, a Sygnus Group company based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He has nearly 30 years of experience in commercial credit and investments and holds an MBA from Columbia University and a B.S. from Purdue University.

Fireside Chat – Business Success Stories through Alternatives

Fireside Chat – Business Success Stories through Alternatives

Yoni Epstein is an entrepreneur and the Founding Chairman and CEO of the Caribbean’s largest home-grown CX provider, itel. Ranked among the 50 most influential executives for the Latin American & Caribbean region, Yoni is known for keeping a laser-sharp focus on creating a business of the future and having an impact that goes beyond profit.

itel, originally named Island Outsourcers, was started with a strong family-like culture and maintains that culture today, even as the company has grown from 7 to over 7,000 employees. Over the past 10 years, Yoni has expanded itel into 10 countries and 11 facilities while also preserving the company’s commitment to its 4Ys values of Quality, Integrity, Reliability and Family. He has completed 3 company acquisitions (Car Rental 8; Grenada Corporation and Emerge BPO), allowing him to expand operations into new industries and markets. He has also grown organically through purpose-built site development in strategically chosen geos, and in 2019 launched the 4Ys Foundation – a registered non-profit and 501 (c)(3) aimed at supporting local communities in the area of Sports, Education, Innovation and Environment. As CEO, Yoni continues to position itel and the Caribbean as the nearshore destination of choice in the global market while developing the region’s local economies and communities.

itel has won over 15 awards, and in 2016 Yoni was named “Entrepreneur of the Year” by Nearshore Americas and voted “One of the most Influential BPO Leaders of the Nearshore Region.” Yoni’s commitment to growing and innovating the Caribbean economy is demonstrated by his intrepid participation in the business community. Yoni was founding President of the Business Process Industry Association of Jamaica (now called the Global Services Sector Association of Jamaica) and past Chairman of the Global Services Sector Project, a 5-year project focused on talent up-skilling. He is currently chairman of CarRental8.com and sits on the Board of Directors for JAMPRO.

Fireside Chat – Business Success Stories through Alternatives

Alexander Melville is the Chairman and Managing Director of Diverze Assets Inc., which is a dynamic Caribbean based holding company with three distinctly different business units. These subs are: Tropical Battery Co. Ltd., Jamaica’s #1 retailer, distributor and exporter of spent automotive and industrial batteries, founded in1950; Next up, is Chukka Caribbean Adventures Ltd. – the Caribbean’s Award winning and leading nature adventure excursion operator, with over 1,000 employees and more than 650,000 happy guests on tour each year across 4 countries. Lastly, Diverze Properties Ltd. – which owns, buys, rents and develops commercial and residential real estate.

His roles in the subsidiaries are; Managing Director of Tropical Battery and Diverze Properties, and Treasury Director of the Chukka Group. Alexander has 25 years of Tourism Industry work experience from tour guide to CEO, 25 years in Real Estate and Automotive Battery/Energy Storage Businesses, and 10 years in the Gaming Industry running a multi-location slot machine and electronic table games company on the island of Jamaica.

He sits on the Board of Eppley Limited, a publicly traded finance and investment company on the Jamaica Stock Exchange [JSE], and on the Audit and Remuneration Committees of that company.

Alexander is one of the founding chapter members of Young Presidents Organization (YPO) in Jamaica, started in 2007. Which is a global leadership community of chief executives; more than 30,000 members from 142 countries.

Fireside Chat – Impact Investing             

Ladell Robbins, Managing Director, is a Senior Portfolio Manager within the Alternative Solutions Group (“ASG”) of BlackRock Alternative Investors (“BAI”). He joined BlackRock in 2021.

Ladell has over 20 years’ experience in financial services in the US, Europe and Africa, with transactional experience in M&A, ECM, DCM and principal investments. Prior to joining BlackRock, Ladell was the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Investment Officer of Invest Newark, a NJ non-profit corporation which promotes inclusive economic development in the City of Newark, NJ. Ladell has served as a Principal and Head of Fast Moving Consumer Goods and Agribusiness Investments for African Capital Alliance, one of Sub-Saharan Africa’s largest private equity funds; as the Founder of BlueSky Partners LLC, a West-African real estate and agribusiness investment firm; and as a Director of Doreo Partners, a Nigerian agriculture impact investment firm. Ladell has also worked in the investment banking divisions of Renaissance Capital (London and Lagos), Credit Suisse (London), J.P. Morgan (New York) and the M&A division of Lucent Technologies (Murray Hill, NJ).

Ladell serves on the boards of the North Carolina Botanical Garden Foundation and New Jersey Community Capital. He is also the Treasurer of the Harvard Business School African American Alumni Association. Ladell has previously served on the boards of two leading West African consumer businesses, during his time as a private equity executive in West Africa. Ladell enjoys running and has completed eight marathons and one ultramarathon.

He holds a B.A. in Economics with a Minor in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he was a Morehead Scholar and earned his MBA from the Harvard Business School.