Ariel Investments: Black Excellence or Example of Selling Out

[Larry Lambo]

Some of yall may know about Ariel Investments, the Black owned investment firm in Chicago. They were established in 1983 by John Rogers and has been lead by Mellody Hobson (George Lucas wife) since 2000. They are the most well known black owned investment company and have been successful in providing a value driven money management strategy for institutions and personal investors.

So I've always held this company as an example of what to strive for in the black community and have praised John and Mellody for what they have done. I thought it was odd for Mellody to get with a fat white dude(albeit famous billionaire) 25 years her senior, but I'm not quick to call somebody a c00n solely for marrying out, especially if that person has done work in the community as Mellody has. But recently I went on their website and looked at the management staff, expecting to see plethora of brown faces. What I saw was from their leadership staff (other than John and Mellody), 4 out 32 of the associates were black. Including John and Mellody, that's 6 out of 34.

Knowing and interacting with many people in the investment industry, and attempting to make it in myself at one point, there seems to be a decent amount of African-Americans in the field to pull from. I know more than a few cats that worked on Wall Street, and many of them have moved up the chain to leadership positions. So why wouldn't a company like Ariel have more blacks in their leadership staff? Why wouldn't they have a direct conduit to some of the elites in the field and pull from there? I can only surmise that they don't care. They aren't seeking out top African-Americans in the field, and are satisfied with having a racial makeup similar to a white owned company. Yes it's great that we have a black owned investment management firm, but what good is that if they don't hire us? I could be wrong and maybe there's a more complex reason why, but it looks fishy.

Thoughts?

 

[Cynic]

Some of yall may know about Ariel Investments, the Black owned investment firm in Chicago. They were established in 1983 by John Rogers and has been lead by Mellody Hobson (George Lucas wife) since 2000. They are the most well known black owned investment company and have been successful in providing a value driven money management strategy for institutions and personal investors.

So I've always held this company as an example of what to strive for in the black community and have praised John and Mellody for what they have done. I thought it was odd for Mellody to get with a fat white dude(albeit famous billionaire) 25 years her senior, but I'm not quick to call somebody a c00n solely for marrying out, especially if that person has done work in the community as Mellody has. But recently I went on their website and looked at the management staff, expecting to see plethora of brown faces. What I saw was from their leadership staff (other than John and Mellody), 4 out 32 of the associates were black. Including John and Mellody, that's 6 out of 34.

Knowing and interacting with many people in the investment industry, and attempting to make it in myself at one point, there seems to be a decent amount of African-Americans in the field to pull from. I know more than a few cats that worked on Wall Street, and many of them have moved up the chain to leadership positions. So why wouldn't a company like Ariel have more blacks in their leadership staff? Why wouldn't they have a direct conduit to some of the elites in the field and pull from there? I can only surmise that they don't care. They aren't seeking out top African-Americans in the field, and are satisfied with having a racial makeup similar to a white owned company. Yes it's great that we have a black owned investment management firm, but what good is that if they don't hire us? I could be wrong and maybe there's a more complex reason why, but it looks fishy.

Thoughts?

Investment firms main priority should be to make money and returns for it's shareholders first.

How do we know they haven't tried only to be met with huge salary requests from the top AAs ?

better to make as much money as possible then give back through philanthropy to black causes.

 

[Frangala]

Some of yall may know about Ariel Investments, the Black owned investment firm in Chicago. They were established in 1983 by John Rogers and has been lead by Mellody Hobson (George Lucas wife) since 2000. They are the most well known black owned investment company and have been successful in providing a value driven money management strategy for institutions and personal investors.

So I've always held this company as an example of what to strive for in the black community and have praised John and Mellody for what they have done. I thought it was odd for Mellody to get with a fat white dude(albeit famous billionaire) 25 years her senior, but I'm not quick to call somebody a c00n solely for marrying out, especially if that person has done work in the community as Mellody has. But recently I went on their website and looked at the management staff, expecting to see plethora of brown faces. What I saw was from their leadership staff (other than John and Mellody), 4 out 32 of the associates were black. Including John and Mellody, that's 6 out of 34.

Knowing and interacting with many people in the investment industry, and attempting to make it in myself at one point, there seems to be a decent amount of African-Americans in the field to pull from. I know more than a few cats that worked on Wall Street, and many of them have moved up the chain to leadership positions. So why wouldn't a company like Ariel have more blacks in their leadership staff? Why wouldn't they have a direct conduit to some of the elites in the field and pull from there? I can only surmise that they don't care. They aren't seeking out top African-Americans in the field, and are satisfied with having a racial makeup similar to a white owned company. Yes it's great that we have a black owned investment management firm, but what good is that if they don't hire us? I could be wrong and maybe there's a more complex reason why, but it looks fishy.

Thoughts?

Valid point. I have always wondered the same thing. Black talent is already under represented on Wall Street just based on lack of connections/network and sometimes because they did not attend an Ivy. The only way to get your foot in the door into the investment banking world in my experience in a manner of true meritocracy is through the Graduate Analyst Programme targeted at undergrads however these positions get thousands of applications that is so hard to distinguish yourself and a lot of the mid-management/associate/senior positions in banking specifically private equity/hedge funds are not widely advertised to the public and based on connections.

Why hasn't Ariel Investment sourced its talent from HBCUs with strong finance programs? That should be a start.

 

[TRFG]

take this shyt to the locker room

 

[Larry Lambo]

Investment firms main priority should be to make money and returns for it's shareholders first.

How do we know they haven't tried only to be met with huge salary requests from the top AAs ?

better to make as much money as possible then give back through philanthropy to black causes.

That could be said for any business. Every business primary's purpose is to provide a profit.

But in an industry that relies on connections and a good ol boy network such as investments, you would think they would try to establish some connections with top tier black people in the field. There's black talent in this industry and you would think that they would have a desire to work for a firm such as Ariel.

But you're right, I don't know how much they have reached out, and it is possible that they have gotten turned down by some movers and shakers in the business.

 

[Larry Lambo]

Valid point. I have always wondered the same thing. Black talent is already under represented on Wall Street just based on lack of connections/network and sometimes because they did not attend an Ivy. The only way to get your foot in the door into the investment banking world in my experience in a manner of true meritocracy is through the Graduate Analyst Programme targeted at undergrads however these positions get thousands of applications that is so hard to distinguish yourself and a lot of the mid-management/associate/senior positions in banking specifically private equity/hedge funds are not widely advertised to the public and based on connections.

Why hasn't Ariel Investment sourced its talent from HBCUs with strong finance programs? That should be a start.

I don't know if most HBCU grads are really of the pedigree that they are looking for in terms of talent (at least not out of school). But there is a number of Black MBA grads coming from top 25-50 programs, that you would think be at least considered at a firm like this. And then you have experienced people working at your I-banks and Mutual fund companies, that could be qualified as well.

 

[Cynic]

Valid point. I have always wondered the same thing. Black talent is already under represented on Wall Street just based on lack of connections/network and sometimes because they did not attend an Ivy. The only way to get your foot in the door into the investment banking world in my experience in a manner of true meritocracy is through the Graduate Analyst Programme targeted at undergrads however these positions get thousands of applications that is so hard to distinguish yourself and a lot of the mid-management/associate/senior positions in banking specifically private equity/hedge funds are not widely advertised to the public and based on connections.

Why hasn't Ariel Investment sourced its talent from HBCUs with strong finance programs? That should be a start.

Ivy/Oxbridge schools are considered the top talent .... is this about performance/doing what's best for the firm
or something else ?

Perhaps they've tried to recruit diaspora africans from Ivy League and gotten their offers rebuffed.

Too many variables at play here.

That could be said for any business. Every business primary's purpose is to provide a profit.

But in an industry that relies on connections and a good ol boy network such as investments, you would think they would try to establish some connections with top tier black people in the field. There's black talent in this industry and you would think that they would have a desire to work for a firm such as Ariel.

But you're right, I don't know how much they have reached out, and it is possible that they have gotten turned down by some movers and shakers in the business.

You are assuming that top tier black talent would just up and leave Goldman Sachs/Meryll Lynch to work for Ariel ?

Perhaps their compensation package is weak...maybe they are more risk averse in their trading strategies

So why would an NYC black breh "trade down" to a boutique firm in Chicago ? because it's black owned ?

Most employees are selfish and care about their livelyhood not this esoteric vision of black excellence

There are more variables at play here than we can speculate.

 

[throboss]

Black people make up 12-13% of the US population and 12.5% (4/32) of Ariel's leadership without John and Mellody. If we were to include John and Mellody, then the share would be 17.6% (6/34). If percentages are compared it would appear as though Black folks are at least properly represented.

 

[Frangala]

Ivy/Oxbridge schools are considered the top talent .... is this about performance/doing what's best for the firm
or something else ?

Perhaps they've tried to recruit diaspora africans from Ivy League and gotten their offers rebuffed.

Too many variables at play here.

.

I am saying that they should expand their recruiting pool. There are way too many variables also at play when it comes to recruitment just because you didn't do to an Ivy, Oxford or Cambridge does not mean you wouldn't be able to cut it in the financial services world there are many public and private institutions outside the aforementioned institutions that produce good talent. You probably couldn't attend those institutions due to cost or didn't want to be burdened with great student loans. Let's stop with this thought that the best people ONLY attend those universities because that's not always the case. When you look at the financial crisis of 2008, check the CVs of the CEOs who were considered the best and brightest and brought upon us a world recession that people still suffer from the effects today. I bet most were Ivy/Oxbridge types brought the world to its knees economically.

Secondly, when does someone peak in terms of professional potential in their early or mid 20s? Most of the learning comes on the job and it would be quiet foolish to predict career outcome just on the the reputation of your university when you still 30-35+ years of being in the workforce post college-graduation.

 

[Frangala]

I don't know if most HBCU grads are really of the pedigree that they are looking for in terms of talent (at least not out of school). But there is a number of Black MBA grads coming from top 25-50 programs, that you would think be at least considered at a firm like this. And then you have experienced people working at your I-banks and Mutual fund companies, that could be qualified as well.

Most of the learning and building up your pedigree comes from ON THE JOB training/learning so I disagree with the statement. Most of these analyst graduate program's hurdle to entry is mostly based on the REP of the school and some basic standardized analytic/aptitude test. So yes the reputation of the school plays a HUGE part but is not indicative of the quality of the talent, I have seen plenty of times non-Ivy talent outperform Ivy talent in the workplace. It is a world where meritocracy doesn't count much to be honest. If you are from a non-Ivy, you just have to do a whole lot of networking because some of these investment banks do not do whole lot of on-campus recruiting.

I agree about about the top 50 MBA programs.

 

[Cynic]

I am saying that they should expand their recruiting pool. There are way too many variables also at play when it comes to recruitment just because you didn't do to an Ivy, Oxford or Cambridge does not mean you wouldn't able to cut it in the financial services world there are many public and private institutions outside the aforementioned institutions that produce good talent. You probably couldn't attend those institutions due to cost or didn't want to be burden with student loans. Let's stop with this thought that the best people ONLY attend those universities because that's not always the case. When you look at the financial crisis of 2008, check the CVs of the CEOs who were considered the best and brightest and brought upon us a world recession that people still suffer from the effects today.

Secondly, when does someone peak in terms of professional potential in their early or mid 20s? Most of the learning comes on the job and it would be quiet foolish to predict career outcome just on the the reputation of your university when you still 30-35+ years of being in the workforce post college-graduation.

There are two distinct issues here... one is the lack of black talent in these top tier schools.
(Yes i'm aware of african diaspora students on academic scholarships)

Two is the black talent going to the biggest firms who want to diversify their workforce.

The first is just a reflection of the failures of the public school system.

The second you can't do nothing about because how are you going to compete against Goldman Sachs/Meryll Lynch ?
Some of these firms are lowering their entry requirements to lure ethnic talent just to avoid
discriminatory lawsuits.

Senior analysts and upper level guys cost a lot a money to lure ......

So you are left with a majority cac employee base

Nice way to debase the gauntlet of sh!t you have to go through just to be accepted into an Ivy League ...let alone graduate


These schools filter out the average so you don't have to

 

[Frangala]

There are two distinct issues here... one is the lack of black talent in these top tier schools.
(Yes i'm aware of african diaspora students on academic scholarships)

Two is the black talent going to the biggest firms who want to diversify their workforce.

The first is just a reflection of the failures of the public school system.

The second you can't do nothing about because how are you going to compete against Goldman Sachs/Meryll Lynch ?
Some of these firms are lowering their entry requirements to lure ethnic talent just to avoid
discriminatory lawsuits.

Senior analysts and upper level guys cost a lot a money to lure ......

So you are left with a majority cac employee base

Nice way to debase the gauntlet of sh!t you have to go through just to be accepted into an Ivy League ...let alone graduate


These schools filter out the average so you don't have to

Bro work ethic is work ethic. It shouldn't matter where you went. In a similar industry (top management consulting), I have seen HR people screen out a Physics major from UNC-Chapel Hill (a reputable school but it's a southern powerhouse) and give a case interview to a Harvard Art History major, and I am sure it's purely based on school rep. That's the thing I have a problem with where school rep is over-valued and think that these schools are the only source of great talent because they had a first mover advantage in the university market in their respective countries.

 

[Cynic]

Bro work ethic is work ethic. It shouldn't matter where you went. In a similar industry (top management consulting), I have seen HR people screen out a Physics major from UNC-Chapel Hill (a reputable school but it's a southern powerhouse) and give a case interview to a Harvard Art History major, and I am sure it's purely based on school rep. That's the thing I have a problem with where school rep is over-valued and think that these schools are the only source of great talent because they had a first mover advantage in the university market in their respective countries.

You think an investment bank will hire an art major over someone whose dealt with advanced mathematics ?

 

[Frangala]

You think an investment bank will hire an art major over someone whose dealt with advanced mathematics ?

No my point is to highlight the extreme case where the school brand overemphasized which his similar to the investment banking world and let's not act that the door between management consulting and financial services such as private equity isn't a revolving one. Private equity either take on former investment bankers due to the financial modelling skills or management consulting alumni.

But I digress, the point again was too much emphasis on uni rep instead of looking at the applicant's track record.

 

[Cynic]

No my point is to highlight the extreme case where the school brand overemphasized which his similar to the investment banking world and let's not act that the door between management consulting and financial services such as private equity isn't a revolving one. Private equity either take on former investment bankers due to the financial modelling skills or management consulting alumni.

But I digress, the point again was too much emphasis on uni rep instead of looking at the applicant's track record.

if you said tech ...maybe but anecdote based on an industry such as management consulting ?

mgmt consulting alumni = ivy league art graduates right ?