DEI for Innovation 4: Building diverse companies, with Alberto Lemus

A diverse team makes companies stronger and more productive. In this series, Kurt Merriweather, The Diversity Movement’s VP of Products and Innovation, talks with DEI leaders about how diversity, equity and inclusion can lead to incredible developments in your organization and beyond. In this episode, Kurt talks with Alberto Lemus, managing partner of Atwater Infrastructure Partners, about leading diverse organizations.

Transcript

Kurt M: Welcome to Winning with Diversity, a podcast to help you learn the strategies to transform your business through diversity, equity and inclusion. Our focus focuses on DEI and innovation, where we discuss techniques and approaches to build high-performing teams that operate more effectively and unlock new opportunities for business growth. I’m your host, Kurt Merriweather, VP of products and innovation at the diversity movement. And today we’ll be exploring how we help companies transform themselves through technology, data-driven insight, and new approaches to DEI plan execution. 

I’m excited to be joined by Alberto Lemus, managing partner of Atwater Infrastructure Partners. Alberto has more than 20 years of experience in social infrastructure and real estate investment. He’s a member of the Urban Land Institute, International Council of Shopping Centers, and a frequent guest speaker on topics of infrastructure, finance, and urban real estate. Alberto has served on the UCLA board of Regents and is a proud graduate of UCLA, as well as the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and happens to be one of my classmates. Welcome to the show, Alberto. 

Alberto L: Thank you, Kurt. Appreciate it. 

Kurt M: One of the things that I like doing before we get started is to, talk about a fun fact that someone could not learn from Googling you, and so what can somebody learn about you through this podcast that they wouldn’t see if they were to search for you on Google? 

Alberto L:  I am a huge San Diego Padre fan.  You know, avid, baseball fan, but especially the Padres, I grew up in San Diego. It’s been a long, dry spell, so huge Fernando Tatis fan. So was enjoying, enjoying a little bit of a little bit of a run. So, something you wouldn’t have picked up. 

Kurt M: Fernando Tatis. Is it you going to be the one who takes it to the next stage for the Padres? Is he going to take it all the way home? 

Alberto L: I hope so. If nothing else we’ve had, you know, we’re certainly enjoying it. He’s very entertaining. So, it’s been a fun run, so, you know, it it’s definitely made, watching the team fun again. So hopefully we’ll get some wins in there and, but it’s a joy right now. 

Kurt M: Got it. And so, you’re in Pasadena and have spent most of your time on the west coast, and so wanted to talk a little bit about your journey and what got you to this stage in your career as a managing partner at Atwater. 

Alberto L: Yeah, no, I appreciate that. And again, thank you for having me on your podcast. I’m excited about today. So, you know, between, Undergrad and graduate school I worked for AT&T and worked in telecommunications.

And, after business school I spent about five or six years working on a, essentially a startup that was doing fiber build outs and major cities. So got involved in in sort of that growth stage of a company. We were focusing on cities that were predominantly Hispanic. So, we were working on, Miami, Houston, Los Angeles, Chicago, where it had very significant Hispanic populations.

Full Episode Transcript

Winning with Diversity is brought to you by The Diversity Movement, hosted by VP of Products and Innovation Kurt Merriweather, and is a production of Earfluence.

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