WE Family Offices CEO Mel Lagomasino Featured in InvestmentNews
October 23, 2018
InvestmentNews recently published a story about WE Family Offices CEO and Managing Partner Mel Lagomasino as part of an ongoing initiative to feature successful advisors from diverse backgrounds with inspirational stories to tell. The piece highlights Lagomasino’s cultural understanding as a prominent factor behind four decades of successful client care.
After fleeing the communist regime in Cuba at 11 years old, Lagomasino faced many difficulties as her family lost their language, culture, home and money. “It was very difficult all around. That’s why it was meaningful for me to have families never, ever go through something like that,” Lagomasino explained.
Ever since Lagomasino began her financial career, it was her family history that gave her work purpose and meaning. Her background frequently helped her connect more with clients and truly understand their concerns. For example, her first job at Citibank required her to work with families in Chile, where, due to a tumultuous political environment, families were going through experiences similar to her own.
Now, 40 years later at WE Family Offices, Lagomasino is still driven by her commitment to client families. “She’s totally dedicated to her clients. She loves her clients, she worries about them, she worries for them, and their needs come first for her,” Marlene Hess, chair of International Women’s Health Coalition, told InvestmentNews. “And she brings it out in all the people who work with her and for her.”
Lagomasino says being a Latino woman has helped her leave a lasting impression with clients, leading her to believe that being a woman in finance is more of an asset than a liability. In fact, in addition to being CEO and Managing Partner at a family office that advises and reports on more than $9 billion in assets, she also serves on The Walt Disney Company and The Coca-Cola Company Boards and is the co-founder of the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard.
