Our 2024 Sponsors
Registration and Networking
5:30 PM
Welcome
Tarrus Richardson | Toigo Alumnus, Harvard Business School
Founder & CEO, IMB Partners
7:00 PM
Tarrus Richardson
Mr. Richardson is the Founder and CEO of IMB which was started in 2010. He has 25 years of private equity experience, has invested over $500 million of capital and completed over 20 platform buyouts and add-on acquisitions. Prior to IMB, Tarrus co-founded ICV Partners, a $440 million minority-owned private equity firm from 1998-2010 and worked at JLL Partners, a private equity firm with over $2 billion of AUM, and Citibank (formerly Salomon Brothers).
Tarrus is the founder of the Council of Urban Professionals (CUP), a top leadership development and networking organization based in New York and Los Angeles and a founding board chair of All Star Code, a leading non-profit focused on helping boys of color code. Mr. Richardson received an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was a Toigo Fellow. As a passionate alumnus and former member of the Toigo Board of Directors, Tarrus has contributed in many ways to the organization. In fact, it was his genius that launched the idea for the annual foundation Gala more than 15 years ago; participating every year as a sponsor.
Defining Moments
Kamau Bell | Gala MASTER OF CEREMONIES
Host, CNN United Shades of America
Kamau Bell
W. Kamau Bell is a comedian, author, and filmmaker. His CNN docu-series "United Shades of America" won five Emmy awards, and he was awarded a Peabody for his docu-series "We Need To Talk About Cosby." He is most proud of his Emmy award-winning documentary short "1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed". Kamau is on the board of Donors Choose and Live Free, and is the ACLU's racial justice ambassador. In 2023 he and his wife Melissa Hudson Bell co-founded Who Knows Best, an Oakland-based production company.
2024 Lifetime Achievement Award
A Pledge for the Future of Finance
Ivelisse Rodriguez Simon | Toigo Alumna, Harvard Business School
Toigo Board Member
Ivelisse Rodriguez Simon
Ivelisse Rodriguez Simon is a Managing Partner of Avante Capital Partners. Based in Los Angeles, Ms. Simon is responsible for identifying, executing and managing investment opportunities. She currently manages the fund’s portfolio and new deal activities. Ms. Simon joined Avante in 2009 as a founding member of the firm. Ms. Simon has over two decades of middle-market debt and equity investment experience. Prior to Avante, she held positions at Palladium Equity Partners, Reliant Equity Partners and various investment banks including Salomon Brothers. Ms. Simon serves on the board of several companies including Quest, LLC.
Ivelisse is a longtime advocate and champion for women, minorities and the underserved and underrepresented. She holds leadership roles in several local and national non-profit organizations, including The Robert Toigo Foundation, The Hispanic Scholarship Foundation and Westside Family Health Center in Los Angeles. In addition, Ivelisse and her two sisters launched a philanthropic organization called We Will to support and empower underserved women and minorities in the areas of healthcare, education and financial literacy.
Dinner Service
7:40 PM
8:15 PM
The Power of Partnership
Leadership—and A Look Ahead
Kelli Washington | CFA, Toigo Alumna, Yale School of Management
Managing Director of Research & Investment Strategy, Cleveland Clinic Investment Office Toigo Board Member
With Toigo Fellows from Class of 2024
Kelli Washington
Kelli joined the Cleveland Clinic Investment Office in 2017 as a member of the inaugural team tasked with building a fully discretionary, insourced investment office. In her role, Kelli is primarily responsible for monitoring portfolio asset allocation policies, maintaining the macroeconomic research function and collaborating with the CIO on research that directs tactical asset allocation, investment decisions and hedging strategies for approximately $15.0 billion in assets across four investment pools.
​Kelli is a Board Member of the Washington University (in St. Louis) Investment Management Company and a Board Member for the Robert Toigo Foundation. In 2021, Institutional Investor named Kelli a “Rising Star” as well as one of the “Top 50 Women in Investment Management” and the Olin School of Business at Washington University selected Kelli as one of its “Distinguished Alumni.” In 2019, she was included on the CIO Magazine “NextGens” List and Institutional Investor’s “Most Wanted Allocators First Team.”
8:45 PM
Program Conclusion