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Curious about investing in the technologies shaping the future? Join Urban Capital Network panel to get insights on navigating the innovation economy, discovering how corporate employees can become investors in groundbreaking startups and emerging technologies, and how to capitalize on opportunities that are driving corporate growth and wealth creation.
Speakers:
Lenny Saizan Jr., Managing Director of Urban Capital Network
In the early years of his career and after receiving his Electrical Engineering degree from L.S.U., Lenny worked as an Electrical Engineer, specializing in automation and controls, and systems integration.
After 10 years of working as an employee, his interest in entrepreneurship eventually led him to launch a technology consulting firm based in New Orleans, LA and enrolling in an MBA program to hone his business skills. Unfortunately, the first stint in his entrepreneurial journey and MBA was short lived due to the impact of Hurricane Katrina.
Lenny suddenly found himself homeless, jobless, and living in a hotel room with a family of 5 and a couple of days’ worth of clothing for each. After initially evacuating to Beaumont, TX, he eventually landed in Houston. Determined and desperate to start rebuilding, Lenny returned to Corporate America, landing a job in Oil and Gas. This was the beginning of a career transition from engineering and technology to management and finance, which prompted him to re-enroll in an MBA program.
Felix Chevalier, Co-Founder of Urban Capital Network
Felix is an attorney with extensive experience advising start-ups, governments, and multi-national corporations. He is adept at facilitating business development and structuring public-private partnerships by leveraging his business, political, and legal expertise.
Felix co-founded Urban Capital Network, an investment management firm that provides retail accredited investors exclusive access to premium venture back investment opportunities at lower investment thresholds.
Felix also serves on the board the Innovation Center for Urban Entrepreneurship, a non-profit organization focused on educating, empowering, and enabling a new class of investors to build wealth and self-sustaining economic ecosystems for entrepreneurs and investors.
Recently, Felix was appointed as a Trustees to the Houston Municipal Employees Pension System Board, which oversees over 4 billion in employee benefits.
Felix received his law degree from St. John’s University School of Law, his Bachelor of Arts from the State University of New York at New Paltz and completed an Executive Education Program at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. The son of Cuban immigrants, he is fluent in Spanish. Felix is a native New Yorker and resides in Houston, Texas.
Anthony Williams, Managing Director of The Black Diamond Group
The past 10 years, Anthony Williams has served as the Managing Director of the Black Diamond Group. While functioning in a dual capacity of Managing Director of equity2 (Impact investment fund) and Market President of AltCap Texas (regional CDFI) for nearly 3 years. During this span of time, he’s raised $5M+ in loan capital, closed $2M+ in community-focused loans and invested $2M+ in minority-led companies and LMI community real estate projects.
As a strategic advisor and implementor, he has extensive experience in providing interim leadership and raising capital for companies in various cities throughout the Midwest, Southeast and Texas to the tune of $115M+ in capital raised and $40M+ in debt restructures. Additionally, Williams has substantial experience in providing both tactical and strategic guidance to global corporations and small businesses.
Prior to starting The Black Diamond Group, Anthony was the former President/CEO of a regional National Minority Supplier Diversity Council (NMSDC). In this role, he served as catalyst for minority business development, corporate supplier diversity partnership and community collaboration to spur economic development. During his tenure leading the council possessed 80+ corporate members and certified over 400 MBEs annually throughout the Missouri and Kansas region that employed 34,000+ employees and generated over $10B in annual revenue.
Ion District Parking Garage
Enter 4111 Fannin Street into your GPS for directions directly to this parking garage, located a block from the Ion. Parking in the Ion District Garage is free for the first two hours.
Red Parking Lot
Enter 4203 Fannin Street into your GPS for directions directly to the red parking lot, located across the street from the Ion. This lot is for overflow guest parking and tenant parking and is free for the first three hours.
For information and access to pay online for parking in the red lot, click here.