New financial platform designed to scale emerging BIPOC-owned companies taps veteran leader Jim Casselberry
August 2, 2022 (New York, NY)—Known Holdings, a new financial platform designed to power the growth of the BIPOC-owned (Black, Indigenous and people of color) economy, has announced the appointment of Jim Casselberry as its Chief Executive Officer.
Launched in November 2021, by a coalition of some of the most respected business leaders in the country, Known aims to close the racial wealth gap by addressing the structural barriers facing BIPOC entrepreneurs and investors. People of color represent 70 percent of the global population, but control less than two percent of the world’s capital. Yet the combined buying power of Black, Asian and Latinx communities alone is an estimated $3.9 trillion, and would be the fourth largest economy in the world.
Known is targeting the financial industry, where wealth is created and allocated, in order to elevate the New BIPOC Majority in the U.S. to wealth and ownership commensurate with its size. Assembling a team of top leaders and thinkers in finance, Known is building a “mothership” to provide the funding, counsel, technology, and back-office support needed to grow BIPOC-owned asset management firms, businesses and investment funds to their rightful scale.
“What’s so thrilling about Known is that it’s a comprehensive response to the fundamental elements of the wealth gap,” said Casselberry. “Every titan of industry in our sector spun out from one of the giant financial motherships. That’s why we’ve put together an amazing team of leading financial professionals, seasoned investors, and deeply experienced operators to create that same kind of growth engine for the New Majority, and to grow them with a focus on the needs of BIPOC communities, such as climate, justice, and sustainable wealth creation.”
Casselberry has over 30 years of experience in institutional and private investing, environmental, social and governance investing (ESG), investment management and large enterprise consulting. Casselberry will transition to Senior Advisor from Chief Investment Officer of 4S Bay Partners, LLC, a family office focused on social impact. He will continue as a board member for the Julian Grace Foundation.
He has been a principal at Ennis Knupp and Associates Inc. (currently known as Aon Investment Consulting Inc., an Aon Company) and has held leadership positions with Trias Capital Management, LLC, Wedgewood Capital Management, Inc. and The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Casselberry is also a board member of Arc Chicago, LLC, the appointed board of Benefit Chicago (a collaboration between The Chicago Community Trust, the John D, and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and Calvert Foundation). In addition to serving as the board chair of Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI), he is a trustee of Morehouse College, the National Urban League, and Aeris, a rating and information service for impact investments.
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About Known Holdings
Known is a financial services platform providing an ecosystem of resources and expertise to bring scale and ownership to the economy powered by communities of color. Known will accelerate the growth of asset allocators, fund managers, and entrepreneurs from Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and other prioritized communities, focused on racial, social, and economic impact.