Prior to co-founding Afina in 2011, Mr. Godfrey-Thomas worked extensively throughout Europe and the Americas as a special advisor and consultant on Latin American strategy to multilateral organizations, including the Organization of American States, and to international institutions, corporations and private sector clients. In 2001, Mr. Godfrey-Thomas founded INCO Americas, an international advisory firm based in Mexico City that specialized in Latin American business development. He advised a broad variety of sectors on projects ranging from the development of new cross border trade capabilities for international remittances (financial services sector) to the development of alternative vehicle manufacturing capabilities for Britain’s iconic London Taxi (automotive sector).

Mr. Ortiz has over 20 years of experience in trading and financial markets. He is a founding partner of Afina and leads the development of Afina’s global asset management business.

Prior to co-founding Afina in 2011, he was a private client portfolio manager at Chapin Hill Advisors Inc., an independent financial advisory firm with US$65 million of assets under management. Mr. Ortiz was responsible for creating and implementing asset allocations and conducting portfolio reviews for 150 clients. He analyzed new products and funds from wholesalers to select investments consistent with the firm’s investment philosophy and best suited for clients. Previously, he was a managing director at HCP Global, a long/short hedge fund, where Mr. Ortiz was responsible for day-to-day research, analysis, and trading in the technology and bio-technology sectors. In addition, Mr. Ortiz had a successful 12-year career as a senior proprietary trader for Oppenheimer & Co, where he managed markets in 90+ securities on Nasdaq with a sector concentration in semi-conductor, bio-technology, software, internet, and telecommunications companies. He was also responsible for supervising and training assistant traders.

As the son of a Bolivian diplomat, Mr. Ortiz lived in many parts of the Americas during his youth. He graduated from Virginia Polytechnic Institute with a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering and a minor in Economics. Mr. Ortiz is fluent in English, Spanish and French.

Mr. Leavenworth has over 20 years of professional experience in Latin America, from governmental roles to entrepreneurial ventures and finance. He is a founding partner of Afina and is primarily focused on managing and developing the firm’s relationships. Mr. Leavenworth also serves as Honorary Consul of Chile in Philadelphia with a jurisdiction that includes the states of Pennsylvania, Delaware and southern New Jersey.Prior to co-founding Afina in 2011, he founded Chispa Group LLC, an international consulting services firm, where he was involved in many different sectors and consulted on multi-billion dollar mining, energy, agriculture, and government projects. Previously, Mr. Leavenworth developed the first Chilean branded beef program for the US market, successfully establishing it as the largest supplier of grass-fed beef to Whole Foods Market. In addition, he co-founded Cono Sur, an affiliate of Chile’s largest wine company, where he developed distribution channels throughout Latin America and Canada. Cono Sur currently exports more than one million cases of wine per year and is one of the top four wine companies in Chile. Leavenworth also helped lead the creation of the small business banking unit at Citibank while based out of Santiago, Chile.In 2005, the President of Chile appointed Mr. Leavenworth the Honorary Consul of Chile in Philadelphia. He also serves on the boards of the Chilean & American Chamber of Commerce, Global Interdependence Center, Pan American Association and the Consular Corps Association of Philadelphia. In 2016, Leavenworth was appointed president of the board of Pata Foods, a leading organic baby food manufacturer. Mr. Leavenworth graduated from Hamilton College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Latin American Studies. He was born in Mexico and is fluent in Spanish.

 

Ms. Innocent joined Afina in 2014 and leads the firm’s operations management, client communications, and corporate governance. She also serves as an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C. and was a foreign policy analyst at Cato from 2007 to 2013.

Ms. Innocent has appeared as a guest analyst on CNN, CBS, BBC, Fox News Channel, Al Jazeera, Voice of America, CNBC Asia, and Reuters. She has published reviews and articles on national security and international affairs in journals such as Survival, Congressional Quarterly, and Harvard International Review. She has also written for Foreign Policy, Wall Street Journal Asia, Christian Science Monitor, Armed Forces Journal, the Guardian, Huffington Post, the Washington Times, and other outlets in the United States and overseas. In 2011, she was awarded the distinction “Top 99 Under 33 Foreign Policy Leaders” by global affairs magazine Diplomatic Courier. With Ted Galen Carpenter, she is the author of Perilous Partners: The Benefits and Pitfalls of America’s Alliances with Authoritarian Regimes.

Ms. Innocent earned dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in Mass Communications and Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley, and a Master of Arts degree in International Relations from the University of Chicago.

 

Mr. Blum is President of AXR, Afina’s international real estate investment business. Prior to co-founding AXR with Afina, David spent 25 years in institutional real estate investment management, having joined Urdang Capital Management at its inception in 1987 and retiring from the company in 2013. Prior to the acquisition of the company by the Bank of New York Mellon Corporation in 2006, David was a shareholder/principal of the firm. David served as Managing Director and as Portfolio Manager of Urdang Value-Added Fund II, L.P., a US$463 million closed-end private real estate fund that was ranked in the top quartile for its strategy/vintage by Preqin. A former CPA, David developed UCM’s accounting, reporting, performance measurement, and portfolio management processes.

As a senior executive, David was a member of UCM’s Investment Committee. During his tenure, the company invested in approximately US$6.7 billion of properties, including approximately 37,000,000 square feet of commercial property and over 30,000 multifamily apartment units located in over 30 states across the U.S. Prior to Urdang, David was a real estate and partnership tax specialist at Laventhol & Horwath and a practicing CPA.

He received a B.S. degree in Accounting and an M.S. degree in Taxation from The American University in Washington, D.C. David is a member of the Pension Real Estate Association (PREA) and has served on the Advisory Board for the PREA Quarterly publication and the Valuation and Reporting Affinity Group.

 

Jonathan Jacoby joined AXR in 2018 and serves as Vice President of AXR, Afina’s international real estate investment business. Mr. Jacoby’s responsibilities include evaluating the operating performance of existing real estate investments and leading due diligence for potential acquisitions.

Before joining AXR, Mr. Jacoby was an Asset Manager at Vision Group Ventures, a developer, owner and operator of Class A office buildings, retail centers, industrial distribution and manufacturing facilities and mixed use projects in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland.

Prior to Vision Group Ventures, Mr. Jacoby was a Credit Analyst for Vanguard where he supported the investment selection for its family of Fixed Income Mutual Funds.

Mr. Jacoby holds a B.A. in Economics and Business from Lafayette College and an M.B.A from Villanova University. He is a CFA charterholder and member of the CFA Institute and CFA Society of Philadelphia.

 

Mr. Lacavaro is a communications and marketing specialist. He is also active in the start-up space, advising several companies in the data analytics and governance, digital media and content distribution areas.

Prior to Joining Afina, Mr. Lacavaro was a Managing Director in Brand Marketing and Communications and Head of Corporate Communications at Guggenheim Partners, a diversified financial services firm with more than $300 billion in assets under management.

Mr. Lacavaro joined Guggenheim Partners from Morgan Stanley, where he served as Executive Director in Corporate Communications. He also served as Global Head of Internal Communications. During his tenure, he provided communications counsel and support for several key events and initiatives, including the firm’s negotiation of the 2008 economic crisis, its subsequent conversion to a bank holding company and partnership with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, its acquisition and integration of Smith Barney, successions of two CEOs, its 75th anniversary, and a global corporate brand relaunch.

Prior to that, he worked in public relations and as a journalist, primarily covering the financial services industry.

Mr. Lacavaro earned his BA in English with Honors from Hamilton College and his Masters in English from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He lives in Brooklyn, New York with his wife and two children.

Ms. McCalmont joins Afina after spending the last 12 years working with Creative Oklahoma, which she helped found in 2006 and served as President and Chief Executive Officer since 2011. The nonprofit organization is responsible for programming throughout Oklahoma focused on encouraging innovation in education, business, and culture.

Prior to that, Ms. McCalmont served as Director and CEO of the Kirkpatrick Foundation for 19 years. She serves on a number of boards including the International Council of the Districts of Creativity Network, the National Creativity Network and the Oklahoma City University Wanda L. Bass School of Music. She also serves as a Fellow of the Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils, the Governor’s International Team, and the Harding Fine Arts Center Advisory board.