Lawrence C. Manson, Jr.

Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Manson has more than 30 years of financial management and private equity experience. During his career, Mr. Manson has evaluated thousands of leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations, joint ventures or other types of investment transactions, invested more than $530 million of equity or subordinated debt in various transactions, arranged debt financings in excess of $2 billion, closed more than 30 merger, acquisition or divestiture transactions, participated in the underwriting of public equity offerings in excess of $250 million, managed several hundred employees, created and executed numerous strategic plans and provided consulting advice to many business owners.

Prior to founding Diversity Capital, Mr. Manson founded in 2012 NexTier Companies, LLC, an investment advisory and consulting firm that he still leads. Previous to that he held leadership roles with NexGen Capital Partners, LLC and Performance Trust Capital Partners, LLC including several private equity firms, Foundation Equity Investors, LLC, PENMAN Partners and Prudential-Bache Interfunding Inc., a subsidiary of the former Prudential-Bache Securities, Inc., an entity absorbed into Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. through a series of acquisitions.

Mr. Manson received an AB degree in economics from Princeton University and an MBA degree in finance from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business.

Mason W. Wiley

Chief Marketing Officer

Mr. Wiley has over 30 years of marketing and advertising experience including client and agency sides, both B2B and B2C, and has served a wide range of companies from startups to large companies like Disney, Coca Cola, Wellpoint, Deloitte, Kraft, NBC Universal and more. In addition to serving as Chief Marketing Officer for Diversity Capital, Mr. Wiley also currently serves as Chief Marketing Officer for the NexTier Companies, LLC.

Previously, Mr. Wiley has led marketing for nine startups – Market Rebellion, Connect Now Inc., tradeMONSTER, Talegent and more – including three on the INC500 List of Fastest-Growing Companies and two successful acquisitions. He has also led marketing for leading digital direct response marketing agency Fosina Marketing Goup, and two of the largest performance-based ad networks W4 and Hydra Network (acquired by AdKnowledge), overseeing the latter’s growth from under $40M to over $100M in just 18 months. Prior to that, Mr. Wiley served as Creative Consultant to Universal Pictures Marketing and leading Hollywood entertainment ad agencies, and served as Principal for marketing consultancy The Wiley Group.

Mr. Wiley received a BA degree in European Intellectual History from Wesleyan University and a Masters in Integrated Marketing from Northwestern University.

David A. Hinson

Managing Director

David Hinson has over 30-years of executive and senior management experience and is also a Certified Mergers & Acquisitions advisor. He previously served as Managing Director of Brookland Capital Partners, a financial advisory boutique specializing in assisting diverse SME’s access capital and contracts, Founding Managing Director of the Entrepreneurs Equity Fund for the Schultz Family Foundation where he led the creation of the Fund and made direct equity investments primarily in diverse-owned FinTech and CPG companies, and as Senior Vice President of Ategra Capital Management, a global wealth management firm where he spearheaded Ategra’s Executive Services, Business Consulting and Merger & Acquisition activities.

Appointed by President Barack Obama, Mr. Hinson led the U.S. Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency, where he served as Senior Advisor to the Obama Administration on the U.S. diverse business sector. In this capacity, he placed over $19 billion in capital and contracts into diverse-owned businesses, successfully restructured the agency and helped it achieve the highest five-year operating performance in its history. During that period, Mr. Hinson also served on the China Taskforce, Haitian Reconstruction Committee, White House Business Council, the President’s Interagency Taskforce on Small Business Contracting, and as the Commerce Department Liaison to the AGOA Conference in East Africa, among others.

Mr. Hinson received an MBA in finance from The University of Pennsylvania Wharton School, and a bachelor’s degree in Insurance/Finance with honors from Howard University in Washington, DC. He also completed Executive Education in Building High Performance Businesses at the Dartmouth, Tuck School of Business, and a fellowship in International Finance with honors at the Stockholm School of Economics, Stockholm, Sweden.

Donald C. Mullins, Jr.

Managing Director

Mr. Mullins has more than 30 years of business experience, including more than 20 years of investment management experience, spanning various disciplines and asset classes prior to joining Diversity Capital. In addition, Mr. Mullins currently serves as a Senior Consulting Principal with the NexTier Companies, LLC (NexTier).

Prior to joining NexTier, Mr. Mullins most recently served as a partner, responsible for business development, with Attucks Asset Management, LLC (Attucks), a leading manager of emerging managers based in Chicago. Before joining Attucks, Mr. Mullins led the marketing effort for Stux Capital Management LLC, an emerging manager, based in New York, specializing in domestic, quantitative equity portfolios. Mr. Mullins also served as Director of Marketing for Piedmont Investment Advisors, LLC, a leading minority-owned investment manager, based in Durham, North Carolina and served as Vice President of Marketing and Sales at Lipper & Company, a New York-based hedge fund that specialized in convertible arbitrage, merger arbitrage and high yield bonds.

Mr. Mullins, who attended Howard University, received a BS degree in computer information systems from Jacksonville University and an MBA degree from the Stephen M. Ross Graduate School of Business, University of Michigan.

Marlene Orozco

Managing Director

Marlene Orozco is Senior Research Consultant for Diversity Capital Company, LLC and has a decade of research experience on reducing systems-level bias facing people of color, women, and other historically underrepresented groups in entrepreneurship, finance, and the digital economy. As a mixed methods researcher by training, Dr. Orozco has qualitative, in-depth research experience coupled with expertise in big data, multivariate analysis, and large-scale survey design. Dr. Orozco has co-authored an academic volume, Advancing U.S. Latino Entrepreneurship (Purdue University Press, 2020), written academic publications in peer-reviewed journals like Small Business Economics, Social Science Quarterly, and Qualitative Sociology, and authored several industry reports and research briefs. A well-recognized scholar, Dr. Orozco’s research has been featured in over 100 media outlets (Bloomberg, Forbes, MarketWatch, etc.) and was named of Silicon Valley Business Journal’s “40 Under 40: Top Young Professionals.”

In 2019, Dr. Orozco founded Stratified Insights, LLC, a research consulting firm that provides academic grade research solutions to organizations from research planning and design, data collection and analysis, to reports and presentations, tailor-made for key stakeholders. Dr. Orozco formerly served as Associate Director on entrepreneurship research initiatives at Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Dr. Orozco received a BA degree in sociology with honors from Stanford University, a Master’s degree in education policy and management from Harvard University and a PhD degree in sociology with a focus in entrepreneurship from Stanford University.

Sherry L. Manson

Director, Accounting and Administration

Ms. Manson has more than 30 years of business experience including administration, bookkeeping, corporate records management, human resources and insurance program implementation and oversight prior to joining Diversity Capital. In addition, Ms. Manson also currently serves in a senior administrative role with NexTier Companies and Drexel University. Ms. Manson has also served in senior administrative roles at NexGen Capital Partners, LLC, Foundation Equity Investors, LLC, Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP, PENMAN Partners, Altheimer & Gray and PNC National Bank, N.A.

Ms. Manson received a BA degree in economics from Sweet Briar College and an MBA degree in business administration from Keller Graduate School of Business.

James A. Casselberry, Jr.

Senior Advisor

Mr. Casselberry has over 30 years of experience in investment management and investment management consulting. In the roles of Chief Executive Officer, Chief Investment Officer, portfolio manager, fund manager, principal consultant and advisor, he has individually or in concert with colleagues raised over $4 billion from institutional investors for traditional and alternative investment management strategies; invested more than $50 billion in aggregate transactions both private and public in debt, equity and alternative investment securities and has co-managed the continuing asset allocation structure and strategic plan for a large foundation.

Currently, Mr. Casselberry serves as the Chief Investment Officer of 4S Bay Partners LLC and as trustee for the National Urban League and Morehouse College. Currently he serves as a Senior Advisor to NexTier Companies, LLC, an investment advisory and consulting firm, although in the past he served as a Senior Managing Director. In addition, he has held senior roles at NexGen Capital Partners, LLC and Dearborn Park Group, LLC (DPG), both firms offered strategic consulting advice to investment management and financial services firms. Prior to DPG, he served as a principal at Ennis Knupp & Associates Inc. (Ennis Knupp, currently known as Aon Hewitt Investment Consulting, Inc., an Aon plc company) and served as the primary consultant and managed consulting assignments. Mr. Casselberry has also held leadership position with Ennis Knupp, Trias Capital Management, LLC, Wedgewood Capital Management, Inc. and The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Mr. Casselberry received a BA degree in economics from the University of Illinois and an MBA degree from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business.

Carmen A. Heredia, CFA

Senior Advisor

Ms. Heredia is currently the Chief Investment Officer for the Illinois Assistance Commission (ISAC). ISAC’s mission is to make college accessible and affordable for Illinois students. Prior to ISAC, she was the Director of Investments for one of the largest U.S. philanthropic foundations, W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), where she ran their $400M Foundation investment portfolio and was a member of the $8B WKKF Trust investment portfolio team. Additionally, Ms. Heredia oversaw and enhanced their diverse manager and impact investing portfolio, which consists of mission driven investments (MDI), program related investments (PRI), and a grant portfolio.

Ms. Heredia has also served as Chief Investment officer for Chicago Teachers Pension Fund (CTPF) where she managed an $11B investment portfolio through 91 external investment managers with a $45M budget. Ms. Heredia started her career in asset management in 1993 when she started working at Fortaleza Asset Management, a Chicago-based minority owned investment management firm. Since then she has been promoting and executing ‘access to capital’ strategies for emerging and minority-owned businesses. Similarly, many programs, conferences and mentoring relationships are a direct result of her passion to promote higher education for the Latinx community.

Ms. Heredia earned her International MBA in Finance, Accounting, and Business Economics from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, her undergraduate degree in International Management and Marketing from Georgetown University, and her Associate in Arts degree from College of DuPage. Carmen is a CFA Charterholder and an alumna of the Robert A. Toigo Foundation.

Milton M. Irvin

Senior Advisor

Mr. Irvin has more than 40 years of experience in financial services and currently serves as Chair of the Advisory Board for Castle Oak Securities, L.P. as well as Non-Executive Chairman for NexTier Companies, LLC. In 2012, Mr. Irvin retired from UBS AG (UBS) where he had been a Managing Director and the Americas’ Head of Diversity and Inclusion since 2002. Before working at UBS, Mr. Irvin served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Imbot.com, from 2000 to 2002 and Blaylock & Partners L.P., from 1998 to 1999. Prior to joining UBS, Mr. Irvin spent the prior 20 years working at Salomon Brothers, an entity absorbed by Morgan Stanley through a series of acquisitions. While at Salomon Brothers, Mr. Irvin held numerous positions in fixed income sales and sales management. He was one of the first African-Americans to be named a Managing Director for a “bulge-bracket,” Wall Street firm. Mr. Irvin began his career as a corporate lending officer at Chase Manhattan Bank, currently known as JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Mr. Irvin currently serves on the Wharton Graduate Advisory Board, the Board of the Harlem School of the Arts, and LEAD, a non-profit that unites colleges and universities with corporations to encourage minority high school students to explore careers in business, science, engineering and technology. In 1994, President Clinton appointed Mr. Irvin to the Advisory Committee of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation for which he served as chairman from 1995 to 1997. Mr. Irvin also served on the board of the Harlem School of Arts and the Summit, New Jersey Board of Recreation. A founding member of the Executive Leadership Council, Mr. Irvin currently sits on its Foundation Board. Mr. Irvin also sits on the Board of Governors at the Baltusrol Golf Club and the Summit, New Jersey YMCA.

Mr. Irvin earned a BA degree from the United States Merchant Marine Academy and an MBA degree from the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania.

Derek K. Jones

Senior Advisor

As a Vice Chairman of GCM Grosvenor, Mr. Jones co-heads the firm’s private equity co-investment practice and diverse manager practice and his responsibilities include deal sourcing and investment underwriting activities. He is also a member of the Private Equity, Real Estate and Infrastructure Investment Committee and serves on the Global Investment Council and the Diversity & Inclusion Governing Committee. Prior to joining GCM Grosvenor, Mr. Jones was a Managing Partner at Oncore Capital, as well as a General Partner at Provender Capital. He started his private equity career at Prudential Insurance Company as part of Prudential Equity Investors, which subsequently became Cornerstone Equity Investors, where he was a partner.

Mr. Jones received his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from American University and his Master of Business Administration in Finance from New York University. Mr. Jones serves on the Board of, and was former Treasurer to, the National Association of Investment Companies. He is a recipient of the Pacesetter Award from the National Association of Investment Companies in 2012 and the UNCF Keeper of the Flame Award in 2016. He was also recognized as one of the 75 Most Powerful Blacks on Wall Street by Black Enterprise Magazine in 2011.

Dee C. Marshall

Senior Advisor

Dee C. Marshall is CEO of Diverse & Engaged, an award-winning leadership development and diversity consulting practice o¬ffering workforce solutions to develop, engage, and support diverse cultures.

Diverse & Engaged is a sought-after boutique consulting firm for organizations committed to an inclusive culture. While the team at Diverse & Engaged are ICF Certified coaches and experts across inclusive leadership and diversity training, Ms. Marshall is a thought leader and highly sought-after authority on DEI as a growth strategy.

Ms. Marshall regularly contributes to CNBC, Forbes, Fortune, and Business Insider, Inc. and was recently named to Entrepreneur Magazine’s list of Top Female Founders and LinkedIn’s Top Voice on Racial Equality. She was also named a 2022 WBE Star, Top WBE CEO, MBE Magazine’s Women Who Rock, Top DEI Influencer, Top 50 People of Color Influencers, and Top 25 Influential Black Women in Business.

Additionally, Ms. Marshall serves on the WBENC Forum as the second Vice-Chair for Engagement. WBENC also retained Diverse & Engaged in 2020 to consult on the organization’s D&I launch, focusing on the Allyship programming across the numerous dimensions of diversity. Ms. Marshall is a champion of women of color; she is committed to empowering women from the US to The Gambia and has become a go-to on global “social” matters within the ESG conversation.