Today marks the beginning of #PrideMonth - Monticello is proud to celebrate diversity and support the #LGBTQ community! Our firm’s culture embraces diversity and inclusion as we all drive for a world of equality and love.
Virtual Forum: Minority-Owned Businesses Navigating COVID-19 and Beyond!
Today’s virtual forum hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s -”Too Important to Fail: Minority-Owned Businesses Navigating COVID-19 and Beyond” was encouraging, thought-provoking, and truly a valuable conversation to join in on. Esteemed panelists including Monika Mantilla, Richelieu Dennis, and Luz Urritia, all advocates for the growth of minority owned enterprises, discussed the specific challenges facing minority-owned small businesses, the role that Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and other socially responsible capital providers can play to support an equitable economic recovery, and actions that philanthropy, financial institutions, nonprofits, and government can take to ensure an equitable recovery. More thoughts and highlights from the call to come!
Monticello Attends ISDA’s Digitizing Legal Documentation Training
Monticello consultants attended last week’s ISDA training centered around recent ISDA efforts to standardize how derivative counterparties negotiate, digitize, and monitor their contractual agreements. Key topics included the recently launched ISDA Clause Taxonomy Library, the ISDA Common Domain Model (CDM), and the future of Smart Contracts and Digital Assets. ISDA standards and protocols will be a critical factor in the industry-wide transition from LIBOR to Alternative Reference Rates over the next two years. Financial institutions need to stay well-informed of major ISDA developments and create implementation and adoption plans if they want to make their legal agreements more manageable in the future.
Memorial Day 2020 - Honoring our Heroes
Monticello’s team members celebrates Memorial Day today - we truly respect and appreciate all our heroes in the U.S. military who have sacrificed for our country’s freedom and those who continues to do so today!
Transitioning from LIBOR - Monticello Participates in ISDA's Benchmark Reform Update
Monticello consultants had the pleasure of joining ISDA’s Benchmark Reform Update last week as the transition from LIBOR marches on. The conference dove into complex derivative products, global currency updates, implementation of contractual fallback provisions, Bloomberg’s role in communicating interest rates to the marketplace, ISDA Agreements, and the impacts on Non Linear Interest Rate Derivatives. This was a great event that provided our LIBOR team and the broader financial community a view of what to expect with Risk Free Rates in the months ahead.
Enterprise Resiliency and Business Continuity Planning - Monticello Consultants Expand Capabilities
Monticello consultants participated in virtual training on Enterprise Resiliency and Business Continuity Planning (BCP) across the last several weeks. Building and maintaining a resilient enterprise requires a careful assessment of various components including employee wellbeing, technology and information security, financial health, and inherent risks.
The COVID-19 outbreak has impacted industries and firms in very different ways – mobility dependent businesses (e.g. airlines, restaurants, theme parks, etc.) are suffering a great deal, while the leading technology companies (e.g. FANG, Nasdaq 100) are gaining as a result of their digital focus. All companies should perform post-mortem assessments of their COVID-19 responses and incorporate their idiosyncratic lessons-learned into their BCP frameworks and ensure that their playbooks are tested on a regular basis. Undoubtedly, companies with a robust people culture and dynamic IT capabilities will emerge stronger from this crisis compared to their competitors.
Giving Tuesday - Supporting Local Partners!
Giving Tuesday is a great opportunity to support nonprofits – especially given the current increased need caused by COVID-19. If you’re in the position to do so, please consider supporting our partner charity, the Children’s Village, as they stay committed to keeping children safe and families together. Monticello is honored to support their mission and we thank you all for your help!
Financial Literacy Training - Monticello Volunteers!
Our team enjoyed volunteering to teach financial literacy in a NYC public High School this week! This session we focused on earned income, taxes, gross & net pay, while answering important question the students had for us…it’s always a pleasure working with such a bright and inquisitive class.
Supporting Komera - Women in Rwanda!
In Rwanda, “Komera” means “be strong, have courage” - the Komera Organization’s mission is to develop self-confident women through education, community development, and sport. Monticello was happy to support the Komera project this week at their NYC fundraiser, held in anticipation of their next groundbreaking community center in Rwanda! Lifting up girls and women will undoubtedly make a lasting impact on the growth and empowerment on their community. To learn more about this organization, please visit: https://komera.org/about
Inwood House/Children’s Village 2020 Spring Educational Luncheon
The Inwood House/Children’s Village hosted its annual Spring Educational Luncheon this week in NYC to support their valuable community work, keeping children safe and families together. Monticello Consulting Group was happy to support this educational event while Joanna Horowitz CFA, our Corporate Responsibility and Diversity Lead, once again served as a co-chair.
This year’s discussion focused on the Fair Futures Act, with expert panelist diving into the program funded with $10MM to help children aging out of the foster care system and starting their independent lives. The ACS Commissioner, alongside WAY program alum and Fair Futures Act partners, all shared their insights into how success with these children can and will be driven by stability, education, and mentorship.
If you are interested in joining Monticello and supporting the Inwood House at the Children’s Village, please visit https://childrensvillage.org/donate
The amazing CV staff & volunteers pictured here!
Monticello attends the 2020 CIAA Tournament in Charlotte!
Monticello’s Alex Miller attends the 2020 CIAA Tournament in Charlotte, North Carolina! The mission of the CIAA is to demand and support the highest standards of integrity and achievement among its member institutions, their athletic programs and the individual student-athlete, demonstrating a commitment to education, community and competitive sportsmanship that honors both the CIAA’s tradition and future as the nation's first historically black collegiate athletic conference. The CIAA tournament is the quintessential cultural experience offering official events appealing to a diverse demographic of alumni and fans, to include educational programming, community engagement, and 22 action-packed basketball games. It’s also one of few basketball tournaments in the nation that features men and women competitions in the same facility, during the same week.
2020 Supplier Diversity & Responsible Sourcing CIAA Meeting
Monticello’s CEO Will Morgan along with business development manager Alex Miller joined the 2020 Supplier Diversity & Responsible Sourcing CIAA Reception held in Charlotte, North Carolina, on February 27. We would like to thank our host, Bank of America, for inviting our leaders to this important event and furthering the discussion of supplier diversity!
Supporting Puerto Rico Recovery with the Red Cross
On January 7th Puerto Rico experienced a 6.4 magnitude earthquake that damaged or destroyed thousands of homes and left thousands homeless and living in tent communities. Subsequent aftershocks are anticipated to continue for months and have left many in fear of when life will return to normal. Please join Monticello in supporting the Red Cross and all the citizens of the island of Puerto Rico in recovering from this natural disaster with needed resources: https://www.redcross.org/about-us/news-and-events/news/2020/puerto-rico-red-cross-responds-as-quakes-take-out-power.html
Honoring Black History Month
As we reflect on Black History Month, Monticello honors the contributions of African Americans to our society, culture, and not least important, our democracy. We would like to pay particular thanks to congressional leader Joyce Beatty and the pioneering work her team is doing to foster diversity and inclusion in corporate America. We applaud the work Congresswoman Beatty is doing to drive diversity in the workforce and supplier community by bringing transparency to this vital and important area of the economy. Since 2015 McKinsey and ‘Leanin.org’ studies have shown us that an inclusive and diverse workplace make our corporations more fair, productive, and profitable. More importantly, all people deserve the right to pursue their dreams without bias or barriers holding them back, and as Martin Luther King Jr. said, “I look for a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
"Changes in the Consulting Industry" panel @ Fordham Gabelli
Monticello’s program manager, Donal Sheridan, sharing his insights on the landscape of the consulting industry with Fordham’s Gabelli School of Business, alongside leaders from E&Y, JPM, & Accenture...awesome work Donal!
Design Thinking Training: Creativity through Collaboration
As part of our Darden Design Thinking training, Monticello consultants are widening their scope of research on the Customer Journey Map and ultimately generating creative solutions. It’s so exciting for our team to explore new ways of doing business together, continuously expanding upon our culture of collaboration!
Emerging Markets Outlook - NYC Women's event
Monticello gathered for a discussion on the outlook for Emerging Markets in 2020 with the 100 Women in Finance in NYC last night! interestingly the topic of how ESG is incorporated with EM investing was highlighted and definitely a point of focus within this market segment.
Happy Presidents' Day!
On Presidents’ Day, we celebrate our country’s founding fathers and our strong democracy
which we love – have a safe and enjoyable holiday today. With a namesake like Monticello, you can certainly believe we cherish our nation…cheers!
ISDA Benchmark Strategies Forum 2020
At the ISDA Benchmark Strategies Forum 2020, Monticello spent the day reviewing the upcoming challenges in adopting and trading the new alternative risk-free rates (RFRs) and implications of new contractual
fallbacks for derivatives. It was both a great opportunity to learn more about the multiple issues facing the market with the upcoming LIBOR transition and exchange thoughts with friends in the industry!
Team bowling night in NYC!
Last night’s team bowling event in NYC was a lot of fun! While some of us were certainly better bowlers than others, we all enjoyed the game, food, and music while catching up with each other during this busy time of year. Cheers to team socials!
Nice form Daniel!