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www.negociosnow.com Abril 2023 27 By David Steinkraus W illiam Jaramillo had a talent for the thinking that under- lies banking, but he never thought of it as a career. He followed opportunities as they arose. Today, at age 37, he is back in his native Chicago and leading part of the diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy for JPMorgan Chase. There are seven segments in the com- pany's strategy, each devoted to a particular diverse com- munity. (Chase calls these centers of excellence.) Within the segment for advancing Hispanics and Latinos, Jara- millo is an executive director leading the financial health and wealth creation strategy and the community develop- ment strategy. The segment for Hispanics and Latinos is one of the new- er DE&I segments and started in2021. Jaramillo said he was the first hire made by Silvana Montenegro who heads the firm's global efforts to advance Hispanics and Latinos. MONEY COMMIT MENT JPMorgan has committed to spend $30 billion by the end of 2025 to help close the racial wealth gap for Black, Hispanic, and Latino communities. The firm understands Latinos are its largest growing customer group, Jaramillo said. "Being proximate to this community is not just the right thing to do. It's a business imperative because we are such a major contributor to the US econo- my," he said. Addressing the financial needs of Latinos means hav- ing people who can connect with Latino customers cultur- ally and in the same language. "I can't speak for the entire Latino community, but from what I've seen, we need to trust the person we're talk- ing to," Jaramillo said. "Let's look at the banking systems in the countries where many of us came from — Venezuela, Cuba, Colombia. These are not necessarily trusted bank- ing systems, so try telling my grandfather, my grandmoth- er, to put your hard-earned money in the hands of a bank for your retirement 20, 30, 50 years from now." Helping Latinos also involves making people in the community aware of what resources are available, Jara- millo said. Latinos are grow- ing businesses faster than any other community, but scaling is a problem he said. With- out help, without the right infrastructure or systems, a business can't make good use of capital it receives.. So senior business consultants working through the firm's minority entrepreneur pro- gram can provide techni- cal assistance and mentor- ship to small businesses to prepare them for their next step, he said. Customers may also be connected to outside resources such as community development financial insti- tutions that combine federal and private money to invest in distressed or underserved communities. FAMILY KNOWLEDGE Jaramillo is a first-generation Cuban, born in Maywood after his grandfather Arnaldo Ramon Garcia brought the family to the United States during the 1960s. Arnaldo had been a truckdriver in Cuba, worked briefly in a bakery when he immigrated to the United States, then started Arnie's Trucking, "and that's what he did until the day he died." As he grew, Jaramillo said, his grandfather always wanted him to help work on the trucks, but that wasn't his interest or his talent. "What I could help with is going to the bank to set up his account. I have these memories of saying, 'Grandpa, this is tax deductible.'" Maywood was the defini- tion of an underserved com- munity, he said, and living in its push and pull meant col- lege wasn't his future when he graduated from high school. He delivered pizzas for a while, then went into business with his older and entrepreneurial brother Gerardo Robledo who started a real estate company and mortgage company. At age 20, he said, they made a lot of money during the end of the subprime lending splurge. When the bubble burst, he did odd jobs, and then one day walked into the Melrose Park branch of Chase with his grand- father. He knew the people because it was the local bank, and the manager encouraged him to apply as a teller. Jaramillo worked his way up from there. Now he draws on what hap- pened in his own family. He was raised by a hard-working single mother, Delia Garcia, and neither she nor his grand- parents had access tools to build wealth, he said. "For me, helping her under- stand her finances differently, it's like the completion of a full circle," Jaramillo said, "and I think about all the moms out there, all the grandmas, all the grandpas, everyone out there who is thinking about their financial journey." Maywood native helps lead equity strategy for JPMorgan Chase INTERVIEW WITH WILLIAM JARAMILLO, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - DIVERSITY EQUITY & INCLUSION AND HEAD OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND FINANCIAL HEALTH AT JPMORGAN CHASE. William Jaramillo

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