Lionel began his career in financial services in 1991 at PaineWebber & Co. as a retail stock broker, went on to earn his MBA in 1997 from the Claremont Graduate School of Business (the Peter F. Drucker School), has worked for JPMorgan, Van Kasper & Co., Wells Fargo Advisors, Fidelity Investments, and Wells Fargo Bank. His goal to start his own registered “finanthropic” investment firm spawned Cáritas Advisors in 2016.
He is President and Founder of the San Francisco based 501(c)3 non-profit, the EACH Foundation, a director of Alta Plaza Preschool in San Francisco, past director and treasurer of Creative Growth Art Center, and served as pro bono financial advisor to the Wallace A. Gerbode Foundation (founded in 1955 in San Francisco; $74 million in assets) from 2004 – 2016.
Lionel holds the Series 7, 9, 10, and 65 series principal licenses from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”), earned his Certified Wealth Strategist (CWS) designation from Cannon Financial, and holds a CA real estate license (DRE # 02075114) for clients needing advice or assistance in real estate transactions.
He earned a BA from Occidental College, an MBA from Claremont University, was a four-time All-American NCAA Track & Field runner, SCIAC conference champion in Cross Country, and was inducted into his alma mater’s Track & Field hall of fame, clocking the fastest time in the nation (Div. III NCAA) in the 800 meters. He was also an award-winning staff writer for Occidental Magazine, and was published in the LA Times sports section for his research on intercollegiate blood-doping trends.
Lionel’s volunteer work revolves around the “gift of giving” through a nonprofit he founded in 2015 (the EACH Foundation), a group of 30 civic-minded volunteers who choose worthy charities to grant to at their discretion. Although now no longer actively making grants–the goal of any foundation, ultimately, being to close down and give away all their assets–EACH granted over $7 million to more than 800 unique nonprofit organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area and Hawaii, democratizing philanthropy through empowering everyday people with the gift of giving.
He is past board Treasurer for Pets Unlimited (now the SPCA), grew up in San Francisco (Town School for Boys and St. Ignatius HS), is class agent for Berkshire School in Sheffield, MA, works in San Francisco and lives in Marin County where he enjoys mountain biking and hiking in China Camp and on Mt. Tamalpais.