Yieldstreet co-founder and CEO Milind Mehere is among the 52 executives included on Crain’s New York Business’ first list of Notable Diverse Leaders in Banking and Finance. “Each honoree is a key player in initiatives to modernize the industry”, Crain’s said in a statement announcing the list.
“I am very honored to be included on Crain’s list of diverse leaders in banking and finance. What Crain’s is doing is really giving visibility and bringing forth a very important issue of diversity and inclusion on Wall Street,” Mehere said.
Crain’s consulted with trusted sources in the city’s business community to select its list of esteemed leaders. The honorees were picked for their career accomplishments as well as their broader community involvement.
Mehere is an award-winning entrepreneur with a track record of building large scalable businesses and creating new product categories. That includes co-founding Yodlee, the ad-tech platform for small and midsize businesses which employed 1400 people when it was successfully sold to Web.com. Mehere then founded Yieldstreet, in 2015, with Michael Weisz, to change the way financial products are delivered to retail investors offering them access to opportunities that can help create wealth.
“I’m extremely honored to lead a diverse and passionate team at Yieldstreet. I hope when people see that a person of color, a member of a minority is leading a unicorn fintech company, that they will feel inspired, that anything is possible,” Mehere said.
Crain’s created its list pointing out that despite years of plans to increase diversity at banks and financial firms, the lack of underrepresented groups including ethnic minorities and women, on boards and in management remains a major issue for the industry.
Mehere said, “As they say if you can’t measure it, you can’t change it. And so I applaud Crain’s for bringing this important discussion and issue to the forefront. And by publishing this list, there is going to be a focus on this issue that we can all discuss and take action on and continue to support more inclusion on Wall Street.”
The Committee for Better Banks recent report found Black and Latino employees had a less than 25% chance of being promoted or hired for a senior management position when compared to their peers who are white. A House Financial Services Committee Study in 2020, found 33% women represent 33% of the executive and senior-level workforce at financial institutions despite representing 51% of the population.
“With hard work, I feel that you will get the seat at the table, and with a little bit of luck, you will be able to realize your dreams,” Mehere said.
New York State’s Department of Financial Services requires banks and financial firms with more than $100 million in assets to provide data on the gender, racial and ethnic composition of their boards and senior management teams. That data is expected to be released later this year.
“So just like what Yieldstreet does, which is to democratize access to alternative investments. If you work hard, and really be passionate, you will be able to achieve your dreams and that’s what I want everyone to realize. Look at me as an example, that everything is possible and nothing is impossible,” Mehere said.
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Yieldstreet provides access to alternative investments previously reserved only for institutions and the ultra-wealthy. Our mission is to help millions of people generate $3 billion of income outside the traditional public markets by 2025. We are committed to making financial products more inclusive by creating a modern investment portfolio.