Featured Young Professional
Jason Cipriani is a principal in Global Strategic Capital at Bank of America. Global Strategic Capital originates, structures and executes direct equity investments and investments in private equity funds and hedge funds that are a strategic priority for the company. As head of strategic fund investments, Cipriani is responsible for the company’s proprietary investments in private equity funds and hedge funds. Prior to assuming his current role in 2007, Cipriani was cief operating officer of Strategic Capital. From 2001 to 2004, Cipriani held various roles within Bank of America’s Global Corporate and Investment Bank. Prior to joining Bank of America, Cipriani held corporate finance and accounting positions at Paramount/VIACOM, Time Warner Cable and PL Industries. A native of Southern California, Cipriani earned an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and bachelor's degrees in finance and management from Virginia Tech. Cipriani is a member of numerous limited partnership advisory boards across several sectors including domestic and international private equity, hedge funds and real estate. He is a member of the Executive Board of Bobcats Sports and Entertainment and co-chair of the United Way Young Leaders Council. In 2008, he was recognized as one of Charlotte’s Top 40 Business Leaders under the age of 40 by the Charlotte Business Journal.
How has your involvement with the Chamber and in the community contributed to your personal and professional development?
Community involvement is not only very gratifying, but also a great way to leverage your experience outside of your primary profession. Through my various leadership roles with United Way Young Leaders, I have seen first hand the impact a group of young professionals can have on the community. It can certainly be frustrating at times, but learning how to lead your peers to achieve a common goal is very fulfilling. It certainly has made me more aware of how best to leverage my strengths and overcome my weaknesses.
Why did you choose to live in the Charlotte area? What's your favorite thing about living here? What would you improve?
I have been fortunate to live in several parts of this country, but have actually lived in Charlotte longer than anywhere else. Charlotte is a city that anyone can succeed in, a city that will embrace you no matter where you are from. I often say that Charlotte is a very livable city. There are so many things to like about our city – favorites would be a short commute, proximity to both the coast and the mountains, excellent entertainment and restaurant options and the ability to make a difference in the future of our city. In order to continue our success, we need to ensure we have a diversified industry base and a compelling public education system.
How have you connected with your mentors and those who have taken a personal interest in your development? How important have those connections been to your success?
Finding good mentors is so important, but increasingly difficult. I have found that having several mentors, for which you look to for different sets of advice, to be rewarding. In that regard, I am fortunate to work for a great company with senior executives that I can get advice on both business and community issues. I’ve also enjoyed my relationship with Mac Everett, who I think is a role model for community leadership. He has definitely influenced my desire to become a leader in the community.
I would recommend trying to develop relationships with people with whom you share a passion who may become mentors as opposed to thinking about whom you want as a mentor and how you can meet them. You have to be creative and keep an open mind on how to develop relationships with people whom you look up to.
What initial steps did you take to become involved in your community or charity work? How do you balance the demands on your time?
I originally became involved through the United Way, volunteering at various non-profit agencies and through volunteer projects organized by my company. As I did more volunteering, I became more interested in getting involved in a leadership capacity. I also have a close friend who helped organize United Way Young Leaders who “highly encouraged” me to join.
I’m not sure that there is such a thing as balance. I would say prioritization instead. If you are involved with activities that you are passionate about, you will find the time. I also think that it is better to be deeply involved and add significant value to a select number of organizations as opposed to cursory involvement in a laundry list of activities.
In your opinion, what's the one issue that Charlotte area young professionals should be concerned about or working to improve?
I think there are two – first, we need to be thinking about how to address the transition of leadership in our community from the visionaries who helped build Charlotte to leaders from our generation. Continuing the joint efforts of ASC, Engage Charlotte and United Way Young Leaders to connect Charlotte’s various young professional organizations is key in this regard. Secondly, our non-profit agencies are suffering from significant drops in funding, while at the same time experiencing record demand. This trend should be of serious concern to all of us. I don’t have the answer, but it is something we should all be working on solving.
