Gonzalo Mendoza leads the firm’s strategy and is part of its Investment Committee. Prior to co-founding Valor Advisors, he worked at CANTV, Venezuela’s largest telecommunications company in its business consulting department. After completing his MBA, Gonzalo joined J.P. Morgan’s Investment Bank Latin America group where he worked on several mergers & acquisitions and equity raising transactions in the consumer products, power and energy sectors. In 2009, Gonzalo joined the Private Bank as a Banker covering clients in the Andean region, where he spent five years managing one of the most important ultra-high net worth books of business as an Executive Director.

Gonzalo holds an M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a B.S. in Business from Universidad Metropolitana in Caracas, Venezuela. He lives in Miami with his wife and three sons.

Francisco leads the firm’s strategy and chairs its Investment Committee. He is responsible for defining the strategy and tactical positioning for all discretionary and non-discretionary accounts. Prior to co-founding Valor Advisors, Francisco worked for Citigroup in Peru as a sovereign debt trader and corporate finance analyst. Francisco co-managed the bank’s balance sheet and the proprietary investments in local currency. He represented Citigroup as a Market Maker before the Peruvian Finance Ministry, actively collaborating in the development of the local government debt markets. After completing his MBA, Francisco joined J.P. Morgan’s Private Bank to advise some of the bank’s most sophisticated and institutional-scale portfolios in the Andean region. In addition, Francisco was a member of the firm’s Opportunistic Investment Committee, where he actively participated in the generation of tactical ideas for clients globally.

Francisco holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Universidad de Lima where he graduated cum laude, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He lives in Miami with his wife and five children.

Ari is a member of the Investment Committee at Valor Advisors. Before joining Valor Advisors, Ari was a Vice-President and worked as a Global Investment Specialist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank. In this role, Ari was responsible for advising some of the bank’s most sophisticated and institutional-scale relationships in the Andean region. Ari was also a member of the LATAM Tactical Opportunities Committee at JP Morgan, where he actively participated in the generation of investment ideas for clients in the region. Prior to J.P. Morgan, Ari worked at UBS Wealth Management from 2006-2010 where he was an Associate covering ultra-high net worth clients from Mexico. 

Ari holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics with concentrations in Finance and Actuarial Science from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a CFA^® and CAIA^® charterholder. Ari lives in Miami with his wife and two daughters.

Carlos Heighes joined Valor Advisors as an Investment Advisor Representative in January 2020 to focus on developing and managing client relationships from Central America and the Caribbean. Carlos started his career in 1984 at Chase Manhattan Bank in Lima, Peru. Over the years, he held several positions as Operations & Systems Manager in Peru, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, playing an active role in opening a new branch in Lima as well as two new brokerage houses in Venezuela. In 1994, he became head of the Institutional Sales Group for Global Payments and Treasury Services, responsible for developing correspondent banking relationships with Latin American banks. Carlos joined J.P. Morgan Private Bank’s Miami branch in March of 1999 as Relationship Manager, covering Latin American clients. He served as Managing Director and Senior Banker, advising clients on delivering customized solutions and providing strategic advice to ultra-high net worth families from Central America and the Caribbean.

Carlos holds an M.B.A. from Columbia University in New York, and a B.A. in Economics from Universidad del Pacifico in Lima, Peru. He also registered in Kellogg School of Management to participate in Forming Family Enterprise Governance and Governing Family Enterprises courses. He is a member of “Beta Gamma Sigma”, an Honor Society for Collegiate Schools of Business.

Juan Carlos joined Valor Advisors as a Portfolio Analyst to lead the data management and analytics efforts. He is currently involved in the security selection and manager due diligence process. Juan started his career in the energy industry at Victory Petroleum as a Gas Allocation Manager, where he was responsible for forecasting the monthly fuel allocation for 153 terminals in South Florida. In his last role as Pricing Manager, he was the leader of the company’s data analysis team and was responsible for the strategic pricing of part of the global business.

Juan Carlos holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance and Economics from Texas A&M University.

Carlos joined Valor Advisors in 2022 as a Portfolio Analyst to support the data management efforts and the firm’s Investment Team. He began his career as an intern at Santander Private Bank in Miami, FL where he worked in Risk Management before transitioning to the Fixed Income Investment Strategies Group. Carlos later joined AmRock Financial, a boutique consulting group, where he focused on brokering business loans between companies and financial institutions across the Americas. His exposure ranged from supply-chain and purchase-order financing to factoring and mortgage loans.

Carlos holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Operations Management with a minor in Business Analytics from Boston College’s CSOM.

Leyanet joined Valor Advisors in 2019 as a Client Associate committed to providing dedicated, professional service to clients in support of their account management needs. Her background includes experience as a Legal Secretary at the Law Office of Weisberg and Weisberg where she worked diligently to prepare her team for legal trials.

Leyanet holds a Bachelor of Science in International Affairs from Florida State University.

Erika joined Valor Advisors in 2021 as a Client Associate to support the Client Service Team in providing tailored services to our clients. She began her career in 2007 at Banco de Chile, which was acquired by Citi Bank IPB. In 2012, she joined J.P Morgan as an Account Opening Specialist, and later became a Client Onboarding /KYC Specialist for the Andean, Mexico, and Southern Cone region. She joined EFG Capital in 2017 as an AML Compliance Officer, and then transitioned to a Client Service Assistant role.

Erika holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Florida International University.