Guest Column

By Roberto Lovato

August 18, 2005

 

Jaime Mercado grew up picking coffee near bucolic streets you can’t find on most maps of the Dominican Republic. “My grandfather was an agricultor (farmer.) We grew coffee, tobacco, and bananas," recalls the corporate lawyer from his office at Simson Thacher and Bartlett LLP law firm. "Nobody knew where I was from when I first came to the U.S." Now that he puts together multi-billion dollar mergers and acquisitions everybody knows where Mercado works.

 

Mercado is part of a relatively new wave of highly educated, highly skilled Dominicans entering the financial sector as analysts, lawyers, and brokers. With an aggressiveness characteristic of other immigrant communities, more than a few of the 700,000 Dominicans in New York City are adding their own Quisqueyano touch to Wall Street. Their climb to the top in the world of finance is powered by a mix of cultural, entrepreneurial and (transnational) business acumen, and a ferocious community ethic. The seeds of their success were sown in the Sixties, according to Mercado: "The civil rights struggles of the African American and Puerto Rican communities in New York and across the country paved the way for Dominicans to access education and jobs like those on Wall Street. Those  struggles changed the meaning of what it means to be Latino-including Dominican Latino-today."

 

Dominicans bring a collective sense of community to Wall Street that extends from New York's densely populated Washington Heights neighborhood (the densest in the country) to la lsla. With access to capital and knowledge and a strong commitment to give back to their compatriots in both countries, Wall Street Dominicans are poised to extend the cultural sense of dominicanidad to include forging economic and educational bonds between themselves and their island brethren. "We come from this beautiful island that many of us are still connected to," says Daisy Dominguez, who works as an analyst in the Utilities, Project, and Infrastructure Finance Group of Moody's Investor Service.' As I always say, 'Siempre tenemos un pie aqui y un pie alla ('We always have a foot here and a foot there'). This defines us."

 

Dominguez was born near 137^th Street in New York City and raised in the Piantini district of Santo Domingo. Dominguez's bicultural roots make her-and others like her-valuable assets at Wall Street firms seeking competitive advantage in what are, for many investors, the attractive, but high risk emerging markets of Latin America.

 

A graduate of the Wagner Public Policy School of New York University who serves on several nonprofit boards, Dominguez views her work rating airport and toll road bonds in Latin America as part of the community ethic that characterizes many Dominicans. "You need infrastructure to promote economic development of the Dominican Republic or any other country. In order to move goods, transport people, develop vacation sites, and create jobs and economic centers, you need to finance airports and roads," she says.

 

She also sees the importance of bridges-corporate and cultural: "What companies like mine see is not just language. I think I was the lead candidate for this position because I had all the skills they needed-credit analysis, economic analysis, and Spanish," says the 32-yearold analyst.

 

DOWS Vice President Daisy Dominguez believes her multicultural roots give her a competitive advantage on Wall Street. Recalling how she defused an incident involving an irate Latin American CFO who was angry his project got down graded, Dominguez says, "When you're dealing with people involved in high risk transactions, transactions where any little nuance can end up costing millions, one of the most important skills for this job is the ability to navigate between cultures, the ability to move and operate between American and Latin American business cultures. I think corporate leaders are recognizing the value of being able to navigate those cultural realms."

 

Lawyer Mercado agrees. "Our experience- personal and professional with respect to the DR gives us a strong sense of community. Without the continued support of the DR by expatriates living in New York and elsewhere, the island would be in dire straits. Think about it. Current GDP in the DR is $24 billion. Of that, about $3.7 billion is sent from here in the form of remesas [money Dominicans send back home] . That means that almost 15 percent of the GDP is sent from the U.S.-and most of it from New York."

 

The power and growing influence of Dominicans working in the financial sector has not escaped the attention of the government and private sector on the island either.

 

When Dominican President Leonel Fernandez began economic reforms in 1996-devaluing the peso, raising gas prices, reducing import tariffs-designed to enhance the competitiveness of the DR, the country's private sector was also beginning to seek investment and intellectual capital in international markets.

 

The Dominican Republic's Office of Investment and Development, along with several Dominican-American bankers and lawyers working with telecommunications company Tricom SA-then in 1997 the only Dominican firm trading on Wall Street-recognized the natural affinity between the growing numbers of Dominicans working in finance and the needs of the island economy. The group of government and private sector representatives convened a breakfast at the Council of the Americas in New York City of Dominicans working in financial firms; the energy and enthusiasm of that meeting were so strong that a new organization was born: Dominicans on Wall Street (DOWS), a not-for-profit organization promoting investment, educational exchanges on the island and careers in finance among Dominican youths living in New York.

 

"When I came out of that meeting I was ecstatic," recalls Cid Wilson, Managing Director and Director of Research at Monarch Research. "For the first time in my life, I could be a Wall Street professional and flaunt [my] Dominican pride. I could be an executive who eats platanos and gandules. I don t think anyone in that room had any idea how many of us worked in the industry. There were more than 80 of us that morning!"

 

Since that breakfast in 1997, DOWS has organized several trips to the Dominican Republic during which Wilson, Dominguez, and other members have met with government and private sector representatives and provided pro bono advice on the development of the Dominican Republic's Stock Exchange. Though opinions on financial matters vary widely among DOWS members, all agree on one thing: the importance of education in the lives of Dominicans here and on the island.

 

"Going to college [for me] wasn’t an option; It was a requirement," says Wilson, the son of a Dominican doctor and a business manager. DOWS members regularly visit local middle schools and high schools to talk about careers in finance. "I expect that for you, college is a given," DOWS Vice President Dominguez recently told a crowded class of mostly Dominican immigrant high school juniors and seniors at Gregorio Luperon Preparatory School in Washington Heights in northern Manhattan. "There are manyof us ready and willing to help you....but you have to want to, you have to take the step and ask [for help."

 

After telling tales of travels to off-the-beaten path destinations in Chile, Mexico, Brazil and other Latin American countries, the very charismatic Dominguez left several of the star-struck students pondering their professional futures. "I wanted to study journalism, but what [Dominguez] said makes me think," reflects l6-year-old Heidi de la Ctuz. "I'd like to travel, see places and give back to the community like her." De Ia Cruz grew up in a housing development in Santo Domingo before moving, at age 13, to a housing project near 171st Street. "We need more people to come and speak with us about these possibilities, because hardly anyone does. There's lots of opportunity here in Washington Heights. There's also lots violence," says de la Cruz, who recently witnessed the murder of a client during her shift at Tu Sonrisa (Your Smile) Restaurant.

 

"There aren't too many options for these students besides working at McDonald's, in factories, driving taxis, and living in poor neighborhoods the rest of their lives," says Francisca Pena,  the New York City Department of Education Superintendent of the district that includes Gregorio Luperon High School. During a hug and tear-filled gathering of students and DOWS members- many of whom recalled difficult experiences growing up in Washington Heights, "We're very proud of these professionals who come to help us. If these students aren’t exposed to role models like these, what future can they and our community expect?"

 

Roberto Lovato (robvato63@yahoo.com ) is now a New York based writer.

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