Walter Florence, Managing Partner of Frontenac, 2024 First Time Promoting Diversity Award Recipient at the IVCA Awards Dinner

December 4, 2024

IVCA Profile: Walter Florence, Managing Partner of Frontenac, 2024 First Time Promoting Diversity Award Recipient at the IVCA Awards Dinner

The IVCA announced their 2024 honorees at the upcoming (December 9th) IVCA Awards Dinner recently, and the first time recipient of the newly developed IVCA Promoting Diversity Foundation Award is Managing Partner Walter Florence of Frontenac Private Equity.

Throughout his career, Mr. Florence has led investments in a variety of industries, including consumer products and services, where he is currently focused. He was chairperson of the IVCA in 2017-2018, and a past Fellows Award honoree. He is a Pittsburgh native, and he graduated cum laude from Dartmouth College and earned an MBA with distinction from the J.L. Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

The inaugural award honors him in recognition of his impact in helping create the IVCA Invitational Golf Event – which supports the IVCA’s diversity efforts – and spearheading those diversity efforts through the Scholars Program and the creation of the Foundation.

The IVCA interviewed Mr. Florence on his diversity efforts and as first Awardee

IVCA: You were instrumental in creating the IVCA Promoting Diversity Foundation. Please share how the Foundation began, what guiding principles are followed, who was and are involved, how – if at all – you measure the impact?

Walter Florence: In 2017, as incoming Chair of the IVCA, I worked with Maura O’Hara – at that time the IVCA’s Executive Director – to ‘re-launch’ the IVCA Scholar Program. We established the ten-week paid summer internship program organized by the IVCA with our member firms targeting rising college sophomores or juniors in finance from an under-represented populations. The program aims are to create a more inclusive Private Equity and Venture Capital industry by increasing gender, racial and ethnic diversity through opportunity and experience.

The timing must have been right. Today, nine years later, over 120 [Ed Note: Checking] students have served as IVCA Scholars. In the upcoming year of 2025 the program has grown to 86 applicants from 23 different schools, including 11 Illinois-based universities, and is hosted by more than 16 member firms. We can proudly point to 33 Scholar alumni working in the PE/VC industry today, and 14 remain in Illinois. Since 2017, we have raised and invested nearly $750,000 to support this program.

The IVCA Promoting Diversity Foundation (IPDF) grew from this program. In 2023, thanks to the leadership of Shoshana Vernick of Avathon Capital, current IVCA Executive Director Christie Pruyn and many others, the IPDF was formed as a 501c3 non-profit. Alongside the IVCA Scholars, the mission of IPDF is to create and support programs that lead to a more diverse Private Equity and Venture Capital community.

IVCA: What inspired you to recognize and advocate the need for greater diversity within the Venture Capital and Private Equity industries? In your observation, what does a firm or any industry stand to gain by creating a culture of diversity, both for the future of VC/PE/Investing and as a reflection in the evolution of society?

Florence: Two quite different reasons.

First like most, if not all of us, I have worked extremely hard to make the most of my opportunities. I am increasingly aware, however, that opportunity is not as well distributed as talent. Second, we are all fundamentally in the business of making good decisions, and the data is clear … diverse teams generate better decisions and superior results. However, this cannot be forced. You still need the right combination of talented people in the right seats.

IVCA: In our political atmosphere, the first wave of DEI initiatives have received significant criticism and sometimes are portrayed negatively. What is your advice to firms and the corporate culture to ignore the political criticisms and continue toward a more diverse atmosphere, both in their own institutions and society in general

Florence: I know enough about the political atmosphere to express, again, two things.

First, I am not trying to advise anyone else about corporate culture or their decisions about DEI. I am a math and economics major with an MBA and a career in investing. That means I am trained to understand the odds and experienced to know that winning is much more fun than losing. As I said above, we are in the business of making good decisions, and the data is clear – diverse teams generate better decisions and superior results.

Second, good business is not all numbers … it involves a little common sense, and in this context, it is common sense to know that diversity cannot be forced. You still need the right combination of talented people in the right seats.

IVCA: Finally, what does it mean to you personally to have your peers recognize your efforts in driving change with the first IVCA Promoting Diversity Foundation Award?

Florence: It is an honor to be recognized. Like most lasting initiatives, it has taken a team of collaborators. Thank you, especially to all those who have been or are currently supportive and involved. We look forward to seeing all of you at next year’s IVCA Golf Invitational on Monday, June 23, 2025, at Olympia Fields Country Club.

For all information regarding the 2024 IVCA Annual Awards Dinner, taking place December 9th at the Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago … click here.