Lina Peña joined Elevar Equity in 2019 as a part of the Latin America investment team.
Lina has 10+ years of experience in structuring and analyzing private equity investments in emerging markets. Prior to joining Elevar, Lina worked as an Investment Management Officer at IDB Invest, a member of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), where she led and supported projects to invest in private equity funds, venture capital funds, growth stage companies, and financial institutions. During her time at the IDB, she represented the organization in more than thirteen Advisory Boards and Investment Committees across different sectors.
While working full time, Lina co-founded a women entrepreneurship network in her home country, Colombia. She has volunteered as a teacher for children displaced from violence, and engaged in several initiatives, including managing the Global Equity Fund at the University of Maryland (UMD).
She holds a B.A. in Finance from the Universidad Sergio Arboleda, and is an MBA candidate at the Robert Smith School of Business at UMD. Lina is passionate about development, specifically, the development impact of disruptive technologies and women empowerment. She enjoys reading, traveling, and walking her dog Frida.
What drew you to apply for a job at Elevar? Why did you join Elevar?
I applied to this job for two main reasons. First, the customer centric approach at Elevar was aligned with my career path as an impact investor. Secondly, I was also inspired to work with Johanna Posada, since she’s one of the few women in an investment and leadership role in Lat-Am. But apart from this, what drew me to join Elevar was that I struggled with the lack of resources and opportunities myself, while growling up. So, I decided to work in the development sector – in impact investment, to support others like myself to achieve their goals.
What is your Elevar career highlight so far?
I think it’s too early to tell. But I have been able to learn about structuring of seed and venture investment. This has been great since in the past I have been involved more with growth stage companies.
The field visit that made a difference
More than a field visit, it was my volunteering experience at Columbia that made a difference. I was teaching displaced children, and I met a girl who shared a piece of her writing with me. It was some of the best writing that a 10-year-old could have written! That story moves me to this day, and I always think that if that girl had had the opportunity to attend a good school, she could have been one of the best writers of the country.