we’re not just investors, we’re partners

Carlton J. Charles is senior vice president of treasury and risk management at Hearst. In addition to his duties as corporate treasurer, Charles oversees the risk management activities of the company through his role as chairman of the Risk Working Group, which he helped start at Hearst. He also is responsible for the company’s insurance operations and is heading up an effort to further diversify the company’s roster of vendor partners. Charles is a member of the Hearst board of directors and is on the board of advisors for HearstLab, Hearst’s platform for nurturing and grooming early-stage, women-led companies.

Charles also serves on the board of BUILD, which teaches entrepreneurship to youth in underserved communities. He was on the board of trustees of St. Thomas Aquinas College and previously served on the board of the Bronx Preparatory Charter School, where he briefly chaired the Audit Committee. Charles is a member of the Executive Leadership Council and National Association of Corporate Directors, where he is a governance fellow.

In 2011, Charles joined Hearst as vice president and treasurer, overseeing treasury, risk management and insurance. Prior to Hearst, he was most recently senior vice president and chief operational risk officer at Moody’s Corporation, an SEC regulated company. Charles was an early architect of Moody’s Enterprise Risk Management program and regularly reported to the Moody’s board on treasury and enterprise risk topics.

Charles holds an MBA in finance from the University of Chicago, and a master’s in public policy and a bachelor’s in quantitative economics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Shashi Srikantan is the Head of Ventures for Hearst Level Up, where she leads investments in early-stage startups founded by underrepresented founders.

Prior to joining Level Up, Shashi spent over a decade at Hearst’s credit rating business, Fitch Ratings, where she held various analytical and operational risk roles within the agency’s Structured Finance business. Most recently, Shashi spearheaded Fitch’s ESG product rollout for the company’s global asset-backed securities portfolio and worked with Fitch Group’s corporate development team to identify and evaluate cybersecurity risk platforms for potential strategic partnership.

Previously, Shashi launched PLVSH, a fashion tech startup and prior to that, she was part of the Leveraged Finance team at BNP Paribas and at Credit Suisse.

Shashi serves as a Global Board Member for Columbia Venture Community where she founded Project Two.Eight, an accelerator program for female entrepreneurs at the earliest stages of launching a company; she currently leads the organization’s DE&I efforts.  Shashi also serves as a Scout for HearstLab, Hearst’s investment platform for early-stage women-led startups.

Shashi holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a bachelor’s in Finance from Villanova University.

Katherine Rodriguez is the Platform Manager for Hearst Level Up Ventures, where she  focuses on Brand Development, Marketing  & Communications Strategy, and Community Building.

Prior to joining Level Up Ventures, Katherine worked at Hearst’s credit rating business, Fitch Ratings, for over 7 years within the Business & Relationship Management Division focusing on Market Outreach. Additionally, Katherine’s passion and dedication to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion led her to pioneer Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) at Fitch. As a thought leader in this space, Katherine partnered with key stakeholders from across the organization on various initiatives with a focus on building community, celebrating culture, and reimagining talent acquisition strategies to increase hiring, retention, and development of diverse talent.

Katherine serves on the Advisory Committee for the “Matter of Fact Listening Tour”, a digital series of conversations around difficult issues surrounding race and equity, hosted by Soledad O’Brien.

Previously, Katherine worked at News Corp and is a self-published author and creative writer in her spare time.

Katherine holds a B.S. in Business Management from Lehman College.

Iyke Iwotor is the Venture Analyst at Hearst Level Up Ventures, where he focuses on sourcing deal flow, due diligence, and deal execution for early stage startups founded by underrepresented founders.

He received his Bachelor of Business Administration in Economics from the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business. His knowledge of information technology incorporates experiences in analytics and technology. He holds AWS Cloud, Microsoft Azure Cloud, Project Management and Lean Six Sigma certifications. Prior to joining Level Up, Iyke joined HearstLab as their first venture intern where he focused on data management and sourcing women-led startups for investment.

Iyke serves as the co-founder and COO for Elevate Thrifts, a thrift retailer focused on sustainable fashion. In this capacity, he collaboratively heads decision-making in financial, operational, technological, and team management.

As an underrepresented founder, he is passionate about giving other underrepresented founders a platform to showcase their companies and equipping them with his expertise for growth.