PODCAST: Why one man left private equity to fight for racial justice

Rendel Solomon discusses why he walked away from a successful career at a $1bn asset manager, and shares some frank thoughts on the state of diversity and inclusion in the industry.


Subscribe to Spotlight on: iTunes | Stitcher | Spotify | Google Play | Podbean

Rendel Solomon is a great American success story, rising from humble beginnings on Chicago’s West Side to becoming a managing director for asset manager Muller & Monroe. But following the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of police, Rendel turned a corner, realizing his passion lay in finding some way to help bring about systemic and societal change around racial justice. He felt working in the private equity industry was constraining him from doing that.

Now, Solomon has taken the momentous step of leaving the industry, which he announced recently via Medium. On his way out, he joined sister publication Buyouts‘ Justin Mitchell to talk about his decision and shared some frank thoughts about the state of private equity’s efforts on diversity and inclusion.