Overview

Gender

male

Investor Type

Investment Partner

Alvaro Rodriguez and Michael Chu joined to create IGNIA to pioneer venture capital in Mexico, with a particular focus on unlocking the opportunities represented by the underserved yet fast growing demand of the country’s lower-income and emerging middle class. Concurrently, Michael holds an appointment as Senior Lecturer at the Harvard Business School, where his research and teaching is on businesses serving the needs of the majority the population, including commercial platforms delivering basic services usually associated with the public sector or civil society. He also remains a Senior Advisor to Grupo Pegasus, a leading private equity firm based in Buenos Aires and active in Argentina and Colombia, which he co-founded in 2000.

Following his MBA with highest distinction (Baker Scholar) from Harvard Business School, Michael was a senior executive at a NYSE diversified multinational conglomerate and was part of the management team that took one of its operating groups private in what was then the largest-ever leveraged buyout, PACE Industries. At PACE, he served as Senior Vice President and CFO. He was then invited to join Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., one of the world’s premier private equity funds, where he was part of the New York office. Subsequently, as President & CEO of ACCION International, he played a key role in the creation of the commercial microfinance industry, participating in the governance and founding of, among others, BancoSol (Bolivia), Mibanco (Peru) and Compartamos Banco (Mexico). He serves on the boards of Arcos Dorados and Sealed Air, both NYSE companies, and is a Trustee Emeritus of his alma mater, Dartmouth College.