ACG LA | Investing in Diversity Panel

Karen A. Clark serves as the Multicultural Strategy Manager at City National Bank, where she works with internal partners across business lines to help solidify City National’s commitment to inclusion.

Ms. Clark develops marketing and advertising strategies to serve clients from diverse communities while also building partnerships that are beneficial to multicultural business development. Additionally, she manages inclusion initiatives through the bank’s 12 Employee Resource Groups. Ms. Clark facilitated City National’s Unconscious Bias training and is a member of the CEO-sponsored Diversity, Equity and Inclusion task force.

Prior to joining City National, Ms. Clark worked with U.S. Bank from 2005 to 2010, where she started its multicultural marketing department. Before that, she built a development department and raised between $4 and 6 million per year at Operation HOPE, Inc., a nonprofit organization. She also served in a variety of roles at Bank of America between 1989 and 2000, including commercial real estate construction lending and international corporate diversity. 

Active in the community, Ms. Clark serves on five nonprofit boards in addition to coaching and speaking on personal branding, inclusive ally-ship and leadership, as well as financial fitness. She is an actor, singer, songwriter and producer. Her sophomore album, the Karen A. Clark Project, is available on iTunes and other digital outlets. Her third album and debut book are expected in 2020.

Ms. Clark earned her bachelor’s degree in economics from California State University, Sacramento and attended Columbia Business School’s digital marketing program as well as Harvard Business School’s strategic marketing management program. She received the 2020 President’s Award from Forgiving for Living, the Champion of Leadership 2019 Award from the Black Women Lawyers Association, the Diversity Leadership Award from the National Diversity Council in 2019 and 2015, the Corporate Board Leader Award from the National Association of Women in Real Estate Businesses, and earned the Vanguard Award - L.A.’s Most Influential African Americans in 2017 from the National Action Network. Under Ms. Clark’s leadership, City National ranked among Forbes’ “Best Employers for Diversity” from 2018 to 2020.

Rich Grant joined the team in February 2021 as a Director. Prior to joining the team, he was a Director at Growth Operators, a Minneapolis-based consulting firm focused on advisory & outsourced Finance & HR transformation of PE Backed Organizations. Prior to that, Mr. Grant worked in Publishing at Arizent (formerly SourceMedia), and SaaS Sales at Cision. Academically, Rich attended Colgate University earning a B.A. in Sociology & Anthropology with a minor in African American Studies while playing for their Division One FCS Football Team.

Iris Hosea is the co-founder of Festively. Festively is a new custom gifts and celebration marketplace to find and book trendy and unique elements for any celebration, including balloons, custom cakes, cookies, catering, rentals and more.

As the co-founder of Festively, she is passionate about bridging the digital divide for women and minority-owned small businesses in the events and celebration industry. With Festively, small businesses get to showcase their products or services on a custom website that provides them with real time sales data, saves time with automated transactions and provides an additional sales channel for increased revenue.

Festively also provides its business partners with community support from like-minded business owners who share best practices and tips via expert interviews on Festively’s social media channels: Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.

Hosea has more than 15 years of experience in event planning for fortune 500 corporations. She has planned community events, media events and celebrations both big and small for Southern California Edison, American Airlines, Harley Davidson and more. In addition to co-founding Festively, she serves chief of staff to the vice president of Southern California Edison’s energy procurement and management department.

Hosea is the former co-founder of Sankofa Excursions, a travel agency that conducted tours to West Africa. With her company, she adopted a children’s orphanage in Ghana providing them with much needed toiletries, school supplies and books throughout the year.

Iris has a bachelor's degree in communications from Cal State Dominguez Hills. She was in the midst of her MBA program, then took a break for some real world experience to become the co-founder of Festively. She loves to volunteer and has served as a trainer for the American Red Cross, volunteered with Great Beginnings for Black Babies, LA Food Bank and the Social Justice Learning Institute. She is a wife and mother of two boys ages seven and nine

Rosario began her career in public accounting at HCVT over 15 years ago. She provides audit services to clients primarily in the manufacturing, retail, and distribution industries, focusing on the food and beverage, aerospace and defense, consumer goods, and grocery sectors. She also serves companies in media & entertainment, including companies in film finance, production, and distribution. In addition to audit and assurance services, Rosario provides mergers and acquisition services for both sell-side and buy-side transactions, including quality of earnings analysis, working capital analysis, and post-closing price adjustments related to earn-outs and working capital.

Rosario received a degree in accountancy from Pepperdine University. She is a Certified Public Accountant in California, a member of the California Society of Certified Public Accountants, and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. She is also a member of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG), ProVisors, and the Latino Deal Makers. Active in her community, Rosario is a board member and treasurer of The Children’s Clinic in Long Beach and participates as a guest speaker at various accounting programs. Rosario co-leads HCVT’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee and is a member of the firm’s women’s initiative, Women@HCVT.