Building a Billion-Dollar Legacy with Fernando De Leon

Willy was joined by Fernando De Leon, Founder and CEO of Leon Capital Group, a family holding company that built and operates a portfolio exceeding $10 billion in assets across multiple businesses in healthcare, financial services, and real estate. He and Willy discussed his humble upbringing as the youngest of six and the drive that was instilled in him at a young age, his educational and career trajectory – including leaving Goldman Sachs to give into the entrepreneurial bug, his experience building Leon Capital Group, his management style and how to create competitive advantages, growth opportunities he’s seeing, and much more. Key Points In The Webcast: 00:00 Introduction 01:34 Willy introduces Fernando De Leon 02:39 Where Fernando’s passion comes from 05:11 Being an excellent speller 06:51 How a “no” is the best challenge 08:16 Getting a Harvard scholarship and lessons learned 12:25 Working in Goldman Sachs 13:42 Fernando’s early entrepreneurial experience 18:32 Should kids be taught entrepreneurship early? 20:45 Carlos Slim as an early investor 23:47 Creating Leon Capital as a private family office 27:28 How private equity firms benefit pensioners 28:45 Is the U.S. becoming too soft? 31:53 Any new developments in Leon Capital? 33:53 The humbling shift out of retail 35:56 Considering data centers in the industrial space 36:59 The possibility of nuclear power 37:57 The state of the multi-family market 39:49 Diversification of Leon Capital’s assets 44:46 The challenge of owning large-scale businesses 47:44 What does Fernando’s day look like? 50:44 Spinning businesses into publicly traded companies 52:56 Insights into consumer finance 54:24 Any plans on going into senior housing? 55:37 Organization’s qualifications for a scholarship 56:51 Allowing children to discover their path 58:45 Where is Leon Capital headed? GET NOTIFIED about upcoming shows: » Subscribe to our YouTube channel here:    / @walkerdunlop   » See upcoming guests on the #WalkerWebcast here: https://www.walkerdunlop.com/webcasts Related webcasts: Tune in on Wednesdays for fresh perspectives about leadership, business, the economy, commercial real estate, and more! #WillyWalker hosts a diverse network of leaders as they share the wisdom that cuts across industry lines. Check out our previous videos: » Full playlist:    • Walker Webcast   Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1z3wDGM... Follow us: » LinkedIn:   / walker-&-dunlop   » Facebook:   / walkerdunlop   » Twitter:   / walkerdunlop   » Instagram:   / walkerdunlop   POSTING POLICY: Please bear in mind that this is a public and professional platform. We’ll do our best to ensure that our postings on this page comply with our standards, which prohibit content that: • is abusive, defamatory, threatening, or obscene • is fraudulent, deceptive, or misleading • violates the copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, right of privacy, right of publicity, or other intellectual property right of another • contains or links to any virus, worm, Trojan horse, or other forms of malware or harmful code • contains the personal information of others, such as names, addresses, and telephone numbers • violates any law or regulation • is otherwise offensive. We expect users not to post content that violates our standards. We cannot monitor postings or discussions in advance, but we reserve the right to remove any posting that does not meet our standards.