Alexander Raia 2025 Speaker
Managing Director , Cauris Finance
Alec, as Managing Director at Cauris Finance, an Africa-focused private credit fund that lends growth capital to best-in-class Fintechs. He is also an Adjunct Professor at New York University’s (NYU) Center for Global Affairs where he teaches graduate classes on financial inclusion. Alec has worked in Fintech, finance and financial inclusion for nearly two decades. Prior to joining Cauris, he worked at Mastercard with a focus on Fintech strategy and as an early employee on the company’s financial inclusion team. Before Mastercard, Alec worked at Goldman Sachs in the Investment Banking Division where he provided $3B+ in M&A and financing advisory services. He started his career at the International Rescue Committee (IRC) working on economic development programs in Africa and Asia. Alec is also a start-up mentor at TechStars’ Economic Mobility accelerator, Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator (ERA), he is the President of the Board of Directors for the Institute for Immigrant Concerns (IIC), a New York-based non-profit, and he is a career mentor at American Corporate Partners (ACP), a non-profit assisting veterans find their next careers. Alec has an MBA from the Wharton School, a certificate in Global Affairs from NYU, a MS in Education from CCNY, and a BA in Economics from Vassar College. He is also pursuing a MA in International Economics and International Relations from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Alec lives in New York City.
