TopVet: Charles Patrick Garcia, Investment Fund Manager

Charles Patrick Garcia has served as chairman and chief executive officer of Sterling Financial Investment Group since the company was founded in September 1997.

Today, the company has more than 400 associates in 53 offices in ten countries. In January 2001, a statewide competition sponsored by the University of Florida honored Sterling Financial as Florida’s "Fastest Growing Privately-Held Firm." There are over 100,000 corporations in the State of Florida.

Prior to founding Sterling Financial, Mr. Garcia co-managed a private equity fund investing in the securities of regional banks and thrifts, where he was recognized as a pioneer in shareholder activism. His investment and legal strategies enabled the fund to grow from $15 million in 1993 to nearly $70 million in 1997.

In February 2001, the Univision television network began airing a 30-second profile of Mr. Garcia for its series "Orgullo Hispano," which chronicles Hispanics who have made an exceptional impact on the culture and life of American society. Mr. Garcia is only the 20th person to be honored since the series began five years ago. Some of the other featured Hispanics include boxer Oscar de La Hoya; Ellen Ochoa, the first Hispanic female astronaut in the United States space program; pop singer Ricky Martin; U.S. Army medic Alfred Rascon, who received the Congressional Medal of Honor for valor and heroism in Vietnam; actress Salma Hayek whom People magazine voted one of the 50 "Most Beautiful People" in the world; and Louis Caldera, who President Clinton named the 17th Secretary of the Army in 1998.

In 1988, President Ronald Reagan selected Mr. Garcia to serve as one of 14 White House Fellows, a prestigious program in which approximately one dozen professionals are selected from more than 2,000 applicants from around the country. As a White House Fellow, Mr. Garcia, who has a master’s degree in public administration, worked for former Goldman Sachs Chairman John C. Whitehead at the U.S. State Department focusing on international narcotics policy. Mr. Garcia also served in President George Bush’s Administration, working for "Drug Czar" William J. Bennett.

Mr. Garcia graduated from the Air Force Academy, where he became the fourth highest-ranking officer in his class, leading over 4,400 cadets. His peers elected him chairman of the Cadet Honor Committee; he was also awarded the "Class of 1983 Honor and Ethics Trophy," an honor bestowed on the graduating senior who "most personified the ideals of personal integrity."

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