Breaking Barriers: Advancing Women in Investment Management

At 100 Women in Finance, we recognize the importance of partnerships in advancing opportunities for women across the industry. NAV Fund Services, a Platinum Sponsor in 2025 and 2026, shares its perspective through the experiences of four women leaders building and growing investment firms.

More than a Service Provider: NAV’s Partnership with Women Managers

NAV Fund Services believes in the mission of elevating women in the finance industry, and for that reason, became a platinum sponsor of 100 Women in Finance in 2025 and again in 2026.

The idea that women in the industry face specific challenges to starting and growing funds resonates. Cofounded by a female and minority, Sudha Gupta, NAV understands the hurdles women encounter in financial careers. Gupta’s early experiences as CTO led to NAV’s drive to support and include women. “We at NAV reflected and started structural changes by focusing on inclusive hiring and fostering a supportive workplace for everyone, especially women.”

The allocation gap

Our clients face similar hurdles. According to Pitchbook, in 2026, female-only founders received 6.2% of total venture capital deals, and only 0.7% of VC funding, a multi-year low. This, despite the fact that some studies demonstrate that female-led funds generate more revenue per dollar and operate with higher capital efficiency.

Women are also underrepresented in private equity. A 2025 Columbia Business School study found that of the firms it surveyed, more than half had no women in senior roles, and overall, women represented just 22% of total investment professionals, most in junior and mid-level roles.

The potential for women in the industry, however, is limitless. NAV spoke with four of its female clients about women in the financial field, how their influence has grown, and how the industry can continue to improve its support for women professionals.

NAV’s Partnerships with Female Emerging Managers

NAV works with dozens of women-led funds. In addition to discounted fund administration services for women, NAV offers support through its emerging manager program with tailored fees, logistical support, and greater institutional appeal, and through its customized solutions to address female managers’ goals. As we reflect on our successful partnerships with female investors and managers, we wanted to spotlight a few remarkable client stories.

AltraVue Capital

DeShay McCluskey is co-founder and managing partner of AltraVue Capital, a minority and women-owned hedge fund based in Bellevue, Washington. McCluskey and Touk Sinantha, her co-founder, chose NAV as their administration partner in 2016, when starting their fund with $2 million AUM. The firm has grown to just under $1.5 billion AUM ten years later.

McCluskey explained that she and Sinantha were looking for three qualities in an administrator — one, a high quality of service with the best available technology at a fair price; two, a true partner, one that would work to build goodwill over time and work for the success of both AltraVue and NAV; and three, a provider who thought like a client, such as being sensitive to LPs’ OpEx expenses.

“NAV right away said, ‘We’re your partner. What can we do to support you as you grow?’” McCluskey shared. “And that meant, ‘What kind of structure do we need to put in place in terms of payment that makes sense for you now, that over time might change as you scale?’ But also, ‘What are the finer things that you need that we can get you as a newly started fund?’ That comes from a relationship and an honest conversation with a service provider who wants their partner to be successful.”

Building a fund from the ground up required bootstrapping. “We felt that we had a wealth of prior investment experience, a wealth of institutional knowledge around how to structure a fund, and we also knew how to structure an investment firm to increase the odds of investment success over the long term,” McCluskey detailed. “What we lacked at the time was a large amount of financial resources.”

Fundraising for those resources presented some challenges. McCluskey said they faced “the standard barriers that women and people of color face to scale in an industry that’s dominated by a handful of institutions and by a single group that is fairly homogenous.”

“It’s just having to do more to convince folks that you are worthy of a conversation and dealing with people offering unsolicited advice, speaking down to you, and questioning the kind of work that your spouse does,” she said. “I feel we experienced exactly what other women and minority-owned investment funds have experienced for years and continue to experience.”

Ultimately, McCluskey attributed a combination of factors to successfully scaling the fund, including structuring it correctly from day one, the partners’ combined investment know-how, market timing, and focus. “Things we did that helped increase the odds of success were going to market with a very consistent message that differentiated us, delivering a portfolio that looked different from our peers’ offerings, and ultimately achieving returns that looked better than our peers’ performances. I would say that it just took time to tell a story of: we are different and that difference is valuable.”

CenterStar

Michelin Sloneker, COO and CFO of CenterStar Asset Management, a registered investment advisor (RIA) that incubates options trading programs, has worked with NAV since 2016. CenterStar, based in Chicago, manages over $100 million in gross assets, helping new emerging managers launch funds in the options space.

As a smaller, female-led advisor, Sloneker has appreciated the access to industry connections and experts NAV provides. She explained that these connections are especially important when assessing new manager deals. “Sometimes we’re approached by emerging manager groups who have strategies in other markets outside of the options space, like crypto. NAV has been wonderful in linking us to experts in those industries.” The expert guidance has helped CenterStar better evaluate potential managers to determine if they’re a good fit.

“NAV has been a hub and spoke to help us get out there and communicate and make connections. They’re very quick to help connect me in a way that as a small group, we wouldn’t otherwise have had access to.”

For Sloneker, networking as a female has had its challenges. “When I was younger, I was more nervous about approaching people in male dominated scenarios. It was harder to actually feel comfortable in those environments. You felt like you were on display a little bit,” she said. Now that she’s an industry veteran, networking is second nature, but she finds she’s still stereotyped. “I’ll go to events and people ask ‘So are you an analyst?’ They assume that I’m a junior employee. And then I say, ‘Well, I actually run the RIA.’”

Ethos Investment Management

Patricia Ball is the COO at Ethos Investment Management, a Salt Lake City-based hedge fund with $100 million in AUM. Three years ago, she and James Fletcher, the firm’s founder, launched a unique fund where two-thirds of their revenue goes to hiring and training recent college graduates from low-income backgrounds in developing countries in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa. They migrated to NAV as their fund administrator in 2023, because they were getting poor service at a high price with their previous well-known administrator.

“When you’re an emerging fund, you’re just looking for the numbers to be right and what you’re offering to the clients to be simple and user-friendly,” Ball said. “And that’s exactly what NAV offers, which is why we’ve also recommended them to multiple people.” She also noted that they appreciate that the service they get as an emerging fund feels like the same level of service larger clients receive.

The fund currently has a team of eight international equity researchers with the goal to ultimately “build 1,000 careers in 15 years.” She lamented that only one current associate is female. “It’s harder to find women seeking a career in investments, especially in the countries we work in where this is not a well-known career path and there are still a great number of women in more traditional roles staying home and raising families.”

For Ball, mentoring and supporting women is partially about building confidence. “Confidence is the number one thing I see lacking with women — they tell me ‘I don’t think I’m smart enough for this job.’ Our current female associate, for example, originally didn’t think she knew enough. But she’s a star. She’s amazing.”

Ball also highlighted the unique qualities women bring to meetings. “These are traits that I often see in other women in the industry, but also in our female interns. They can bring a very different energy to high-stress meetings — and they are also more patient in investing. Hey. It’s proven that women are better investors.”

White Oaks Wealth Advisors

Sharon Bloodworth is CEO and owner of White Oaks Wealth Advisors, a retail investment advisor and fiduciary firm with $695 million in AUM, plus additional assets managed outside of their private funds. Bloodworth purchased the company outright in 2017, making it one of the largest women-owned independent advisory firms in Minnesota and Florida, where its offices are located.

“When I took over the firm, I was a little bit concerned about future growth,” Bloodworth said. “I knew our existing clients would be just fine, but I worried about the rate of growth we could achieve being led by a woman. In fact, it’s really our secret weapon.” Not only has the firm been able to reassure clients that their families will be taken care of if something happens to them, Bloodworth and her team also make sure women are respected and have a voice during meetings.

Helping her female clients assess risk is an important part of the job. “I think women are inherently more conservative. I spend a lot of time helping people understand risk in the markets so they feel more comfortable. I think in in our industry specifically, people think our work is dull and boring and it’s really not. You know, you change clients’ lives and help support them in very tough environments.”

NAV has played an important role in her company’s growth since 2014, when the partnership was formed. “If you partner with a fund administrator that looks after a lot of different funds, then you gain all that experience from a compliance and operational perspective. The institutional knowledge that’s been passed on to us is incredible.”

Bloodworth, whose private funds are 22 years old, doesn’t plan to retire until she’s at least 80 (24 years from now) and she’s convinced her close-knit team — who consider each other family — to stay with her forever. “In my handbag, I always carry my Blockbuster video card, because it’s a reminder that if you don’t change, you’ll die. I think one of the most important things in business is to always be evolving, and to align yourself with partners that have that same view.”

An ongoing commitment

Beyond focused female client support, NAV also champions women in the finance industry closer to home. In addition to Gupta, NAV’s CTO, the company proudly reports that its chief counsel, head of tax service, and head of HR are women.

Gupta feels that 100 Women in Finance is a powerful way to connect with successful women in the industry. “I encourage any female financial professional — whether brand new to the field or an experienced veteran — to take full advantage of this valuable and unique outlet to exchange industry information, discuss future opportunities for learning or collaboration, and celebrate personal successes in a supportive environment,” she said.

“Sharing our mutual stories of challenges, strategies to overcome them, and both unsuccessful and positive outcomes is the best way to grow both as an individual and within the field.”