The Philanthropic Entrepreneur

Growing up, Bruce Gago was determined to be the first in his family to attend college. “To achieve this, I knew I needed to work harder and smarter than my peers,” says Gago, now 30. “I also knew I needed to leave my comfort zone, which is part of the reason I attended college in the frozen woods of New Hampshire [at Dartmouth College].” After college, Gago learned the nuances of real-estate finance through his work at firms Jones Lang LaSalle and The Carlyle Group. Deciding to take his education further, Gago enrolled in Harvard Business School for his MBA. “At HBS, I identified an opportunity to invest in distressed residential properties,” says Gago, of Colombian and Argentine background. “The current housing crisis has led millions of lower- and middle-income families—including many Hispanics—into foreclosure.  This motivated me to create Bay Realty Capital, a for-profit investment firm to purchase distressed homes and convert them into affordable rental housing, which would meet an important market need.”