As a second generation Hispanic-American, Samuel A. Ramirez Jr. is very thankful towards the generations before him.

He gives them high praise as “pioneers” and credits them with laying the foundation for him to reach the heights he has reached.

Ramirez Jr. is currently the managing director and fixed income specialist at the investment bank, brokerage and advisory firm, Ramirez & Co., one of the oldest Hispanic-owned full service investment firms in the United States.

In his role, he has led the development and growth of the firm’s core divisions: institutional and retail sales and trading, public finance, and corporate banking. In 2002, he established Ramirez Asset Management (RAM), an affiliated SEC-registered RIA focused on fixed income asset management for institutional public and private pension funds, corporations and state and local governments.

However, in celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, Ramirez is continually amazed by the past and present achievements that the Latino and Hispanic communities make to U.S. society.

Despite the fact that there are more than two dozen groups that make up the Latino community, he highlighted three common trends that run through all of them: a love of family, strong faith, and a sense of hard work.

“Our community’s hard working and entrepreneurial,” he said. 

According to The Hispanic Small Business Report, one out of every seven businesses in the United States is run by a Hispanic-American entrepreneur. 

The three aforementioned values are what helped his father, Samuel A. Ramirez Sr., find the success he found. In 1971, his father became the first Hispanic to launch a successful investment banking firm.

“My father defied the odds through hard work, and accomplished a tremendous amount, and continues building on that legacy today,” said Ramirez.

Several years later when Ramirez Jr. entered the workforce, he had already obtained those values instilled by his father and mother. Those guiding principles have aided his professional career, and those are the same core values he is instilling in his three children.

Ramirez Jr. said he is thankful for his parents’ strength in defying their economic circumstances and providing him with the life they have. He is proud to carry their torch.

And when he thinks about what it means to be Hispanic, he always goes back to those values - hard work, strong faith, and a love of family.