Marlon W. Brown is Founder and CEO of Clarendon Global Partners, LLC (CGP), and Managing Partner, Africa Vision Partners (AVP). CGP is an innovative investment advisory and investment management firm with a Pan-African and related diaspora focus. AVP is a private equity and project management firm with a Pan-African focus. Marlon is an experienced investment professional and leader with 30 years of investment management expertise rooted in a global asset management perspective. Through his work across North America, Europe, Africa and the Caribbean, he has acquired deep knowledge, connections and expertise in developing and emerging economies backed up by investment experience gained from world-class investment organizations. His work over the years across multiple disciplines of institutional finance has included, Private Equity Analysis and Deal Structuring, Portfolio Management, Investment Advisory (Banking), Investment Research, Client Portfolio Management, Asset Allocation and Portfolio Strategy, Relationship Management and Business Development, Risk Management and Insurance. Cumulative experience across these disciplines have accrued to deep knowledge and expertise and strong credibility with clients and investment partners.
Prior to founding AVP and CGP, Marlon was a senior executive and investment professional with T. Rowe Price Associates (a global money management organization with over US $1.3 trillion in assets under management world wide), where he served as Vice President of T. Rowe Price Group and led a team responsible for investment strategy and implementation for many of the firm’s largest and most sophisticated global clients including large corporations, domestic and international governments, municipalities, sovereign funds, endowments and foundations and quasi-governmental entities. During his tenure at T. Rowe Price, Marlon led the investment strategy and relationship team responsible for the opening of the Canadian institutional market for the firm and in addition to being V.P. of Group also became Vice President of T. Rowe Price, Canada. Over his distinguished career, Marlon has been responsible for the oversight and investment of over $400 billion in investable assets in a fiduciary capacity and served as trusted investment advisor for several sovereign entities including Trinidad and Tobago and the US Virgin Islands. Prior to his post at T. Rowe Price, Marlon served as a Senior Portfolio Manager for Large Growth Equities, at TRUSCO Capital Management (the institutional investment division of SunTrust Banks) where he was recognized as a top investment performer and was recognized as the “Best of the Best” across SunTrust Banks for investment performance and asset growth for consecutive calendar years. Prior to TRUSCO, Marlon served as Portfolio Manager for Large Cap Growth Equities at INVESCO Capital Management in Atlanta.
Marlon’s work on the continent of Africa began over 20 years ago when as a portfolio manager with INVESCO Capital Management he began working with the largest pool of assets on the continent – the $200+ billion Government Employee Pension Fund (GEPF) in South Africa. Marlon’s work and involvement continued across many countries on the continent and continues today resulting in some significant achievements including being a founding board member of a US non-profit that built the first pediatric hospital in Rwanda after the genocide in conjunction with local leaders and the Kagame government. Marlon also worked with the ImagineNations Non-Profit Group to develop a strategy to revitalize a 93,000 acre ranch in Tanzania in coordination with the government of President Kikwete and the DuPont Corporation. Marlon was appointed Chairman of the Board of the African Union Diaspora Initiative (AUDI/ADHI) and served in coordination with the African Union Ambassador the Americas and the AU Diaspora office in Addis Ababa. He simultaneously served as Chairman of Investment Banking and Finance for AUDI as well. AUDI was established to help coordinate and organize the resources and input of the African diaspora for economic development and positive social impact on the continent. Through CGP our team has been fortunate to work with clients such as the Ashanti Kingdom (one of the oldest monarchies on the continent) and the Ashanti King, to help them think through long term development, planning and investment for the Kingdom.
CGP is an innovative investment advisory and investment management firm that focuses on Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America and other select emerging markets. The firm’s professionals bring over 200 years of combined professional experience focused primarily on facilitating investment capital to good investable projects, helping to structure transactions and projects to attract institutional investors and providing guidance to institutional investors interested in Africa and select other frontier markets. Our executives also bring deep experience in sustainable development, innovative engineering and social value creation. AVP is a Private Equity and project management firm whose focus is Pan-African. AVP utilizes a vetted approach to structure, invest in and manage the development of large scale communities that cut across several sectors and investment categories including, Healthcare, Infrastructure, Energy, Food Security and Agriculture, and Technology. These cohesive developments (Cities of the Future) provide platforms for institutional investors to participate with enormous shared interests between governments, community leaders, commercial partners, and investors.
Marlon holds a B.Sc. degree in Engineering and a MBA with focused academic studies in International Finance and Investments. He has held several securities licenses including the : Series, 7, 6 and 63. Prior to graduate school and his career in finance, Marlon worked as an Aerospace Engineer with Lockheed Martin – the largest defense contractor in the world.