Jack Heffernan has nearly 40 years of experience in asset-backed securitization, structured finance, and investment banking, with a strong focus on emerging and frontier markets. He is currently an investment banker at YA Capital in New York, focusing on early stage investment in fintech companies, especially those that foster financial inclusion. His current client list includes companies from Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean Islands.

Jack began his career in Kidder Peabody, where he developed a keen interest in mortgage and asset backed securitization. He went on to trade and sell these securities during tenures at Dean Witter Reynolds, Smith Barney and Cantor Fitzgerald.

Jack’s focus shifted to impact investing in 2003, when he joined an affordable housing project in Honduras as an investor and CFO, securing financing and political risk insurance from the Overseas Private Investment Corp (the U.S. development finance institution).

At Cantor Fitzgerald, where he worked from 2008, Jack led structured finance projects, focusing on specialty finance companies and expanding Cantor’s presence in emerging markets. He was a consultant on the formation of the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Corporation (NMRC), a significant institution in the country’s housing finance sector. He also provided the idea for an indigenous fund for affordable housing projects in Nigeria, served on the formation committee, and the Family Homes Fund was launched in 2018.