Beatrice Advisors Launches Carrying On The Legacy Of Legendary Food Financier Reginald Lewis

Like father, like daughter!

The daughter of famous Black financier Reginald Lewis followed in her father’s footsteps by opening Beatrice Advisors to help families like hers.

Christina Lewis opened the firm to the public on June 13 in New York City. It is the first of its kind—the only Black woman-owned multi-family office. Meredith Bowen, a former partner at Seven Bridges Advisors, will serve as president and chief investment officer. As some portion of their assets will come from the family business, BFO21, and from within Lewis’s personal network, the team is insistent on moving past the status quo of sitting in a particular niche.

Lewis’ goal is to stress the importance of having a tax-efficient portfolio to next-generation inheritors, entrepreneurs and multiracial families, such as hers. She also wants to present a standard of having a solid team of investment managers, lawyers, and accountants that clients can trust over feeling like an obligation.

“The next-gen can be very under-advised, as I was and as my whole family was when my dad passed away,” she said, reminiscing on her father, who passed away when she was 12.

“He had all the intellectual capital related to investing and financial access and, of course, never expected to die at 50 years old.”

Her father held the title of the only Black person on the Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest Americans after appearing on this list in 1991 – with a $340 million fortune and an estimated net worth of $400 million – which increased in 1992. In the same year, he was diagnosed with a fatal brain tumor and died at just 50 years old in January 1993.

His estate was left to his wife, Loida Lewis and his daughters Christina and Leslie. Now, over 30 years later, she is following three mantras that her father left her: do your homework and follow through, make a plan and execute it, and be good at your job.

Beatrice, seemingly named after the groundbreaking Beatrice acquisition, curated by Christina’s father and became the first Black-owned billion-dollar company, offers a single-family office experience to clients and an innovative and tech-savvy approach encouraging clients to tailor investments around individual goals. Its current offering includes three key services: investment management, client advisory financial planning and proprietary investments.

However, Lewis isn’t just stopping there and plans to expand over time.

Former Vice President and Financial Advisor at Shufro, Rose & CoMichael Hymes, will serve on the executive team as Managing Director and Head of Client Advisory. According to a press release, Bowen spoke highly of Lewis’ leadership and said she is excited to be a part of a “new level of autonomy.”

“Meeting clients where they are now and where they will be tomorrow while providing them with a new level of autonomy is what makes Beatrice’s offering exciting,” Bowen said.

“Christina has demonstrated a unique ability to ignite meaningful change, and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to work with her and the team on building a truly differentiated set of solutions for our clients.”

The new investment firm owner also serves as the vice chair of the Reginald F. Lewis Foundation and holds the title of executive producer on an upcoming biopic surrounding her father’s life named after his autobiography “Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun?”