Originally from Massachusetts, Franco lived in Chile during fourth and fifth grade and later moved to Maryland to attend the University of Maryland, bringing a bilingual, international perspective to his client work. He began in kinesiology before transitioning to economics and immediately grew a liking toward M&A. At UMD, Franco helped professionalize the College Park Student Investment Group (CPSIG) as Vice President and then President, rewriting its constitution, launching its student-run investment fund that achieved ~30% growth in his senior year, delivering regular education to members, and ultimately facilitating the fund’s sale to another student organization for continuity. He also co-founded DogHouseFit through the Startup Shell accelerator, gaining hands-on experience in customer discovery, product iteration, and operating discipline.
Franco also tested his skills in multiple competitive settings on different teams, including a first-place finish in Stifel’s M&A case competition, a top-10 national placement in J.P. Morgan’s consulting case competition, a Morgan Stanley stock pitch, and a third-place finish in the CFA Institute Research Challenge, the highest placement UMD ever achieved, with a fundamentals-driven thesis on Franklin Templeton. Professionally, he supported commercial real estate underwriting at Alma Bank and later joined J.P. Morgan’s Home Lending organization, where he worked on generative-AI enablement and created onboarding materials adopted by ~12,000 employees.
Franco earned a B.A. in Economics from the University of Maryland and is fluent in Spanish. Now putting down roots in Charlotte, Franco enjoys spending time with his family and girlfriend, getting outside to explore the Carolinas, and curating a growing collection of PSA-graded trading cards.
