Joseph Leitmann Santa Cruz, CEO & Executive Director, Capital Area Asset Builders (CAAB)
Joseph Leitmann-Santa Cruz is the CEO & Executive Director of the Washington, DC-based non-profit organization Capital Area Asset Builders (CAAB). He is an Asset Building, Financial Capability and Financial Services professional with over 20 years of experience in a broad spectrum of executive management, strategic planning, program & project management, team management, business development and investment strategy & portfolio management in 1) the Asset Building field working with Non-Profit Organizations, Small Business Entrepreneurs and Low- and Moderate-Income Families, and 2) the Wealth Management and Investment Management fields servicing Wealth Management Firms, High-Net-Worth Individuals & Families, Endowments, Foundations and Retirement Plans. Joseph was previously CAAB's Acting Executive Director, Deputy Director and Director of External Relations.
At CAAB, Joseph oversees CAAB’s management, strategic planning implementation, and relationships with key funding supporters, private sector employers, media organizations, elected officials in Washington, DC and individual donors.
Prior to joining CAAB, for over 2 ½ years Joseph was Managing Director of Investment Operations & Portfolio Management at McLean Asset Management, a wealth management firm in McLean, Virginia. Before that position, for over 8 ½ years Joseph was Vice President of Client Services & Managed Accounts at Advisor Partners, LLC, an institutional money management firm in San Francisco, California. His first job was with the San Francisco, California-based global investment management firm Dresdner RCM Global Investors where he worked with corporate retirement and pension plans throughout the US.
Joseph is a guest speaker and analyst on personal financial planning, tax planning, tax credits for low- and moderate-income families, asset building and other socio-economic matters. Recently he has been interviewed by or quoted in English and Spanish in The New York Times, PBS News Hour, NPR Marketplace, Bloomberg, PBS American Graduate Day, NPR News' All Things Considered, The Kojo Nnamdi Show, Comcast's Newsmakers, The Right Side with Armstrong Williams, SiriusXM Urban View, NewsChannel 8's Hispanic Agenda, La Opinion, El Diario La Prensa, CBS Radio-WZLZ, Telemundo's Agenda, ARLnow.com, Pacifica Radio Network-WPFW, El Tiempo Latino, El Pregonero, H.U.R. Voices on SiriusXM, WHUT's Vocal Point, DC Radio-96.3FM, WERA Radio Arlington, Street Sense, AFRO, The Washington Informer, East of the River Magazine, Washington Hispanic, Telemundo-Washington, Radio America-WACA, La Nueva-WDCN, Guadalupe Radio Network-WMET and Howard University Radio-WHUR.
Joseph holds a BA in International Relations from San Francisco State University. Joseph is also a proud graduate of the Leadership Greater Washington's Rising Leaders Program (2015), Center for Nonprofit Advancement's Executive Preparation Institute (2017), Georgetown University's Nonprofit Management Executive Certificate Program (2018), Boston College's Certificate in Nonprofit Leadership (2019), the University of Oxford's Executive Leadership Programme (2020), and American University's Certificate in Analytics & Management (2021). Joseph is currently pursuing a Master of Public Policy at American University.
Joseph is also involved with supporting non-profit organizations in the Washington metropolitan region: providing pro bono financial planning classes with Washington Area Community Investment Fund (WACIF) and Latino Economic Development Center (LEDC) and having served from 2014-2017 in the Board of Directors of Dream Project, Inc. Previously, Joseph has been a Member of the Investment Committee of The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia, Strategy Advisor to the Executive Director of the Hispanic Committee of Virginia and intern for the United National High Commissioner for Refugees in Ankara, Turkey and Flughafen Frankfurt/Main AG in Frankfurt, Germany.
Joseph lives in Arlington, Virginia with his wife and their two children.