Andrew Baker is the founder of Financial Haus, a financial advisory firm “for millennials” based in San Diego, CA. He has spent his whole career providing financial advice. His current client base consists predominantly of private sector employees within 15 years of retirement, government and state employees, medical professionals, the LGBT community, and young professionals seeking proactive financial strategies.

Our conversation starts in rural Pennsylvania, where Andrew grew up but quickly realized he did not wish to build his career, and we speak about how how he found the calling of financial advisory work and the satisfaction that he derives from it.

We turn to the importance of authenticity in the workplace and how realizing that he needed to be true to himself enabled Andrew to give his best to his clients.

Michael Camuñez is President and CEO of Monarch Global Strategies, a binational advisory firm providing C-suite strategic counsel on cross-border growth, government engagement, supply chains, and geopolitical risk across the United States, Mexico, and North America. He is also Chair of PRISM: The Association of LGBTQ+ Corporate Directors. He writes a Substack called North of Ordinary where he writes about leadership, identity, and the institutions that shape our common life. Drawing on experience across public service, business, and civil society, he explores how leaders steward institutions in an unsettled age. Bloomberg named him one of the 100 most influential Latinos in the world in 2022, and in 2025 the National Association of Corporate Directors recognized him as one of the Top 100 Corporate Directors.

Our conversation tracks Michael’s extraordinary career, from his childhood, through his legal career, his time in the Obama administration and his views on board roles and the importance of diversity. We speak in detail about his recent speech on The Case for LGBTQ Representation in the Board Room – and its key takeaways?

· Homogeneity breeds overconfidence; but dissent produces wisdom.

· In short, LGBTQ leaders make boards stronger not because of who we love, but because of whatwe’ve learned: how to listen, how to lead, and how to live authentically in a world that too often rewards conformity

· The Courage Recession and the Return of Silence

Michael continues to reflect on the state of diversity and inclusion in the boardroom and corporate America today. HIs recent essay on the topic is available here: https://open.substack.com/pub/michaelccamunez/p/an-unimaginable-life?r=13hev&utm_medium=ios

Stuart Armstrong has had a 40 plus year career as a lead advisor with Centinel Financial Group and is based in Massachusetts. He graduated from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania with a degree in Biology. Stuart has obtained various industry designations and certifications, and served a three-year term from 2013 through 2015 on the National Board of Directors for the Financial Planning Association (FPA), the largest organized body of financial planners in the United States. He currently serves on the Mass Audubon Advisory Council.

Our conversation charts his entry into a financial advisory career, the backdrop that prevailed in the financial world at that time, and his early work with the LGBTQ+ client community. He then shares some of is personal journey being HIV positive and the mindset that enabled him to withstand the stress and anxiety that the illness caused. He has recently been conducting multiple reflections on his career and what it has meant to serve the LGBT community throughout and the value he has sought to add.