Landsberg Bennett Team Jose Villarreal Charris

Jose Villarreal Charris, CFA®

Senior Portfolio Analyst

Born and raised in Barranquilla in Colombia, the youngest of three children, I was always interested in meeting new people from different cultures. Attending a German high school in an academic exchange program proved to be a critical point for me — one of several early international experiences.

I speak Spanish, German and English and studied international business and logistics as an undergraduate at Universidad del Norte in my hometown. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree, I took a job nearby in logistics administration at Cabify, an Uber competitor, and soon received an offer from party balloon maker Sempertex, where I worked as a specialist managing international orders.

I moved to the U.S. in 2018 to start an MBA program at the Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, gaining experience as a business analyst intern at Massey Services and as a programming intern at the Golf Channel, both in Orlando.

The Rollins program was a nice experience. I graduated in May 2020 with concentrations in finance and operations management, and joined Landsberg Bennett as a portfolio analyst the following month. Here I conduct research and look for opportunities to improve portfolio performance, and have taken on the trading function.

The experience at Landsberg Bennett has been great. It’s like a family, honestly. Everyone takes care of each other, looks after each other. This is my first finance job and I see a good opportunity to grow professionally here because the company is growing.

Outside the office I enjoy watching soccer, reading and, before the pandemic, spending time with friends. I serve on the Hemophilia Foundation of Greater Florida board of directors and keep in close touch with my family.