Synergist Senior Sound Bites - August 2020:
Alexia Cesar

Background
Alexia Cesar is a Vice President at General Atlantic and focuses on the firm's investments in the Healthcare sector. Prior to joining General Atlantic in 2019, Alexia oversaw the Medicaid Managed Care program at Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services. Prior to that Alexia was an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company in the Healthcare Practice, where she served clients in the government, pharmaceutical, payor and provider sectors.

Tell us about your background:
I’m originally from London, England but moved to the US for college in 2008. I did all my pre-med requirements at Yale and originally planned to become a doctor. After I graduated I went to McKinsey and instead of leaving for medical school fell in love with the healthcare industry. I stayed at McKinsey for 4 years and worked on projects in healthcare systems around the world, including on reforming the health system in the UK and fighting the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. I left McKinsey to join the Massachusetts State Government in the Baker Administration where I developed and implemented health policy for programs serving over a million Medicaid members. I then attended Harvard Business School where I decided to make the shift into healthcare investing. Now I am a Vice President at General Atlantic on the Healthcare team and live in New York with my husband Sam.   

Favorite / most challenging part of your job:
I have always loved working in the healthcare system, in part because you can make an important difference in people’s lives and in part because its complexity makes me feel like I’m solving a gigantic puzzle. Before I make an investment I want to understand the company and sector inside and out, both so I can feel confident in my decision and so I can be a helpful partner to management during value creation. I’m lucky that my job gives me an incredible vantage point across the healthcare industry and access to the most exciting entrepreneurs and companies innovating within it. The most challenging part of the job is managing this universe of opportunity and figuring out how to prioritize my time, whether that be deciding on the right sub-sector for sourcing, or which of the many possible diligence angles is most important.

What are some of the skills needed to be successful in investing?
This is a competitive industry filled with smart and motivated people. So you’ll need to excel at all the baseline skills required to do the job; analytical rigor, ability to stay focused on what matters, capacity to build rapport with management teams etc. But start thinking about what you want your ‘edge’ to be and how to develop that – what is it that you excel at? Why should an entrepreneur choose you as a partner? Answering these questions will help you carve out a niche for yourself in a crowded field.

Advice for people starting out at the beginning of their careers:  
It sounds obvious… But, figure out what you naturally enjoy and do it! If you are doing what you love, you are naturally developing the skills and network that will help you continue to excel in work that you enjoy and progress in a career path that is right for you. I see a lot of people doing jobs that they don’t enjoy because they think it is the “right” path to take. It is easy to become trapped if you do this; the more you focus your energy on activities or roles that you do not enjoy, the better at them you will become and the harder it will be to make a change to something new. Just like investing, skill-building is all about compounding. Small improvements on a daily basis accrue over time to large gains!

Balancing personal with work?
I’ve accepted that there will always be some level of unpredictability in any intense job. Early in my career, I avoided making plans because I didn’t want to have to cancel them if work got in the way. Now, I just go ahead and schedule the things that I want to do in my personal life. This gives me more of an incentive to get my work done within certain boundaries and most of the time I can make things work. But, it also means that there are occasional times when I do have to cancel my plans. I am lucky that my husband is in the same industry and understands!

What are your hobbies?
My husband and I love travelling and eating out in NYC. We’ve had to find new hobbies during the COVID-19 pandemic - instead we’ve taken up cooking and playing online Pictionary with our families. 

What can we do to make a positive impact on gender equality at our organization?
There are many systematic and organizational changes that are needed to create diverse and inclusive workplaces. One thing I’m particularly passionate about is pushing for diverse hiring panels to make sure we are exposed to a broad range of talent for every position we hire, whether that is internally or within our portfolio companies. There are many processes that we can improve upon and I’d encourage everyone to find a small niche where they can make a difference.

On an individual level, there is an Oprah Winfrey quote that resonates with me: “Excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism”. This motivates me every day to speak up, work hard and perform at my best.

Favorite book? Podcast? Source of news?
I like to begin my morning with a quick perusal of the NYT + Fortune’s ‘The Broadsheet’ which is billed as “the daily dish on the world’s most powerful women” - link here.

Thank you for your time, Alexia! To learn more about General Atlantic, click here.