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Francisco Fernandez: «I Need to Digest What Happened»
Avaloq co-founder Francisco Fernandez tells finews.com about his bitterest defeats and sweetest triumphs in the last 35 years – and why he cleaned toilets in the factory his mother worked in as a teenager.
You’ve had a fairly big year, right?
Some people say 2020 is one to forget. I don't think so – it's an important year in my life.
You founded this company – which you fostered from a start-up to $2.23 billion sale to NEC – before you and your wife had kids.
Before I even met my wife, actually. I have sort of a family here and then a private family – and I feel responsible for both, of course. Selling Avaloq is a big milestone in my work life as well as in the history of the company itself.
You said that your seven-year-old daughter cried when you told her you were selling Avaloq.
I was surprised – she said she wanted to take over one day. She’s good at math. But we couldn’t wait for another 20 years of course!
You originally wanted your older daughter to take over, but she didn’t want to.
My older daughter decided to go a completely different route [Laura Fernandez Gromova is the first soloist at the Stanislavsky Theatre in Moscow]. I tried initially at the beginning, but that was without any chance. It doesn't fit her plans at all to sit in an office and manage companies. She has as high of ambitions in her professional life as I had in my business life.
When you look back at nearly 30 years now, when did you know you wanted to be an entrepreneur?
Oh that matured very, very early [laughs], in the first couple of weeks.
You were working for Martin Ebner’s BZ Bank.
Yes, this man impressed me with his entrepreneurial skills and attitude to want to change things, never accept the status quo. And the other thing to become an entrepreneur is falling in love with the right problem that inspires you.
«Put your money where your mouth is. I loved this!»
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2023 Board of Directors
Frank Fernandez joined the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta in August 2020, where he leads one of America’s top 20 largest community foundations. The united power of his prior experience and the anchor institution’s 70 plus years of regional leadership combine as a force for good, championing equity and shared prosperity for all who call the Atlanta region home.
Frank builds upon the Foundation’s exceptional resources, leveraging a full range of assets – human, reputational and financial – to pursue equity of opportunity through servant leadership, sustainable change making in both systems and place-based work as well as through inspired giving that ultimately fulfills the Foundation’s mission to lead our region toward equity and shared prosperity for all. To that end, during the pandemic and in partnership with the United Way of Greater Atlanta, he led programming to raise and deploy $30M in grants to the nonprofit front lines.
Prior to joining the Foundation, he served for six years as the Senior Vice President for The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, where he led transformational revitalization of Atlanta’s Westside while simultaneously directing Blank’s community development, global giving, health access and social justice initiatives.
A recognized leader on affordable housing, transportation and economic development, Fernandez’ 15 years in management positions in Texas prior to joining the Blank Foundation included eight years leading Green Doors, an Austin nonprofit devoted to transforming lives and neighborhoods and five years as Deputy Director of PeopleFund, a community development financial institution. His work has been honored with the 2005 Austin Livable City Vision Award, the 2008 Austin Under 40 Nonprofit Leadership Award and the 2012 Ernst and Young Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award. He currently serves as a member of the Mission Investors Exchange Board of Directors. Frank is an ADL and The Aspen Institut After graduating from law school, partner Francis E. Fernandez worked for several years as a labor lawyer for the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board, United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO, and the California Department of Occupational Health & Safety (Cal-OSHA.) During the next six years he represented the most powerless and unorganized segment of our community–criminal defendants– in dozens of trials. At Kazan Law Mr. Fernandez represents workers who are seriously ill as a result of exposure to asbestos and other toxins. He advocates for persons against powerful defendants who refuse to compensate his clients for injuring them. Mr. Fernandez’s labor, occupational health and safety experience, and trial skills help him obtain substantial recoveries for clients. One of the trial verdicts about which he is most proud involved an 80 year old widower who was diagnosed with mesothelioma. His case was resolved before trial with all defendants except one. Mr. Fernandez felt he did not have a strong, triable case against this defendant and offered to dismiss it in exchange for a waiver of costs. The company stubbornly refused our offer and Mr. Fernandez therefore tried the case, rallying together the best evidence he could. The jury awarded his client damages of $905,000. In addition to his work at Kazan Law, Mr. Fernandez serves on the Board of a number of non-profit community organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area which help people who are having difficulty obtaining food, shelter, clothing and basic human rights. Education Bar and Court Admissions Organizations Dress made of raw beef worn by Lady Gaga On September 12, 2010, American singer Lady Gaga wore a dress to the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards made entirely out of raw beef. Designed by Franc Fernandez and styled by Nicola Formichetti, the dress was condemned by animal rights groups, while named by Time as the top fashion statement of 2010. It has since been remembered as one of the most iconic pop moments of the 2010s and MTV Video Music Awards history. The press speculated on the originality of the idea, with comparisons made to similar images found in contemporary art and popular culture. As with her other dresses, it was archived, but went on display in 2011 at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame after being preserved by taxidermists as a type of jerky. Following this, the dress was then transferred to the Newseum in Washington D.C. As of 2019, the dress is displayed in Las Vegas at the Haus of Gaga museum inside the Park MGM casino. Gaga explained following the awards ceremony that the dress was a statement about one's need to fight for what one believes in, and highlighted her opposition to the U.S. military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Gaga was the most nominated artist at 2010's Video Music Awards with a record thirteen nominations, including two nods for Video of the Year (the first female artist to achieve this feat). She arrived in an Alexander McQueen dress and armadillo shoes and changed into a Giorgio Armani number before donning her third and final outfit of the evening: a dress, hat, boots, and purse made of raw meat. Gaga wore the meat dress to accept her Video of the Year trophy for "Bad Romance"; as she accepted the award from presenter Cher, she joked, "I never thought I'd be asking Cher to hold my meat purse." Gaga continued to wear the dress after the awards show for press photos and an interview on The Elle
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Meat dress of Lady Gaga
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