Local-girl-made-good Diandra Weaver grew up in Hialeah Gardens, graduated from Coral Gables High and went off to Yale to double in economics and international affairs. She interned at J.P. Morgan Private Bank in investment banking, a financial sector legendary for its brutal work life, and after graduation took a post on its electronic trading desk.
“Honestly, I loved it,” she says. “I love the trading floor. I’m more of a morning person, and so you start very early in the morning. And then it feels like it’s nonstop. It’s loud. It’s lively. The people are incredibly intelligent and passionate about what they do.” She worked with institutional clients and algorithms, quantitative analysts and development teams, before eight years ago putting in for a post that would return her to her hometown in the private bank office for Miami and Puerto Rico. She wanted to go “to what drew me to the industry in the first place, which was markets and global affairs and what drives the markets,” she says.
Today, she’s managing director and head of investments and advice at J.P. Morgan Private Bank in Miami. Clients are wealthy individuals, families, endowments, foundations. She’s married to Fort Lauderdale sports medicine physician Martin Weaver, and they have a toddler son, Arlo. This spring, when her boss, Alonso Garza, head of investments and advice, became market manager, she put in for his role. She saw an opportunity to shape team strategy, develop talent, impact the community and “be a voice at the table when decisions are being made.” She’s a past member of Morgan Circle, a recognition of client service and contribution to the firm reserved for the top 2% of advisors firm-wide.
As head of investments and advice, Weaver leads a team of 15 and works with the broader institution to accomplish client goals. Says Weaver of the transition, “Like anything new, it’s a flood of information, and you feel inefficient, and you’re figuring things out. But I know this team. I’ve been on this team for eight years now, and everyone’s been incredibly supportive and patient and helpful. I think I’ve been really lucky. I’ve really been enjoying thinking through the strategy of the team and refocusing what we’re working on, getting to know my colleagues and my partners on a different level. And it’s been really special.”