Cyril Meduña, Partner
Cyril is the Founder and Managing Partner of Advent-Morro Equity Partners, Puerto Rico’s first and largest private equity firm. As an industry agnostic growth equity investor, over the past 25 years, the firm has launched or partnered with over 60 companies, most of which have grown to become leaders in their respective industries in Puerto Rico – including, healthcare, telecommunications, education, fintech, food distribution, and shipping. As of December 31, 2020, Advent-Morro’s portfolio companies had generated over $4.0 billion in annual sales and employed over 3,500 people, making a significant contribution to Puerto Rico’s economy. In 2015, Cyril led the effort to form Parallel18, a leading tech accelerator based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. In 2018, he co-founded Morro Venture an early-stage venture firm that supports Parallel18 graduates and deepens the tech ecosystem on the island. Cyril has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an M.B.A from George Washington University. He is married to María Luisa and has three daughters, Catalina, Tatiana, and Victoria.
Allison Kern, Partner
Allison joined Advent-Morro Equity Partners in March 2017 from StarVest Partners, a $250 million expansion-stage venture capital fund based in New York. At StarVest Partners, she was the sole support to the three partners and led deal sourcing and due diligence for the fund. She was also acting Board Observer to three of StarVest’s portfolio companies – Persado, a cognitive content platform for marketers; Ceros, an interactive content creation and management platform; and Take the Interview, a video interviewing and candidate engagement platform for human resource teams. Previous to StarVest, Allison was an investment analyst reporting to the CIO of a $5 billion emerging markets hedge fund within the Carlyle Group. At Carlyle, she analyzed emerging market stocks based on macro trends and industry disruptions. Allison began her career working across equities, debt, mergers and acquisitions (“M&A”), and restructuring to progress the Royal Bank of Scotland’s strategic plan to dispose of assets in its government-mandated “bad bank” and promote the future operations of the firm. Allison graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.
José Tomás Echeverría, Senior Associate
José Tomás joined Morro Ventures in April of 2022. Born and raised in Santiago, Chile, his focus lies in seeking to expand the Morro Ventures footprint through Latin America by focusing on early-stage investment opportunities. Before Morro Ventures, José Tomás spent three years working at Consorcio, a leading Chilean insurance company with over $10 billion in AUM. At Consorcio, José Tomás was part of the Investment Risk & Research team that covered the financial, infrastructure, and automotive industries, among others, with credit operations ranging from $10 to $800 million. In addition, he participated in the $10 million Corporate Venture Capital program at Consorcio for two years as a portfolio manager. During his time at university, José Tomás joined Morro Ventures’ affiliate, Advent-Morro, as an intern for six months, following a three-month internship at Hilton Worldwide in their headquarters in Mclean, VA. José Tomás graduated from the School of Business & Economics at the Universidad de Chile, with a bachelor’s degree in business administration.