Posse New York Welcomes New Advisory Board Members
Posse is delighted to welcome Natalee Graham and Mercedes Chatfield-Taylor as the newest members of the New York advisory board.
With almost 20 years of industry experience, Natalee Graham is a managing director and head of volcker compliance at Mizuho Americas, LLC. Natalee is also a Brandeis University Posse alumna, having been a member of the first Posse from New York City to attend Brandeis.
As a Posse alumna, Natalee says she has always believed in creating networks that go on to build stronger communities.
“The aspect of Posse’s mission that resonates with me the most is the premise that a diverse group of student leaders can serve as the catalyst for individual and community development,” she says. “It is those strong, diverse leaders that hold space for others, create seats at tables and navigate uncharted waters with patience and grace.”
Natalee is co-founder of the first Black employee resource group at Mizuho: the Mizuho African Descent Employees Network (MADE), which focuses on identifying and implementing initiatives to foster cultural awareness, inclusion and appreciation for the value of diversity. She received the Mizuho Securities President’s Special Achievement Award and represented the Americas and Compliance Department in Tokyo in 2016; in 2018, she participated in the Mizuho Future Leaders Development Program.
As a Posse alumna, Natalee says she has always believed in creating networks that go on to build stronger communities.
Natalee earned her bachelor’s degree in politics from Brandeis University and a Juris Doctorate from New York Law School.
Mercedes Chatfield-Taylor is the co-founder and CEO of Artico, a leading search partner for venture capital and growth equity firms and their portfolio companies. At Artico, Mercedes uses her expertise to elevate diverse sets of candidates—spanning ethnicities, genders and backgrounds—to build more inclusive and innovative leadership teams.
Having spent her career focused on executive searches for the technology industry’s most successful companies, Mercedes has learned the importance of opening doors for underrepresented communities to access influential talent development pipelines. Long passionate about diversity and inclusion, she joins the Posse New York Advisory Board to support the Posse Scholar network.
Prior to Artico, Mercedes led the venture capital practice at firms including Caldwell Partners, Heidrick & Struggles, Highland Partners and iCOM. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business communications from Boston University.
