TMI: Talking Heart, Soul, and Italian Heritage with Joseph Del Raso
If you asked someone to conjure up an image of modern Italian royalty, many would point to Robert De Niro or the late Frank Sinatra, both of whom I greatly admire. But to me, the real 21st century Italian-American king is Joseph Del Raso, partner at Pepper Hamilton LLP and chairman of the National Italian-American Foundation.
Joe, like my parents and grandparents, is a person of incredible kindness, charity and sacrifice, getting up early each morning to become the best at what he does personally and professionally. Like me, Joe is proud of his Italian heritage, and we had the privilege of discussing how our family roots shape our lives on the latest TMI (The Motivation Inside) podcast.
TMI stands for “The Motivation Inside,” but it can also stand for “Too Much Information,” but as far as I’m concerned, Italian-Americans can never provide too much information about our heritage, which emphasizes family, love, hard work, gratitude, charity and community. Joe and I are both grandchildren of Italian immigrants. On TMI, we talked about how grateful we are to our grandparents for making sacrifices and taking risks to come to the United States so we could share in the American experience.
Joe’s grandfathers were immigrants from the same region and province of Italy (when his parents became engaged, their families joked that the wedding might have to be called off because the bride and groom could be related). Despite having no formal education, Joe’s paternal grandfather established his own general construction company in Philadelphia in 1936 during the Great Depression, when not only was it tough for Italian immigrants to succeed in business, but most construction professionals saw greater opportunities in masonry and other specialized fields.
“He built a successful business for himself, and at the same time as he was building the business, he built a reputation for himself as a man who was respected,” Joe told TMI listeners. “I cherish the fact that this is the legacy he set for our family, so it’s incumbent on us in successive generations to uphold these standards and learn from what [people like him] accomplished and sacrificed.”
Joe’s grandfather also inspired him to become an attorney. When Joe was a child growing up in suburban Philadelphia, he once accompanied his grandfather downtown for a meeting with his lawyer. Immediately upon walking through the door, Joe was struck by the stark contrast between the lawyer’s office and the workspace at his family’s construction company. As he explained on TMI, his family’s construction firm office had no Persian rugs and other legal-office décor.
Following his graduation from the Villanova University School of Law, Joe began his career as an attorney in 1983 at the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, DC. He was assigned to the agency’s division in charge of regulating the investment management industry, and he said on TMI that the three years he spent there constituted “a very rewarding time in my professional career, and I have great memories of my years in Washington.” He went on to say that he respected the leaders he served at the SEC because they instilled the message that, “It was never about a particular agenda — it was about understanding what your responsibilities were, and being fair about executing on the job and doing what you were charged to do.”
Upon leaving the SEC, Joe went to work at the Washington office of Philadelphia-based Dechert LLP, and then moved back to Philly about 20 years ago to join another law firm headquartered in the City of Brotherly Love, Pepper Hamilton.
Joe inherited the entrepreneurial personality that runs in his family, having established Pepper Hamilton’s Investment Management Practice Group, which he continues to lead. The practice is one of the finest in the country, and I know first-hand because my firm, SkyBridge Capital, is a client.
Joe is highly respected in both the private and public sectors, and in 2002, he was the sole attorney in private practice who was invited to testify before the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee about the legislation that later became the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (the late Congressman Mike Oxley, who co-sponsored the legislation, was a good friend of Joe’s).
Joe also testified before the committee in 2004 on the two-year anniversary of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act’s ratification. On TMI, Joe and I discussed the pluses and minuses of Sarbanes-Oxley, and regulation of the financial markets in general.
“A certain degree of regulation protects honest players in the market, but on the other hand, there are some regulations, especially in agencies outside of financial regulation, that put a tax on the market, and that’s not a good thing,” he told TMI listeners.
When I asked Joe if he has lived the American Dream, he gave an emphatic “yes,” and while he agreed that the idea of the American Dream is still very much alive, he expressed concerns about the expansion of certain mindsets in this country.
“What worries me a little bit about the system today is this idea of ‘the government knows best, and everything should be programmed,’” he said. “That goes against the grain of our free spirits as Americans, and the drive to move forward.”
Every year, Pepper Hamilton hosts a visiting young attorney from Italy, and Joe noted on TMI that every participant in the program is fascinated by the entrepreneurial creativity and drive that exist in the U.S.
“It’s sad to me to see the sclerosis that’s set in in the European Union, and Italy,” Joe said. “There’s such creative talent, and wealth, in that country, but unfortunately, it’s dead capital and it’s locked up — and young people suffer. There’s very high youth unemployment. Our firm takes in a visiting Italian attorney just recently out of law school every year, and they get so excited to see the opportunity here because things are so stratified there with the social welfare system. And in that kind of [socialist] system, cronyism develops, so unless you’re well-connected, you won’t get into the best schools or get good jobs. If you’re a bright young kid there, and you don’t have the right connections, it’s very difficult to move up. I fear we’re heading in that direction.”
As chairman of the National Italian American Foundation, Joe is leading initiatives to strengthen bilateral relations between the U.S. and Italy, and educate young Italian-Americans about their roots and the important role these two nations play in the world. He also leads the organization’s efforts to support relief work in Italy following last month’s devastating earthquake (for more information, please visit www.italianamericanrelief.org).
My entire TMI conversation with Joseph Del Raso, where we discuss topics ranging from the history of the SEC to why Italian mothers want their sons to become judges, is available here: https://soundcloud.com/skybridge-insights/21-taking-pride-in-your-heritage-with-joseph-del-raso
