Carmen Ortiz-McGhee
National Association of Investment Companies (NAIC), Transformational Leader & Advocate
Carmen Ortiz-McGhee
National Association of Investment Companies (NAIC), Transformational Leader & Advocate
Biography
Carmen Ortiz-McGhee is a dynamic leader, strategic thinker, and steadfast advocate in the asset management industry and beyond. As Chief Operating Officer of the National Association of Investment Companies (NAIC), she drives operational excellence, financial optimization, and cultural transformation for a differentiated network of alternative investment firms, whose members collectively manage over $460 billion in institutional capital. A principled and visionary leader, Carmen directs NAIC’s key initiatives, including industry research, events, marketing, member engagement, and strategic partnerships, ensuring long-term growth and stellar results. Because of her Carmen was recently recognized among the Power100 by Blueprint Capital Advisors.
A trailblazing advocate in finance and investment, Carmen previously served as Senior Vice President at Aon, where she led game-changing growth across multiple product lines. Her leadership was recognized by Business Insurance Magazine, which named her one of the Top 25 Women to Watch. Prior to that, she was Vice President of Investor Relations at a $1 billion AUM real estate private equity firm and President of The Marathon Club (TMC), where she championed wealth creation and investment opportunities.
Beyond her professional achievements, Carmen is a sought-after speaker who has addressed global organizations and Fortune 500 companies on leadership, trust and psychological safety, and culture transformation. She has delivered compelling keynotes for industry leaders including Cushman Wakefield, Mondelez, Key Bank, Clearbridge, WorkHuman Live, Weil & Gotshal, Ropes & Gray, Wiggins & Dana, Zonta International, and the National League of Cities, leaving audiences inspired and empowered.
Carmen is also the author of The Bumblebee Blueprint: Tiny Truths for a Bigger, Braver Life, a leadership and resilience guide that uses the metaphor of the bumblebee to explore how individuals can build resilience, embrace purpose, and lead with courage in both personal and professional settings. The Bumblebee Blueprint blends personal insight with practical leadership lessons for audiences navigating change and uncertainty.
Speaker Videos
Introduction Video
Lighthouse Values
Arc of a Life
Speech Topics
The Bumblebee Blueprint: Unexpected Lessons in Leadership
This keynote draws on the surprising characteristics of one of nature’s most underestimated creatures to explore ten essential principles of leadership. Through personal storytelling, research, and metaphor, Carmen Ortiz-McGhee reveals how traits like adaptability, collaboration, courage, and quiet influence can equip leaders to navigate complexity, inspire others, and create meaningful impact.
Designed for anyone seeking to lead with more clarity, heart, and resilience, this 45-minute session offers a fresh perspective on leadership—one that celebrates the power of small, consistent actions and the quiet strength that often goes unnoticed.
From Chaos to Harmony: The Path to Leadership Success in Tumultuous Times
With almost 30 years of experience spanning nonprofit, corporate and financial industries, robust market cycles and global economic downturns, Carmen Ortiz-McGhee takes audiences through a human-centered leadership journey that helps audiences find success in the most chaotic of times. Leveraging her proven experience in building high performing teams, turning around underperforming ones and building inclusive cultures, Ortiz-McGhee leaves audiences with hearts full and powerful tools they can use immediately to drive towards their goals and connectedness. Whether in good, exciting times or if they’re tumbling in the center of the storms that so often besiege us, audiences will leave inspired, with a clear path to success.
The Lighthouse Effect: How Ordinary People Can Have an Extraordinary Impact in the World
Throughout life, we experience a number of good and bad times, and learn many lessons, but one that sometimes goes unnoticed is that “not all heroes wear capes.” There are ordinary people who may not even know they’ve completely changed the course of a person’s life. Ortiz-McGhee, referencing her chapter and others in The Lighthouse Effect penned by best-selling author Steve Pemberton, likens them to human lighthouses. Like a lighthouse, their job is to protect the journey of the traveler. They’re humble and steady. They seek no reward. They require no recognition. And yet, we all set our compasses by them. They direct us back to the goodness in each other and in our own hearts.
In this inspirational talk, Ortiz-McGhee, one of the people featured in the The Lighthouse Effect, shares stories of her own human lighthouses. You will meet those who have turned personal pain into possibilities for themselves and those around them. You’ll learn what motivates them, where their compassion comes from and the lessons their lives can offer us. Drawing off of this groundbreaking narrative, Ortiz-McGhee offers a framework for living, learning and leading — a way to more positively engage with one another, to build trust, to see beyond the labels that define us to the human experiences that bond us.
The Power of Small: Why Little Things Create Big Change
Part of The Bumblebee Blueprint Series
In a world obsessed with going big, moving fast, and chasing scale, The Power of Small offers a radical—and refreshing—shift in perspective. Through the unexpected wisdom of the bumblebee, this keynote invites audiences to rediscover the quiet force of consistency, presence, and intention.
With a signature blend of heartfelt storytelling, surprising science, and deeply practical insights, Carmen Ortiz-McGhee unpacks why the smallest actions often spark the most meaningful transformation—in leadership, teams, culture, and personal growth.
Audiences will leave with a new understanding of how micro-movements, compound courage, and invisible influence can shape a legacy. Because change doesn’t begin with perfection. It begins with bold, small steps taken on purpose.
Unfamiliar Skies: Thriving Where You Were Never Meant to Fly
Part of The Bumblebee Blueprint Series
This keynote is a journey through the power of embracing the unknown—learning to lead, grow, and succeed in environments that feel nothing like where you started. From selling books door-to-door in Utah to leading global exchange programs, from working in nonprofits to navigating the worlds of finance and healthcare Ortiz-McGhee has repeatedly found herself in rooms that looked nothing like where she came from.
Each chapter of her journey has one thing in common: the power to adapt, to stay curious, and to rise even when the path is unclear. With warmth, humor, and candid insights, she shares practical lessons on navigating change, taking bold leaps, and leading with authenticity in spaces where you may be the “only” or the “first.”
Ideal for audiences at every career stage, this keynote is a call to trust your wings—even when the world wasn’t built for your flight.
Flight Lessons: Becoming More Than Enough in a World That Says You're Not
Part of The Bumblebee Blueprint Series
In this deeply personal keynote under The Bumblebee Blueprint framework, Ortiz-McGhee shares the story of “The Not Quite Enough Girl”—a powerful metaphor for those who feel unseen, underestimated, or out of place. Drawing on her lived experience as the only daughter of a single mother and one of the few in many rooms, she reveals how adversity, micro-traumas, and self-doubt shaped her—but didn’t define her.
Like the bumblebee—scientifically “not built to fly,” yet defying the odds every day—Ortiz-McGhee shows how embracing our perceived limitations can become the launchpad for resilience, purpose, and personal transformation. Through humor, honesty, and heartfelt storytelling, she equips audiences with practical tools to quiet their inner critic, rewrite old narratives, and lead from a place of worthiness and wisdom.
Ideal for corporate, nonprofit, and educational audiences, this keynote is a call to stop shrinking, start soaring—and to remember that our wings were made for so much more.
Testimonials
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