Tom Sittema

Partner & Executive Chairman, Stepstone Private Wealth, Orlando

StepStone Private Wealth is an investment management company providing individual investors opportunities to invest alongside the largest institutional investors in private equity and other private market investment products. StepStone has 70 employees and is growing. Sittema serves as executive chairman and co-founder of the business, which was formed in 2019. Prior to StepStone, Sittema served as CEO of CNL Financial Group. He’s the co-founder and board chair of Lift Orlando, a nonprofit focused on ending generational poverty in neighborhoods surrounding Orlando's Camping World Stadium.

EDUCATION: Dordt University (BA), Indiana University (MBA)

MENTOR: Timothy Keller, a recently deceased pastor of Redeemer Church, New York, as well as a prolific author. He has helped to form and even transform my thinking in many areas of my life.

INSPIRATIONAL FLORIDIAN: Ralph and Mel Martinez, brothers who grew up in Cuba and came to Florida as young children without their parents. They’ve chaired or served on numerous civic organization boards. Mel was a U.S. senator and secretary for Housing and Urban Development, and Ralph was a trial lawyer.

WHAT I’VE LEARNED: The happiest, most contented people are those who: a) have a faith conviction to worship God, which provides them a clear calling and purpose in life; b) have built lasting, life-giving relationships with family and friends; and c) help make their communities, their nation, and the world better than how they found it.