Ashley Hester has more than 17 years of experience within financial operations and currently serves as the Director of Operations for Fortress Financial Partners. Prior to joining Fortress, Ashley worked as a VP in Anti-Money Laundering at Credit Suisse-Americas. From 2013 to 2020, she worked within various hedge funds portfolios as the Operations Director to SOJE Capital LLC. From 2011 to 2013, she served as the Operations Manager of Gilder Office for Growth, a family office hedge fund in Seattle, WA. Earlier in her career, Ashley was an Office Manager for Brightleaf Partners LP, a long-short equity fund and prior to that experience, a business manager serving Duke Faculty.
Prior to her career in financial operations, Ashley became involved in the Durham Crisis Response Center (DCRC) as a North Carolina grant-funded therapist and subsequently spearheaded Caring Hands Foundation Inc., a private foundation distributing grants to local area non-profits for victims of crime. Ashley received her Bachelors from North Carolina Wesleyan College, her M.S. in Criminological Theory from the University of Cincinnati (2009), and her M.B.A. from Campbell University (2013).
