E.C. Pelaia is the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Compliance Officer for Elizabeth Park Capital Management. He brings 29 years’ experience driving disciplined, strategic planning to elevate uncompromising organizational performance. E.C. works in partnership with highly sophisticated teams and investors to deliver industry-leading best-practices and guidance clients trust. With deep understanding and experience across asset management, risk oversight, institutional investments, operating infrastructures, and regulatory governance, E.C. executes organizational strategy that is both innovative as it is principled.
Prior to joining the EPCM team, E.C. achieved an accomplished 22-year career in the banking and investment industry with KeyBank as the CIO of Passive Equity and Fixed Income Assets for Victory Capital Management, the bank’s investment management affiliate. Here he led the firm’s transition from an active to passive fixed income manager. He previously ascended from Senior Portfolio Manager at Victory, where he managed the firms S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and S&P Mid-cap passive strategies. Prior to this, he served as the Assistant Vice President, where he headed the execution side of all Parent Company debt issuance. He previously served as an Investment Officer in the Treasury group managing the banks long and medium-term debt portfolios. He launched his career at Ameritrust Bank as an analyst in Trust Operations before moving on to become a Short-term Debt Trader in the Treasury Department of what would ultimately be KeyBank via merger.
E.C. earned his BA in Economics from The College of Wooster, where he was a dual-sport NCAA scholar-athlete. He went on to be a two-time Ironman ultra-distance competitor. Outside of work, he enjoys dedicating his time as a youth sports coach in his community. E.C. calls Cleveland home with his wife and two children.
