Running a $4 billion investment fund leaves little time

Balance. It’s an interesting concept. Being able to give every piece of your life the exact amount of attention it deserves, never having to sacrifice.

It’s an admirable goal, but one Gael Ragone does not even begin to entertain.

Photo by Mark Wemple

“I would say that it's probably not possible to balance everything realistically,” says the president of Carter Funds, a Tampa real estate investment firm.

“I just…it's not possible. I think you just need to go into it knowing that there are going to be seasons where certain things take a bigger priority than other things.”

Ragone spoke about balance while at an investment conference in Santa Barbara. She was flying back to Tampa the following day.

The firm she runs, Carter Funds, is made up of four associated companies and manages real estate investments across high-growth industries and markets. As of May, Carter Funds’ website says, it manages a portfolio of data centers, commercial properties and multifamily real estate worth about $3.4 billion.

Ragone is also the mother of two. Oh, and this would probably be a good point to mention that she is currently about eight months pregnant, expecting a baby girl.

This is all to say, she is a busy person.

Ragone, who laughed when asked about balance, says rather than trying to do everything, what she works toward is fully dedicating the time she has to the task at hand, giving that, whatever it may be, her full attention.

While work is at the forefront now, when the baby is born in November the plan, she says, is “to unplug for a while.” That means taking a full three months off focused on home. (She’ll be available by cell phone in the event of an emergency, of course.)

For Ragone, the ability to focus on one part of life is possible because her support group and the people she employs.

The support group includes her parents, who live nearby, and her husband, a doctor with a long list of demands of his own, and a nanny.

As for work, she’s built a team that she can trust to make good decisions.

And her upbringing doesn’t hurt. He father, John Carter, founding chairman of Carter Funds and her mentor, is the oldest of 12 children. She is the oldest of four kids and the oldest of 37 grandchildren.

“I love the chaos,” Ragone says, picking that moment to add that the day after she gets home from California the family is going to pick up a new puppy. “It’s just one of those things.”