In 1982, Lola C. West bought a painting by Norman Lewis from New York art dealer Peg Alston.
Something unexpected started happening afterward. People would greet West as “Ouida,” mistaking her for Lewis’ wife, Ouida Lewis, according to Westfuller’s account of the story.
More than two decades later, West told the story to a client at Merrill Lynch. The client introduced her to Tarin Fuller, Ouida Lewis’ daughter. Tarin’s son, Ian Fuller, is Norman Lewis’ grandson.
That introduction would eventually lead to a business partnership. West encouraged Fuller to join Merrill Lynch, became his mentor and later left the firm with him to pursue an independent path in wealth management.
Today, Westfuller manages approximately $3.37 billion for wealthy families, foundations, endowments and other institutions. The figure reflects assets under management as of December 31, 2025. Charitable organizations now account for nearly nine out of every ten dollars the firm manages.
Getting there took several careers for West, a financial crisis and a first attempt at entrepreneurship that failed.
Before Wall Street
West studied psychology at Brooklyn College and urban planning at Hunter College before working in healthcare administration. She later spent 11 years helping rehouse people with disabilities, eventually overseeing seven properties, she told BankBlackUSA in a 2022 interview.
After a colleague she had trained was promoted over her, West decided to leave. While considering what to do next, she turned to What Color Is Your Parachute? The career guide pointed her toward two things she already knew how to do: raise money and produce events.
West launched Dean Sayles Enterprises, a fundraising and event-planning company. Her clients included Jessye Norman, August Wilson, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the National Urban League, UNCF and the Boys Choir of Harlem, according to a biography published by The New 3Rs.
The work put West in rooms far removed from her earlier career in housing. The New 3Rs credits her with developing a U.S. fundraising-event strategy connected to Nelson Mandela’s 1994 election. Westfuller’s biography describes the work as a fundraising strategy used during Mandela’s presidential run.
On December 4, 1996, West served as event coordinator and fund developer for Jessye Norman Sings for the Healing of AIDS, a benefit for The Balm in Gilead at Riverside Church in New York. The program brought Norman together with Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, Elton John, Whoopi Goldberg, Max Roach, Bill T. Jones and Anna Deavere Smith. A televised version later aired on WNET.
By 2000, West had entered another field: wealth management.
Mentor and Mentee
West joined Merrill Lynch, where the story about her Norman Lewis painting eventually brought Ian Fuller into her orbit.
Fuller was still early in his career. West encouraged him to consider Merrill Lynch, and he joined the firm in 2006. They worked together for roughly three years, with West serving as his mentor.
In a 2026 appearance on the Swimming with Allocators podcast, Fuller recalled that West recognized something in him early.
She “saw me before I saw myself,” he said.
Fuller expected to build his career inside Merrill Lynch. He has said he could see a path toward becoming a managing director.
Then came 2008.
The financial crisis upended Wall Street, and Merrill Lynch agreed to sell itself to Bank of America. By the following year, West and Fuller had left the firm and were trying to build something of their own.
The First Try “Blew Up Fabulously”
Their first attempt did not work.
Fuller has described the initial venture in unusually memorable terms: it “blew up fabulously.”
West and Fuller regrouped with new partners. Westfuller identifies 2011 as the founding year of the firm in its current form.
Scale did not arrive immediately. A September 2017 regulatory filing reported approximately $57.1 million in assets under management, six years after the firm’s founding.
The firm that eventually emerged was built around wealthy families and institutions interested in combining investment management with a broader approach to impact.
Its biggest growth would come from the institutional side.
From $57 Million to $3.37 Billion
In 2020, the Nathan Cummings Foundation began searching for a new outsourced chief investment officer to oversee its endowment.
The foundation had already committed to aligning its investments with its mission and changed its search process to make room for smaller firms and joint proposals. More than 40 providers responded, according to Proximate.
The winning proposal came from Westfuller and Bivium Capital, a San Francisco investment firm focused on diverse and emerging managers. Nathan Cummings became Westfuller’s first foundation client. The foundation formally announced the Bivium-Westfuller partnership in September 2021.
The relationship proved significant for both sides. Nathan Cummings later said it deliberately structured its fees to give Bivium-Westfuller more resources upfront to build its team. At the beginning of the partnership, the combined Bivium-Westfuller operation had approximately $1.98 billion under management. By the end of 2023, Nathan Cummings reported that figure had grown to $5.1 billion.
Westfuller’s own business today remains heavily weighted toward institutions. As of the end of 2025, the firm managed approximately $3.37 billion, with charitable organizations accounting for nearly 89% of those assets.
The firm describes itself as Black-majority, woman- and LGBTQ-owned. West is its chairwoman and chief culture officer. Fuller serves as CEO and chief investment officer.
The Nathan Cummings relationship offers one indication of how far the firm moved from its $57 million base. The foundation’s 2023 tax filing lists Bivium-Westfuller as its highest-paid independent contractor, receiving about $2.44 million for investment-management services that year.
For West, it is another turn in a career that began in healthcare, moved through housing and fundraising, then reached Wall Street.
More than four decades after West bought the Norman Lewis painting, a chance connection surrounding it remains part of Westfuller’s origin story.
