Andrina DaCar
SENIOR CONTROLLER
joined DHC in September of 2020
- Pre-DHC expertise?
I’ve been a controller/CFO for about 20 years, primarily in private equity, venture capital, and start-ups.
- What were your first impressions of Dark Horse?
Both Anthony and Katy recognize and value expertise, so no one is over-managed. Everyone seems to truly enjoy their colleagues’ company, and Dark Horse has absolutely awesome support staff, too!
- What was the biggest surprise you experienced when you joined Dark Horse this year?
The degree to which our global presence really is…global. We’ve got people spread out all over the place and it works seamlessly. The degree to which everyone can come together effectively in a virtual way has impressed me greatly.
- Did you always know you wanted to work in finance?
I started out thinking I was going to be a pharmacy major, but then an opportunity presented itself: working for Tom Steyer in the early days of
Farallon Capital. It was too fascinating a job to pass up, so I took a break from school. At the time, the (now massive) company had only five of us: Tom, two partners, a trader, and me. I was the accounting manager and you can imagine how much I learned from the four of them. I changed my focus in both work and school because I found myself to be a natural when it came to numbers.
- What did you do next?
I took a break to raise my four kids, and when my youngest (my only daughter) started college at Stanford, I went back to both school and work. I found myself working with a variety of smaller companies: venture capital firms, private equity, and some start-ups. It turns out I loved getting incubators up and running and turning them into larger companies complete with all the necessary financial infrastructure.
- What do you think it is that draws you to start-ups and/or smaller business environments?
That’s where the opportunity to really affect change and set up procedures is. I love processes and finding the most efficient and effective ways to work with a business’s strengths.
- You recently got your MBA and are currently finishing up another degree. What made you interested in doing that at this stage of your career?
For most people, a degree precedes their career, and is what gets them where they want to be professionally. I already have the necessary experience to get the jobs I want, so for me further schooling was just for my own edification. Right now I’m finishing a Masters of Science in Healthcare from Johns Hopkins. It was the perfect program for me because (even before the pandemic changed everything) I wanted a hybrid learning environment so that I could continue working while staying in school. At Hopkins I do nearly everything online, but there are three times when we all meet up for an in-person session. You become very close to your fellow students during intense limited sessions like that and I’ve loved every minute of it.
- What are your passions outside of work and lifelong learning?
Football, definitely (Niners—Dig Deep!), and travel. I’ve been to 30 of the islands in the Caribbean and my next goal, post-pandemic, is European travel. Also, now that my four kids (three boys and a girl) are grown, my new babies are my dogs. We have three:* a German Shepard, an Akita and an Alaskan Malamute. Somehow, all three of these strong breeds get along beautifully. We hadn’t intended to have so many but after a beloved Malamute of mine died suddenly one day when I was at work, I got another to ease my grief and two of my sons then each wanted a puppy of their own. All three of these rascals—about 300 total pounds of dog!—were born within a month of each other and have grown up together so they’re quite the pack.
*ed note: between the time of this interview and the posting of this profile page, Andrina has added one more canine companion, a puppy: the last descendent of her previous Malamute!
