Two former senior executives at JP Morgan Chase and Marathon Oil are in the process of forming a fund to address infrastructure shortcomings in undeserved communities, including providing broadband access to rural and urban neighborhoods in the United States.

The fund will be managed by Morris Clark, the former Treasurer of Marathon Oil and Otis Ellis, a former executive with JP Morgan Chase.

“The recent problems due to Covid-19 and the social unrest highlighting police brutality and racial discrimination has only augmented the deficiencies in urban and rural communities,” said Ellis. “This fund will help deliver access to the 21st century highway to all Americans.”

JR Chantengco, managing director of Black Pearl Investments, will serve as the fund’s capital advisor.

Clark is headquartered in Houston; Chantengco and Ellis are based in New York and New Jersey. All three are members of the Shreveport Economic Recovery Task Force, a coalition of local and national business leaders focusing on shovel-ready infrastructure projects that can help boost the city’s sagging economy post Covid-19. The Task Force’s Digital Infrastructure Committee is working with the Louisiana Federal Delegation, local and state educators, community groups and key stakeholders on bringing broadband access to cities and rural communities in the northern region of the state.