I like a challenge.  I’ve always liked a challenge.  

Growing up, to know the “how” was never enough. It was the “why” that mattered to me.  Whether it was building a model car in Scouts or learning a family sauce recipe, knowing how things work was only Step 1.  Step 2, knowing why things work, was where things became exciting. 

To be better summarized here, a surface-level understanding represented risk to me; a risk of blindly doing something solely because that’s the way it’s always been done.

Fast forward, the same idea has remained a guiding principle of mine. Having a stance or perspective without context feels like an unnecessary risk. I like the challenge of truly understanding anything down to its core, because the time invested means being able to have true perspective.  By embracing detail there is comfort in knowing what is being done is being done for the right reasons.  I thank those around me (notably my very patient parents who frequently fielded the “why” questions) for fostering this sense of curiosity.  

As a career investment banker, I’ve had the opportunity to go deep quickly. Following graduation from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia, I began my career with Raymond James.  More recently, I worked at Pharus Advisors, a boutique, founder-focused investment bank.  With incredible exposure and experiences in the early stages of my career, the desire to go deeper has continued to persist, now in an entrepreneurial way. 

Justin and I decided to launch Clearpact as a way of bringing this “why” mentality to the forefront of advisory.  Founding Clearpact has provided us a chance to comprehensively review standard practice, and reimagine an approach rooted in the findings from our years of experience.  We seek to be the next generation of advisors, creating a new standard for supporting strategic growth.