Before joining Gratton & Kerr in 2015, I spent years as a pastor at Discovery Christian Church here in Mars. Kristen brought me into the business, and I came without a traditional financial background but with something that turned out to matter quite a bit: I've always been drawn to people and what makes them feel genuinely heard. What kept me here was recognizing a pattern early on. People who had done everything right, who had saved consistently, avoided debt, and quietly built a solid nest egg, were still walking around feeling unsure about what came next. More than anything, they wanted someone who could help them make sense of what they'd built, and that turned out to be exactly the kind of work I was looking for.
One conversation I still think about involved a couple who came in asking whether they could retire at 60. On paper, everything looked solid, but the husband had run the numbers so many times that he'd talked himself further into uncertainty rather than out of it. His wife wanted to start enjoying what they'd built, and every time she brought it up, he tensed. We walked through everything together: what their income would actually look like, how taxes and healthcare would fit in, and what would happen if markets were uncooperative early on. Instead of one answer, we showed them a few different paths and the tradeoffs of each. About halfway through the conversation, he leaned back and said, "Okay, I finally get it." Then he looked at his wife and said, "We're going to be okay." That shift, from carrying around a fear you can't quite name to finally understanding what your plan is built on, is the reason I'm still here. *This example is based on an actual client experience and is provided for illustrative purposes only. It may not be representative of other clients’ experiences, and results are not guaranteed.
Outside the office, I'm not great at sitting still. I do CrossFit most days, play Over-30 soccer and pickleball with friends, and spend a lot of weekends on the sidelines supporting our four kids. I also founded A Night to Remember in 2014, a red carpet gala for guests with special needs that has grown to more than 500 attendees annually, and I'm genuinely proud of what it's become. On a lighter note, I also do bakery reviews on social media, which has turned into more of a thing than I expected and is honestly a pretty good window into my personality if you're ever curious.