George

I attended the US Naval Academy and after graduating was a Surface Warfare Officer during my five years of service for the Navy. I loved the path that I took and would do it all over again, but after a few years I realized it wasn’t what I wanted to do for a career. I started thinking about what was next and what I enjoyed. I followed the markets and figured financial services could be an interesting industry to pursue a career in. 

After the Navy, I attended grad school at Wharton and learned as much about different careers in finance as I could. I knew I liked working with people, so I wanted something client facing. Classmates and mentors had been giving me advice that investment management was the way to go, so after doing an internship at a bond shop, I worked in another bank for three years doing private wealth management before joining Goldman Sachs.

My job is to help families, non-profits, foundations, and endowments manage their wealth. That could be anything from investing, to asset allocation, to lending or trust and estate planning. As a private wealth advisor, you try to be the go-to person for all aspects of a client’s wealth. If I am not able to help with a specific question, I connect my client with someone else in the firm who has the expertise they need.

I believe I have the best job in finance. It’s very entrepreneurial, and I can run and build my business with flexibility to manage my time—all within the framework and support structure of Goldman Sachs. I get to work with really interesting people and find I can really add value every day.

I feel Goldman puts trust in the people that work here. This isn’t a job where someone is sitting over your shoulder or giving you a list of things to do before the day is over. The culture is: we hired you, you’re qualified, go do your job.

The key ingredient for success in private wealth advising—which may sound a little cliché—is grit. That’s because you have to build your business from scratch, and no one is telling you how to do it. You have to define a process, be willing for that process to be fluid, and then have the grit to believe that if you follow the process you will build a business. It can be tough at times, but the data shows if you are doing all the right things and getting in front of the right people, you will get clients and build a business.

I’m passionate about veteran causes, and helping the firm recruit, train, and retain veterans. I work with our Veterans Integration Program, which is a phenomenal program that, I believe, provides the best opportunities for veterans in the financial industry. I also help out with diversity recruiting as much as possible by speaking at recruiting events and conducting interviews.