Wes graduated from the United States Naval Academy with a BS degree in English and a minor in French, earning multiple letters in swimming and golf and serving as the golf team captain his senior year. Commissioned as a United States Marine Corps officer, Wes served for five years, fighting in the first Gulf War conflict. After serving in the military, Wes travelled extensively through North America and Europe for 15 months, where he learned the value of treating others the way you want to be treated.
“It was one of the greatest experiences of my life to that point,” he says, “and was one of the things that taught me most people really are good at the core.”
Wes always knew he wanted to be in a profession where he could have control over his own destiny, and be fully responsible for his own successes or failures, as well as those he was working to help. He found his calling in the financial advisory profession, and spent eighteen years with the Merrill Lynch Global Private Client Group, leaving the firm as a Vice President.
Wes brings to the discipline of financial consultation many of the attributes you may expect from a Marine: trustworthiness, honesty, hard work, intelligence, responsiveness, and accountability. His clients have come to value his calm demeanor in times of stress and difficulty, relying upon the decisive guidance Wes provides – free of the emotion and fear that too often cloud one’s judgement when under strain.
“I am motivated by using the knowledge and experience I have gained to help my clients have the best chance to live the way they want to live, and then seeing that play out,” he says. “I could do that over and over and over again.“
With his wife, Jennifer, and their two children, Gardner and Elizabeth, Wes resides in Richmond’s Museum District and is an active member of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church.