Growing up in Thomasville taught me that the best business happens when people actually trust each other. My parents raised me to treat people right, and that's never felt like some lofty principle. It's just how things should work. When I went into public accounting after studying at High Point and UNC Greensboro, I kept running into the same pattern. Clients would ask tax questions that naturally led to bigger conversations about their businesses and their futures. It didn't make sense to stop at the tax return when they needed someone to help them think through the whole picture.
That's what brought me into financial services 15 years ago. Small business owners deal with enough complexity without having someone make their financial life more complicated. I focus on helping them see their options clearly and make decisions that actually work for their situation. The CPA (26043) and PFS designations gave me the technical foundation, but the real work is understanding what someone's trying to build and helping them get there with less tax drag along the way.
My wife and I got married in 1998. Our daughter has grown into someone we're incredibly proud of, and watching her become her own person has been one of the best parts of life. When I'm not working, I'm probably on a golf course, at a college football game, or finding any excuse to get to the beach. Those are the places where everything else fades away and I remember why the work matters in the first place.