What do you enjoy most about being a Portfolio Manager?
Everyone has been given a particular set of skills, talents, and different interests. Finding the intersection where those skills and interests overlap is key to finding passion in a vocation as well as creating lasting value for those around you, whether clients, co-workers, or community.

For me, I have always been blessed with an ability to understand numbers and see patterns that others missed. Combining that with an early indoctrination into business through my family made analyzing finances a key area of focus for me throughout my life.

Using those talents and desires to help our clients meet their financial goals and focus on the intersection of their talents and desires is what drives me at NPF. Seeing the success of clients and the impact they can make on the community around them and knowing that we played some small part in that is a good enough reason for me to get out of bed each morning!

What are the values that drive you in your professional and personal life?
In everything I do, I strive to leave things better than they were before I arrived. Working hard, being honest, kind, joyful, and spreading the love of Christ are key tenets to my life philosophy.

What was your journey to the investment world and NPF specifically?
I was born and raised in West Michigan by a family of entrepreneurs. Ever since
a young age, when my father took me to a meeting with his financial adviser, I have known that I wanted to work in finance and desired to help others manage their finances so that they could focus on what they cared about. Following graduation, I took a job as a credit analyst at Mercantile Bank to gain experience evaluating companies and finances. Just as I started the CFA program, I met the world-class team at NPF and joined their expanding research team. After several years as a research analyst at NPF, I am now working directly with clients as an Investment Advisor while maintaining research coverage for most of the technology, media, and telecom companies that we follow.

Is there a person or experience that influenced you most?
While attending Calvin University, I had an economics professor and advisor, Adel Abadeer, who played an enormous role in shaping my work ethic and philosophy on lifelong learning. Previously, school had always come relatively easy to me and I was rarely pushed to succeed and largely coasted through high school. However, Professor Abadeer would have none of that and routinely pushed me past the breaking point. While I certainly didn’t appreciate cramming for exams at 3 am, the drive to succeed and interest in lifelong learning that he inspired within me are core tenets of who I am today.

What is your favorite bar or restaurant in Grand Rapids/West Michigan?
I’m a bit of a craft beer aficionado and having my 20’s coincide with the boom of craft beer, as well as living and working in ‘Beer City USA’ means that I have no shortage of favorite watering holes; however, you can routinely find my family and me at Founders Brewing listening to live music and sipping an IPA (or milk for our daughter) outside on the patio.

What is your favorite team?
The Detroit Red Wings. I never played hockey beyond middle school (I’m really bad at sports), but the Red Wings were the definition of success when I was growing up. From the day I was born, until I turned 26, the Red Wings had made the playoffs every year. While the team is struggling (immensely) these days, I’m a lifelong fan and my blood still bleeds red. Let’s Go Red Wings!