Humble praise for our awards finalists

As I walked into my publisher's office, I could see she was a bit teary-eyed.

As I walked into my publisher’s office, I could see she was a bit teary-eyed. I was about to ask what was wrong when I spotted several entries on her desk for the Community Leadership Awards.

That is all I needed to know. Two years and more than 900 entries later, Suzanne Siracuse, the InvestmentNews publisher, deputy editor Evan Cooper and I have come to see firsthand how truly inspirational and oftentimes emotional reading through the entries can be.

We know this because we serve as award judges for the InvestmentNews and the Invest in Others Charitable Foundation’s Community Leadership Awards for financial advisers.

Last week, I had the privilege of meeting the 12 finalists for the 2008 awards. While each took a different path in working with their various community service organizations, they all had a common bond: Each person was selfless, caring and dedicated to their cause.

As I walked around and took a few moments to chat with each finalist, I watched closely as their eyes widened and their voices went up a few notches as they spoke of the work they do for their charity. These are special people, to be sure.

Working closely with the Invest in Others Charitable Foundation has been a rewarding and eye-opening experience for me. It has afforded me an opportunity to see how selfless so many people in the financial advisory industry truly are and how these individuals give of themselves without seeking anything in return.

These people are truly remarkable individuals. I am not just talking about the finalists; I am speaking about every entry received by the InvestmentNews staff.

The toughest part of being a judge in this competition is having to pick just a few finalists after reading one amazing and compelling application after another. It is safe to say that there really are no losers when it comes to this awards competition.

Last week at the awards dinner, Kandis Bates, the president of the Invest in Others foundation, quite accurately told the 450 people in attendance that she felt “humbled” after listening to the many stories of the selfless charitable work these advisers do each day.

She was right. “Humbled” was the perfect word.

It was impossible not to feel that way after listening to the many inspirational stories that were shared during the cocktail event and the dinner.

This year’s Mentoring Excellence Award went to Marc Turner, president and owner of Renaissance Advisory Group in Chester Springs, Pa., who was recognized for 16 years of work with at-risk youths at the Church Farm School in Paoli, Pa.

The Volunteer of the Year Award went to Richard England, Jr., a senior wealth adviser at Madison Wealth Management in Bethesda, Md. He has served as a mentor to homeless youths through the Latin American Youth Center in Washington for 15 years and has been treasurer of the center’s board for the last 10.

The Volunteer Team Award went to Frank Martin and team of Martin Capital Management LLP of Elkhart, Ind. Mr. Martin, senior partner at the firm, began mentoring local elementary school students a decade ago and launched Dreams-Work Inc. in that city in 2001 to help underprivileged children.

The Community Leadership Award was given to Elizabeth Verterano, a New Wilmington, Pa.-based financial adviser with Ameriprise Financial Services Inc. of Minneapolis. As founder of the Crisis Shelter of Lawrence County in New Castle, Pa., she has been working to combat domestic violence against women since 1979.

It goes without saying that the other finalists should be quite proud of themselves, and I want to recognize them by name in my column.

The Community Leadership finalists were Betty Harris Custer, managing partner of Custer Financial Services in Madison, Wis. and C.N. “Gus” Petsas, a financial adviser and president of Petsas & Hill Certified Public Accountants Inc. in Richmond, Calif.

In the Volunteer of the Year Award category were Carl Bailey, president of Bailey & Beatty Financial Services LLC in Danbury, Conn., and Marshall Gunn Jr., president of both Gunn & Co. PA and Gunn and Company Investment Management Inc. in Jacksonville, Fla.

The finalists in the Volunteer Team category were Chris Messick and team from Messick Financial Solutions in Dallas and Larry Rybka and team from ValMark Securities Inc. in Akron, Ohio.

Mentoring Excellence finalists were John Brant, a regional vice president for Kipp Brant Drummond & Associates Inc. in Ventura, Calif., and Wayne Brumm, branch manager in Crown Point, Ind., for St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Raymond James Financial Services Inc.

Every one of these folks deserves our humble praise.

Jim Pavia is the editor of InvestmentNews.