I always knew I wanted to dedicate my career to helping people. As an athlete and the captain of most of the teams I played on growing up, watching my teammates accomplish their goals, celebrate their wins, and put 100% into everything they did always gave me so much energy and motivation. I knew from a young age that I wanted to channel that energy and motivation into my career, whatever it may be.

I grew up in Brooklyn, New York, in a modest home. My father drove a concrete truck, and my mother worked various jobs to keep the family afloat financially. I played baseball and football in high school and was fortunate to play Division I baseball in college. Many of the values and life lessons I’ve learned and carried with me have come from a combination of how I grew up and the coaches I played for.

When I came home from college and my sports career was coming to an end, I had to focus on finding a job (or so my mom and dad told me). Believe it or not, it was my mom who encouraged me to pursue a career as a financial advisor, and embarrassingly enough, she got me my first interview. In 1991, I started my career as a financial advisor at MetLife and immediately knew this was the career for me because my success was determined by how much value I added to my clients’ and their families’ lives. I also discovered early on that to be successful I had to apply many of the same principles that I had used as an athlete – discipline, resilience, patience, and confidence. I found that just as when I was playing sports, I loved helping my clients win, which financially translated to my clients feeling safe knowing they have a plan in place to protect loved ones and feeling proud for making smart decisions for their financial future.

After two years at MetLife, I was offered the opportunity of a lifetime to lead a financial services firm in Connecticut. Little did I know that when I accepted that opportunity, I was stepping into the role of leading an office that was bankrupt and failing. Nevertheless, I moved myself and my new fiancé (now wife) Mindee from Brooklyn to Connecticut. As the new CEO of a failing business, while understandably nervous, looked forward to this opportunity and was ready to work at rebuilding the firm.

I consider myself a founder of Barnum Financial Group because with the help of a team of talented people, we transformed an office that was nearly failing into one of the premier financial services firms in the country. And after 26 years, I could not be prouder of where Barnum Financial Group is today. We now have more than 30 offices in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island and approximately 300 financial advisors and 200 administrative professionals serving 250,000 clients nationwide. At Barnum, we work tirelessly every day, dedicating our work to the financial services industry and to our clients’ financial futures and well-being.

Today, I live in Fairfield, Connecticut, with my wife Mindee and our three children. In addition to spending time with my family, friends, and colleagues, I enjoy healthy living, weightlifting, and traveling, and I am forever a dedicated sports enthusiast.