January 12, 2020

Leader Council

Born: New York City, New York

College and major: College of Mt. Saint Vincent, German, French, and literature.

Position: First Vice President, Wealth Advisor at Morgan Stanley

“We work with individual clients and companies – helping them manage their assets in terms of their goals, whether it’s retirement, education funding, or legacies.”

Passions outside of work:

“I love theater, symphony, and opera. I’m also a docent with the Chicago Architecture Foundation and I’ve been doing that for 20 years now. I do the river tours and I tend to do them in the summer when you have the highest number of international tourists. I am also involved with an agency called Taller de Jose, The Workshop of St. Joseph, and it is based in Little Village. It works to link people with existing agencies – the need could be things like a driver’s license, or a PTA meeting with the teacher, or somebody needing healthcare. Taller is an agency of volunteers who take one person at a time, by the hand and you go with them where they need to go.”

Favorite activities during high school:

“I was a cheerleader, participated in student council, and played in the school band. In those days, schools in New York were big on marching bands because you have the parades – the Columbus Day Parade, the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Memorial Day and a few others– so marching in the bands was a big deal.”

Most influential person growing up:

“My parents were immigrants from Ireland who met in New York, and in retrospect, their focus on our educational success was my parents’ confirmation that they were doing the right thing as Americans. My dad drove a bus and had an early shift, so he would be home in the late afternoon shortly after we’d get home from school. And the first thing that we ended up doing was homework on the kitchen table – my mom was in charge of the spelling, the penmanship, and the grammar, and my dad was in charge of the math.”

Finding Mercy Home:

“I was asked to substitute at the last second for a no-show at one of the Graduates’ Luncheons. Someone in my office was a guest at the luncheon, and a few of the guests at their table had to leave town at the last second. So that’s how I went, and I was super impressed. That summer I called and asked to have a tour of Mercy Home, and then I joined the Leader Council that fall.”

Favorite part about Mercy Home’s mission:

“Having talked about my parents and the importance of education – you can see how that aspect immediately resonated with me. There are all kinds of need in every area of life, and I think you just say to yourself, ‘you can’t do it all in terms of time or effort.’ So you try to focus on the area that you think is going to have the greatest impact. And for me, that would be young people and anything I can contribute to them.”