Entrepreneurial spirit and unwavering support, featuring Alex David

Alex David joins Raymond James and finds a place he can call home

“It was a homecoming,” Alex David, said of the Black Financial Advisors Network (BFAN) symposium. “I was high-fiving folks and hugging folks and there were smiles and almost-tears. It was amazing.”

Alex recently joined Raymond James as northeast division director for the independent contractor division of Raymond James Financial Services, his start date a mere two weeks before the 10th annual BFAN Symposium in February. But he’s been around the industry for decades and was excited to get to know his now-colleagues in a new setting. The energy was reciprocated.

When fellow BFAN attendees asked, “What took you so long to join us?” Alex joked, “I took the scenic route.”

After a storied career in wealth and asset management, Alex found himself looking for a place to call home, a place that really felt like home. He wanted a firm just as passionate as he is about supporting small business owners, and ultimately, it had to be a place that he could picture himself staying at until retirement.

Raymond James is that place.

Independents, forge on!

Alex has always been attracted to small business ownership. (He’s even owned a couple small businesses himself.)

“The United States was built on this thing called small business ownership,” Alex says. “It wasn’t until hundreds of years after we were formed that we started having these large corporations. I think it’s a very important characteristic of who we are as a nation.”

Alex’s passion for small business ownership and entrepreneurship in general is what drew him to the independent channel and, ultimately, Raymond James.

“Day to day, that’s exactly what I do, I help the existing advisors, who are small business owners, grow. Then we try to stand up other independent advisors, and I just think it’s the coolest thing ever,” he says.

Alex noticed something different about Raymond James from the start. He says one of the most unique benefits for advisors is that, even in the employee channel, if the advisor thinks there’s a better fit for their practice, they can take their clients with them. That’s unheard of,” Alex comments. “That typically only exists on the independent side of the business. The fact that would exist on the employee side of the business is rather unique and points to the idea that entrepreneurship courses through the veins of Raymond James.”

Investing in the Black community

Attracted to Raymond James for the entrepreneurial spirit and support of independents, Alex says the firm’s approach to inclusion helped “seal the deal.”

“We’re very serious about supporting our Black, African-American advisors and professionals. And when I found that out, it was a layup of a decision to join Raymond James,” Alex says.

He goes on to say that not all firms put forth the investment to support diversity and inclusion efforts like Raymond James does.

“The fact that this was the 10th anniversary tells me that, year in and year out, in good markets and bad markets, good economies and bad economies, tight budgets and full budgets, Raymond James has been consistent in our commitment to the African-American community,” Alex says. “And you just don’t see that across our industry.”

This piece was featured in BFAN Connection, an annual newsletter from the Black Financial Advisors Network. View the latest.

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