As co-captain of the track team and starting wide receiver for the football team, Van Pearcy lived the proverbial young athlete's dream when he went to college at the University of Notre Dame, where he majored in economics. After college, Pearcy was a free agent with the Denver Broncos and had a tryout with the Cleveland Browns before knee injuries sidelined him.
The injuries turned out to be fortuitous for his career, he likes to say. He had received an MBA at Notre Dame somewhere along the way, as well as his Series 7, just in case. And so, with his father's encouragement, Pearcy built a financial practice. A native West Texan, Pearcy and his family moved to Midland, Texas, in 1988, where Pearcy launched the first Edward Jones office. Then in 2001, he decided independence was more his thing, and he opened the first Raymond James Financial Services branch in town. Today he ranks as one of the b/d's top wealth managers with over $600 million under management and 28 years of serving high-net-worth clients.
Still, Pearcy's passion for sports stuck with him. In 2004, Pearcy and his wife started the Van and Donna Pearcy Foundation, which grants up to $2,400 in college scholarships each year to athletic trainers and managers from Pearcy's high school alma mater. Some of the money he gives to the foundation comes from classes he offers through Raymond James on how to build a successful practice. Pearcy has also helped to raise money for the Midland Children's Rehabilitation Facility, which serves children with neurological and orthopedic needs, a cause that Pearcy says has been dear to him and his wife for almost 15 years. In addition, Pearcy serves on the executive board of the national Notre Dame Monogram Club, a group of former Notre Dame student athletes who raise up to $200,000 for scholarships a year.
Today, Midland also has Pearcy to thank for an expensive track complex whose construction he funded. In 2006, he and a friend raised $2.2 million for the new track, and in 2007 they started building it. Although Pearcy's bad knees don't allow him to run on the track, he gets to watch his son, a high school junior, run in track meets there.
Firm: Raymond James Financial Services
City: Midland, Texas
Age: 47
Years as a rep: 21
Years with current firm: 8
Production: $5 million
AUM: $625 million
Product Mix: Insurance 4%; Stocks 10%; Bonds 26%; Managed accounts 60%
Specialty: Wealth services for HNW families and businesses
Designations: N/A
Licenses: 7, 9, 10, 63, 65
