Firm: Hanson McClain Inc.
City: Sacramento, Calif.
Age: 49
Years as a rep: 22
Years with current firm: 19
Production: $4.4 million
AUM: $624.2 million
Product mix: managed accounts, 100%
Designations, licenses: Series 6, 7, 24, 63
Patrick McClain first encountered the Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services while a student at the local campus of the state university, researching a case study for a marketing class. Now 49, McClain is much more deeply involved in its fortunes. A board member for about 15 years, McClain chairs the organization and led the $3.5 million development of a new education and technology center, recreation area, and a 7,600-square-foot garden where families can learn how to grow their own food. The new facilities opened in February; McClain is raising funds to repay the loans for the construction.
The senior partner and founding principal of Hanson McClain Inc. — an independent broker/dealer that launched in 1993 — McClain likes to plan ahead. Before launching the new construction project, he realigned the food bank's board, including key people from the community who could contribute to the venture's success. They included the CFO of a local bank to help with financing, a land use expert to assist with the municipal permit process, an architect to watch over the contractors' bidding, and a marketer to handle PR. He was aided by an earlier experience helping to build a reverse mortgage company that was later sold. “It made me comfortable at delegating and building organizations relatively quickly,” he says.
The food bank's mission has evolved over the years, from focusing on hunger to the related needs of Sacramento's working poor. Now childcare, English language classes, and even Microsoft certification courses are part of the food bank's service offerings. McClain says its food philosophy has changed as well, with an emphasis on providing fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables rather than the processed food that's a staple at many community pantries. Service at the food bank has become a family affair at the McClain household, with his older children doing volunteer work at the operation. About a thousand people a day avail themselves of the food bank's various programs, says Blake Young, the food bank's chief executive.
Young says McClain's expertise is key to the food bank's success. “He leads by example,” Young says. “He's tireless with his involvement…It really gets folks jazzed up about what we're doing.”
