I am working under the Grace Lane Path to Partnership program as an Associate. It is like an apprenticeship or sorts, that allows me to work alongside Greg and Guy, obtain advanced financial planning education, and gain practical experience as I develop my own practice.
The objective of the program is to equip me to someday become a Partner and ensure a seamless continuation of our work here at Grace Lane. For now, aside from continuing my financial life planning education, I am focused on new market development and client support.
I care deeply about our clients. I am proud to be working with this group of people. Each of them have their own light they bring to the team and is a pleasure to work with every day. Guy and Greg are role models to me and I feel lucky to be here.
I earned a BA in Business Administration with an emphasis in finance from the University of Alabama. I was in Alpha Kappa Lamda (AKL), which was the only Christian fraternity, and the University of Alabama has the largest chapter in the country. While at college I also volunteered teaching underprivileged kids to read, and worked in animal shelters and food kitchens.
When I was pledging, I had to follow a very specific dress code for every day even including shoe lace color. Attention to detail was key. Most notably, I had to wear a diaper at all times during Brother Appreciation Week. The diaper was filled with a variety of goodies including: old fish, baked beans (very old), spoiled milk, and a mixture of vegetables.
As you can imagine, it made attending class pretty uncomfortable in a number of ways, but we did raise a lot of money for victims of domestic abuse and the Cystic Fibrosis Society. I was elected Vice President of the Fraternity my senior year and also became the pledge master. After graduation, I went to work as a financial and inventory controller for a chemical engineering company.
My wife Sarah’s father was successful in the financial services industry and I always found it attractive how he has been so successful while also able to have quality time with his family. His success and ability to not miss any big moments in his kid’s lives made a big impression on me.
I am originally from Birmingham, Alabama where I met my wife, Sarah, when we were in high school. I come from an average American family that has an emphasis on hard work. My father, David Pettry, was a captain in the Navy and was an orderly person. My grandmother was a saint and made the best cheese biscuits west of the Mississippi River.
In my downtime I enjoy pickleball, tennis, golf, hiking, camping, backpacking, disc golf, going on walks with my dog, and hanging with friends.
