From Mobile Home to Financially Home: Darryl's Journey

Darryl shares his personal journey growing up in a mobile home to eventually founding PAX Financial Group. He recalls, "I was edging the skirting of our mobile home. And if you get too close to the skirting, you crack it. And so I just thought, how do people have houses with foundations? I just became curious about money."

While biblical values were not originally a focus, about five years ago Darryl had an awakening to fully live out his faith, making Biblically Responsible Investing (BRI) core to PAX's approach.

Cultivating a Community-Driven Culture

Darryl discusses how he has intentionally shaped PAX's unique culture around their values. Every client-facing team member, from advisors to 401(k) and insurance specialists, is required to serve on the board of a non-profit aligned with PAX's mission of giving people hope.

This policy not only keeps the team engaged with the local community but also serves as a business development channel. "About two or three years in, if you're doing the right thing for the right reasons, there's going to be a very wealthy person that's on the board or affiliated with the board saying, I've been watching you and I like you."

Navigating the Transition from Advisor to CEO

One of the most significant challenges Daryl faced in his journey was the transition from working directly with clients as an advisor to taking on the role of CEO. He candidly shares, "Vacillating between the two is really hard because it's really two parts of the brain. I can imagine going into a strategy meeting for the business and then spending a couple hours with clients, and then going back and rethinking about strategy. It really doesn't work that well." Daryl emphasizes the importance of understanding your own skills, passions, and the needs of the organization during this transition. "It got to the point where I said, I really got to make a decision for the betterment of everyone."

Daryl admits that the process wasn't always smooth, and he had to learn from his mistakes along the way. One key lesson he learned was the importance of clear communication and setting expectations with clients. Another critical aspect of the transition was getting buy-in from the team. Daryl thoughtfully brought in advisors as equity partners to build excitement and ensure everyone was in the right seat before stepping back from client work. For advisors considering a similar transition,

Daryl's advice is to be intentional, communicate clearly, and lean on your team. By understanding your own strengths and weaknesses, setting expectations with clients, and empowering your team members, you can successfully navigate the shift from advisor to CEO while maintaining the trust and confidence of all stakeholders.

The Journey Continues

Daryl's story is a testament to the power of aligning one's values and faith with their professional pursuits. By committing to not be lukewarm, but commit to his beliefs and continuously learning and adapting, he has built a thriving firm that is making a positive impact on clients, employees, and the community.

As Daryl looks to the future, he is excited about the growth potential for biblically responsible investing and the role technology will play in making it more accessible, tangible, and explainable to investors. He sees PAX Financial Group as well-positioned to lead the charge in this space, with a strong team, a clear mission, and a commitment to excellence.

For advisors and investors alike, Daryl's journey offers valuable insights and inspiration. Whether you're navigating a transition in your own career, looking to align your investments with your values, or seeking to make a positive impact in your community, Daryl's story shows that it's possible to achieve success while staying true to what matters most.

Ready to dive deeper into Daryl's story and learn more about biblically responsible investing? Watch the full episode below!

Youtube: https://youtu.be/2j-AHXj5Z28

Additional Resources

Learn more about Darryl Lyons

Pax Financial Group

The Journey to Intentional ESG Integration

Paula discusses her early career experiences at ESG research firms Sustainalytics and MSCI, which illuminated opportunities to more systematically and holistically weave ESG into the investment process. Rather than relegating ESG to a siloed, reactive overlay, Paula set out to put ESG factors on equal footing with traditional financial metrics.

Honeytree's Investment Process

In part of this episode, Paula dives into the details of Honeytree's two-phase investment process.

1. Applying 25 ESG qualification criteria to filter a broad index down to a concentrated set of companies

2. Conducting deep-dive analysis on the selected companies across 45 ESG and financial metrics, from science-based emissions targets to parental leave policies

The result is a high-conviction portfolio of 20-25 companies making a net positive stakeholder impact. As Paula emphasizes, "Our companies aren't thematic in nature. They could be making clothing, shoes, consumer staples, or tech. What we're trying to find are companies that are well stakeholder-governed, that understand the impacts they're making on all their stakeholders is actually what's driving their bottom line."

Looking Beyond the Obvious

Paula shares that Honeytree looks beyond obvious thematic ESG darlings like Tesla to uncover less apparent impact stories, such as Cummins' transition from diesel to electric and hydrogen engines. She also highlights examples of Honeytree's ESG criteria in action, like requiring a minimum of 33% board diversity.

The Future of ESG Investing

Looking ahead, Paula sees ESG becoming increasingly mainstream as corporate sustainability disclosure ramps up, with ESG data becoming as integral as financial statements to holistically understand a company's risks and opportunities.

With its disciplined, integrated approach to ESG analysis, Honeytree is poised to continue pioneering intentional, impactful investing.

To learn more about their innovative strategy and recently launched U.S. Equity ETF, visit Honeytree's website and check out BEEZ ETF.

Be sure to subscribe to the YourStake, Your Story podcast for more conversations with leaders challenging the status quo and innovating at the forefront of values-aligned investing.

Welcome to the latest episode of "Your Stake, Your Story," in this episode we welcomed Bill Davis, the founder of Stance Capital. With our co-founder and host, Gabe Rissman, the discussion navigates through Bill's unique career path, which spans from the direct mail industry to renewable energy, ultimately leading to his groundbreaking work in applying complex data models to ESG investing. His expertise sheds light on the intricate dynamics of the ESG landscape, and the challenges and triumphs in aligning investment strategies while finding ways to incorporate values without compromise into the portfolio-building process.

"You can't scale an industry if you're offering concessionary returns. It was sort of like you're not going to maybe make as much as you otherwise would, but you're going to sleep a lot better at night. But if you really want to scale it, you have to prove that it's free. So that has always been what we have been trying to prove.” - Bill Davis

This episode also delves into Bill’s strategic innovations in developing new investment products that synergize the benefits of both private and public market investing. The conversation encompasses the pivotal role of major corporations in global decarbonization efforts and the influential impact of public markets in fostering sustainable investment practices. Furthermore, Mr. Davis discusses his unique approach to ESG data analysis in building out material risk factors in his strategies.

Key Points of the Episode:

• Finding the thread of Bill’s Career Path from the direct mail business to Stance Capital and discussing the through line between.
• Data-Driven Decision Making: Learn about Davis's approach to leveraging data across different sectors, emphasizing his innovative methods in informed decision-making within ESG investing.
• The Role of using both Private and Public market investing as tools to generate impact for clients.
• He shares his thesis for starting Stance Capital and how that’s changed over time and how the ESG conversation has shifted in the last few years.

Watch the full video: https://youtu.be/ktwmH1JzEpM

About Stance Capital

Stance Capital specializes in quantitative ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) asset management and research. They are a Boston-based Registered Investment Advisor, and their clients are individuals, families, endowments, and institutions. They also build products for other investment firms under research and sub-advisory agreements.

Stance Capital took a critical evaluation of the ESG industry and found three key flaws that we aim to solve:

1. Ethical Consistency: Aligning capital with client values is generally not being done in a thoughtful or consistent manner
2. Value for fees: Many PMs are NOT adequately active for the level of fees they generate
3. Risk Management: Risk efficiency is arguably a large source of out-performance that is not properly implemented

Given the rise of disclosure of ESG metrics Stance can take advantage of advances in big data, distributed cloud computing, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to help their clients achieve their investment objectives. They have built a fully data-driven and systematic approach to Investing that gives quantifiable impact and performance metrics for their clients.

About Bill Davis:

Bill Davis is Founder & Portfolio Manager at Stance Capital. Prior to forming Stance Capital, LLC, Mr. Davis was co-founder and Managing Director of Empirical Asset Management, and Portfolio Manager on EAM Sustainable Equity, a strategy he launched in 2014. Prior to co-founding Empirical, he was the founder and CEO of Ze-gen, a venture and private equity backed renewable energy company. Mr. Davis received a B.A. from Connecticut College, and his career in business has included serving as CEO or founder of numerous companies including: Database Marketing Corporation in 1986, Holland Mark in 1997, and Cambridge Brand Analytics in 2003. He is Vice Chair of Impact Infrastructure, LLC, and serves on not-for-profit boards of Ceres and Seven Hills Global Outreach. He is a founding member of the President’s Council of Ceres. Mr. Davis has taught at Columbia University Center for Environmental Research and Conservation, and guest lectured at Harvard College, Harvard Business School, MIT, MIT/Sloan, Vanderbilt, and Boston University. Mr. Davis holds a Series 65.

To learn more about Bill Davis and Stance Capital:

Bill Davis LinkedIn

Stance Capital

Stance Performance

Hennessy Stance ESG ETF

[00:01:05] Priorities shift during pandemic. 

[00:04:11] Children's book on financial education.

[00:08:10] Values as a big deal. 

[00:11:36] Emotional safety in investing. 

[00:17:56] ESG and financial performance. 

[00:19:59] Values based investing future.

[00:01:28] System Change Investing.

 [00:03:53] Economic and political systems.

 [00:07:27] System Change Investing.

[00:14:19] Corporate Support for Climate Policy. 

[00:17:32] Financial Advisors and System Change. 

[00:22:16] Using capital markets for sustainability.

[00:02:31] Financial advisors and tobacco-free. [00:04:35] Tobacco's unsustainable impact. [00:08:42] Youth and tobacco industry marketing. [00:13:21] Harmful effects of smoking. [00:17:48] Tobacco-free finance pledge. [00:22:20] ESG ratings for tobacco companies. [00:26:31] Tobacco-free investing.

In this episode of Your Stake Your Story, we are joined by Maureen Maguire, CFP, AIF, and Vanessa Jilot, CFP, CRPC, the founders of Terra Blue Wealth Management, an ESG-only wealth management firm. 

Together they discuss how they met and founded Terra Blue, how they look at ESG investing, the role of activism and politics in investing, and share their experiences serving clients across wide generation gaps to accomplish the same goal: protect the planet, and have a strong financial future.

In this episode, Gabe, Vanessa, and Maureen discuss:

• How Maureen and Vanessa tackle ESG investing with different generations of clients
• How social justice and activism are core to their work
• Debunking the ESG performance myth
• How values-based investing is emerging as a component of their practice

About YourStake Your Story:

The YourStake, YourStory podcast is designed to amplify voices in the financial industry who are leading the charge for socially responsible investing practices.

Each episode, we are joined by experts in the field to hear their stories about what brought them into the industry, why they are passionate about ESG and values-based investing, and much more.

Resources:

Terra Blue Asset Management

Maureen Maguire, CFP, AIF LinkedIn

Vanessa Jilot, CFP, CRPC LinkedIn

YourStake

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