Provo Wealth Management Group: Inside a family-centered firm

Provo Wealth Management Group

Inside a Family-Centered Firm

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Chris Provo, founder, began working on Wall Street just three days out of college. After two years in New York City, he decided to take the knowledge and skill set he had developed and bring it back to his hometown in Central Massachusetts. As wife and business partner, Pamela (Pam) Provo describes the company's beginning: “we started without a bank loan, no clients, and no office,” and they built the business from the ground up. From Day 1 of the company's inception, the Provos have operated with “family” in mind. Whether it be employees, clients, or community partners, “we treat them how we want to be treated,” Pam says. “We're just really close… We've always had, you know, a core of clients and team members that are really close to us and we know their children. We'll say ‘Isn't your daughter's soccer game in 20 minutes? You have to go now.'”

Pedro Silva, an Investment Executive who has been with the company for eleven years, echoes Pam's sentiment when he reflects on what it means to be part of the family:

The way we treat staff and the way we treat each other, that familial part means that if something comes up with your child, if you have a sick kid, if someone needs to borrow a truck to get a piece of furniture to help an elderly client donate it, stuff like that. We're all in this together… I think the way that we handle it, as long as work gets done and people are diligent about getting things done for clients, everything is up for consideration. And no one abuses it, which makes it really easy.

Pedro Silva

Chris and Pam's son, Theodore, has been working in the office since he was 7 years old. Now 20 years old and a junior at Babson College, Theodore returned to the firm again this past summer. Chris thinks back on his son's involvement, “You know, having him here, and I think seeing the employees watch him file or shred or do whatever in those early years and then watching him his first day this summer research every stock that was traded at a five-year low and he added one to the list… that ended up being one I could recommend to a client. I think from the employee's perspective, they probably feel a sense of stability and security that, if I'm to pass it on in 20 years, that they still have a job, for the next 20 years, the next 30 years, whatever the case may be. So, they get along with him extremely well.”

This feeling of “family” extends to their clients; they operate with a fiduciary duty to care and always act in the best interest of their clients. “We're in it together,” Pam notes. Each employee embraces this philosophy, both with each other and with their clients and community partners. With that level of care and dedication, the company is committed to meeting the new and developing needs of those around them. Pam says “my least favorite expression is ‘well, that's the way we've always done it.' We're big on innovation because that's what makes sense—you have to keep up with the times and find out what works for people.” A few recent innovations include: the creation of the “Women's Listening Circles” to create a judgement-free zone where women can talk freely and openly about financial matters and feel empowered to take action, the first Family Office in the country with no minimum wealth requirement, the first 100% sustainable endowment fund, and the co-founding of the Yunus Center for Social Business at Becker College.