I have been incredibly fortunate in my life. I grew up in Toronto in a loving supporting family. As a kid, I was consumed by hockey. I loved the feel of the cold air walking into the rink. The camaraderie of teammates. The intensity and speed of the game. And most of all, winning as a team. But as my athletic career waned, my academic career accelerated. Before I knew it, I graduated at the top of my class and had offers to work in investment banking. Although I knew nothing of the world of finance, I was smitten by the challenge of it. At 21 years old, I found myself working in Credit Suisse’s Investment Bank in London, England. I had only been to London once before for a weekend. But that only made the challenge more appealing to me.
I was off to the races. The next challenge was a coveted hedge fund job. At 23 I landed at BlueMountain Capital. A hedge fund with $3 billion of capital and big aspirations. There I honed in my investment acumen and saw my responsibility sky rocket as assets under management jumped to $22 billion in a few years. I relocated to New York in 2013. The fast pace life, notoriety and financial comfort that came with a career in finance were appealing to me. You can hear more about my hedge fund experience in this podcast interview I did.
But after a while, my life plateaued. I was happy, but not getting happier. It dawned on me “am I really going to spend the rest of my life staring at computer screens in midtown Manhattan?” Deep down, I knew the answer was no. I wanted to do something entrepreneurial, something that made an impact. But I had no idea what that could be and I didn’t have the courage to change it.
I eventually mustered the courage to release myself from corporate shackles and embark on a year long world wind adventure. I skied over 50 days on four continents. I hiked through South America. I immersed myself in some of the poorest countries in Africa. Rode my bike on stages of the Tour De France. Spent more time with my loving family than I had in the prior decade. Became an avid marathon runner, including running a marathon with my mom. Sat for a ten day Vipassana retreat. Through all this travel, much of it by myself, I detached from my prior life. I finally had time and space to reflect. And I fell in love with the most wonderful woman. You can read more about the lessons from my adventures here.
You can now catch me challenging myself in four endeavors: relationship - being a better partner and friend; intellectually - investing in and partnering with purpose driven businesses; spiritually - writing about my experiences in hopes of being of service to others; athletically - pushing the limit on my marathon time and skiing big mountains.