Chris Cooper was just 16 when he experienced a devastating loss that would forever influence his future.
“I was really kind of thrust into it,” said Cooper in a recent interview on Regions Business Radio Houston when asked how he ended up in wealth management. “When I was 16, my father passed away very suddenly and unexpectedly, and it was just a few weeks before my older brother left for college in California.”
Cooper is the Private Wealth Management leader for Houston and Austin, Texas. But he was still a teen when he was thrust into the role of helping his widowed mother figure out how to move forward financially at a time when there wasn’t anyone else to help.
A CFP, or Certified Financial Planner, Cooper is now the one others turn to. But, back then, there were no financial resources, advisors or wealth managers to help navigate the challenges of managing finances in the wake of a tragedy.
Our clients are looking for someone who understands them, understands their family dynamic, their needs, and build a plan around that to support their best interests.
Chris Cooper, Private Wealth Management Leader for Regions Bank
“As I sat with my mom, who did a great job given the circumstances, at the dining room table looking at the stack of bills and the checkbook over there, we figured it out together,” shared Cooper. “At the time, I took away that we really could have used some help to navigate some pretty tumultuous waters. I carried that with me later on in life and discovered there’s a need for that, there’s a tremendous value add for that, and it’s been my passion ever since.”
Cooper joined John Stacy, Regions Houston market executive, head of Regions Houston Commercial Banking team, and host of Regions Business Radio Houston from the studio at Constellation Field to share his story and insights on the banking industry in Houston. As he has sought to rebuild his team and ultimately double the size of the private wealth presence in the market, Cooper has doubled down on the importance of having the right team in place to support clients.
“It is absolutely critical, and what I look for are those who are willing and able to put in the work to become good listeners and engaging in a deeper level of discovery with our clients,” said Cooper. “Our clients are looking for someone who understands them, understands their family dynamic, their needs, and build a plan around that to support their best interests.”
We sat down with Cooper following that podcast to learn a little more about his career journey. Here are some of the key takeaways from that conversation.
As a college graduate in 1993, did you plan to go into banking?
No, I didn’t have dreams of being a banker when I was growing up. As a college graduate in the 1990s, I fully expected my first job out of college to afford me a corner office at a large food distribution company that I had my eye on – that was actively laying off employees in 1993. As I shared in the Regions Business Radio interview, while I didn’t originally have an interest in wealth management, I was compelled into financial services.
I started my wealth management career in a large wire house investment firm, but moved into a smaller, nimbler firm where we could adapt the business model and didn’t need multilayer approvals. That firm led with Wealth Planning, which was crucially important to me, but they lacked the traditional banking services to serve client financial needs holistically.
Tell us about your move to Regions Bank.
In 2013, I was close to taking a portfolio management role with another firm when I was approached by a Regions market executive who was looking for a financial advisor for a local branch at the time. I was working on my master’s thesis on portfolio management at the time, and only planned to give him five minutes. He shared the Regions story and the wealth management model, and I was intrigued. I met the Area Wealth Executive for the market and spent a few hours with him and I left that meeting thinking if- even half of what was shared was true, it sounds like the model I want to be a part of.
Regions has solutions for everything, including the Natural Resources and Real Estate group. In the South, the source of wealth is often associated with business ownership or a natural resource, such as timberland, so this niche offering was exciting. To think about a company that had a solution for all the things wealth clients needed is exactly what I was looking for in my career. I completed my thesis and joined Regions as a trust advisor shortly thereafter. In 2015, I moved into a portfolio management role in Shreveport, Louisiana. Then in 2019, I was approached for the area executive role in Houston and made the easy decision to move back to Texas.
What advice would you give someone considering a career in wealth management?
You have a unique opportunity to really be a force for good and be a bit humbled and reverent because of that. Some people get into this industry because it is exciting, and you are around people with a lot of wealth. The job is more psychology than finance. At the end of the day, we’re in the relationship business and relationships are important and they take work.
There’s a lot more to it than meets the eye and it took me a long time to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up.
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