Botkin Family Wealth Management opens on Rt. 19 in Peters Township
It has been a delightfully different change for the Botkins.
Lester, son Lester and daughter Sara had secure positions with Morgan Stanley, a global financial services giant. Since 2007, they were the firm’s Botkin Group, specializing in personal financial planning and investment management.
The team had an estimated 350 clients and was managing about $210 million in client assets. And all three were working mere miles from home, at Morgan Stanley’s Upper St. Clair offices on Old Washington Road.
All of this was good, but they had an inspiration – break away.
“This was a great opportunity to start our own company,” Sara said.
The seed for Botkin Family Wealth Management thus was planted. But before launching, the family needed a launch pad – their own offices. Their search ended a little more than a mile from their previous professional digs, when they bought the stylish building that previously housed Delightfully Different, an upscale gift and design shop that had closed.
They remodeled, then kicked off their independent endeavor March 20. Two weeks later, the Botkins believe they’re peaking in Peters Township.
“Things are going well. We’re feeling really good to be business owners now,” Sara said last week, amid the hubbub that accompanies a move such as this. She, her brother and father were scurrying throughout 2948 Washington Road, contacting clients, meeting with them, recruiting them all over again – while, of course, seeking new ones.
“We’re doing everything,” the younger Lester said. “We’re making sure the refrigerator is stocked, taking out the garbage, doing things we didn’t have to do in our previous jobs.”
Botkin Family Wealth is getting its bearings in an optimum location, along busy Route 19 across from Sun Chevrolet, in a densely populated region, still near a number of clients.
“The key to business is being in a place that is highly visible,” said Lester P. Botkin, the father and CEO, who resides in Peters with his wife, Barbara. “We are in such a place.”
Signage, for now, isn’t as visible. A temporary sign is up near the entrance, somewhat obscured by foliage on the adjoining property. A permanent one – larger and located near the highway – is due in about three weeks,
It is a four-person operation affiliated with the brokerage network LPL Financial. The father is CEO; Sara is president; Lester H. is chief investment officer; and Danielle Wilson is director of client services. There is certainly room for staff expansion. The second floor of the 4,000-square-foot structure, with six or seven rooms, is not being used for now.
All staffers, to be sure, have interesting backgrounds.
• Pitching wedges instead of pitching finances used to be Lester P.’s bailiwick. He was the original director of golf at the Club at Nevillewood, from 1990 to 1997. Botkin was the head pro at Youghiogheny Country Club in Elizabeth Township in the 14 years previous to that.
Oh, the photo ops. His office walls are adorned with shots of him with Sylvester Stallone, Jack Nicklaus, Mario Lemieux and other luminaries.
While at Nevillewood, he said, “a guy encouraged me” to transition into the financial world. Botkin became a certified financial planner and made the switch 18 years ago.
• Sara lives in North Strabane Township with her husband, real estate agent Ovi Manciu, and their two sons. At 24, she had a life-changing experience that was nearly life-ending.
“I was waiting in line for the elevator when the plane hit.”
She worked for Aon, a global insurance brokerage, in Manhattan. In the World Trade Center. Sara was preparing to ride up to her office on the 105th floor of the South Tower.
“I was one of the fortunate ones” – unlike the 176 co-workers who died that morning.
“Dad always wanted me to come back here and work,” which she did before 2001 ended.
Sara had gone to the Big Apple to pursue a career in music, following graduation from the University of Virginia. Now she is in tune with being a CFP.
• Her brother joined the Botkin team in 2007 following five years with a valorous team: the Marines. Lester, who also is a graduate of Ohio State University, was an aerial navigator who participated in hundreds of missions, including the battle of Fallujah in Iraq in 2004. While on the ground, he was a fiscal officer at Stewart Air Reserve Base in Newburgh, N.Y.
Lester is working on becoming a chartered financial analyst, which he said “focuses more on research data.” A small percentage of advisers achieve that designation.
He lives in Peters with his wife, Julie, and their young son.
• Wilson is a longtime Botkin teammate, working with the family at Morgan Stanley before transitioning with them. She is a South Carolina native, an Upper St. Clair resident and the spouse of a local celebrity: Josh Wilson, an infielder with the Detroit Tigers and a Mt. Lebanon High School graduate.
She also is a multi-purpose employee at the new site, working as diligently as the Botkins to get the place in order. “It’s a good thing my husband is at spring training because I have no life,” she said last week, with mock anger.
This has been a huge shift for the four, fraught with risk but filled with potential. There are no regrets at this juncture.
“We’ve said to each other, ‘This feels better than we expected,'” Sara Botkin said. “But you feel you can do well or you wouldn’t try it.”
For more information, visit botkinfamilywealth.com or call 724-941-1737.