Raymond James executive says work 'noble profession'

To Tash Elwyn, financial advisers rank behind only physicians and pastors in importance for most families.

Despite the battered markets of 2008 and 2009 and more recent criticisms from the Occupy Wall Street movement, Elwyn views the more than 1,300 financial advisers he oversees at Raymond James & Associates as the financial equivalents of those who care for people's physical or spiritual health.

"I believe that the financial services industry, despite all the turmoil of this financial apocalypse in 2008-2009, is a very noble profession," Elwyn said during an interview last week at the Chattanooga office of Raymond James that he once managed.

On Tuesday, the 40-year-old former Chattanoogan was elevated to president of Raymond James private client business.

The promotion capped an 18-year career that began at Raymond James when Elwyn was waiting to get into the Peace Corps in Atlanta. As a major in political science at Emory University, Elwyn thought he wanted a public service career but got interested in Wall Street after applying for overseas volunteer work.

"I think what a professional financial adviser does to help individuals and families care for and prepare for their financial well being is one of the most important callings in life," Elwyn said. "On both a micro and a macro scale, this profession allows you to really make a difference in people's lives."

Elwyn insists that Raymond James is not just another Wall Street firm. In fact, company president Paul Reilly bills Raymond James as the premier alternative to Wall Street, and Elwyn insists having the company's headquarters in St. Petersburg, Fla., rather than New York City, gives a different view of Wall Street.

Elwyn said Raymond James and its brokers are not in the same sales or manufacturing-style approach to generating business as many other brokerage firms. While many others are cutting staff in the past year, Raymond James has not, he said.

A key distinction, Elwyn said, is the adviser choice program Raymond James launched in 2003 when Elwyn was serving as branch manager of the Chattanooga office.

Unlike most other brokerage firms, Raymond James allows its advisers to continue to handle their clients' finances even when they leave the firm.

"Just as clients have free choice of who to work for, so should the adviser," Elwyn said. "It completely changes the way you support people."

Raymond James boasts better retention than other brokerage firms which don't allow such freedom because of the support and training it provides advisers, Elwyn said.

Elwyn says he has enjoyed helping both clients and colleagues at Raymond James, which helped propel the Boston native up the corporate ladder. That path to the top included two years in Chattanooga, where he served as branch manager, training under Frank Gibson, who Elwyn calls one of his mentors.

Chattanooga financial adviser David Patten, who joined Raymond James two decades ago along with Elwyn, said few were surprised by Elwyn's rapid ascension in the company "given his superb management, speaking and organizational skills."

Elwyn said he has a second home on Lookout Mountain and an affinity for Chattanooga even though he now lives in Florida.

"Even though I was only in Chattanooga for a few years as a branch manager, my wife and I fell in love wit the city and put down roots here," he said.