In late December of 2011, Nate and I walked out of UW Credit Union and started Walkner Condon with a buildout on Monroe Street, my brother Craig as our office administrator, and zero clients. Since then we moved down the street to our current office, built out a reimagined office layout and added Jonathon, who later became our first partner.
Mitch was added shortly thereafter, recognizing that building for the future was best done by adding talented individuals that believe in serving clients with their best interests always at heart. Keith joined a little while later, finding us through mutual connections and starting a new niche at Walkner Condon in working with U.S. expats. Hannah joined us in a client support role and will soon elevate to financial advisor in the near future.
Our advisors and staff are our best recruiters, and when Nate and I approached Keith with the idea of adding advisors to our expat team, he politely declined to reach out to anyone. Keith explained that he wanted to help build the infrastructure to offer complete expat services and serve his clients first, and he would approach advisors later with our value proposition. When I asked Keith who he respected and had values that would align with ours, there were two names that he brought up – Stan and Syl from his previous firm, Thun Financial.
Then in mid-June, Thun Financial communicated that they were being acquired by Creative Planning. It took a few months, conversations were started, and we are happy to announce that Syl Michelin and Stan Farmer are now members of Walkner Condon Financial Advisors! Their additions will greatly benefit our expats clients and others that face cross-border investment and financial planning difficulties. Additionally, one question that always popped up when the partners met was “what happens to our expat business if Keith gets hit by a bus” (or more accurately, what happens if Keith’s pancreas starts to become inflamed and he ends up being out of work)? Now with our international team featuring three experienced members, we will be able to offer support to our clients under any circumstances.
2020 remains a challenging year, but even in difficult times, we are pleased to add such talented advisors to our firm. I would be remiss not to mention all the efforts of the rest of our team, who all pitched in to help while Nate has been absent. Nate is our “glue guy”, and to go through this process without him has been tough. As he gets better, we will be back at full strength very soon.
To read more about Syl and Stan, head over to our expat website.
Here’s to the next chapter of Walkner Condon! Thanks to all of our clients who make us who we are.
Clint Walkner