Morgan Stanley Leader Mark Bradburn Mentors HPU Students
Mark Bradburn, the founder and co-managing financial advisor of The Bradburn Group at Morgan Stanley in New York City, spoke to students about wealth management at Congdon Hall’s Callicutt Life Skills Theater.
HIGH POINT, N.C., Sept. 27, 2024 – Mark Bradburn, the founder and co-managing financial advisor of The Bradburn Group at Morgan Stanley in New York City, recently visited campus to mentor students as HPU’s Wealth Management Innovator in Residence.
While on campus, he taught a business career boot camp class, shared lunch with students, recorded an Access to Innovators podcast and led a Life Skills seminar titled “Breaking into Wealth Management” at Congdon Hall’s Callicutt Life Skills Theater on Sept. 24.
Bradburn shared with students how he became interested in a career as a financial advisor at age 10 after his father’s death. After he completed college on a track and field scholarship, he showed up for an interview at Merrill Lynch wearing his only suit, a dark green one that he had worn for track. After not getting an interview the first day, he returned a second day and met with a manager who gave him 15 minutes to tell his story and told Bradburn the firm didn’t hire students straight out of college. Bradburn offered to work six months for free and said he would work harder than anyone else.
The manager hired him, told him not to wear that suit again and assigned him tasks no one wanted. The manager later handed Bradburn a telephone book and challenged him to get $20 million under management within two years. Bradburn called up to 300 people a day and raised $24 million in nine months.
“I like to say to clients whenever there’s a dollar sign in someone’s life, I get involved in it,” Bradburn said. “I invest their capital, coming up with a plan and doing what should have been done for my family almost 40 years ago when my father passed away. The majority of our clients are athletes, entertainers and media executives.”
Bradburn advised students to put in the time and effort and practice telling their own stories and to be ready to answer employers’ questions. He noted one student in the audience as an example of being ready for that moment. Lily Nelson, who earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in May and is pursuing her MBA, became the first HPU student to ring the newly installed Extraordinary Outcomes bell in the Office of Career and Professional Development to commemorate her acceptance of a position as an analyst at Morgan Stanley. Bradburn inspired and motivated her, Nelson said.
“He really taught me the importance of having a growth mindset, and High Point University taught me the same thing,” said Nelson, who will move to Manhattan, New York, from Charlotte, North Carolina. “I knew I wanted to work for Morgan Stanley after I talked to him. I knew I wanted to get into wealth management, and I wasn’t going to let anything get in my way.”
Logan Whitlock, a sophomore business administration major from Yardley, Pennsylvania, was surprised Bradburn knew what he wanted to do with his life at such a young age.
“I don’t think there’s a single person I know who’s ever decided so early outside a firefighter or a teacher,” Whitlock said. “I liked hearing how he worked harder than anyone else with cold calling. It showed his perseverance. Also, I liked hearing about him going through the all the financial journals and not taking everything on face value. You look at all the numbers and every source.”