Meet the Founder – Marc A. White, Jr.

There is a Chinese proverb that says, “There are many paths to the top of the mountain, but the view from the top is always the same.”

Marc A. White, Jr., our President and Chief Executive Officer, is enjoying the professional view he always wanted to see.

But the path to get there? Not exactly what he had in mind….

Early aspirations

As a child growing up in Washington, D.C., I fully believed that I would get out of school, work for a while, and then run for public office. I wanted to make a difference in this world, and I wanted to give back to society.

I graduated from Hamilton College in upstate New York where I majored in History, played two sports, and was very involved with student government. Upon graduation, I was approached to run for the New York State Senate at the age of 22. But my father said to me, “You need to get a job. You don’t have any money, and if you get into politics, even if you win, you will be beholden to everybody else. So you really need to get a job.”

I followed his advice and accepted a position with a bank in Boston where I was part of a management training program. I figured I’d get into the financial industry and then, down the road, pivot and do what I originally intended. A couple of years in, after completing the management program, I cold called my way into a job at First Boston (later Credit Suisse First Boston), an investment bank.

At First Boston, I became a corporate bond salesman working with large institutional clients who managed multi-billion dollar fixed income portfolios. I loved it, and I spent the next 17 years with the company in various capacities.

A father’s influence

My father was originally from Arlington, Massachusetts, and ended up practicing law in Washington, D.C., where I was born and lived as a child. He was a big influence on me in two particular ways. 

First, he treated everybody with dignity and respect, no matter who they were, what their job was, or what they did or did not have. It has always stuck with me. At a young age, I was very aware of my surroundings and saw that some people were more fortunate than others. Because of that awareness, I’ve always felt strongly that people should give back when they can or be helpful in some way when they have the opportunity to do so.

Second, my father was a great listener. If someone had an issue or problem, instead of trying to solve it, he would ask “What’s the issue, and what are you thinking?” He would let you lead the process of thinking through the issue and talking about it, eventually weighing in with his thoughts. That’s helped me greatly in my career. With every team I’ve led, I always ask, “What do you think?” as opposed to saying, “Just go do this.”

Another valuable lesson I learned from both my father and mother is that most issues in life are not a matter of life or death. The sun will come up tomorrow morning and things will generally be okay. I’ve always strived for balance—never too high, never too low—and that came from watching how my parents moved through the world. 

Connecting to clients

I discovered at an early age that I enjoy meeting new people. Everyone has their own unique and different story, and I have always been genuinely curious to learn it.

I also like trying to solve problems or, said another way, fix what keeps people up at night. I find great satisfaction in being able to say, “Here is what we can do, and here is how it will help you.”

To do this successfully, I believe you need to be a great listener. Every person, every family, every institution is different, and the questions you ask to figure out these answers need to be personalized. There is no script. It’s all about helping to make lives better, and it’s fun to be part psychologist, part priest, part Sherlock Holmes, and part coach.

Connecting to community

I am often a conduit between people who have more than they need financially and people who don’t have very much.

Many successful people have worked incredibly hard and want to give back in some way. But they often don’t know how, who, or what to give back to. Figuring this out involves asking them questions and listening carefully to what they care about in order to help them understand how to achieve their interests philanthropically.

On the other side of that equation, as we are involved in the community, we come across many incredible people who are struggling to get ahead simply because they lack access, opportunity, or financial education. They need help learning what tools might be available to them. It’s all about listening and trying to match peoples’ needs to appropriate resources.

Building a business

I was in my early 40s and running both equity and fixed income sales for First Boston when I reached a point of “Now what?” I received a call from a recruiter about running Fleet’s private bank. I had zero private banking experience, but I got the job.

I went from working with large institutions to working with individuals and families. It was a huge change. I was now helping to make decisions about the wealth and future of individuals and families, not institutions. It was very personal. A few years later, I got a call from J.P. Morgan to develop a private banking presence in New England and spent the next dozen years growing the region’s assets to $11 billion.

I love building and growing businesses, creating teams, and strategizing together. I love helping our clients, educating them, and seeing them successfully reach their goals.

I never thought I’d end up in private banking, but for me it ended up checking all the boxes of a rewarding career. Now I get to do it again— and build it the way I think it should be done—at Clarendon Private.