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Eastern suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio (first Garfield Heights, then Chesterland until college). I frequently joke that I had to show my passport before they let me cross over from the east side where I grew up to live on the west side of town now.

• Started skating at age three at the rink in Garfield; started playing hockey at age five
• Played at Garfield through fifth grade
• Played with Cleveland Americans through eighth grade and then for University School
• Played intramural at Miami University and some men’s leagues after college
• Over my years, I have had the privilege of playing with some tremendous hockey talent that went on to play collegiate and professional hockey. More important than their skill, they were great human beings and I will never forget the friendships made along the journey.

I am a financial advisor with Edward Jones. The reason I got into this business is I value personal relationships and helping people but always felt far away from the end client at the corporations I worked for in the past. Edward Jones is an employee-owned organization and, therefore, has a collaborative culture that fits perfectly with me and my interest in looking after my clients as if they were good friends or family.

Although there are countless lessons I have learned (and continue to learn) from our great sport, I had some specific circumstances growing up that provided a great lesson. Spending most of my youth in Chesterland, hockey was an unknown and unappreciated sport. In addition, it was not very convenient to get to a rink as most were at least a 45 minute drive away. This situation taught me that it was important to maintain focus on a goal that was important to me, no matter how unpopular or difficult, and that it required certain sacrifices by both myself and my family for the reward of achieving that goal.

In addition, the social nature of hockey and the interpersonal skills it helped me develop have been instrumental to my success in both personal life and business.

One of the most enjoyable parts of hockey for me now is watching my son play and seeing his enjoyment of the sport — and helping coach on occasion.

A couple fun facts:

• When I was a kid, trading hockey pins was a big deal. I enjoyed it so much, I ended up creating my own pin company (P.J.’s Pins) and made hockey pins for teams spanning several states. I also was into trading pins and gathered quite a collection from the US, Canada, Europe and Russia — all of which I still have today.
• Bill Davidge, Blue Jacket announcer, was my coach during a traveling hockey camp he worked at in the ‘80s that stopped in Lakewood for a week. When I went to Miami University, I ended up playing with him on an intramural team. Despite being in the prime of my hockey career as a college freshman and the large age advantage I had over him, Bill was still a much better player than I was!