Kathy Parks

Greenbrier Capital Management isn't your typical wealth management firm. For starters, the headquarters is housed in a modest home in a residential area of Knoxville, Tennessee. Visitors enter into the kitchen, where photos of clients and their families are posted on the refrigerator. "It's a way to remind ourselves whom we're working for," says Kathy Parks, Greenbrier's founder and principal. "Clients come first, and we're here to serve them."

Indeed, Parks takes a decidedly client-oriented approach to wealth management at her firm, which manages roughly $28 million in assets for more than 50 clients. Her goal: to keep clients deeply involved in the wealth management process.

The attention to clients is rooted in Parks' experiences growing up in a family that ran a concrete construction business in Ohio. Parks saw firsthand the financial challenges—and opportunities—of running a small business. What's more, she understood that the financial realities of operating a family business required a unique strategic approach—particularly from a wealth management perspective. "It made me understand that there are downfalls to success," she says. "My family was successful, and it created some complexities."

Parks earned a business degree from The Ohio State University and early in her career worked as a production planner for paper company Kimberly-Clark in Memphis. Her next stop was Houston, where she ran a conference-planning company specializing in events for the health care industry. But during that time, Parks also held an active role on the advisory council of her family's business. "The business had done well and had an estate planning issue," she says. "We hadn't touched the buy-sell agreement since 1968, and through the process of updating that agreement, I gained a lot of client-side perspective on the estate planning process."

The work interested Parks, and she soon decided to pursue a Certified Financial Planner™ designation. The CFP® certification classes were a hit from the start. "The first night of the first class, I just loved it," she says. "I loved the whole idea of being able to take what people really want out of life, translating it into numbers and then bringing it all back into a strategy for reaching their goals."

A key part of the process of delivering top-notch value to Greenbrier's clients is making sure that the firm is the right match for those clients. Her goal? Making sure clients reach their long-term financial objectives. "Our wealth management philosophy is that we're partners and advocates for our clients in helping them build their best lives," she says.

That means carefully screening for prospective clients who are likely to buy into Parks' long-term approach. Day traders with big appetites for risk? No thanks. Status-conscious business moguls? Not here. "I drive a 14-year-old Toyota Camry with 180,000 miles on it," she says. "For folks who need me to drive up in a Jaguar or Mercedes, well, that's just not who I am."

Focusing on the right kinds of clients has been critical in Greenbrier's evolution, says Parks. Not only has shaping the firm's client roster meant better results for those clients, but it's also formed the cornerstone of Greenbrier's growth efforts. "We don't grow for growth's sake. We grow by bringing on the right clients," she says. "And we have a lot of clarity about the people we serve very well."

Parks credits her relationship with advisor coaching firm CEG Worldwide with helping her better understand the types of clients Greenbrier excels at serving. That list includes women with inherited wealth, widows and younger women with family wealth, and beneficiaries of family businesses. The firm also counts among its clients several physicians with medical practices, multigenerational families and families in transition.

Women are a key demographic at Greenbrier. Parks says her female clients often are eager to learn about the wealth management process. And while that means Parks is sometimes thrust into the role of educator—she is used to giving elementary lectures to explain how stocks and bonds work—it's a role she relishes. "It requires a little patience on my part, but there's power in communicating that information in a way that doesn't speak down to people," says Parks.

Greenbrier offers financial planning on an hourly basis as well as more comprehensive wealth management offerings. These two levels are a key part of how the firm operates. She explains that the hourly planning is a gatekeeper for the wealth management clients, allowing her to increase revenue as needed without locking the firm into long-term relationships that may crowd Greenbrier's other wealth management clients.

As Parks continues to refine Greenbrier's wealth management process, she feels secure that the firm is on solid footing—and is well-positioned to continue serving its current and future clients. "We choose the right folks that we enjoy being with," she says. "And we can see the value that we bring into their lives."

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