When Gregory A. Shanaphy \u201991 enrolled at Montclair State, he envisioned a career in law. And although he earned a J.D. from Seton Hall University, is a member of the American Bar Association and admitted to the Bar in New Jersey and the United States District Court, Shanaphy has found success \u2013 and life purpose \u2013 in wealth advising and portfolio management.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always knew that I wanted to help people,\u201d Shanaphy says. \u201cI have lots of family members in law enforcement, and I wanted to follow their example of service to the community. When I was accepted into several colleges, my parents explained the financial benefits of attending a state school.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was recruited to play football at Montclair State, I saw a chance to play football with my Seton Hall Prep classmates,\u201d says the former Red Hawk Linebacker.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter law school and a clerkship, I worked in the Essex County Prosecutor\u2019s Office and then entered private practice,\u201d Shanaphy continues. \u201cI gained a lot of terrific experience in these roles, but I didn\u2019t feel like I was helping people the way I wanted to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shanaphy\u2019s friends, including a few former Montclair State classmates, encouraged him to bring his legal background into the field of finance. \u201cI started out in compliance work, but then worked my way into advising,\u201d he says. After gaining some experience at Merrill Lynch Global Private Client and AXA Advisors, he joined The Poppo Group, a unit of UBS Financial Services.<\/p>\n
Today, Shanaphy holds Series 7, 24, 31, 63 and 65 securities licenses as well as life and health insurance licenses, all of which he puts to good use as Senior Vice President-Wealth Management of UBS-The Poppo Group. As a Wealth Advisor, one of the few professionals to earn that designation at UBS, he provides highly personalized wealth management services for his clients. For Shanaphy, it is a wealth of opportunities to help others.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am very blessed to work with a great team,\u201d he says. \u201cIt is very gratifying to help clients with life choices and events. We help people send their children to college, plan new businesses, retire. Every situation is unique. We helped a restaurant stay in business during the pandemic. When another client\u2019s son was accepted to Cornell University, we helped the family plan for the costs involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Michael Perotta \u201909, Leadership Giving Officer at the University, invited Shanaphy to get involved with the ÌÇÐÄvlog Foundation, Shanaphy saw a whole new world of opportunities to help others. \u201cI\u2019m honored to join the Foundation board and I\u2019m excited to give back to the University that gave me so much,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to meeting fellow alumni and to bringing my financial knowledge and experience to the University.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe campus has grown so much,\u201d he says, \u201cbut now I am learning too about the needs of our students.\u201d He was especially moved by the University\u2019s efforts to provide for students who were homeless during COVID.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was the first in my immediate family to go to college,\u201d he says. \u201cI understood the costs and sacrifices involved. But I also had a supportive and loving family. I\u2019m glad to see my alma mater providing for those who don\u2019t have that kind of support system.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a wonderful experience at Montclair State,\u201d Shanaphy concludes. \u201cIt was a wonderful stepping-stone to my career. And I had great professors. If you were engaged and wanted to learn, wanted to broaden your horizons, they were there for you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Brings Financial Expertise to the ÌÇÐÄvlog Foundation Board<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1163,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-montclair-state-university-donors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1162"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1164,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1162\/revisions\/1164"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}