At Curi Capital, it’s our mission to help clients build true wealth, however they define it. Our team brings the knowledge, experience, and passion to help clients meet their goals through a wide range of financial services and solutions—and we’d love for you to meet them.
This month, we sat down with David Arthur, Senior Director of Wealth Management, to discuss his transition to the Curi Capital team following the Park Ridge Asset Management (PRAM) acquisition, the evolution of his career, and where he finds joy outside of work.
COULD YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR ROLE WITH CURI CAPITAL AND WHAT YOUR EXPERIENCE HAS BEEN LIKE?
As the Senior Director of Wealth Management, I serve as the lead advisor to my clients, working closely together to help them achieve their financial goals. It’s been a little less than a year since the acquisition of PRAM and our team becoming one with Curi Capital. In that time, the experience has been wonderful. The benefits that we felt our clients would gain have certainly panned out. We are fortunate to work among a team of smart, capable people on a daily basis.
WHAT LED YOU TO YOUR CAREER?
I was one of the weird kids that knew exactly what they wanted to do by the time I was 12. If you ever watched the show Family Ties, the character Alex P. Keaton was my idol growing up. He was a young capitalist and I just thought he was the greatest thing. I always knew I wanted to work with money, and I never wavered in that. I went to Ohio State University and majored in Finance focusing on Investments. I’ve never had another job outside of the finance space!
WHAT DID YOU DO IN YOUR CAREER BEFORE JOINING THE CURI CAPITAL TEAM?
For the first 15 years of my career I worked with various groups at BB&T. I began in the trust department, then became a Portfolio Manager and eventually a Senior Manager, where I was responsible for about 40 portfolio managers, overseeing $8 billion in assets. Along with my colleague Keith Karlawish, we were able to build out a comprehensive investment firm; everything from in-house equity models, an external separate account platform, and an alternative investment platform.
My time at BB&T afforded me a lot of great experience and prepared Keith and I to leave in 2008 to start our own asset management company, PRAM. We ran PRAM for 14 years before joining Curi Capital. I am grateful for my time at both firms and am now coming up on 30 years in the business.
WHAT IS YOUR VISION FOR THE FIRM?
The number one goal and priority for me is to ensure that we are continuing to meet our clients’ goals and objectives, while introducing them to the additional resources, both personnel and solutions, that are now available to them. In the longer-term, it would be to help Curi Capital continue to grow. We’ve got a great story to tell, a lot of great people, and huge growth opportunity. I’m excited to be part of that.
WHAT SETS CURI CAPITAL APART FROM OTHER FIRMS?
The backing of our parent company, Curi, makes Curi Capital a well-capitalized organization and allows us to plan for the long-term as opposed to focusing on short-term numbers. The investment that has been made in Curi Capital gives us so many resources and has built us for the future, making us competitive with much larger firms. There are also so many high-quality people throughout the company, which is always important to the success of a team. These are many of the reasons that made us want to join up with Curi Capital.
WHAT HAS BEEN ONE OF THE MOST MEMORABLE EXPERIENCES IN YOUR CAREER THUS FAR?
We started PRAM in September of 2008, right when the financial crisis was starting. We had non-solicit agreements with our previous employer, so we began with zero clients. It was a stressful time to be in that situation, but it turned out to be a really great time. Over those next 12 months we had opportunities to speak with many people who were unhappy with their current advisors. the stock market was down 40% and many hadn’t heard from their current advisor. There were a lot of people willing to make a move, and we were able serve many of them and gain their trust.
WHAT HAS BEEN ONE OF THE MOST MEMORABLE EXPERIENCES IN YOUR PERSONAL LIFE?
Raising a child who shares my wife and I’s values and watching her forging her own path in life. She’s just graduated from North Carolina State University and has joined the Curi Capital team as well.
WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR INTERESTS OR HOBBIES OUTSIDE OF WORK?
I like to stay very active and do a lot of different things like hiking, trail running, going to the gym, and most recently, playing pickle-ball with my wife and family. I’m also involved in my church and enjoy leading the men’s Bible study.
This piece was created and published prior to the merger of RMB Capital Management and Curi Capital in January 2024. We are posting them here so clients can get to know our staff. Please note that the employee’s current role/position at the merged company may be different than the ones described in this historical piece.
