Charles
Shannon

“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” ―Jackie Robinson

Charles is one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. Always jovial and at the brink of breaking into laughter, he was a shoo-in to join our Founders Circle family. They must like Southern boys here because they’ve got two of us now, and there’s no turning back.

Charles, a Tennessee native, did what any proper southern gentleman would do in his youth – He met, fell in love with, and married his high school sweetheart, Faith, at a very young age. What can I say when you know, you know, am-I-right? They met at Philips Academy in Andover during an extracurricular tennis class. To this day, Charles is incredibly thankful he missed those basketball sign-ups, which forced him into tennis, allowing him to meet his wife.  The Charles and Faith saga is one for the books as they spent the better part of seven years in a long-distance relationship enduring many Greyhound bus rides just to see each other.  After snagging the girl, Charles then had his work cut out for him by demonstrating to his future father-in-law that he could provide for his precious daughter. He passed with flying colors.  Charles and Faith now reside in the South Bay with their young daughter and newborn son.

Realizing his full potential after high school Charles applied and was accepted to Harvard University in 2007 and graduated with his Bachelor’s degree in Sociology in 2011. You wouldn’t know it, but he’s also quite the math-head too. As such, Charles spent two years as both a Corps member with Teach For America and a mathematics instructor at Veritas College Preparatory Charter School in Tennessee.

At this Charter school, he learned the key communication skills that could easily be translated into any career path. So, going into the workforce left him with a lot of options. However, after two years of careful thought and consideration, he decided he would venture into finance – which, to this day, is a decision he does not regret.

Charles made the full jump to tech finance in 2013, where he served as a leveraged finance analyst for Morgan Stanley (NYC) and later as an investment banking analyst for Morgan Stanley (Menlo Park, CA) in 2015. Luckily for us, after almost three years at Morgan Stanley, Charles took a detour to San Francisco, where he found Founders Circle and hasn’t looked back since.

Working with Charles has been a breeze. Not sure if it’s those Southern roots or his solid Ivy League education, but his dedication to the Founders Circle community has added depth and dimension to our day-to-day work environment and culture. We look forward to watching him grow and seeing what else this force of nature will do in years to come.

by Andrew Boston

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