Chief Financial Officer
Bruce has more than 25 years of experience using numbers to make strategic business decisions and drive company growth. The Blueprint Financial Advisors team draws on this knowledge to drive decision making for the firm overall, as well as to provide guidance and coaching for the financial advisors and financial planners that partner with Blueprint Financial Advisors.
His role at Blueprint Financial Advisors is a continuation of what he has been doing his entire career: assisting companies in expansion mode to enhance their value, define their vision of operational and financial success, and chart the course to achieving their long-term objective. Specifically, he is responsible for the firm’s financial functions, including:
- Recommending how to invest the firm’s profits to add resources for partnering advisors
- Analyzing opportunities to optimize spending, seeking to keep costs low for advisors and their clients
- Seeking financial efficiencies that can further enhance the firm’s stability and allow for acting on strategic opportunities
Bruce has always been a “numbers guy.” He comes by it honestly: His father was a CPA, as was his father’s father.
Upon graduating from Virginia Tech, Bruce worked for public accounting firms – including what was the largest CPA firm in the world at the time – eventually rising to the position of Manager.
He then followed an opportunity he had always been interested in, teaching at the collegiate level. Bruce taught classes at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This experience helped him realize how much he enjoyed teaching others about what numbers mean and how to use them to make important business decisions.
Since his teaching days, Bruce has worked for several small- and medium-sized, closely-held businesses.
Bruce earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting from Virginia Tech, and he earned his CPA license shortly after.
The Funniest Accountant You May Ever Meet
Bruce grew up in northern Virginia and moved to Greensboro, NC, for his first job after college. Over the years, he put down strong roots in the Greensboro community, including:
- Marrying and building a life with his wife Cathy
- Raising three children: Bobby, Grant, and Clarie
- Caring for two dogs, Pennie and May, and a fluctuating number of fish
- Becoming highly active in the Summit Rotary Club, which is focused on improving the lives of local youth
- Joining Mercy Hill Church, where he teaches Sunday School to elementary-aged students
Bruce enjoys volunteer activities that involve working with kids because of the energy they bring to a room – and also probably because he’s a big one himself. This might help explain why people often tell him he’s the funniest accountant they have ever met (though he insists it’s a low bar).
While some people like golf, Bruce says “like” isn’t a strong enough word for his taste. He loves the game, more because of the camaraderie than his skill. Most of his weekends are spent golfing or doing whatever his wife asks so that he can spend more time on the course in the future. He also currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Wyndham Championship, a PGA Tour event held in Greensboro.
As far as spectator sports, he’s a big Carolina Hurricanes fan and even bigger one of anything the Virgina Tech Hokies are playing. As a season ticket holder for both Hurricanes hockey and Hokies football, he’s experienced plenty of heartache and occasional moments of euphoria.
