Mr. Ford has dedicated much of his life to being a bridge between the modern world of business and the ancient world of wisdom, dubbed the “Shaman of Wall Street” by the Washington Post, with The Economist Magazine referring to Lawrence as a “man of two worlds”. Lawrence is both “The Finance Guru”(as named by NPR) and “Spiritual Advisor” (by the Retirement Income Journal).
Mr. Ford has had a long estimable career as an Entrepreneur, Financial Advisor, and Consultant, helping both large organizations and individuals through transition and crisis, as a top leader and consultant in the Financial Investment Industry through his speaking and private practice.
In 1998, Ford was named one of six people to form the Citigroup Advisors Committee, which was tasked to oversee the marketing and cross-selling challenges that resulted from the historic $70 billion merger of Travelers and Citibank.
He is highly regarded as a leader on the best practices of what the industry calls ‘client retention and cross sales’ processes. Because of this, he has been called-in to assist with several large, complex, international financial services organizations during their times of crisis and transition.
In 2001 Mr. Ford was also one of the pioneers in what the industry now calls “Robo Advisors” while he was the Senior Vice President for a hundred-person early stage company called Direct Advice. In 2008, Ford was engaged as Senior Vice President of Investment Services, to head-up the investment management business for a national retirement plan administration and investment management company with $10 billion of AUM. In 2011, he worked with GuidedChoice and the esteemed Dr. Harry Markowitz (Nobel Prize winner for Modern Portfolio Theory) to help democratize financial advice for retirement plan participants via advancements in technology.
He served as Co-Chair of RIIA’s Retirement Income Industry Association (Retirement Income Industry Association) Member Services Business Unit, and consultant to the RIIA-RMA (Retirement Management Analyst) Governance/Oversight Committee.
Additionally, Ford has published articles in numerous business periodicals, and has been a featured speaker at events and conferences including The Stanford University Entrepreneurial Conference, and a keynote at Quinnipiac University’s Dean’s Distinguished Speakers Series. Ford was one of the first state appointed Patient Advocates for nursing homes in the State of Connecticut and has devoted over 15 years designing, funding, and championing Word-Start – an early child reading and empowerment program.
Mr. Ford is an Accredited Investment Fiduciary.
He is passionate about preserving and promoting ancient wisdom for modern times through his writing and teachings, most notably with his thought-provoking book, ‘The Secrets of the Seasons’, a powerful transformational tool, designed to help its readers live their unique reason for being here. Lawrence Ford is deeply committed to the vision of leveraging the power of money to help make the world a better place. This is keenly observed with Mr. Ford’s Future Capital initiative in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Partnerships with the vision to realize a fully operational and conscious economy.