This week on the Be Epic podcast, host Brent Williams welcomes guest Mario Ramirez, President of M Ramirez Group and Chief Client Officer for Golden Rod Companies. They delve into the importance of relationships in business, with Mario emphasizing the value of conveying your principles and work ethic in every interaction. Mario shares his career journey, starting with architecture and moving into finance, which included a stint at Merrill Lynch and a 21-year tenure at TIAA. He discusses his diverse roles, from starting a Trust Company to leading the executive relations forum and the Hispanic market nationally. Furthermore, he shares his experience of shifting to entrepreneurship and the formation of his own consulting firm, M Ramirez Group. This episode offers invaluable insights into career transitions, the power of relationships, and the importance of adaptability in business.

When you meet somebody, try to convey your,

some of your values and principles of who you are. You

know, you're, you're, you're reliable, you're loyal. You're

your work ethic, and they get to know you. And all of a sudden

that becomes valuable at some point. But until that point

occurs, just keep the relationship going. And there's

value in every relationship.

Welcome to the Be Epic podcast, brought to you

by the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of

Arkansas. I'm your host, Brent Williams. Together, we'll

explore the dynamic landscape of business, and uncover the

strategies, insights, and stories that drive business

today. Well, today I have with me Mario Ramirez. Mario is

President of the M Ramirez group, his own consulting firm,

and he's also the Chief Client Officer for Golden Rod

Companies. Mario, thanks for joining me today.

You're welcome, Brent, it's great to be here.

Thanks for having me.

Well, Mario, you're a great supporter of the

University of Arkansas Walton College and an alum of the

Walton College and your your relationships here, across

campus go pretty deep, don't they?

They really do. They do. And I'm, I'm a proud

alum, also proud dad of, of one alum, and two current students

one law student and in one, undergrad. So a lot of

relationships across the campus, for sure.

Well, where I want us to focus on today will

be sort of the power of relationships in business. But

but before that, maybe a little bit about your journey, your

career journey thus far. And then a little bit of, I think,

you know, mentioned, you have your own consulting firm, you're

also working in real estate with golden rod, and a few other

things. So I'd love to hear kind of your journey and what you're

up to now.

Sure. Thanks, Brent, you know, I told somebody

the other day that I that I studied architecture, in

college, and I did for a year, then I then I moved to finance.

And that's what I got my degree in. I had cold called with a

good friend and fraternity brother, Kenny Gibbs at Merrill

Lynch and had when I interviewed at Merrill Lynch, for my first

job, they hired me, I said, why'd you hire me? And they

said, well, Kenny Gibbs put a good word in for you. And when I

thanked Kenny, he said, no, just just pay it forward. Next time,

you will have an opportunity to do the same thing. And I've

never forgotten about that. My entire career. In my I think my

involvement in nonprofits or in helping students in in board

work kind of stems from that premise. But that said, I

started with Merrill Lynch, was there five years I left there, I

felt a little bit ethically challenged with one particular

main manager. So I left and I had, I wanted to leave

brokerage, I wanted to get more into other financial services

more broadly. And start to run out of money. And so I ended up

my dad was saying, Can I can I give you some money, some money

and I said no. I don't need any money, but I needed money. And

so we were married, and I asked my next door neighbor who ran

and ran a lawn service. I said, can I he put me on the crew. And

he said, okay, we'll put you on the crew. And so I'd go mow

20-25 lawns a day, come home, take a shower, put a suit on, go

to an interview. And so I found TIAA, transitioned over to TI.

It's now called TIAA at the time, it was TI Cref. I spent 21

years there. And starting from an advisory role. Working with

the University of Arkansas actually actually played a big

part in this. They I was the the president of the local alumni

chapter in Dallas. And they needed somebody to come in and

work with the institutions across the state of Ark, of

Arkansas. And so they said, you're a perfect fit. So I did

that. That's where I started my career with TI CREF. And then,

you know, they wanted me to help them create a Trust Company,

which I did, I worked with, you know, beginning the Trust

Company. Then we started wealth management, started working with

our highest our wealthiest clients. And so I became one of

the first directors in wealth management than they asked me to

create something specifically for because the company focuses

on cost large universities, nonprofits around the country

it's a trillion dollar pension fund. They said we need, we need

you to create something for the very the decision makers, the

most influential leaders across the organizations that we serve.

So I stepped into that role created that and helped help

form, you know, Private Client Services. Then I eventually

worked with with our CEO Roger Ferguson, in leading the

executive relations forum, and also the Hispanic market

nationally. I left there, and I started my own consulting firm.

I remember, I wasn't sure what I was going to do, I knew that we

were having a downsizing in the company. And in a couple of

months, my position was going to be eliminated. I remember asking

a good friend of mine, a former governor, you know, what do you

think I should do? And he said, well, you have a pretty

incredible network. Why don't you? Why don't you use that

network and establish a consulting firm, opened doors

for families like ours, and others, and help help us build

our businesses. And so they and he said, I will be your first

client. And so that's how I started M Ramirez Group. And

then I put different components together around it, for example,

tax expertise, and also insurance. And basically

different parts of my group came together to serve the clients.

And since I was licensed leaving TIAA licensed, securities

license, I was able to represent companies that are raising

capital, for example, projects that are raising capital. And so

it was a it was a good fit all around in ways to, you know,

create in a way to serve the needs of ultra high net worth

families, influential families. Along the course of this

development of this business, I met Zach Wiegert. And Zach is a

former NFL player and started investing in real estate. And he

eventually created Golden Rod Companies, Golden Rod Funds,

about four and a half billion in assets, and properties. And he

asked me to be his Chief Client Officer, and working with some

of the same families that I've been working with and other

wealthy individuals, and we invest in large projects around

the center, central part of the country.

Well, I can tell that it's been a lot of fun in

the journey, not not, including TIA, probably Merrill to some

degree, but certainly, since then, I can tell you, I've had a

lot of fun putting these things together.

Definitely.

You know, one part of your story I didn't

quite remember until just then, was that the, the opportunity at

TIAA came ultimately, because of your service on leading the

alumni group in Dallas.

It really did. Yeah.

So you know, talk a little bit about that,

because that's clearly an investment of time you made that

you didn't necessarily have an expectation of it paying off

that way.

It's interesting, you put it that way, because

I've had people ask me, why do you volunteer? Why do you get

involved, you know, on a, on a board? You know, I serve on your

board, and it's an honor to do so. And, and they say, you

don't, you don't get paid with that. And I said, you really do

that, because the relationships that you make, there and really

the the work that you're doing to help, you know, students in

the university that you love. So it was it was a natural fit for

TIAA to say, hey, why don't you come help us in the state of

Arkansas? It was it was a perfect fit. And, and it was, it

was interesting, going back to former professors, and working

with them, you know, on their, on their retirement planning on

their financial planning, and eventually working with, you

know, the leadership here, the university and the coaches and,

and eventually doing that nationally. But it did all start

with really the relationship with the University of Arkansas

and relationships that I have within that, within our school,

our university.

Yeah. What do you think it is? I mean,

clearly, you have a propensity to really invest in

relationships, not necessarily with an expectation of return.

But, but knowing more broadly, they will return. How do you

think maybe even going back to the to the way you grew up, how

did you learn that?

That's a good that's a good question. How I

learned that I'm not honestly, I'm not really sure how I

learned it. I I want to be able to I want to be care about the

relationship that I'm, that I'm involved with or that I, you

know, I guess, if I listen to my own advice, when I'm when I meet

with students, for example, you know, I'll tell them, I'll tell

them, hey, it's, has anybody heard, the idea of, it's who you

know, and you'll get a lot of hands raised. And I'll say,

okay, write that down. And, and then I'll say, okay, now rip

that sheet of paper out of your, out of your notebook and throw

it away. Because it's not who you know, because we all know a

lot of people, I tell them, it's kind of cheesy, but it's who

knows you. And what I tell students, and I guess I've

follow my own advice when you meet somebody. And it doesn't

have to be anyone note worthy, so to speak. When you meet

somebody, try to convey your, some of your values and

principles of who you are, you know, your, your you're

reliable, you're loyal, your, your work ethic, your you know,

what, what value you can bring to the relationship or what in

the work that you do. And they get to know you, somewhat. And

all of a sudden, that becomes valuable at some point. But

until that point occurs, just keep the relationship going. And

there's value in every relationship. And I don't know,

we don't know what it is sometimes upfront, it may be a

few years down the road, before you understand what that value

is, and how it fits into your overall kind of walk in life.

Yeah

You know, or in your career. And I guess I'm

just kind of thought about it that way.

Largely worked in financial services. And

that's started to broaden for you. But, you know, as you as

you work across industries now, and you know, interact across

those throughout your career, it seems to me that the power of

relationships, matters, no matter what area of business

that you're working in.

Yeah, no question, no question and

finances, it really matters because you're dealing with with

something very personal to these individuals, and they need to

know that, that they can trust you, that you're looking out for

their best interest. So you need to establish that trust. And

that's really the case in any business that you're working in.

And so I think that's maybe what I strive to do establish the

trust, and so that you can have honest conversations about how

we can collaborate, we can work together, you hear this

statement all the time. You know it's great to work with, you

know, with good people, great to put good people together. You

know, part of that is, is is knowing who those good people

know, knowing the good people that at, at a relationship

level, excuse me, the, building the relationship first. That's

what I'm trying to say, and then understanding where you can

insert yourself to help them.

Yep, you know, almost, I've got our students in

mind, and this doesn't, what we're going to talk about does

not just apply to students, it applies to me. But it applies to

probably just anybody out there building any kind of career. You

said something a moment ago, like when you when you meet

someone and you start building a relationship, you want to convey

your values in some way really early on. And and that is not

something you know, you don't I don't think you've ever walked

up to me and said, hey, Brent, here's my values, right? So you,

you demonstrate that through action, what are just some any

just like simple, like practical ways that you do that?

I know that families or individuals that I

work with, that are high net worth, ultra high net worth a

lot, they they're they're in demand. And so they get asked a

lot of them. So if you sit down with someone like this, to not

ask for something, except to understand who they are, and for

him for them to understand who you are, kind of where you're

from, what you're, what you're about, and what they're about,

listen to them. And not ask not ask anything of them at all, is

is one way. And that's that's usually pretty evident. It's in

the sense that they're so used to getting asked, you know, so

that's one way to do it, I think following up with whatever was

discussed, you know, and promised in a timely manner, in

the appropriate way, you know, is is another way to demonstrate

that and just just showing them that you're actually listening

to them as they're talking.

You know what I went out talk to our students,

when I get to give, you know, advice in this area, there's two

things you just said that I think are really key. One is the

ability to listen. Underrated skill, the the ability to

listen. But the other is follow up, that is very, very

important, right in terms of the, the relationship building

process.

It is, it really is and, and follow up not only

on specific items that were requested, or that were, that

were discussed, let's say, but also just follow up, you know,

if you're, you know, we all do, we all travel in our careers,

and even personally, and you know, who's in that city that

you're going where you're going to, you know, you have your

agenda, your schedule, your itinerary for that time that

you're there, but, you know, is there anybody you need to follow

up with, you know, and just catch up with, and, and staying

relevant with people, and, you know, business aside, just kind

of caring about those, those people as as how they, how they

do in life, you know, and just staying in touch is, is a good

thing, you know, relationships and friendships there, they,

they become more and more valuable, I think the older you

become just, you know, you start really emphasizing that.

Yeah and the value you get out of those

relationships often sort of evolves over time, I would say,

you know, and but you said something that made me think

about, you know, say, truly caring, right, and I think

that's really where where it starts with relationships is

truly just caring about the well being of the people around you.

Regardless of the position of somebody, you know,

an executive or it doesn't, doesn't matter, any, any level,

you know, professionally, caring about that individual, you know,

who they are, where they are in life and is there anything you

can do to to help, you know, sincerely, is, I think, I think,

I think people will understand and feel the sincerity in your,

in your discussion in your voice, and, but it's really

identifying in a business setting and identifying what the

needs are, and approaching it in a very consultative way, you

know, here's how, a couple of different ways that we could, we

could help and, and then get the best resources possible to

address those particular, you know, pain points or challenges.

You know, one thing that, that I wanted to

bring up that I observed in, in getting to be around you, you

and I are around each other quite a bit. Even though we live

in, in different places, you know, innovation is often

putting, not always just creation, right? It's often

about putting unique things together. Sometimes that's

relationships. You know, and, and I see, I see you do that a

lot like you think about like, oh, how does this relationship

fit with this? And how do I bring those people together? And

it's kind of allowed you to get into lots of really fun and

unique projects.

Yeah, you know, the going back to caring about

people understanding where they are in life. Part of that is

understanding what they're doing, what their priorities

are, I used to walk into, into when I was at TI Cref, I'd walk

into the president's office and, and one of the questions I would

always ask is, what do you think about first thing, you walk in

the door here in the morning? And what's the last thing on

your mind when you leave? When you close that door? What's on

your mind on the way out the door? And those are the things I

want to try to help you with. And it could be any number of

things. I remember one president said, well, okay, we need to

build a pedestrian bridge on the south end of campus, and I need

to get it done. But I need some political help to navigate that

and, and get the funding for it. And this, you know, and we were

able to put together the right individuals to help in that

situation. But opportunities, I see a lot of opportunities, I

see a lot of deals, I see a lot of projects, and in companies

that are raising capital or growing. You know, I had one the

other day. And they they they're building a factory in one part

of the country. And I said, well, what if you put the

factory in a different part of the country, we could get the

right investors involved here. We could get the right political

capital involved. We could get the university involved. We

could we could allow the university to provide jobs into

this and it itself this project is going to create 1,000 new

jobs so but coordinating all the different pieces meant that I

needed to know what each component who the the point

person would be on each component part of that. And I

think just getting to know, people developing relationships

gives me the kind of the bank of, of priorities for each

individual and how to match that up. Does that make sense?

That totally make sense. That's, that's

exactly right. I don't think I've ever until I'm sitting

here, I don't know that I've ever thought about innovation in

that way. I've always thought about innovation as putting

unique things together that may not have ever been put together,

that's innovation. But it also works with relationships, too.

And I guess that's often key to getting something new and unique

and different done.

Yeah. Yeah, it really is, you know and when you

have those relationships you know, I think it's, yeah, I

think it's important when you have a board, for example, to

understand, to get to know, each board member, each board member

is then re giving their time, there are some very important

business things that are usually going on that day, but they're

here, you know, and each one has something to give. So developing

the relationship and understanding where their heart

is, what, what they what they can provide, what kind of, you

know, intelligent, or business intuition or business insight

Agreed. Well, you know, Mario, you've after, I

they might have, that they could help, in this case, the Walton

College, you know, with what, and then and then kind of

know, you're still involved in the finance industry in some

storing that away and knowing, well, I really like this person

and gotten to know them over the past couple of years. And I know

way. But but your career has evolved into you're more and

that they have a company that that specializes in this, and

maybe in a couple of years, we'll develop something in that

more involved in real estate, with Golden Rod as an example,

space. You know, so you understand how to match that up

at the right moment.

you've also been involved in with large construction

companies. So how's that transition been? And, you know,

into into that realm?

Yeah, it's funny, it's all very symbiotic let me

say it that way. Everything's related to to the other. You

know, as I look at my role with Golden Rod, it's, it's as Chief

Client Officer, we're doing some really cool projects, we're

building, you know, a $500 million hotel and condo, you

know, what, together with the Atlanta Braves at the, at the

Battery, in Atlanta overlooking the stadium, that's a neat

project, you know, but if you look at the fund, itself, that

this project is coming out of, it's very investor friendly. So

I work with a lot of investors I work with, you know, high net

worth families that are that are looking to, for for investments

that have value to them, that are set up the right way. And,

for instance, in that particular case, the fund is very investor

friendly. So it's easy to to, to discuss and bring up and it can

be, you know, I, I wouldn't be involved with it if I didn't

think it was a good match for some of the individuals that I

work with. So the work that we're doing there is meaningful

and really designed for the clientele that I've been working

with. One of the families that I've been working with over the

past several years, they do have a very large infrastructure

company, Southland Holdings. And they decided to go public in the

past year, and they invited me to join the board, which has

been really exciting. You know, we went up to New York to ring

the bell, and to see this company that that started, you

know, in the last generation, and to see it start from from,

you know, immigrants from Italy, starting the construction

company that has acquired, you know, has grown on their own

grown through acquisition now owns American Bridge, for

example, the company that built the Empire State Building,

Yeah,

It's just really, really a neat American story.

Absolutely. Some iconic projects I've gotten to

visit Southland with you.

Yeah

The headquarters. And to walk along

and see the iconic projects throughout this country's

history that they've been involved in is actually truly

tremendous.

It really is. It really is seeing, seeing the

Astrodome and the Oakland Bay Bridge and the Tappan Zee Bridge

up in New York. And of course, you know, even aircraft carriers

and battleships during World War II. Seeing the things that that

we've built as a company over the, over the decades. And

they're really part of American history.

Yeah.

It's neat.

You know, Mario, you've heard me say this many

times, I think I think one of the Walton College's most

important competitive advantages, you will, if you

will, is our connectivity, connectivity to companies and

our alumni. It seems to me that, you know, the U of A and the

Walton College has really been a big part of your story. I mean,

going back, I guess, to, you know, getting you in the door in

some way in TIAA, but it's really continue, you've really,

you've really continued to invest in this set of

relationships. And it's, it's, I don't know that I would say it's

the absolute core, but it certainly has been important

throughout that journey.

Well it's been important to me, you know, that

Walton College and the University. You know, I've

gotten so much out of it, relationships, you know, from my

family, my wife, you know, we met here, we met in front of the

Walton College, actually, right in front of it. And, you know,

now having my kids go to school here, having lifelong

friendships here, so it means a lot to me. And so to be able to

serve on the board, and give back in a variety of ways, is

something as it's a priority, you know, frankly, but, you

know, the Walton College makes it in the connectivity that

you're referred to, I think that what makes it easy, what makes

that flourish, and you're right, it does here, it really does,

among our students, our alumni, our board, the leadership of the

college, I think it's, it's the same quality that I see that I

was place as my number one quality for leaders, for good

leaders, if somebody were to ask me, what's the number one

quality in a good leader? I'd say humility. And I see that

here. And humility in the sense that regardless of position, CEO

of any company, you know, that we all know of any any company

or, you know, a wealthy family or individual doesn't matter.

They're open to hearing what the students have to say,

Yeah,

They're open to hearing what the leadership has

to say about the college.

Yeah.

And where it's going,

You you hit on something there, that's really

important. It is kind of who we are. Right, you know. And you

and I were just a, you know, at a luncheon, where I observed,

you know, one of our students get a chance to tell these

really successful people, they were asked they, they wanted to

know what she thought, right? They wanted to learn from her.

And, you know, and she was able to voice, you know, that

actually, what was really important to her was being able

to make an impact through her internships and her career. And

I was walking, I was looking around that room and watching

people glued to her. And these are very successful people.

They're running big companies, they've got busy lives. But it

does take humility to do that. And, and I think that, that

it's, it's a part of who we are.

It really is, you know, we, we talked about how so

many universities now, you may get admitted to the university,

but that doesn't mean that you're necessarily a part of

that business school. You know, you need to apply again for

that. In not in every case, you don't get in, in every case.

Right. So, but here, we do we allow that. And I don't think we

as a college, as you know, the Walton College. We're not we,

although we're an elite school of business, we don't presume

ourselves to be elitist. You know, we're not, we're not. We

we're humble enough to be in that room and be open with these

students. Make them feel comfortable. You know, because

they're stressing over the past week. We got to go present

before the board. They probably told their parents, I have this

tomorrow. I'm really stressed about it. But yeah, hopefully

they got in there and they felt comfortable. And they actually

had good conversations and, you know, some of the board members

are asking them can, can we ask them advice of you? You know,

which is great.

You know, one thing I love about this state

is, is just that, you know, hard work is still valued, ingenuity

is still valued, humble. Humility is still valued. And

it's really, really fun to get to see people like you and

others on the Dean's Executive Advisory Board model that for

those students that were in the room And, you know, you probably

really don't know the kind of impact that ultimately makes.

But it does make a difference.

Well, I hope it does, I think it does. And if

that if we can convey that value to our students, in how we

design our curriculum, and how we teach our students and how

we, you know, carry ourselves, you know, in the public eye on,

you know, even within the walls of the Walton College, I think

that's, that's a homerun, you know, that's a, that's a value

that you can't really, it's hard to teach in a class, you have to

demonstrate it, I think it's sort of an intangible. It's,

it's sort of an innate ability, that can be maybe trained

through demonstration, as opposed to maybe being taught in

a book. And it's so so important.

What you said couldn't be more right. Like,

you know, like getting things in business done, often is about

again, we'll go back to that the power of relationships and

Mario, I'll say thank you for investing in the relationship

with the Walton College and investing in our students and,

and helping us by using, you know, that that network of

relationships that you've created on our behalf, so thank

you.

You're welcome. It's my pleasure, Brent, thank

you for your leadership.

On behalf of the Walton College, thank you for

joining us for this captivating conversation. To stay connected

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