About Alexander James Raymond
Alex Raymond lives in Catonsville, MD and is very active in his community. He has built a successful career in finance and is well-known for his financial planning, investment, and project management skills. When he started his career in finance, his goal was to continue to learn and grow as part of a winning and highly experienced team. Over the years, he has been able to transition seamlessly into various fields and endeavors where he has had continued success on almost every level.
Building a Career in Finance
Raymond began his career in finance at Morgan Stanley. He continued to work there for over 10 years, gaining experience and learning as much as he could about finance and business management. He also learned how working together as a unified team was beneficial in building a network of professionals he could count on for advice and support.
Learning the Ropes in Project Management
Much of the time he spent at Morgan Stanley was dedicated to building relationships, delivering custom client solutions, and honing new project management skills. During his ten-year run, he earned many licenses and certifications including:
Series 7 and 66
PMP
Advanced Certified Scrum Master
and many others
By completing these certifications, he was able to flesh out his resume and market his project management skills in several different areas. This allowed him to branch out and take advantage of many new opportunities.
Taking It a Step Further
As his time at Morgan Stanley came to a close, his interests broadened to other areas of project management. Although finances were still a part of everything he did, his interests began to turn toward IT projects. This quickly became an area where he could excel. Before leaving Morgan Stanley, he had built his business into a thriving entrepreneurship grossing around $330k a year and helped grow the businesses of partners in excess of 30%. Within two years of opening his own IT project management operation, he is now showcasing an even larger income potential.
Transitioning to IT Project Management
Transitioning from financial services to IT project management was a smooth journey. All of the tips and techniques he had learned over his past 10 years at Morgan Stanley were now applicable in his new role. He was able to explore new opportunities and eventually earned 2 major contracts. One contract was with Navy Federal and the other with Driscoll’s. Raymond has fielded project management consulting offers from CVS, Ameriprise, and Key Bank to name a few. He serves as both a project manager as well as a Scrum Master and has been able to advance quickly in the IT field due to his many years of past experience.
Tying It All Together
Throughout his years as a financial advisor rooted in project management methodologies, Raymond was able to continue learning and gaining the knowledge and expertise he needed to keep moving forward. Each year of experience has allowed him to continue to explore and learn by working in different areas of each industry. This has helped him to become very agile in terms of managing multiple tasks and operations at the same time. By bringing the two fields together, he is now able to be more efficient in each and build stronger, more cohesive networks.
As part of his development over the years, he has made a name for himself in several different areas, including IT Security and governance. He has been able to manage agile teams and has helped them work towards meeting their full potential. He has been part of several organizational transformations where he has been able to assist in bringing together groups that could effectively find solutions and work together to achieve whatever goal was in the works. His ability to match his prior income in the span of two years proves his ability to use his talents to their fullest potential.
It’s All About Giving Back
With all of his continued success, Raymond had not lost sight of where he has come from. He has always been a huge sports fan of high school, collegiate, and professional golf, football, and basketball. His success in business has given him the ability to give back to his community in several ways.
Not only has he maintained a tradition of donating $500 to $1,000 per year to his high school, Mt. St. Joe, for the last ten years, he has also contributed the same amount to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. For the last decade, donating to these organizations has become an annual practice that he does not intend to stop. Raymond has also donated his time as a volunteer with the Children’s Inn at the NIH and local food banks.
Raymond has not forgotten about local businesses in his community either. He works pro-Bono for many small business owners helping them to develop the right strategies for their businesses. He also offers free financial planning seminars for members of the community – adults and school aged children alike.
It’s through these efforts that he is able to give back to his community. He has worked hard for his success and hopes to help others earn the same success on their own terms. Whether at work or in his spare time, he takes pride in knowing he makes a difference.
