Glen Yelton is the Head of Impact Research for SNW Asset Management located in Seattle, Washington. He received a Bachelor’s of Science in Cross-Disciplinary Studies from East Tennessee State University and went on to enroll in ETSU’s Master’s Degree of Liberal Studies program. Although he did not complete this Master’s program, his concentration while in school was in linguistics with a focus on cognitive linguistics and metaphor theory.
Glen got started with investing by “accident” he says. He started his career with data collection as an interrogator with the United States Army. After leaving the Army in the late 90s, Glen went on to work as a primary source expert in the competitive intelligence field where his clients were Fortune 100 companies that were looking for actionable data on the business activities of their competition.
Glen got started working at Spark Plaza after having worked at home for about a year. He found that his productivity diminished when he didn’t have regular interaction with others, and he claims that his dog and cat just weren’t the same. He knew about Spark Plaza from Jose and decided to give it a try. He says that, “the mix of co-members here is an energizing group and the cross-discussions each day are both challenging and informative.” He found that Spark Plaza allows him to accomplish more in a more effective manner.
It was through Spark Plaza, actually, that Glen got started in the financial world. His office neighbor during his time after the Army was a certified financial planner who had a goal of helping people align their personal values and their finances. Through a collaboration on an initial idea, a company was born. After seventeen years, and three companies later, Glen is still helping investors align their personal values and finances – on a much larger scale now.
One interesting fact about Glen is that he has always been a bit of a geek…. From being on a team in high school that won 2nd place at a state competition for – you guested it – wildflower identification, to being passionate about numbers and data!!
When asked what his coworkers would say is Glen’s super power, he gave the response “Firstly, my ability to make doughnuts disappear. More seriously, though, is my ability to take a data evaluation concept and break it down into a series of discrete steps that form an integrated system of both collection and analysis.”
Additionally, we found out that Glen’s spirit animal is Whiskey!!
Check back next month for another Spark Plaza featured member!!!