Growing Rich - Arabictrader.com

KIRK KAZANJIAN
boards of directors, and a third of my time managing accounts for
some friends and clients.”
Papp quickly talked his way onto the boards of several companies,
including Scott Foresman, Booth Financial, Del Webb, and Sullair.
“When I went on the board of Fannie Mae, I was pretty young and
found it to be interesting,” he explains. “I was sitting there looking
at the whole business and making judgments. Being on corporate
boards helps you to better understand what makes a company work
and why one is good while another isn’t.”
BACK IN THE INVESTMENT BUSINESS
Papp’s small investment firm was up and running in 1978. His first
clients were attorneys and bankers from Illinois that he had worked
with when he was at Stein Roe. His results were good, and the business
quickly grew. “In 1981, I told my wife, ‘I’ve got a problem,’” he remembers.
“‘I’ve either got to hire someone to work with me or I’ve
got to stop taking all new business.’ I learned from Stein Roe that
when you turn down new clients, nobody’s going to recommend you
and suddenly you have no additional business. Either I had to decide
not ever to get bigger or I had to get help. I was out visiting my son,
Harry, in Chicago and told him I had gotten busy enough to hire
someone.” At that point, Harry had an MBA and worked in the
treasurer’s office at pharmaceutical giant G. D. Searle & Co. He was
responsible for overseas financing and acquisitions, and he managed
the company’s domestic real estate holdings. Harry’s wife, Rose, also
worked there as an analyst, supervising the corporation’s financial
planning process. “Harry told me if I was serious about expanding
my firm, he would like to come down and work with me. I agreed,
but told him I had a couple of requirements. First, I have a problem
with nepotism. So even though he had two master’s degrees, I pushed
him to get his CFA. That would be an outside credential indicating
he really knew the business we’re in. He agreed. Second, I told him
he would have to take a pay cut. I didn’t want him to come join me
just because he got more money. He had to really want it.”
Then Papp started to think about his daughter-in-law, Rose.
Phoenix, at the time, did not have the same financial opportunities
that were available in Chicago. He knew it would be tough for Rose
to find a job with comparable status in Phoenix. “It dawned on me
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