On some days, the view of downtown Portland from Doug Greenberg’s office presents a peaceful and panoramic perspective on one of the country’s most beautiful cities. But as anyone familiar with the Pacific Northwest knows, the clouds can roll in and the view can go from stunning to soggy in an instant.
For nearly two decades, Greenberg BS’89 has employed his wealth-management talents to help his clients weather the ups and downs of financial markets that can often mirror Portland’s disparate climate.
In 2009 and 2010, Barron’s ranked Greenberg the sixth-best wealth advisor in Oregon in its state ranking of Top Wealth Advisors. In 2011, he was ranked fourth and in 2012, he was No. 2. Greenberg said he’s satisfied with that.
“When you’re ranked No. 1, the only way to go is down. Then when you go down, everyone says, ‘What happened? You were No. 1 and now you’re not.’ Rankings are nice, but I’m more concerned with serving my clients and building on what they’ve worked so hard to accomplish.”
Greenberg manages more than $570 million in assets for individuals, as well as endowments for a number of Portland non-profit organizations. Before his career began, Greenberg earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from UT Dallas in 1989 and moved to Portland as an entry-level financial advisor for Merrill Lynch. He later joined Dean Witter, which was the predecessor to today’s Morgan Stanley.
Greenberg earned his field’s key designation, the Certified Investment Management Analyst, from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in 2000. He’s one of a select few advisors recognized within the global company as a senior investment management consultant and he recently earned a spot on the Financial Times “Top 400 Advisors” list.
A Dallas native, Greenberg learned early about finance and customer service through his family’s business, the department store chain Colbert-Volks. He brought this experience into the classroom at UT Dallas and benefitted from similar real-life experiences among his fellow students.
“There was a great synergy in our classes,” Greenberg said. “Most of the students were working while pursuing their degrees, so the faculty recognized that we could actively contribute to the curriculum. They engaged us rather than simply giving lectures.”
Greenberg could easily expand his practice by taking on partners and associates to build a larger client base, but his focus on relationships has made service to his 60 clients a greater priority. He reminds current business students that size is not always a measure of business performance. He credits his success to tireless attention to detail and quality.
“By placing clients first in every decision that we have made, it removes the conflicts of interest so prevalent in my industry. As my clients have achieved their goals, I have experienced success in my business.”
