Spotlight on Tom Doxey
Executive Vice President and Director of Marketing and Client Service

Tom W. Doxey, Managing Member, Oakwood executive management team, and Director of Marketing and Client Service, is the man least likely to become ruffled at Oakwood Capital Management LLC. Tom’s legendary calm is all the more amazing in view of the fact that he has a punishing travel schedule, juggles management duties at Oakwood with the needs of a large, varied and geographically diverse group of clients, commutes from Las Vegas and maintains a busy family life.

Tom completed both a Bachelor’s degree in finance and an MBA with emphasis in finance with honors. Later, he graduated from the Pacific Coast Banking School at the top of his class. Tom also brings over 25 years of experience to his job as Oakwood’s Marketing Director, much of it in the institutional trust departments of major banks. There, he honed important client development, servicing and management skills which distinguish him to this day. Specifically, in addition to the aforementioned unflappable nature, Tom is a thorough and reflective thinker who has a gift for lending perspective and a sense of balance to any situation. His command of detail and willingness to strive for excellence in all things stand him in good stead whether he is attempting to define investment objectives with a prospective client, giving guidance to other staff members or describing one of the finer points of Oakwood’s investment process to a prospective employee.

His years in the institutional trust departments served to broaden Tom’s knowledge not only of investments and investment vehicles but also of the various trusts and foundations which contain them. Hence, the individuals whom Tom advises find that he understands the basic nature of some of the more unusual trust vehicles and is knowledgeable about many kinds of employee benefit plans. However, he’s realistic about today’s complex financial services environment. “I have enough knowledge to recognize that it’s important to have the trust officer, attorney or accountant involved at many steps of the process,” says Tom. “Taxes and estate planning have grown very complex and most individuals benefit from outside expertise for specific needs.”

Tom knows that the client service professional is the only Oakwood representative most clients ever talk with or see. This means that he must work closely with the client (and frequently the client’s other advisors) to help define the client’s investment objectives, prior to both formulating and then maintaining a meaningful investment plan for the management of the assets. “Identifying relevant time horizons, income requirements and examining the impact of taxes are all important,” says Tom. “It is absolutely essential that we determine risk tolerance so that we can match it with the client’s expectation for return.” He admits to being conservative and goes on, “Most people who have already accumulated wealth usually conclude that they should allocate some assets to fixed income instruments. But in the right circumstances I can be talked into recommending an all equity strategy.”

Working with Tom means the marketing staff must strive to ensure that presentation materials are accurate, prepared in a timely manner and presented in an appealing way. No detail escapes Tom’s attention. Erika Bland, Oakwood Assistant Vice President, has worked with Tom for twelve years. “Tom is meticulous and exacting,” she says. “When it comes to the clients, he considers the correct spelling of a name to be as important as where the assets are located.” True enough. But focus and attention to detail are an important part of the excellence Tom seeks.

All that precision certainly seems to have paid off. During the ten years of Tom’s employment at his previous firm, he had the highest rate of client retention of any account executive.

Tom’s travel schedule ensures that Oakwood’s name has become known in many geographic areas beyond California and the Mountain West. Specifically, Tom has brought the company’s expertise to investors in many regions in Southern and Southwestern states. His willingness to travel to see the investor is deliberate on his part as he believes that conscientious communication of investment principles and results is best accomplished face to face.

Tom brings his leadership qualities to other aspects of Oakwood as well. Growing Oakwood is a high priority for Tom but he never loses perspective. “Our company has three major components,” he says, “the clients, the employees and the management group. If we take care of our clients, the employees and management group will also do well.” Tom is an active consensus builder, as a matter of personal style, and believes in building strong teams within the organization.

Tom’s belief in strong teams is probably the result of a lifelong involvement in sports. He was a college swimmer but now prefers to watch his two sons play college baseball and college volleyball. Well-traveled Tom Doxey may be taking a few days off next winter though. His home town of Salt Lake City is only a few hundred miles from Las Vegas and Tom, his wife and three children have plans as a family to attend some Olympic events. Tom also appreciates antique automobiles and has a client who owns one of Tom’s favorites, a 300SL Gullwing Mercedes, which Tom, on occasion, gets to admire up close.

Tom’s perspective and expertise is valued by every employee of our firm and every client with whom he interacts. Clients tell us that Tom really cares about them and they feel lucky to have him as their Oakwood representative. When it comes to luck, Tom quotes from a plaque in the office of one of his clients: “The harder I work, the luckier I get.”