Lunch with a Leader

Tenacity and perseverance lead to success

Richard A.C. Coles, a 1990 graduate of Boston College, spoke with students at the Winston Center’s Lunch with a Leader series. Coles is managing principal at Vanbarton Group, a credit and equity investment firm in New York City and San Francisco. He began his talk by emphasizing the impact Boston College had on him by allowing him to develop deep connections that have lasted to this day with friends all over the country. He then explained that from a young age he was interested in the challenge offered by the New York City real estate business. A mentality of tenacity and perseverance allowed him to secure work in the real estate business during all three of his college summers. After graduation, his tenacity paid off once again as he quickly rose through the ranks by developing a personal relationship with his boss during a tough economic time period. He attended NYU’s Stern School of Business and joined Goldman Sachs. After Goldman Sachs, Coles joined Vanbarton, where he once again rapidly rose through the ranks and is now the head of a company employing almost 100 people. He explained that he enjoys the intimacy of a smaller work environment but took many lessons about ethics and dedication from his time at Goldman Sachs.

Due to Vanbarton not being a mega fund, each investment is carefully debated, as one wrong move can be a disaster for the group. He used the example of his biggest failure to demonstrate the importance of being honest and candid in the workplace. When an investment in Michigan turned into a business failure, he was honest with his client and took the loss. By not hiding the company’s failure, he won the respect of his client and maintained a relationship with them. Finally, he stressed the need to balance your “work résumé” and your “life résumé” by carving out time to spend with family and on vacation along with being dedicated to the work that you love. Coles also fielded students' questions on a variety of topics from pension fund reform to the advancement of technology impacting his business. 

Christopher Murphy '20, Winston Ambassador