‘Blind luck’: Mizzou alum shares path that led to leadership, Synergy CEO

Brian Roberts will be the first to tell you that living on a farm will teach you pretty much everything you need to know in life.

“I loved growing up in the country,” Roberts said of his time on a cattle farm in Cameron, a rural community north of Kansas City, Missouri. “I learned a lot of amazing life lessons and skills growing up on a farm.”

When he wasn’t busy helping with his family’s small cattle operation he was playing sports, so when it came time to leave his hometown, he had several athletic scholarships waiting for him at smaller colleges. But he had his sights set on something bigger: Mizzou.

Thanks to support from organizations like the Knights of Columbus, local banks and small community businesses, Roberts set off for the University of Missouri with enough scholarship money to pay for his first year’s tuition, but by the second year, the scholarship money was running out. He considered transferring to one of the smaller schools that had offered him athletic scholarships, but he wasn’t ready to leave all that Mizzou had to offer (or Kylee, a nice young woman he met on his first day of classes, who would later become his wife).

“I was at a crossroads,” Roberts said. 

What happened next Roberts describes as good old-fashioned “blind luck”: Greg Bailey with Northwestern Mutual came to speak to his personal finance class about investments and insurance. 

“Those weren’t necessarily table talk where I grew up,” Roberts recalled.

Roberts walked away from that class with a trusted mentor, a way to pay for his remaining time in college, and a solid career path.

Roberts studied personal financial planning and found a home with Northwestern Mutual. While he enjoyed the work, he was passionate about helping others and wanted to shift from the protection side of financial planning to wealth management. 

“For me, it was right church, wrong pew.”

In 2005, Roberts found his new “pew” at MassMutual and soon co-founded his own company. Along with his business partner, Roberts was managing nearly half a billion dollars. Roberts loved working one-on-one with clients, helping them plan for retirement, managing their investments and sending their kids to college. 

“It’s honorable. We do purposeful, meaningful work,” Roberts said. “We’re in the business of helping people protect the things they can’t afford to lose.” 

In 2016, MassMutual’s president approached him about taking on a new role. Roberts once again found himself at a crossroads.

“I had in my heart to be a leader and to coach and to teach people and to recruit them into this business,” he said. “I needed to choose between being a financial advisor full time or being a leader full time.”

Roberts reflected on how many lives he had been able to help shape through his work as a financial advisor — then considered how many more he could shape by helping recruit, train and mentor other financial advisors.

“Transitioning to leadership, I really felt one of the things that got me over the hump in making that decision, was that I felt like I’d have a greater impact,” he said.

Roberts began acquiring smaller firms in the region to form Synergy Wealth Solutions, which has since grown to become one of the largest MassMutual firms in the Midwest. As CEO of Synergy, Roberts now leads more than 200 advisors, staff and brokers … and counting. When it comes to Synergy’s growth, he’s looking to the University of Missouri’s Robert J. Trulaske, Sr. College of Business to fill its ranks.

“It’s one of the top business programs in the entire country,” Roberts said, pointing to Trulaske’s highly engaged faculty and the college’s innovative Edge program, which promotes career readiness. “As a former Missouri Tiger student, now an alum, it’s really a shining star for us. It’s an electric program.”

Balaji Rajagopalan, Robert J. Trulaske, Sr. Dean of the Trulaske College of Business, is excited for the path that Roberts is helping to create for Trulaske graduates, as well as the inspiring example that he has set.

“The work being done by Synergy and its tremendous energy and growth under Brian’s leadership make it an outstanding career path for our students, and we are so pleased he has chosen to partner with Trulaske to provide our students with internships and full-time career opportunities,” Rajagopalan said. “Equally important, I’m grateful to Brian for modeling what it means to provide client-centered wealth management services. He has always viewed his clients as family, and now he’s inspiring the next generation of financial advisors to do the same.”

With the financial planning industry already facing a shortfall and 40 percent of current advisors reaching retirement eligibility in the next decade, it’s a great time to enter the profession, Roberts said. The nation is also about to witness the largest wealth transfer in history.

“The opportunity has never been greater,” Roberts said. “If you have it in your heart to serve and help others and you have an entrepreneurial spirit, this industry will be a good fit.”

For Roberts, “blind luck” came in the form of the right mentor at the right time. Now he’s encouraging other Mizzou students to seek out those same opportunities.

“You’ve got to align yourself with a company you feel good about, align yourself with a culture that you feel that you fit within, and, most importantly, have good connectivity with who your mentor’s going to be.”

Mizzou’s Robert J. Trulaske, Sr. College of Business prepares students for success as global citizens, business leaders, scholars, innovators and entrepreneurs by providing access to transformative technologies, offering experience-centered learning opportunities and fostering an entrepreneurial mindset.