Walker Holloway, CFP ®
Vice President and Financial Advisor, Hazlett, Burt & Watson, Inc.
“NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP.”
For Walker Holloway, vice president
and financial advisor at Hazlett, Burt &
Watson, Inc. in Wheeling, WV, this time-
less quote has renewed meaning every day.
He was first introduced to this empowering
message as a student at The Linsly School,
and since then it has become a mantra.
Growing up in Wheeling, Holloway was
intrigued by the ins and outs of financial
advising from watching his father, Pete,
a financial advisor for Hazlett, Burt &
Watson. At an early age, he decided to
follow in his father’s footsteps.
“I could see how much respect people
had for him and how down to earth he
seemed knowing that,” he says of his
father’s career.
After high school, Holloway enrolled
at Rollins College in Winter Park, FL,
where he graduated with a bachelor’s
degree in economics in 2011. He then
accepted a position at AXA Advisors in
Orlando as one of its youngest advisors.
“It was intimidating,” he says. “I think
most people associate an older person
with a financial advisor and not a 22 year
old. I had to build trust with prospects
to get them to work with me.”
During a visit home in 2012, he had
the opportunity to meet the key owners
of Hazlett, Burt & Watson, who then
convinced his father to allow them to
recruit him. With his father’s blessing,
the company made Holloway an offer he
couldn’t refuse, and in 2013, he moved
home to Wheeling.
“When people ask me how I like work-
ing with my dad, I tell them I learned
more from him in two weeks than I did
in two years on my own,” he says. “We
don’t always agree, but I think it is good
to work with opposing perspectives.”
Holloway places high importance on
finding new solutions to financial planning
based on the bigger picture of economic
changes.
“I love that my job forces me to learn
constantly,” he says. “There is a cause
and effect for pretty much anything that
happens in the government or private
sector. I truly enjoy reading the news and
then working through the impact it will
have on the markets and our clients.”
Similar to his work in financial planning,
Holloway approaches community service
with a mentality of creativity and variety.
He serves to promote programs in arts,
nature and historical preservation as a
board member of the Oglebay Institute
and Wheeling Heritage and participates
in local fundraisers as a member of the
Rotary Club of Wheeling.
Health care is also a focus of Holloway’s
community service. He is a board member
of Ohio Valley Medical Center Auxiliary,
a nonprofit that holds health-centered
events in the Ohio Valley, and vice presi-
dent of the board for St. John’s Home for
Children, a temporary home for abused
and neglected boys in West Virginia.
In keeping with his personal values of
determination and creativity, Holloway
has not been afraid to step outside his
comfort zone for charity events. Every
year, he plays in a charity basketball
game for Bethlehem Apostolic Temple
that pits the local celebrity team against a
Harlem Globetrotters-style act. In 2015,
he was a contestant in the Augusta Levy
Learning Center’s Dancing with the Ohio
Valley Stars fundraiser, which led to a
new-found interest in ballroom dancing
and subsequent dance lessons. Now he
participates in the event as an instructor,
choreographing, teaching and performing
with an event star.
“I want this area to do well, which means
we must put in more effort,” he says. “It’s
more than donating money—it’s rewarding
to see how the time and effort spent on a
project help our community.”
Fortunately for his clients, this Wheel-
ing native who once dreamed of being a
professional wrestler says his physique
was built more for the financial realm.
His office is the wrestling ring and every
challenge a new opponent.
“I am a competitive person, and I love
working with people,” he says. “Every
client is unique in some way, and I enjoy
guiding them to financial success.”
Holloway takes in the view from
the iconic Pullman Square.
“Never, never, never give up.”
– Winston Churchill
KEVIN DUVALL
TRACY TOLER
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