Patrick McClain, one of the nation's top financial experts, credits Sacramento State not only for preparing him for a successful career, but also for continuing to produce talented graduates. (Photo courtesy of Patrick McClain)

By Ahmed V. Ortiz

Since his time at Sacramento State concluded, Patrick C. McClain ’88 (Business Administration/Marketing) has achieved notable success in the financial world over the past three decades. Through all that time and the great achievements runs a common thread:

“Not a day goes by that I don’t use some aspect of something I learned in college,” said McClain, a co-founder and senior partner at Allworth Financial (formerly Hanson McClain Advisors) and recipient of a 2019 Distinguished Alumni Award.

Hanson McClain Advisors, which he founded with longtime business partner Scott Hanson in 1993, administers more than $3.8 billion in assets. This spring, the company was rebranded as Allworth Financial as it is positioned to establish a nationwide footprint. McClain and Hanson in 2004 also founded Liberty Reverse Mortgage, now the nation’s third-largest reverse mortgage company.

An emphasis on service was a driver behind the founding of Hanson McClain. The two men were co-workers at an insurance company, and while chatting over their cubicle walls one day, they discovered that their values appeared to align. Both believed in service to clients above all, as well as in giving back to the community. So in 1993 they quit their insurance jobs and went into business together. In 1995 they began hosting Money Matters, one of the nation’s longest-running radio programs focusing on financial topics.

The service bug took hold of McClain fairly early. In a business class during his junior year of high school he did a case study of Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services. Remembering “the great work they did,” he returned 10 years later with a check in hand. He joined the board and later became chairman, playing a central role in establishing the iconic Run to Feed the Hungry, a hugely successful fundraiser and Sacramento Thanksgiving tradition; thousands of people annually participate in the run through Sacramento streets, raising significant amounts of money for the food bank.

McClain also is giving back to Sac State in significant fashion: hiring the University’s graduates. The company has for about six years run an internship program filled with Sac State majors in Finance with an emphasis on Financial Planning. They start as seniors and within five years begin meeting with clients, eventually becoming financial advisors in their own right. All nine who have gone through the program now are counted among Hanson McClain’s 175 full-time employees.

“We use Sac State as feeder into the business,” McClain said. “It allows us to consistently hire young, smart people that have a desire to work.

“They are prepared. We can count on them.”

And while McClain says his reasons for hiring Sac State grads are “purely selfish” because of the level of preparedness and excellence they bring, the students get to learn at a company co-owned by a person who has been named to the Barron’s magazine list of the Top 100 Independent Wealth Advisors in America five years in a row.

“Mr. McClain … represents the very best of Sac State,” said Mark Drobny, a local attorney and University Foundation board member, in his letter nominating McClain as a Distinguished Alum. “And his many accomplishments have had and will continue to have a lasting impact on the greater Sacramento community.”