Randy Porzel

Randy Porzel is a family man, and that theme is threaded into his work and philanthropic life.

His wife, Jennifer, and children Matthew, 7, and Brooklyn, 4, “get me up and going every single day,” he said.

Porzel, who is visually impaired, volunteers for The Chicago Lighthouse and the Darien, Illinois, chapter of the Lions Club. He has recruited Matthew and Brooklyn to help with fundraising, and the children also collect eyeglasses and hearing aids for The Chicago Lighthouse.

“What I want to instill in them is that the world is bigger than any one of them, and I want to teach them to be a part of that — to make someone else’s life worth living for,” he said.

Porzel, 36, started at Private Vista as an intern when he was just 19. He liked the firm enough to transfer from Coastal Carolina University to the University of Illinois Chicago, so he would be close enough to work at the firm part-time. At the firm, he came to understand how emotional money can be for people, he said.

“I fell in love with the work,’” he said. “I graduated in 2008. When other people couldn’t find a job in finance, I already had one.”

Now, as a partner at the firm, Porzel has about 100 clients, representing roughly $100 million in assets under management. Most of them tend to be like him, he said — younger, starting to build wealth and often, interested in philanthropy.

“A lot of my clients are very generous,” he said. “I really enjoy working with those people, because we see things similarly.”

—Emile Hallez