Interview with Dan Coakley, PMG Affordable
We hear from Dan Coakley, friend and fellow ex-Wall Streeter. Dan and I met here in Westport, CT in 2008 at the Firehouse (our old offices) and he has an amazing testimony you won’t want to miss.
Dan’s Story
My personal journey and being pursued by the Lord starts after I was on Wall Street in the late 1990s and 2000s. And the sort of lifestyle that entails and all the darkness it brought me into.
(Dan started his Wall Street career at Lehman Brothers in investment banking, then moved into private real estate investment, but prior to that he was a speechwriter in Congress for an elected official after graduating Dartmouth as their #1 tennis player.)
God never gave up on me. He used Gregg and the New Breed of Business Bible study as a lifeline and way back to Him – which kept me connected, even if by a thread, with St. Paul Westport. St. Paul ultimately, years later, played a huge role in both myself and my daughter being saved by Jesus. I really feel God’s main purpose in keeping Gregg and I close and St. Paul in the picture was so I would be able to later bring my daughter to Church as a highschooler, at a time when we both needed Jesus desperately. And through that, and in the years that followed, I was brought so much closer to the Lord in my own relationship with Him (including through a St. Paul mission trip I went on with my daughter this past summer).
I truly have seen miracles happen and many of my prayers answered – including in the recent hiring of a Christian ex-colleague where I work. God’s fingerprints were all over that. It’s still a real challenge for me to fully rely on the Lord. I was always programmed growing up with the value of self-will, self-power and hard work, etc. I really need to have Church and friends and small groups and things like that so I don’t stray too far off the path and become overwhelmed.
(Today, Dan still works in real estate, but he is now focused on affordable housing and trying to make a difference in what he does at work to help people.)
Background on Dan
Article about Dan and Affordable Housing
Dan’s Linkedin
PMG Team
PMG launches PMG Affordable
Dan’s Bio
Mentioned in Interview
Affordable Housing topic – Mission Grove in Texas
The New England Center for the Abolition of Poverty – origin story
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