Name: David England
LMT Class: 2002
County: Dickson
Employment: Practicing CPA, Financial Advisor & Estate Planner
About
I am a card-carrying member of a flawed humanity! However, I have been blessed to have had 2 wonderful parents, and I am blessed with a good wife who is also my right arm in our CPA & Financial Advisory Practice. I grew up in a very humble existence as the youngest of 3 boys, and my Mother and my middle brother were my best friends and my earliest mentors. Growing up in a humble existence provides opportunities to either give up and accept life as it presents itself to you, or you can kindle a fire.
Fortunately, with the help of my Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, and my dear and dearly missed mentors, I kindled the fire at a young age. That fire led to 5 wonderful children that were truly a blessing to raise, coach, laugh, cry and dream with…and to get through college but, together, we made it!
Professionally, I am a practicing CPA, since 1984 beginning with Deloitte, and for the last 21+ years flying solo as a CPA and Financial Advisor, and I/we managed to spend 12 years as a Consumer and Commercial Banker and Commercial Loan Underwriter, too.
Being a former Banker coupled with my CPA/Tax/Accounting/Consulting Practice along with my Financial Advisory Practice I have been fortunate to have been able to help so many individuals and small business owners prosper. There are always opportunities to provide professional knowledge and experience to good people so they can make positive incremental improvements in their lives and businesses. What fun and satisfaction I have had and am enjoying!
What was your favorite part of your Leadership Middle Tennessee experience?
I was truly amazed by the Class of 2002 at how diverse we were and yet how much we were the same in so much of our life experiences, families, professional experiences and goals. I grew to believe then and still believe that our Class of 2002 could parachute into about any situation on the planet and develop and deliver grass roots solutions to whatever issues we encountered – from housing solutions to innovative medical prowess to financial and transportation solutions to novel ideas to reduce, reuse and recycle along with educational, ethnic diversity, tourism, cultural advancements to who’s the designated driver?? (me!) – our class had no limits to what we might have achieved!!!
What regional issues interest or concern you most?
All of it! We live in such a wonderful place in such a wonderful nation that I could almost feel guilty about how blessed we are! I cannot blame people from other states for moving to Middle Tennessee! WE have to ALWAYS keep the CONVERSATION going and moving FORWARD. Nothing stays the same and everything is changing (us too!), so LMT offered us a chance to get in on the conversation that leads towards positive change! I am grateful and thankful to have been a small contributor to the mission and efforts of Leadership Middle Tennessee!
How do you define a leader?
Susan Turner Taylor, Jack Turner, Marvin Runion, Quenton White, Gary Scott, Barbara Brennan, Seab Tuck, Deb Varallo, Jeff Holmes, Diane Black, Ralph Shulz and, thankfully, the list of leaders continues to grow! Attempt to quantify the positive impact of these peoples’ lives – only God could do so! They, and others like them, personify what the word “Leader” means to me! How fortunate I have been just to get to hang out with this awesome and evolving group!
What is your proudest career moment?
I have many moments to be thankful for, but I would have to say that opening my own business, running it successfully for 15 years and then being able to sell it is definitely a highlight. That experience gave me the confidence to expand my career in many ways.
Tell us something about yourself that would suprise us
In 1978-79, at the ripe young age of 17, I traveled to Europe and explored much of that world via planes, trains and automobiles. During that adventure I spent a week in London and slept on a stool in a photobooth at Victoria Train Station each night except for one night when I slept on a bench under an arch at the Speakers’ Corner next to Hyde Park! I didn’t tell my Mom those little details until a few years after I made my way back home!
Name the one person you would want to have lunch with
That is the challenge – who would it be with all the various interests I have in the fields of politics, military, sports, entertainment, business, entrepreneurism, Faith, the various arts, etc.??? If only one person, then I would have to begin with Jesus Christ, the “Guy” who removed my chains, and what a lunch it would be!!!