Gary has always wanted to help young people in a direct and purposeful way. This passion led him to become a mentor in Champions For Learning’s Take Stock in Children program, and then an active Board member. Gary is currently mentoring his third student and is always recruiting more mentors.
“I’ve always tried to find someone to look up to, and when I met Gary I knew my search was over,” says Carlos, one of Gary’s mentees. “Gary pushed me to have confidence. No stranger has ever tried to form a bond with me the way Gary did. What Gary has done for me means the world.”Gary’s core belief in helping the next generation takes many forms in addition to mentoring. After Gary introduced the INCubator Entrepreneurship
Program to Collier County Public Schools, after seeing the success of an entrepreneurship program in Illinois. This program allows students to develop their own products or services, while being mentored by business experts. As the Senior Member for the Personette Group of Wells Fargo Advisors, Gary knows that investing in education is vital to our students’ success and the health of the community.