“Coaches know how the ‘game’ is played, and it’s no different in the field of finance.”
Brent Pritchard
Author and College Finance Educator
Brent Pritchard is an author and college finance educator with over two decades of industry experience and cofounder of Boxholm Press, LLC, a family-owned-and-operated publishing company providing educational content, products, and services.
A real estate industry veteran specializing in real estate finance, Brent has made a living practicing what he teaches as it relates to the Time Value of Money. Since 2012, he has been teaching and developing curricula for college courses. Currently, Brent is an instructional track faculty member in the Department of Finance at the Tippie College of Business at The University of Iowa, where in addition to teaching undergraduate and graduate courses, he also advises students.
Before he found teaching, as they say in the business, “The real estate industry found him.” That “detour,” which included an MBA degree, provided the path to the front of the classroom. Over the course of his tenure in Corporate America, Brent worked for a global real estate asset manager where he developed a niche for being a “utility player” who could originate commercial mortgage loans as well as work out sub-performing and nonperforming CMLs. He held positions on both sides of the “ball” twice: during the Great Recession and just prior to the Great Resignation, which he participated in and that was brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
His approach to teaching is as original as a real estate deal is unique. He takes a pragmatic approach to finance and believes that most people possess what it takes to “Be smarter than the problem.” Students have found success in his classroom in part because of the focus on a practical education and opportunities to teach material to peers. In his classroom, there are as many teachers as people.
Brent is constantly providing students of finance with opportunities to further refine and develop the hard and soft (marketable) skills that “pay the bills.” His classroom is a special place and the intersection between specialized knowledge and skills that are in demand in industry. He genuinely cares about his students’ success and has borrowed a mantra from the real estate industry having made teaching a “relationship business.”
But life is about balance. When Brent is not teaching, you’ll likely find him spending time with his wife, Sarah, their three daughters, Lydia, Emily, and Chloe, and two dogs. When he isn’t spending time with family, writing, teaching, or practicing in the field, you might find him running on a singletrack trail and listening to a podcast or audiobook, drinking coffee and reading a book at a local coffee shop, or writing his thoughts down with a fountain pen. With no plans to retire in the traditional sense, he plans to serve others as long as time and money have value.
An aspiring or current finance professional not only wants to secure but also keep a job in the field—if for nothing else than to develop skills and experiences. Below, you will find resources that will help you or someone else do just that.
