Economy of Communion

Meeting New EoC Member Kathy Troxell of Turning Point Benefit Group

Posted on September 14, 2015 Updated on November 4, 2015

We’re happy to welcome new EoC member Kathy Troxell, of Turning Point Benefit Group in Frederick, Maryland.

We recently had the chance to interview her.

Tell us about your business and its mission.

I co-founded my company, Turning Point Benefit Group, in 1994 with my business partner, Tom Pignone.  Our mission is to help people make better financial decisions through our financial planning and investment advisory services. The question we asked ourselves at the outset was, ‘How can we add value to people’s lives?’ From the beginning, we chose not to follow the prevailing advice to build our business by pursuing wealthy clients. Rather, we chose to accept clients of all sizes, while remaining sustainable.

How did you learn about the EoC?

I was watching a program on EWTN and there was a couple being interviewed that referred to the EoC and the work of Mundell and Associates. My first thought was, “There’s an organization doing this?!” I was excited to learn that there were people out there who sought to run their business in the same way we did. I had to find out more. I found the EoC website and emailed Nick Sanna. He invited me to a summer family retreat called the Mariapolis in Virginia a few weeks later and I had the chance to go and learn more about the EoC and its core values. It was an incredible experience.

Why did you decide to get involved?

There are lots of resources available for building businesses (like coaches and industry experts), but none focused on the ‘why’ of business, just the ‘how’. We held similar ideas to the Focolare and the EoC before hearing about these organizations. We had always strived to build human-centered principles into our business, but we were looking for a more structured and concrete way to accomplish this. We sought to build charity into our business and the EoC seemed like a great way to do this. Up to now, our charity work has been separate from our core business activities and took the form of sponsorships and volunteering. We see becoming part of the EoC as an opportunity to change the fabric of the business to reflect our values.

I really appreciate that this is not just an opportunity for myself, but it involves a commitment from our entire business. This is a great chance to engage all of our employees. Our younger employees have a strong desire to connect with the deeper mission of our work. They realize that life is not about making it to the finish line with the most money and they are truly driven by a desire to help others. As a result, they are championing the EoC initiative internally.

What do you hope to contribute to the EoC?

Being quite new, I’m in the process figuring that out. I’m starting with an attitude of being present and open, and going from there. Based on what I’ve experienced so far, I hope to contribute towards helping the needy and sharing my experiences with others and helping them incorporate the principles of the EoC into their own businesses. I am really excited to meet other EoC entrepreneurs and I hope to connect with the others in my region. One initial idea is to have an event where entrepreneurs host other EoC members in their places of work to demonstrate what they do and talk about why they do it. It could be a really great opportunity to share ideas and build relationships!