Candace Davies ’00, MBA ’06:
Long Distance Giving
A private wealth advisor and vice president at
Goldman Sachs since 2006, Candace Davies
and her team work with a wide range of clients,
including individuals, family estates, non-profits, and corporate endowments. It’s a position, she
says, that requires “strict adherence to a long-term plan, even when that’s hard to do.” Outside
of the office, Davies has begun taking on a different sort of endurance challenge: training for and
participating in marathon runs and bike events, all for the sake of charity.
Davies says she “caught the charityendurance- event bug” in the summer of 2009, when she joined Goldman Sachs’ Bike MS (Multiple Sclerosis) Team. Her initial motivation for joining was finding a sense of community. However, when her father suffered a stroke on the day she had organized a major fundraiser for the National MS Society, Davies’ sense of purpose intensified; although she didn’t know anyone battling MS personally, she now understood more acutely the pain of seeing a loved one struggle with serious health issues. Thanks to her and her teammates, Goldman Sachs raised nearly $250,000 — more than any of the other companies participating nationwide. As a reward, the team got the opportunity to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, “an awesome experience,” Davies says.
Simultaneously, Davies began training for her first marathon with the Lymphoma and Leukemia Foundation’s Team in Training, inspired by her father’s courageous fight to recover from his stroke. Every Saturday morning throughout the winter, even the frigid morning following a record-setting February blizzard, she and her team put in time on the sidewalks of Manhattan. On a morning that was too icy to run outside, Davies, undeterred, ran 14 miles on the treadmill. All her hard work paid off: On April 11, Davies crossed the marathon’s finish line in Paris, and shortly after, the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society received a check for more than $450,000 from the New York City team, to be put towards blood cancer research and patient services.
This winter will find Davies training for another marathon-for-charity — this one in Miami. She’s doing it for donations, of course, but also because she has come to treasure the camaraderie she has with her fellow runners.
“The reputation runners have is that they’re upbeat,” Davies says. “This group is that and more. They’re the most inspiring, beautiful people.”
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