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Who is Richard J. Sacks?
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Digital Video Introduction
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Richard J. Sacks
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A Welcome from Richard J. Sacks
I have always felt that the world was a much simpler place than
most people seemed to think it was. I was always the kid who observed,
"The emperor has no clothes".
I grew up in Jackson Heights, New York. Right near LaGuardia Airport.
I went to the public schools in my neighborhood and to Baruch College,
City University of New York, where I earned a degree in Public Accountancy.
I selected that major because the only person I knew who had any
money was a CPA.
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My mother, brother and sister and I lived in a four-room apartment
on the sixth floor of an apartment house across the street from
a city playground. We had a great ball field/roller hockey rink,
covered in asphalt, which served as our main recreation area. Softball
in the summer, hockey in the winter.
When I was eleven, my mother told me I was spending too much time
hanging out on the street. She said I should learn to play a musical
instrument so I was doing something constructive. I really didn't
want to so I suggested the drums, because I was sure she would never
tolerate them in an apartment. She called my bluff and I began taking
lessons once a week. I still play regularly with our local symphony
and community band.
When I was seventeen, I met the woman who would become my wife
and the mother of our two children. My band was playing at a teen
dance and she was there in a cat costume for some reason. We married
the week I took my finals at Baruch.
I was not a great student, from the school's standpoint, but I
learned a lot. I asked too many questions. I always wanted to know
"why" and "what for" and "how does it relate to what we learned
yesterday". I think most of my teachers thought I was difficult.
My career began as an internal auditor with a company that ranked
about 160 something on Fortune's 500. I left the company six years
later as Corporate Accounting Manager. During my stay I worked on
a special project, for about two years, learning computer systems
design and using that training to design and implement a new accounting
system for the company.
Bev and I decided to follow an opportunity, so we packed up and
moved to St. Louis. I had a chance to work with a team that was
creating a new accounting system for a Fortune 50 company. My systems
and methods seemed to be efficient because they were simple and
direct.
My perspective on the world was reinforced as a result of the move
to the Midwest. I spent almost thirty years living in the pressure
cooker that is New York and now found myself in a world of limitless
sky and private space. The world was, in fact, a much simpler place
than most people seemed to think it was.
I started The Sacks Group in 1985 after working for four NYSE listed
companies. I had worked my way up through the ranks finally reaching
the chief financial officer's position. But I was still fighting
the "simple is better battle" every day. While my peers seemed to
want to make things as complicated as they could, I wanted to make
things easier. I thought that fundamentals were the key to success;
they seemed to think that fundamentals were for children.
The Sacks Group was founded to encourage and assist entrepreneurs
to reach their life objectives through sound business planning and
proven methods of financial management. We subscribe to the theory
that the best route from point "A" to point "B" is the most direct
route. The most difficult aspect of that theory is finding that
route.
I hope you enjoy your stay.
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