From football to finance: ‘A noble career’ — with Padric Scott

Padric Scott wanted to be a football player first and a doctor second. As life plans go, it was impenetrably logical.

A large man with uncommon speed and strength, Scott starred at defensive tackle for Florida A&M University. As a student, Scott describes himself as a high school “math nerd” with a 4.6 grade point average who began college on a Stanford University scholarship.

The plan was rolling along nicely when the Arizona Cardinals cut Scott on Aug. 31, 2013. At that point Scott had graduated early with a bachelor’s degree in molecular biology and started a master’s program in biological sciences.

He wanted to become a neurosurgeon. But getting cut by the Cardinals right before the season started gave Scott a time out that wasn’t part of the plan.

“While I was reflecting, one thing I realized was I didn’t know much about money,” Scott recalled. “I thought about all the advisors and people that called on me … and they were all talking about stocks and bonds and real estate.”

That initial interest in financial matters morphed into a career course correction for Scott. He refocused his educational course and completed a Master of Science in financial planning, with a focus on legacy planning, from the American College of Financial Services in 2023.

By then Scott had been president and CEO of Crossroad Capital Partners for five years. The Tallahassee, Fla., wealth management firm is backed by Northwestern Mutual. Instead of just being focused on wealth accumulation, Scott said he prefers to keep the client’s retirement vision top of mind.

“It really brings about fresher, newer, more exciting conversations, where we can really focus on someone’s goals. ... We can truly reverse engineer to today, the actual work that needs to be done,” he explained.

Science in the blood

Scott was raised in a science family. His father, Dr. Edward Scott II, is a dentist who graduated near the top of his Harvard dental school class, while his mother, Pamela, is a math teacher with two master’s degrees. His sister, Dr. Kanesha Scott, majored in biology in college and is also a dentist. His brother, Edward Scott III, majored in chemistry.

Scott starred at Lincoln High School in Tallahassee, a national football powerhouse that regularly sends players to major colleges and the National Football League. After spending a year at Stanford majoring in biology, he transferred back home to nearby Florida A&M, one of the largest historically Black universities in the United States.

As a third-generation Florida A&M graduate, Scott wants to help establish a legacy at the university.

“I would love to become that person, that donor, that can go in the school, see those areas of need, see where contributions can be made to strengthen that infrastructure so that … anyone who wants to attend that university, they’re walking into an entirely, completely different infrastructure than what I knew,” he said.

On the field, Scott conquered the college game at Florida A&M, where he was named a team captain and powered up his 6-foot-1, 305-pound frame to become the strongest player in the locker room. According to the Florida A&M sports information office, Scott bench-pressed between 400 and 500 pounds.

The A&M head football coach, Joe Taylor, spoke of Scott’s work ethic: “He is a true testament to reaping the rewards of your labor. … When he sets his mind to something, he pursues with a laser focus.”

That work ethic translated to the classroom as well. Scott completed his undergraduate degree in molecular cell biology long before his college football eligibility was used up. So he took graduate-level courses.

A banker’s life

Once Scott’s NFL dream derailed in 2013, he began dabbling in financial services at a SunTrust Bank branch. Scott served as assistant branch manager and got his first experience selling financial products.

But he wasn’t done with football yet, or medicine. For several years, Scott kept his options open. A private banker by day, his football odyssey took him to the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football league to the Philadelphia Soul of the Arena Football League and back to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the CFL.

At the end of 2017, Scott moved on from football and finally settled on a career in the financial services world. He formed Crossroad Capital Partners in January 2018, the name an obvious choice.

“I had an offer to go play football one more year, and I was going to go study and prepare for the MCAT [Medical College Admission Test] after that,” Scott recalled. “And I just was at a point where I realized I did not want to be a part of medicine. The last four years of my life, I had fun in finance. So much so that my brother asked me why I wanted to become a doctor ... that wealth management is a noble career, and why had I not considered it?”

Scott would pick up plenty of education and certifications along the way, from Certified Financial Planner to Chartered Life Underwriter to his Series 6, 7 and 63 licenses.

He calls his football experience “a real difference maker” and one that continues to provide foundational guidance through lessons in discipline, competition and planning to win.

Finding lasting success

Today, Crossroads has about a 13-person staff, and Scott is proud of the diversity. Most of the team members are women.

“We run a typical kind of boutique wealth advisory practice that offers your planning, investment and insurance services,” Scott said. “What our members have really come to love us for is the level of white-glove service we offer. Our specific niche in terms of planning that stands out is more so on the distribution and tax side of planning.”

Insurance products are in growth mode on the advisory and planning side, thanks to changes introduced in the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act of 2019 and the follow-up SECURE Act 2.0. The bills removed barriers to offering annuities inside retirement plans, and the industry has responded.

Scott and Crossroads see insurance products as tools that can help clients manage their risk.

“I’ve found in the psychology of clients, most people think they must be one or the other, conservative or aggressive, risk-oriented or growth,” Scott explained. “The truth is you can be both at the same time.”

While eschewing “cookie-cutter outcomes,” Scott said the freedom and possibilities unlocked when a secure lifetime income product is added to a client portfolio are undeniable.

“Studies have proven and shown this integration of investment insurances leads to optimal outcomes,” he said. “So, our clients see that, they buy into that, which really allows us to plan in a very coordinated fashion and reduce taxes as best as possible.”

In 2024, Scott was named one of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors’ 4 Under 40 award winners, given out by the association’s Advisor Today publication.

The 4 Under 40 recognizes “young professionals who are making a positive impact on their communities and the industry,” said then-NAIFA president Tom Cothron. “They have committed to belonging to their professional association and getting involved at the local, state, and national levels to help drive the profession forward through their adherence to our Code of Ethics in how they work with clients, and active participation in our grassroots efforts at the state and federal levels.”

Change the business

Scott and his wife, Valeria, celebrate their one-year anniversary later in June. They lead an active life centered around their church. One of his clients is also a gym owner in the Tallahassee area and keeps Scott in top shape.

“I believe in strong body, strong mind,” he said.

But Scott continually returns to his 13-person team, a group he relies on to achieve “the vision and the growth and the servicing of our clients.”

One response Scott does not like is hearing “I got a guy” from someone upon learning that he is a financial advisor. Not because it means business rejection, he said, but because of what it says about the industry.

“They’re so used to the people in our profession just trying to sell them another annuity or insurance or investment product,” he said. “My goal is to build this firm to be so large and so recognized that other people are able to see it and look at that as the way to do business. To look at that as a way to address their advisor differently.”

InsuranceNewsNet Senior Editor John Hilton has covered business and other beats in more than 20 years of daily journalism. John may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @INNJohnH.