John Carroll alumnus Ken Sinagra '04, Managing Director & Wealth Management Advisor at Northwestern Mutual in Cranberry Township, PA, has established the first scholarship at JCU specifically for students majoring in Financial Planning and Wealth Management.
A Finance graduate, Sinagra credits his John Carroll experience with helping him launch a successful career, serve others, and now give back to the community that helped him achieve his goals.
“I loved hearing about the new Financial Planning and Wealth Management major at John Carroll,” said Sinagra. “The program is just getting up and running, and I wanted to give back to my alma mater and help a student get into this program that I’m passionate about. My finance degree helped me pivot and go into financial planning, and I’m honored to help students who are interested in my career path.”
For Sinagra, the scholarship is also a way to make the kind of education that shaped his own life more accessible to the next generation.
“John Carroll gave so much to me over the course of my four years there,” he said. “If I’m blessed enough financially to be able to give back and impact someone else—and that opportunity is directly connected to my education at John Carroll—why wouldn’t I want to give back?”
A Career Built on Relationships
Sinagra joined Northwestern Mutual after graduating from John Carroll in 2004 and has spent more than two decades building his career in financial planning and wealth management. Today, he works with clients to develop insurance and investment strategies designed around their financial goals.
For Sinagra, however, the most rewarding part of his profession goes beyond finances. It’s the relationships he’s formed along the way.
“If it wasn’t for this career, I wouldn’t have most of the relationships in my life,” Sinagra explained. “I met my wife through a colleague's introduction. Three of the groomsmen in my wedding were from this career.”
Over the years, those relationships have extended well beyond Sinagra’s office. He has attended clients’ birthdays, retirement parties, and graduations and has become a trusted resource for families navigating some of their most important life decisions.
That impact has also reached his own family. Sinagra helped his parents develop their retirement plan and was eventually was able to tell them, with confidence, that they were able to retire.
“It was very emotionally rewarding for me,” Sinagra shared. “This career has provided me with things that I could’ve never imagined possible in 2004 when I started. In one word, it’s the relationships!”
Now, through his scholarship, Sinagra is helping the next generation of financial planning professionals begin building their careers.
