Our “Why I’m a Beacon” blog series introduces Beacon Wealth staff members, highlighting why they are working at Beacon Wealth and how they see God working through their role at the company.

In this interview post we sat down with Chief Investment Officer Hillary Sunderland. Read more to discover how and why she came to Beacon Wealth and how she integrates faith and investing to help clients pursue biblical stewardship, purposeful investing, and lasting Kingdom impact.

Interview

David Black
Hillary, thanks for taking time to talk with me. Let’s jump right in. You are the Chief Investment Officer of Beacon Wealth Consultants; how would you summarize what that entails?

Hillary Sunderland
As the Chief Investment Officer at Beacon, I oversee all aspects of the investment department, including our trading department, investment research, and portfolio construction. I am responsible for producing a significant portion of our portfolio and market commentary for clients and financial advisors, as well as overseeing the faith-values integration component of our investment process.

David Black
Wonderful, and how long have you been working here?

Hillary Sunderland
This is my 21st year in investment management and later this year will mark nine of those years spent as Chief Investment Officer at Beacon Wealth. So, it’s been quite a while at this point!

David Black
Wow, 21 years and nine years at Beacon Wealth! I’m curious, what brought you to beacon Wealth in the first place?

Hillary Sunderland
What brought me here was the faith integration piece, which was really attractive to me. I felt convicted about it over many years and after spending well over a decade managing investments at other firms.

I grew really tired of investing to maximize profits regardless of the impact I was having on society. During the week, I was investing client money in all kinds of companies, and some of those companies were manufacturing abortifacients or producing pornography or maybe running casinos.

And you know, when you invest in those, you’re inherently hoping that they’ll attract more customers and grow their business because ultimately that’s how they grow money to return profits back to shareholders.

And then I’d spend the weekend working as a youth leader in our church, talking about the harm of pornography with students. And I was also a volunteer budget counselor, so I would sit with a couple on the weekends and talk about how they’ve lost everything because they were enticed to gamble.

It really didn’t make sense to be spending the whole week trying to make money off of these things and then spending the weekends trying to negate the negative effect that those companies were having on society.

Over time, God convicted me there must be a better way to invest. After searching for a while, I was introduced to Rick and Cassie Laymon at Beacon Wealth, and Beacon gave me the opportunity to invest in a way that aligns with my convictions, and I’ve been here ever since.

David Black
That’s great, thanks for sharing that. I’m curious, how did you initially become aware of faith-based investing?

Hillary Sunderland
In my previous role as a Chief Investment Officer, I had some exposure to this approach, so I knew it was a strategy that existed. I had worked on it to a limited extent as a side project at another firm, but it wasn’t a core part of our firm’s investment work.

So, I knew it was out there and was really drawn to it, even though I didn’t yet have deep experience with it. With Beacon Wealth being all-in on faith-based investing, I had the opportunity to explore it further and align what God has gifted me with professionally with my values.

David Black
Thanks, it’s always interesting to hear how people discover faith-based investing, professionals included! Switching gears now, can you share a little bit about yourself and your family?

Hillary Sunderland
Sure, I’m married with two kids. My husband, Mike, is a Wealth Advisor for Beacon Wealth. We live in central Pennsylvania, and I work remotely for Beacon Wealth. We are members at Bellefonte Presbyterian Church, where I’m active in the children’s ministry and I’m currently involved in launching a women’s ministry. Outside of work, I love to cook and enjoy exploring all kinds of different cuisines. I also play a lot of pickleball and enjoy traveling and exploring different places around the world.

Recent Italy adventure

Smuckers and Cannoli

David Black
At Beacon Wealth, and specifically as Chief Investment Officer,  how do you view what we do as a part of God’s Kingdom work?

Hillary Sunderland
In my role at Beacon Wealth, and through Beacon Wealth more broadly, I see our work as being directly involved in Kingdom impact. I often think of what we do as directly applying the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, when Jesus talks to His disciples and He tells them to be the salt of the earth.

When you think about that, what does salt do? It preserves from corruption, it slows decay, and as Christians we should be working to hold back the evil of the world. And those are some things we’re seeking to do through our exclusionary screens. We seek to avoid investing in or profiting from the things that ensnare others and cause harm.

But salt also enhances the flavor of food. It makes food more desirable and better. We’re called to be part of that redemption story in the world and in every area of our lives, including in our finances. And so, in my role at Beacon, I often think of how we are the salt of the world through the positive impact we have with our investments and through our engagement platform. We are investing in areas such as seeking to cure rare diseases, caring for creation, and funding affordable housing initiatives…actively engaging with companies to address and improve human rights issues as they arise. Those are all things that contribute to human flourishing.

Overall, I really see our work at Beacon as living out the call to be salt in the world. We’re trying to show our clients that we don’t have to follow the world’s approach of maximizing returns regardless of the cost. Instead, we’re choosing to live by a different story, a story of redemption, and I think that’s a powerful witness as we seek to do His work.

David Black
Awesome, I love that. In the day-to-day, the market’s going up and down, there are a lot of different things going on that can be a challenge. So, what motivates you on a day-to-day basis to work toward that goal despite all the crazy things that can go on?

Hillary Sunderland
Truly what motivates me day-to-day is my belief that this is God’s calling for my life, and that He’s gifted me in this area. I’m called to help others make really purposeful investments and to be good stewards of the money that’s been entrusted to them.

Also, Beacon Wealth is a Best Christian Workplace and part of that is because of the people. I love the people at Beacon Wealth. They’re all really great to work with. They’re fun. They have so many strengths, and they push me to continue to grow in both my skills and in my spiritual walk. Just being a part of the group on a day-to-day basis is really motivational in many respects.

David Black
Has anything surprised you or impacted you personally since you’ve been working at Beacon Wealth?

Hillary Sunderland
Yes, I’d say the biggest impact for me has been watching how our clients steward what they have. We work with so many people who are genuinely generous, and that really stands out to me.

Recently I was reading a book called The Gospel Patrons, which speaks to how God, throughout history, has raised up people alongside ministers to fund His work throughout history and how integral that is to building the Kingdom.

For example, we have the Bible in English today because God raised up William Tyndale to translate it but also raised up a wealthy merchant named Humphrey Monmouth to fund it.

We’re still singing Amazing Grace today because of John Thornton, the wealthy businessman that helped fund John Newton’s ministry and paid for his hymns to reach the rest of the world.

Behind every great awakening or a great impact that you’ve seen throughout history, there’s always someone who comes alongside financially and really is that gospel patron that funds the work. And so lately I’ve been really impacted by the idea that the work I do day in and day out directly impacts the financial situations of our clients. And then because so many of those clients are so faithful and generous with the wealth they’ve been entrusted with, they then give generously. And then it’s that giving that funds those who’ve been gifted with preaching and teaching to really spread the gospel.

It’s really a chain of different ways we’re each used as part of the body to carry out His work. And so, while on some days I feel like I’m maybe not having the same impact because I’m not out there preaching daily, the work I do is still such an integral part of the process because money needs to be given in order for these ministers to be able to go out.

David Black
Well, it’s almost like you have a double impact because our investment process itself has positive impacts, funding companies that are doing good things, but then helping clients to grow their assets in order to give is an additional impact that you’ve helped create. So yeah, that’s awesome!

Is there anything else you want to add about how your faith shapes your decision making at work?

Hillary Sunderland
Yes, I think relative to other jobs I’ve had in the past, because we do all of our investing through a faith-based lens, whenever we have investment committee meetings, we go well beyond discussing the economy and the markets and different investment vehicles.

I mean, if you just think through all the discussions we’ve had on theology and the moral implications of different investment choices as we’re seeking to honor faith values while adhering to our fiduciary duty, we’ve had discussions as a group that I never thought we would have in an investment committee format.  And these discussions have helped shape my convictions. Learning how to think theologically about investing and how to apply God’s redemptive work to our investments has strengthened my spiritual walk and made it more formative over time.

Beacon Wealth Investment Team

David Black
That’s true, and it’s a good reminder that our faith impacts every area of our life, and it takes wisdom to know how to live it out in different contexts.

You mentioned that your own views have changed on some things. Do you have an example of one of those?

Hillary Sunderland
I think when I started working at Beacon Wealth, it was more of a black and white mindset: we either have this in our portfolios or we don’t. And then over time as we’ve launched a proxy voting and engagement platform and I’ve seen the results that other faith-based firms have had by saying  “this isn’t so egregious that we totally need to screen it out, but it is an area where if we just had a dialogue with the company, we can seek change in this area, that that’s also good.”

Obviously, there are areas we don’t want to compromise, but there are other areas where I’ve seen just a lot of progress being made around engagement. Giving companies the opportunity to respond and explain our faith side of the story – it can have a big impact. And I think ultimately that’s an even bigger impact in many cases. It’s allowing room for change.

David Black
That’s really encouraging. So, do you have any advice for someone about stewardship or somebody who’s considering investing this way?

Hillary Sunderland
Well, I would encourage them to take some time and see what the Bible says about it and let God take it from there. If people are looking for specific resources, there are a lot of great resources from the Eventide Center for Faith and Investing, Faith-Driven Investor, and the Kingdom Advisors Network that are curated to teach on this very topic. I would just encourage people to seek God and see where He would lead.

David Black
I’m curious what are you and Mike doing with your kids to grow their heart and their mind around stewardship?

Hillary Sunderland
Yeah, it’s a great question. So, we’ve done some Bible studies with them. We’ve taken them through a few on stewardship that had memory verses in it as well to teach them about the basic things that God says about how to handle money.  We’re teaching them about the four main areas: live, give, owe, grow.

I think over time it’s really been about showing them what it looks like. We’ve started including them in decisions about where we give and which ministries we support. As a family, we’ll read the newsletters we get back from those organizations, and that’s helped a lot. We’re trying to help them connect the dots. It’s not just about writing a check or putting something in the offering plate—it’s about seeing the actual impact and hearing what’s happening on the ground. Sharing those stories with our kids has been really meaningful, and it’s helped make it all click for them.

It’s fun to include them in the process. For our annual year-end giving this year, we came up with a list of ten different ministries and talked through what each does and then we voted on which one we wanted to give to. They really enjoyed that process.

David Black
That’s really neat. All right, do you have any advice for somebody who wants to become a Chief Investment Officer?

Graduation from Bucknell University

Hillary Sunderland  
Yes….have a stomach of steel!  Obviously, you know, getting a good education, pursuing a designation like the Chartered Financial Analyst designation, those are all things from a practical perspective. Then getting the training on the faith-based side through Kingdom Advisors is also good.

I do firmly believe, if you’re talking about someone who’s just entering the field, that we’re in the very early innings of faith-based investing.  Over the last eight years, I’ve seen tremendous growth and interest in faith-based investing, and I think there’s so much work left to be done. As I talk to different companies in the industry that we’re working alongside, there are so many ideas out there and different ways to have an impact on our world through different segments of investing. There’s tremendous opportunity.

I think it’s also going to continue to differentiate advisors and investment managers in the future. Perhaps artificial intelligence will overtake the world, and people won’t want a financial advisor anymore, but you probably don’t want to be getting your spiritual wisdom, faith guidance, and stewardship decisions from AI, and so I think it’ll be a differentiator in years to come as well.

David Black
So putting all the pieces that we talked about together, what is the impact that you hope to have on our clients?

Hillary Sunderland
Overall, if I if I needed to sum it up in a sentence or two, I would say that I really hope to give clients the peace of mind that they’ve been good stewards of the resources entrusted to their care because of the work we do at Beacon Wealth.

I hope that every client goes to sleep at night knowing that we’re working diligently behind the scenes to help them meet their financial goals, but that we’ve also cared really deeply about the overall impact to society and their Christian witness in the process.

I just hope that’s a value add for all of our clients.

David Black
Thanks so much for sharing about yourself and the work you do at Beacon Wealth, it’s been so fun and encouraging hearing from you!

Hillary Sunderland
Thanks for inviting me!