Bill Shank was born and raised in Jacksonville, Texas. From the age of fourteen, Bill worked in the family business washing windows at Beall’s Department Store. He graduated from high school from Texas Military Institute in San Antonio where he was commander of the Color Guard, the Flag and Standard bearers for the school. After graduating with a degree in Finance from Texas Tech, he moved to Shreveport, Louisiana, to begin his business career. He worked his way from salesperson to CFO and VP of Real Estate & Administration. While in Shreveport, he was the first recipient of a Leadership Scholarship and was one of the founders of the Independence Bowl.
Moving to the Kingwood area in 1994, Bill joined Edward Jones. He opened an office where he was warned that it couldn’t be done, yet he built a successful business and within two years was within the top 5% of Edward Jones Financial Advisors based on an annual ranking of assets under management.
In 2003, Bill joined his son, Christian Shank, at A.G. Edwards in Kingwood, in 2006 they continued the family business tradition by becoming Independent Financial Advisors and started their own wealth management firm. Shank Wealth Management was founded as an independently owned and operated branch office of LPL Financial, with brokerage services offered through LPL Financial. LPL Financial is one of the nation’s leading diversified financial service companies. Who boast the largest number of independent financial advisors, supporting approximately 16,000 financial advisors nationwide as of 2019.
Through the years of building his career, Bill has always given back to the community by serving on boards and sharing his talents in the golf and horse industries. He was instrumental in coordinating efforts between the Be An Angle Fund, the Lake Houston Area Chamber of Commerce, Humble Independent School District and County Commissioner’s office to build the largest barrier-free park in the south Texas region for children with disabilities. The park opened on August 2006 at Lindsay/Lyons Park and Sports Complex in Humble.
Bill has served on the Board of Directors with several organizations, such as the Be An Angel Foundation, Kingwood Medical Center, Texas Ranger’s Hall of Fame & Museum in Waco, Lake Houston Area Chamber, the Southern Texas Professional Golf Association, the El Centro de Corazon (a charity for disadvantaged children in East Houston) and the YMCA Member of Youth Sponsor 500 Club.