Why Oak Harvest

Our Investment Team in Houston

Fully in-house and dedicated to our clients, the investment team focuses on helping families and individuals have a better investment experience and achieve their investment objectives. The team's expertise includes portfolio management, investment research, multi-asset portfolio construction, investment technology, financial planning and trading.

Chris Perras, CFA®, CLU®, ChFC®, Chief Investment Officer

Chris Perras

As CIO, Chris is lead investment strategist and director of research. Chris develops the firm's core market outlook, putting his decades of experience and expertise to work for our clients. He hosts Oak Harvest's podcast, "Stock Talk," available on the website with new episodes each week.

Chris completed his undergraduate studies at Georgia Tech, and went on to obtain an MBA from the Harvard Business School.  Driven by a desire to maximize his knowledge and skill set, Chris acquired a plethora of financial planning and investment management qualifications, becoming a Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU®), a Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC®), and a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA®).

Chris has over 25 years of experience, has worked for some of the largest money management firms in the world, including Citadel and Invesco, and has been recognized nationally for his efforts. Chris has made it a point in his career to focus on adapting as the market landscape changes, seeking to utilize the most appropriate investment strategy for any given market environment. His transition from managing billions of dollars at the institutional level to helping individuals and families retire is guided by a desire to see the difference he makes in the lives of clients at Oak Harvest.

Chris is a devoted husband and father. He is passionate about his faith and enjoys cooking for friends, fly fishing and spending time with his two golden retrievers.

Education

  • Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, summa cum laude, Georgia Tech
  • MBA, Harvard Business School

Notable Career Highlights

  • Managed AIM Large Cap Opportunities to a National #1 Lipper ranking for one year performance
  • Managed Quaker Strategic Growth Fund to a National #2 Lipper ranking for both three- and five-year performance
  • Managed Invesco Constellation fund and helped implement a performance turnaround that helped grow assets from $14 billion to a peak of $33 billion over a three-year period

 

James McFarland, MIB, Senior Portfolio Manager

James McFarland

James oversees the whole of our firm's investment management practice and management of client money, builds and manages the firm's investment strategies, and supervises all firm trading. He uses his broad capital markets experience, portfolio management skill, and an array of deep internal and external research resources, to evaluate, develop, and synthesize the firm's basic ideas and core market outlook into real-world strategies, and manage all of our client's portfolios.

James has a keen interest in investor education, and thus created the The Investor Mindset, a 10-episode podcast series that covers critical topics related to developing a stronger mindset as an investor, and aims to help investors achieve better long-term investment outcomes.

Born in Scotland and raised in Houston, James graduated at the top of his class from Houston Baptist University, and then promptly moved to Japan, where he lived for 12 years. In Japan, he completed a Master’s in International Business (MIB) at Tokyo’s prestigious Sophia University, graduating summa cum laude.

James has over 12 years of experience, and his focus has always been on building effective strategies aimed squarely at achieving long-term results for his clients. His experiences span managing risk portfolios for hundred-billion-dollar clients as a Director with Morgan Stanley, trading in ultra-fast derivatives markets as an institutional prop trader, building investment management and trading operations for clients such as State Street and Nomura Securities, and managing strategic market initiatives impacting tens of thousands of people for Japanese mega-banks.

However, James views his most rewarding and important work to be building out Oak Harvest's investment management practice and the management of portfolios for families and individuals looking to build a better life. This drives his focus as a portfolio manager, and he enjoys seeing the impact of his work firsthand.

James is married, speaks fluent Japanese, loves karaoke and is an accomplished classical guitarist.

 

Troy Sharpe, CFP®, RFC®, CTS™, Founder and CEO

Troy Sharpe

Troy Sharpe is the Founder and CEO of Oak Harvest. In addition to his responsibilities as CEO, Troy is the firm's senior financial planning expert. He utilizes his deep understanding of the complexities of financial planning and the needs of clients to generate ideas and bring real-world context to the firm's investment strategies.

Troy holds a Series 65 license as well as a Texas life insurance license. He earned a finance degree from Florida State University and completed his Certified Financial Planning certification at the Susanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies at Rice University. Additionally, Troy is a Registered Financial Consultant with the International Association of Registered Financial Consultants.

You can hear Troy at 6 p.m. Saturdays on KTRH 740AM when he hosts “The Retirement Income Show.”

 

Chris Myrick, MBA, Analyst and Portfolio Operations Specialist

Chris Myrick

As an analyst, Chris' role is essential in ensuring that Oak Harvest develops the most appropriate plan for each of our clients and their unique situation. Chris serves as our planning specialist and research analyst. He conducts deep research and analysis to construct financial plans, analyze securities and products, and evaluate client portfolios. Chris also plays a critical role in the implementation of our client's investment strategies, undertaking a variety of investment operations, trading, and reporting tasks.

Chris is a Houston native. He completed both his undergraduate studies and an MBA in Finance at the University of Houston. There, he studied the value investing philosophy championed by Benjamin Graham. In addition, Chris achieved a Series 65 license, and has more than 10 years of financial services experience —more than five of which were with Chase Bank.

Chris is an avid weightlifter, a voracious reader and enjoys Houston’s city life.

 

Jared Kenney, ChFC®, CTS™, Vice President and Senior Advisor

National Social Security Advisor Certificate Holder

Jared Kenney

With a background in both planning and financial advising, Jared brings his unique perspective to investment strategy discussions and adds keen insights to aid in integrating the firm's investment management and planning services into a unified whole.

Jared has obtained the National Social Security Advisors certificate through the National Social Security Association LLC in Cincinnati, OH and is a Chartered Financial Consultant®(ChFC®),as well as a Certified Tax Specialist (CTS™).

Jared and his wife, Christina, have been married since 2011 and reside in Sugar Land, Texas. With their daughters, Kylie and Reagan, they enjoy spending time with their extensive family, almost all of whom reside in the Houston area. Jared also enjoys playing golf, fishing, boating, skiing and traveling.

 

The Retirement Income Show Logo

THE RETIREMENT INCOME SHOW


Listen to our radio show hosted by Troy Sharpe at 12 p.m. every Sunday on 740 AM Newsradio 740KTRH.

Retirement Videos on YouTube

YOUTUBE RETIREMENT CHANNEL


Concerned about how market activity could affect your retirement? Get the latest market updates on our youtube channel.

Stock Talk

Stock Talk


Listen to Stock Talk to learn more about OHFG's view of the capital markets.