John F. Brown

John Brown is a financial advisor at our Dallas office, where he focuses on serving high-net-worth families, particularly those with privately held businesses. He began working at Savant in 2026 when Exencial Wealth Advisors joined the firm.

John has more than 30 years of experience in financial services and business leadership. He began his career in 1996 at a registered investment advisory (RIA) firm in St. Louis as an investment manager. He moved into marketing leadership in 1998 and earned a promotion to managing director in 2002. In 2017, he joined Exencial as a senior wealth advisor and portfolio manager, advising business owners and multigenerational families on complex planning needs. He became a consulting advisor to Exencial in 2019 and founded Phase 5 Enterprises, LLC, a private consulting firm he continues to operate.

Throughout his career, John has advised families on portfolio construction, business transitions, and generational transfer strategies. His work includes coordinating estate planning, trust construction, and heir development alongside legal and accounting professionals. He also serves as trustee for multiple family trusts, and has held trustee roles for more than 50 trusts.

John’s background extends well beyond traditional wealth management. He joined the board of Gross & Janes Co., a railroad crosstie supplier, in 1994 and served as chairman of the board from 1996 through 2022. He also served on the board of Exegy Inc., a financial market data technology firm, from 2010 to 2019, and acted as managing partner of Grant County Partnerships, a series of oil exploration and production investments, from 2009 through 2025. Earlier in his career, John held roles in refinery process chemicals and marketing management at Petrolite Corp., now part of Baker Hughes.

John earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Pomona College in Claremont, California, and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Washington University in St. Louis.

Based in Dallas, John remains active in the community on a social basis. He and his wife have three grown children who all obtained graduate-level degrees. His interests include fitness, travel, cooking, photography, and re-learning French.