John P. “JP” Watts,

JP is the managing director of Madison Street Wealth Advisors of Raymond James, leading his team with a philosophy of management that values the collaborative power of a horizontal org chart. For him, leadership is about using his experience to ask questions that sharpen his colleagues’ ideas rather than about issuing edicts – what would be the value of a large, diversly experienced team if ideas are filtered through titles and tenure before merit?

In this way, JP has created the team he set out to build when he started his practice in 2001. First, there is the client and their needs. Everything else is secondary. As managing director, he oversees the day-to-day decision-making that keeps the practice performing for its clients, but when a folio is open on the table, the best ideas speak with the most authority.

JP is comfortable with listening. It’s a trait that he believes helps him earn the trust of his clients. He works directly with a wide range of successful people, but particularly focuses on striving to help business owners transform the success of their enterprises into lasting personal financial well-being – an often complex, multifaceted process that can include investment banking, family governance concerns and intergenerational wealth transfers.

Prior to affiliating with Raymond James in 2017, JP’s practice was with Wells Fargo Advisors, starting as First Union then Wachovia through a series of mergers. He has earned a bachelor’s degree from Birmingham Southern College with majors in business and biology. In college, he was named a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Men’s Tennis Academic All-American.

JP has also earned the Accredited Investment Fiduciary® designation, professional training and examination focused on the principles of fiduciary duty and standards of conduct. He has also earned the Certified Exit Planning Advisor designation after completing a training program and examination on the complex intersection of business achievement and owners’ personal wealth.

JP is a native of Hunstville. He and his wife Wimberley raised their three children who are now adults. A former president of the Birmingham South College National Alumni Association and member of the Birmingham Southern College Board of Trustees, JP continues to serve his alma mater as a member of the board of the Birmingham Southern College Foundation. Outside the office, he enjoys a round of golf with family and friends, and quality time in the mountains of North Carolina.