Reardons Present at Finance Academy

By Luc Olivier '25

On Tuesday, December 17th, Mr. Bob Reardon presented with his son, St. Sebastian’s class of 2015 alumnus, Bobby Reardon, to members of the Finance Academy. Bob Reardon is the Chief Executive Officer of ISG. 

Bob grew up in Medford, then went to Merrimack for college. After Merrimack, he worked in public accounting and learned that working for any company in finance you need to know numbers. Specifically, you have to learn how to interpret numbers. After accounting, he realized that more experienced people were asking him for advice, teaching him that no matter what, successful people learn from others. He learned that you could learn a ton by simply asking people questions. Working hard was crucial to his success as he aimed to outwork everyone as an employee. He then realized he wanted to start his own company. He was looking for something to do but didn't have equity. He started his company with around 5 thousand dollars. He looked at is as a question, “What's the worst that could happen?” It doesn’t matter what you do in finance, if you like your job, continue, if you don’t, find something else and be brave. 

Bobby went to St. Sebastian’s, then continued his academics at Boston College going into finance. He loved entrepreneurship and when looking for startups he saw his dad and his company and decided it was for him. He learned that to find what you want to do in finance, you have to do it. You never know what you will like unless you try many different fields until you find the one. He suggests you keep your eyes and ears open to new opportunities.  

Bob says that confidence is key and went on to say at college you should take business classes and learn the terminology and the important numbers. This is used at every level and is necessary to be successful. Bob claims that grit is important. If he were to start a company again, he says he would first look for capital. He brought up that seeing opportunities is important. When Covid hit, he bought a bunch of companies as there was opportunity because he had capital. Networking is important, it opens opportunities, and you can learn from it. During college, he says to try to work for private equity, no matter the job. Being in the space, you learn from everyone and everything around you and create relationships with knowledgeable and successful people. For success, you need someone to believe in you, a good attorney, self-belief, and a good accountant. Creating a network by yourself by creating relationships builds self-belief and also is beneficial for the connections themselves. Bob’s failures created part of his success because he learned from them.  

Bob’s company makes money by helping insurance companies prevent fraud. When someone makes an insurance claim, his company investigates it. If it is fraud, they catch them. The insurance companies pay his company to do this. Bobby works in acquisitions. He says that acquisitions are a way to grow your company. Growth is either getting a client through another company, or by getting another company for a new product that existing customers want. They are different fast ways to grow. When acquiring companies, you want to integrate them quickly so that there is no hassle (only one HR, only one accounting, etc.). The company Bob runs is private. He says they could go public tomorrow, but they have to tell everyone they are. Everyone wants to invest money in American companies.   

Thank you, Bob and Bobby, for sharing your experience with us and teaching us about the world of business.