Giving Back
Raymond James Investment Banking rides for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Boston-based Technology & Services investment bankers participate in the Pan-Mass Challenge charity event.
The open road, a city pulling together and a cause worth riding for have made the Pan-Mass Challenge supporting the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute the largest single-event athletic fundraiser in the country.
Raymond James has officially clipped in and joined the peloton for 2023 with a fundraising team led by its Technology & Services Investment Banking group out of Boston. The team comprises veteran Pan-Mass Challenge rider Ian O’Neal, third-time rider Karl Adams and first-timer Reed Spencer. They hope the success of their team, which has committed to raising at least $20,000 for the August 5 and 6 event, will encourage other Raymond James Bostonians to join the cause in years to come.
Contribute to Team Raymond James at the Pan-Mass Challenge.
Donations through September 30 will be counted toward the team’s goal.
This will be his 15th Pan-Mass Challenge in 16 years – the single miss was for his honeymoon. O’Neal will still be riding the same bike!
“When you get there, the event takes on a life of its own,” O’Neal said. “People are standing along the route cheering, holding signs that say things like ‘Dana-Farber saved my life.’ You start to experience the mission of Dana-Farber, you start to feel part of it. That’s what makes you keep doing it – you feel the connection and you meet people who have been touched by it.”
In 2022, more than 6,400 riders participated. Together, and with the support of sponsors, they raised $69 million – comprising the largest single source of revenue for the Jimmy Fund, a charitable foundation supporting Dana-Farber.
“I grew up in the Boston area, so I’ve known Dana-Farber and the Jimmy Fund as mainstays of the local philanthropic world,” said Spencer, a Vice President of investment banking. “I have family and friends who have been doing the [Pan-Mass Challenge] for 10, 15 years, and they always talk about it being a great experience. When Ian and Karl were asking around to make a team, I knew I wanted to be part of it.”
To prepare himself for the 162-mile trek, Spencer borrowed his father-in-law’s road bike and has been training since April.
“It’s a good opportunity to do something positive, and to force myself to get some exercise,” he said.
The team will start their ride at Babson College in Wellesley and stop 84 miles later at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Bourne. Spencer and Adams will then continue on the next day, covering 77 miles and finishing at the furthest point of Cape Cod.
It may sound strenuous, “but it’s a ride, not a race,” O’Neal said. “The sort of tagline is, ‘Commit! You’ll figure it out.’”
Adams figured it out, purchasing his first road bike when he agreed to his first Pan-Mass Challenge in 2019 as an intern at another firm and eager to make a mark. He participates in a number of charitable events, but “none are like this one,” he said.
“When everyone gets to the finish line, they stay,” he said. “At other events, people usually disperse and go their own way. It’s hard to describe the feeling to someone who hasn’t done it. The route goes through small towns across Massachusetts, and throughout people line the streets with personal signs. People are there fully. Everyone comes with their own motivation, but when they go home, they all take the same thing.”
Raymond James Cares
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