

Indy Rainbow Chamber of Commerce Member Spotlight
Member: Chris Douglas
Business: C.H. Douglas & Gray Wealth Management
Industry: Finance/Wealth Management
Tell us about your business and what makes you
different from the competition
We are and always have been an independent fiduciary, professionally bound by
our clients’ best interests when we’re advising them financially or managing
their investments. Our clients pay us directly. We’re not pushing
products or taking commissions, so we’ve avoided the financial scandals of the
last twenty years.
What has been your
greatest accomplishment thus far?
I’m proudest of the work I’ve done over the last 25 years in advancing civil
rights for LGBTQ Hoosiers. Here we are in a red state, but we have civil rights
protections in almost every major city, whether run by Republicans or
Democrats, and a state law specifically protecting those clauses incorporating
sexual orientation and gender identity. We now have a hate crime
law as well, though it still needs work. Along with many others, I’ve been very
much engaged in that process all the way along, sometimes in important
ways.
Have you faced any
obstacles being an LGBT-owned business?
In my corporate life 25 or 30 years ago, yes, but in owning a business not so
much. All business owners know it takes hard work, perseverance, and
sometimes luck to succeed. We’ve been very fortunate.
How has the business
climate in Indy changed since you launched your business?
When I first sponsored Pride in 2000, there were no other mainstream businesses
that seemed willing to associate publicly and openly with the LGBTQ Community,
which is why I felt it was important to break that ground. Now our
leading corporate citizens know they’d better be there, and our politicians
know that for the state to succeed, businesses must feel that their LGBTQ
employees are equally protected and welcomed.
For all those afraid
to invest, or don’t have a lot of money to invest, what would you tell them?
Either find an advisor or go online and do it yourself using broadly
diversified, low expense index funds. The miracle of compounding returns
means you need to get started, and the earlier the better. Doing anything is
better than doing nothing.
What is the best
business advice you’ve ever received?
It wasn’t advice; it was example, and it was Dad’s. Do the right thing, always.
That imperative is why I opened my own independent business.
What was the last book
you read?
Sapiens, A Brief History
of Humankind.
What is your favorite
Indy restaurant?
For comfort food, it’s always Ocean World, a locally owned Japanese restaurant
on 86th Street. Great sushi, sashimi, and tempura. They know
us well there.
What is your favorite
vacation destination?
That’s a developing story. Modestly, I’m hoping soon to open a fishing camp,
and then a fishing lodge out on Sugar Creek in Montgomery County, where there
is great kayaking and fly-fishing to be had.
The Indy Rainbow Chamber
Spotlight is a new series highlighting our wonderful members.