{"id":493,"date":"2025-10-27T16:36:38","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T16:36:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/?p=493"},"modified":"2025-10-27T16:48:04","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T16:48:04","slug":"teaching-beyond-the-balance-sheet-dr-bryan-foltices-approach-to-finance-and-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/2025\/10\/27\/teaching-beyond-the-balance-sheet-dr-bryan-foltices-approach-to-finance-and-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Beyond the Balance Sheet: Dr. Bryan Foltice\u2019s Approach to Finance and Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When Dr. Bryan Foltice<\/a> left behind the world of investment banking for academia, it wasn\u2019t because he lost his edge for numbers \u2013 it was because he started questioning their meaning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A professional athlete turned finance professional turned professor, Dr. Foltice\u2019s path to the Lacy School of Business has been anything but linear, yet every step seems to have led him exactly to where he\u2019s meant to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It started in Germany, where Dr. Foltice was playing professional basketball after college. \u201cThe only English channel I had at the time was CNBC,\u201d the Associate Professor of Finance laughed.\u201d That\u2019s what got me curious about finance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That curiosity turned into a career once he moved back to the U.S., earning his Masters of Business Administration at the University of North Florida after completing a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Cornerstone University. But success in the fast-paced world of investment banking didn\u2019t feel like fulfillment. \u201cI was good at what I did, but I started asking myself, is this all there is? What kind of purpose do you find in this?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His mentors told him that purpose wasn\u2019t part of the job \u2013 you just made money and found fulfillment elsewhere. That answer didn\u2019t sit right with him. He decided to explore other options, which brought him back to Germany for a Ph.D. in finance. That\u2019s where he realized that academia could be something long-term \u2013 something with meaning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he began his academic job search, Butler University was at the top of his list. As a Michigan native, the Midwest felt like home. \u201cBut it wasn\u2019t just that. The first week I was here, I remember thinking, everyone\u2019s so nice. I told myself, give it two weeks, the niceness will wear off,\u201d he said. \u201cEleven years later, it still hasn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Foltice brings a global lens and a team-player mindset to his classroom \u2013 both shaped by his time overseas.  Playing professional basketball in Germany taught him that leadership is about action, not words \u2013 that people know you care not because you say it, but because you show it. It\u2019s a lesson that finds its way into his teaching style, where connection and empathy are just as important as numbers and models. His time abroad also reinforced that \u201cdifferent isn\u2019t bad \u2013 it\u2019s just different,\u201d a mindset he now encourages his students to embrace, whether they study abroad or simply begin to view finance through a broader, global perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Dr. Foltice teaches international finance, investment, and behavioral finance \u2013 a field he\u2019s particularly passionate about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bryan<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I was working during the financial crisis, people would yell at me for losing their money,\u201d he said with a grin. \u201cI realized people feel losses twice as much as they feel gains. That\u2019s behavioral finance in real life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His classroom has become a place where those real-world lessons come to life, preparing students not just to understand markets but to understand people. \u201cIf you\u2019ve had me in class, you\u2019ve got me for life,\u201d Dr. Foltice said. \u201cThat\u2019s the Foltice lifetime guarantee. Students still reach out years later to talk about jobs, careers, or personal finances. That\u2019s the best part of this work \u2013 the relationships that last.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That same passion for financial literacy led to the creation of Money Strong<\/em><\/a>, a personal finance initiative he co-founded with Randy Brown<\/a>, an executive career mentor at LSB. The two started at Butler around the same time but didn\u2019t meet until nearly nine years later \u2013 thanks to a few mutual connections who insisted they had to. Once they finally connected, they realized they\u2019d been working toward the same goal from different angles. What began as a simple idea quickly became a movement<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Foltice and Randy proposed a series of personal finance \u201cMoney Talks\u201d that were approved for Butler Cultural Requirement<\/a> credits within 20 minutes. Students packed the sessions \u2013 some even sitting on the floor. Dr. Foltice recalled how the atmosphere shifted once students realized the content applied directly to their lives. From there, the program grew rapidly, supported by a Robinhood Markets, Inc.<\/a> grant and the addition of new behavioral and personal finance courses, including a one-credit financial well-being class that filled up almost immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Dr. Foltice, the goal is simple: make financial literacy accessible to every student, regardless of major.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe all have to play the game of money,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, we might as well learn the rules.\u201d Through Money Strong<\/em>, he\u2019s helping students do just that \u2013 building confidence, knowledge, and healthier financial habits that extend far beyond graduation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outside the classroom, Dr. Foltice\u2019s philosophy of \u201cfinancial wellness\u201d extends to life itself. For him, it\u2019s not about hitting a specific number or chasing success for its own sake. Instead, he measures a rich life through what he calls the five F\u2019s: finances, family, fitness, fun, and fulfillment. He\u2019s proud to be a hands-on dad to two teenage sons and prioritizes balance and health, reminding his students that while high-pressure careers can be exciting, they\u2019re rarely sustainable long-term. And when it\u2019s time to unwind, he\u2019s all about karaoke \u2013 especially anything 80s rock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to have fun,\u201d he said. \u201cLife\u2019s too short to take yourself too seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After more than a decade at LSB, Dr. Foltice says what keeps him energized is seeing the ripple effect of his work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you start to see the students you taught ten years ago mentoring the students you have now \u2013 that\u2019s when you know the impact is growing exponentially,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s what drives me. Doing good work, in the right way, and watching it multiply.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Dr. Bryan Foltice left behind the world of investment banking for academia, it wasn\u2019t because he lost his edge for numbers \u2013 it was because he started questioning their meaning. A professional athlete turned finance professional turned professor, Dr. Foltice\u2019s path to the Lacy School of Business has been anything but linear, yet every […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2812,"featured_media":494,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"coauthors":[38],"class_list":["post-493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty-insights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2812"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":502,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493\/revisions\/502"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/lacybusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}