by Christine Hansen

Eddie C. Brown, President & Founder of Brown Capital Management.

Eddie C. Brown knows what it means to beat the odds.  Born to an unwed 13 year-old mother, the stacks were piled high against him. But you’d never know it.  Today, Brown heads one of the nation’s oldest African-American owned investment management firms.

“I always say people cannot control the hand that they were dealt.  But you can control how you play that hand,” Brown said.

As his young mother was unable to properly care for him, Brown’s grandparents took the part of caretaker. They, along with his Uncle Jake, who Brown calls “The Big Three,” helped shape who he is today and how successful he became.

“My mother, being 13, naturally couldn’t raise me.  And so I was left with my grandparents.  And really, it was those Big Three, that shaped and positioned me to beat those overwhelming odds,” he said.

Brown tells this story in his new book, Beating the Odds: Eddie Brown’s Investing and Life Strategies, and talks with MDBizMedia after a long photo shoot in his brownstone investment firm in the Mt. Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore city.  Brown will be one of the new faces featured in the State’s Land of Opportunity campaign.

Brown’s entrepreneurial spirit began early on, with encouragement from his grandmother. He grew up in a small town called Apopka in Florida and would travel to Orlando – “the big city” – with his grandmother, who would point out the white men in white shirts and ties sitting behind desks.  She told him that if he stayed in school, did his work and went to college, that he too could work behind a desk, instead of the manual labor she was doing. Brown’s grandparents worked in the citrus groves.

“That set a vision, very early on, that that was what I was going to do,” Brown said.

Brown's new book "Beating the Odds: Eddie Brown's Investing and Life Strategies" tells the tale of his life growing up and how he became successful today.

Brown’s Uncle Jake added on to this encouragement, but in a more peculiar way.  In his book, Brown writes, “Uncle Jake gets his hooks into me a few years after my birth and encourages me to always view life differently than most people, and to never, ever, sell myself short. Uncle Jake also teaches me to unfailingly go after, and expect to attain, the very best life has to offer.”

Brown’s Uncle teaches him how to drive at the early age of 6, and gives him his first job harvesting at the citrus grove, among other jobs, as he grew up. His uncle had his own business providing seasonal labor – migrant workers from neighboring states – to the citrus growers during harvest season.  But he also had a lucrative moonshine business – becoming the largest moonshine distributor in the state of Florida before going to jail.

“My uncle gave me my own pick-up truck when I was 11 or 12, and I basically created three businesses by the time I was 13,” Brown said.  “I learned a lot about business and entrepreneurship from him.”

With the encouragement and mentorship from The Big Three, Brown went on to earn a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, and a Master’s in Electrical Engineering.  After college he worked at IBM, until he reached a crossroads in his career path.

“I reached a stage in my career where I had to make a decision – whether to stay purely technical or go down the managerial path.  And sales and marketing was the way to accelerate my path,” Brown said.

So, Brown left IBM, sold his Cape Cod in the suburbs, stored his furniture and packed up his family, heading to graduate business school in Indiana.  It was there where he discovered a deep interest and fascination in finance and investing.  He took every class he could to learn as much as possible on the topics.  After graduating, he worked for Urban Management, a company whose sole purpose was managing the wealth of one family.  He spent three years with that company, and later joined financial giant T. Rowe Price.

Brown pictured here with his wife, Sylvia, credits her support during the years for much of his success. (Photo courtesy of Blackgivesback.com)

“I wanted to work for a firm with a large client base, and I was fascinated with the growth style of investing. And the master who created that style was Thomas Rowe Price. So I sent a letter expressing my interest in working for the firm that is at the pinnacle of growth investing. And afterward, I got an offer to work for T. Rowe Price,” he said.

Brown moved to Baltimore and worked for T. Rowe Price as a portfolio manager.  But that boyhood entrepreneurial spirit never left him.  After 10 years, Brown decided to leave T. Rowe Price to go out on his own.  In July of 1983, he opened Brown Capital Management, the second oldest African-American owned investment firm in the country.

With over 41 years of investment experience, a successful privately owned investment management firm, an unprecedented educational foundation, and now a successful book under his belt, Brown can feel good about his success and walk into a room with overwhelming confidence.  Yet, he takes his success in stride, always ensuring that he, and his company, doesn’t become complacent in business.

Brown and his wife, Sylvia, pictured here, received the Marylander of the Year award for their philanthropic endeavors.

Always on his toes, Brown writes, “Cockiness and confidence are fine with me as long as they don’t morph into hubris, and an attendant sense that our continued success is pretty much preordained.”

That tendency to always better himself is why, Brown Capital Management’s equity holdings totaled $3.12 billion at the end of the first quarter.  Brown’s firm currently has 127 holdings of which the five largest were worth $486.95 million.