Courtney
Wilhelm

And what she realized was that everywhere she looked, she saw business. 

"Business is the building block of our society," she says. "Whether it's the Starbucks you buy, the ads on your phone, or the glasses on your face—literally everything is business."

That big-picture thinking served her well when she graduated with a bachelor's degree in business administration in spring 2020—arguably the worst time to enter the job market. Courtney spent months applying to jobs by the dozens, all during a time when hiring had frozen across industries.

Then, she was approached about a position she'd never applied for: a client onboarding analyst on a reputable institution’s mortgage-backed securities trading desk. Courtney had no previous experience in finance, but she knew an opportunity when she saw one.

What started as a good-for-now pandemic job became her introduction to the complex, interconnected world of institutional finance—and she was hooked.

For two years, Courtney worked to onboard major institutions like Fidelity and Wells Fargo. The work was rapid and high-stakes: racing against the clock to open accounts for trades that were already placed. She loved seeing how seemingly simple things like home mortgages become entire industries with countless moving parts.

But when her team was downsized and she found herself trapped at her desk doing the work of three people, she realized it was time for a change. She wanted to be part of someone's success story, not just facilitate anonymous institutional trading.

That's when she found The Palm Group—and discovered the difference between processing transactions—and changing lives.

Now, instead of establishing trading relationships for faceless corporations, Courtney aids families in their meaningful, and critical, decisions — including buying their dream homes. She provides asset verification documents, sets up securities-based loans, and wires funds for clients’ closing payments. When they close, she sends them a housewarming gift because she feels as excited about it as they do. 

"It's so cool to be an instrumental part of the whole process," she says.

Courtney may be the youngest in the room—a role she’s well-acquainted with as the youngest of three sisters—but she’s never one to blend into the background. She's the creative one, the adventurous one. She reads World War II memoirs, goes to Red Hot Chili Peppers concerts, and somehow manages to be both the most spontaneous and the first one ready for bed.

In a world where everything really is business, Courtney found her calling in the part where business becomes personal.