Fielding Miller: CAPTRUST and the North Hills Advantage

Fielding Miller recognizes a good idea when he sees one. Luckily for North Hills, the chief executive officer and co-founder of CAPTRUST, one of the nation’s largest independent financial advisory firms, bought into the idea of North Hills early on and never looked back. We had the opportunity to interview Fielding about CAPTRUST and the advantages provided by its North Hills location.

The CAPTRUST offices used to be located on Strickland Road in Raleigh. Why did you move your headquarters to North Hills?

Fielding Miller: When we shifted our business strategy to become a national company, we knew that we would need to effectively compete for the most talented professionals from all around the Triangle. North Hills is ideally located to pull from all over Raleigh but also Durham, Chapel Hill and most of the suburban areas. North Hills is also a short drive to RDU, which helps us as we recruit for our other locations around the country.

When you committed to moving your headquarters to North Hills, your office tower was just being built. What influenced your decision to buy into John Kane’s vision for the development?

FM: I had known John personally for many years and trusted him and had great confidence in his ability to execute on his plan for the area. While we were basically looking at a field of dirt at the time, he had a bold and compelling vision for North Hills, and we were excited to get involved on the front end. Our decision to be an early mover certainly came with risk, but we were impressed with the vision and felt it was the ideal opportunity to design a new headquarters that could help to fuel our growing company.

You have talked about how your North Hills location helps you support your company mission. What do you mean by that?

FM: When we designed our space, our goal was to create a “home court advantage.” The idea was to create a working environment that was energizing and comfortable and supporting of our company mission – which is to enrich the lives of our clients, colleagues and community. We feel like we have accomplished our aim and often hear from our colleagues that they consider their working environment as a major contributor to their job satisfaction.

The building your offices are located in at North Hills is called The CAPTRUST Tower, and your name on top of the building can be seen from the beltline. What has that type of exposure meant for your company?

FM: Having our name on the building has been a huge plus for recruiting.  I stopped counting at 24 the number of new colleagues that told me they saw our sign, thought it sounded like a financial company, went to our website, applied and were hired – all within about 60 days on average. How do you place a value on that?

What is your favorite thing about North Hills?

FM: We love the location, as it is easy for our clients and colleagues to reach us, but we especially enjoy being in such close proximity to all of the shops, restaurants and hotels. For me personally, I walk most places during the day. Our location is so convenient in fact that I often leave the house in the mornings with a chore list in hand — for the grocery store, the cleaners, the drugstore, etc.