About Us

Our Team

Who we are

Family owned and operated since 2002

As a private family-run firm, we answer to our clients, not shareholders. Defender Capital, an SEC-Registered Investment Advisor, manages private accounts – retirement accounts, non-retirement accounts, trusts, corporate accounts, donor-advised funds, etc. – for individuals, families, and corporations. We take a research driven, long-term approach, investing in U.S. equities. We keep skin in the game by investing in the same holdings as our clients. We offer fair and transparent fees. We focus on delivering after-tax returns.
Defender Capital

Meet the team

Don
G. Stamas

Founding Partner, CEO

As a Certified Financial Planner® (CFP®) and Chartered Life Underwriter® (CLU®), Don has served as Chairman on the board of the Charlotte Estate Planning Council and as Director of the Charlotte Financial Planning Symposium. Don and his wife Kathryn have two daughters and a grandson.

John
D. Stamas

Founding Partner, CIO

Before co-founding Defender Capital, John began working at Oppenheimer & Co. in New York City and moved to Charlotte in 1998. John and his wife Elizabeth have two sons.

Tom
Worth III

Partner

Tom is a Certified Financial Planner® (CFP®), who develops and manages client relationships. Tom joined Defender Capital in 2014 and has been working with high net worth families for two decades. Originally from Raleigh, North Carolina, Tom and his wife Lawson, also a NC native, have lived in Charlotte since the mid-1990s where they are raising their two children.

E.J.
Rabell Jr.

Partner

E.J. is responsible for developing and managing client relationships. E.J. worked at Defender Capital from 2006-2014 before stepping away to co-found a digital marketing startup focused on helping nonprofits. He also served as a Private Client Banker at J.P. Morgan Chase before returning to Defender in 2021. He resides in Nashville, TN.

Patrick
Walsh

MBA, Partner

Patrick is the co-manager of investment accounts and the hedge fund., Defender Capital Partners. Patrick began his career with Defender Capital in 2014, joined a healthcare consulting firm from 2019-2021, and returned to Defender Capital in 2021. Patrick, his wife Emily, and their daughter, Anne, reside in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Chris
Wilson

Associate

Chris focuses on transcendent service to ensure client needs are met in a timely manner. Before joining Defender Capital in 2019, Chris was employed at UBS. Chris and his wife, Jenna, have two daughters.

Defender Capital

Board of Advisors

Chief Executive Officer
Omnicom Group/DAS
Former Chairman & CEO
FMI Corporation
Managing partner
CohnReznick
Retired, managing partner
Coudert Brothers
CO-Founder
Extraordinary Women on Boards
President
Graham Enterprises
Operating Executive
Carlyle
chairman
Southern Elevator Group, Inc.
Retired Vice Chairman
Archer Daniels Midland
Co-Founder, Senior Managing Partner
MyNext Season
Managing Partner
Crosland Southeast
Co-Owner, Director and Chairman of the Board
McDonald York Building Company
Owner & Entrepreneur
Ella B. Candles
retired partner
King & Spalding
Defender Capital

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