Broker Check
Why We Are Different

Your goals aren’t some static endpoint. They are a continuum that is always evolving.

Patrick W. Simpkins
Owner, Proximity Financial Partners

(919) 977-9204
psimpkins@proximityfp.com

During these extraordinary economic times, change is the new norm. And if that’s the new norm, then custom fit is the only plan that works.

We meet you where you stand, along the personal timeline of your career, your life, your family. We’ll show you how that stage, and coming ones, impact your wealth. We’re committed to building a fine-tuned partnership with you that lasts for generations.


We bring you clarity in a comprehensive way, won from wide knowledge and experience. As independent advisors, we’ll tap the intelligence of top-flight research firms and world-class asset management institutions. Explore the full range of traditional sources and alternatives, those exempt from proprietary constraints or entanglement.


Patrick brings Proximity clients proven leadership and substantial experience through more than two decades in executive positions in business, with the majority of those years in the financial services industry. Before co-founding Proximity in 2007, he was a private financial advisor at SunTrust Banks Inc., one of the largest financial holding companies in the US. As a member of their Private Wealth Management Team for the Raleigh/Durham area, Patrick guided diverse customers in creating, protecting, and transferring wealth. In 2006, he was selected to sit on the Advisory Council of SunTrust Investment Services. Patrick has done postgraduate work at North Carolina State University.

Prior to its acquisition by SunTrust in 2005, Patrick served as a vice president for Central Carolina Bank, where his clients included executives, professional athletes, and owners of small businesses.

Patrick’s early experience as a successful entrepreneur affords him an in-depth and personal understanding of the needs of his clients. The Raleigh native and graduate of Broughton High School was studying business administration at NC State when he founded Simpkins Landscaping, Construction and Debris Removal. As his business quickly grew, he developed an interest in wealth management. Patrick later sold the business and joined the Raleigh office of AXA Advisors LLC, a subsidiary of the global financial giant.

Licenses: 6,7,63,65, life & health, multiple states. LTC-Long Term Care. Member, Financial Services Institute.

Lisa P. Petruolo
FINANCIAL SERVICES ASSISTANT


Lisa P. Petruolo is the Financial Services Assistant at Proximity Financial Partners. Lisa brings more than 10 years of customer service to Proximity. She has a background in accounting, sales, service, and client relations. Lisa joined the team in 2018. She spent 7 years with Piedmont Service Group starting in 2013 as a Service Accountant. During her time there she acquired many skills and advanced others such as identifying and resolving client issues in a timely manner which play a major role here at Proximity.

Lisa was also a Wealth management assistant with HPG Wealthcare Advisors in Raleigh NC and Edward Jones in Clayton NC. Lisa is a North Carolina native, graduated from Garner Senior High School, and studied accounting at East Carolina University.

Her 2 daughters live in the Raleigh area and she loves her dachshund, Napa.

Donna Hewitt
BENEFITS ADVISOR


Donna has specialized in the field of healthcare benefits since her career began nearly two decades ago, and Proximity clients benefit from her rich store of knowledge and experience. At Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, she served as a customer service representative, a group service representative, and ultimately an enrollment expert. Those roles included working with brokers as well as group and benefits administrators, and she developed broad knowledge regarding a wide variety of healthcare plans. At Progressive Benefits Solutions, Donna served as account manager developing formal proposals for health, dental, and ancillary plans. In 2002, she joined Central Carolina Bank as a group insurance specialist. In that capacity she obtained quotations, instituted a group health insurance program, and prepared formal proposals. Donna joined Proximity in 2008.

Donna serves her fellow professionals on the Triangle Association of Health Underwriters where she has been media chair for three years and now is incoming secretary. She has two sons and three grandchildren, and outside of work, she enjoys travel, birdwatching, and nearly any outdoors activity.

Heather Simpkins
CLIENT RELATIONS


Background info to come.

Evan Lockwood
CLIENT RELATIONS


Background info to come.

Objective-driven investing,
entirely mapped out. With Proximity always close at hand, we are just a phone call or email away.