3 minute read
Meet the Morgans
A difficult hike and the need to stop and take a rest is what brought Joe and Monique Morgan together almost 20 years ago. They both happened to be hiking the Yosemite Falls trail in Yosemite on the same day. Joe says he is thankful it was a warm day because it required him to stop and rest. “It was an allday hike with a lot of switch-backs during a warm May day. Because of the steepness of the hill, there was a lot of pausing and getting to know those hiking around you. On one of my rest breaks, Monique was standing about 12 feet ahead under a tree and said, ‘There’s shade up here with your name on it.’ That was all it took for me to fall for her. We’ve been as close as we can be ever since.” Monique planned the wedding, and Joe was in charge of the honeymoon, but Joe says Monique gave him one condition, “Monique wanted to sit on the beach and have someone bring her drinks. We ended up going to Fiji and had a terrific time!”
Born in France into an Air Force family, Monique grew up in Sacramento and married her high school sweetheart, Bob. They had a beautiful daughter, Nicole. When Nicole was only three-years-old, and Monique was the young age of 26, she became a widow. Bob passed away after battling leukemia. He was 29 years old. Being a single parent, with a mortgage and young child was devastating, but Monique’s perseverance and family made it all possible. “Raising Nicole alone in Sacramento was life-defining for me and made me the person I am today. Nicole and I retain a special relationship,” says Monique. Nicole currently lives in Portland where she works as a successful pastry chef.
Originally trained as an application developer, Monique worked for the California State Legislature for 15 years as a developer, project manager, and manager supporting the Assembly and Senate chambers, various committees and the folks who draft legislation for all their needs. She eventually figured out she was better at organizing and the big picture than coding and became a project manager, earning her PMP designation. She is currently the Senior IT Information Security Program Manager at Workday. “I really enjoy the culture and challenges that Workday provides. Every project is new and interesting, as it is a high growth atmosphere,” says Monique.
Joe was born in Iowa, raised in Mississippi, and attended high school and college in Texas. He earned both undergrad and graduate degrees in Finance from Texas A&M University. After working briefly in New York and Houston, he moved to California in 1995 to work for a boutique investment firm. When he and Monique married in 2003, they moved to Manhattan Beach briefly, but returned to the Bay Area when Joe began working at Silicon Valley Bank Asset Management as their Chief Investment Officer. After 10 years of commuting and traveling, Joe says he decided he wanted to be a greater part of his community and started his own financial planning firm, JWM Wealth Management, LLC.
Community involvement is a high priority for the Morgans. They are members of St. Isidore Catholic Church in Danville, and Joe says they both love playing tennis, “We play a lot of tennis at the club and Monique is currently captain of a 55+ 6.0 Women’s team going to the Sectional tournament in Sacramento. If they win there, the next step is Nationals in Orlando!” Monique also enjoys gardening and spends her spare time in the yard.
Joe recently joined the San Ramon Valley Rotary Club, which meets Wednesday nights at Blackhawk Country Club. “It’s a great group of people who work hard to make the San Ramon Valley a better place to live, and I love being a part of that!” I enjoy learning about history and trying to understand how history affects who we are today and the decisions we make. If you don’t understand your own perspective, you’ll never understand anyone else’s,” says Joe.
In 2007, the Morgans traveled to Hawaii to participate in a marathon and raise money for the Leukemia and the Lymphoma Society. Monique has gone on to take part in two more half-marathon events and even got her daughter, Nicole, to walk the Alaska Summer Solstice half marathon with them. “We love traveling and have enjoyed trips to Italy and Japan. While in Italy, we hiked the towns of Cinque Terre. Though the ground was wet, Monique wore her flip-flops (against the local rules) and had no problem. She even found a vendor selling jewelry in the woods,” says Joe.
The Morgans live on Deer Trail Court and share their home with Lucy, their 9-year-old standard poodle. Both Joe and Monique say they love their neighbors and this community,
"The comfort of having the club nearby has been great, when we don’t feel like cooking or simply want to go some place friendly and familiar. We enjoy the occasional golf and bocce when tennis schedules allows. The best part of our club experience is all the great friends we have made. We can’t believe we actually considered moving to the city when we were both struggling with long commutes, so glad we joined the country club and decided to stay and get jobs closer to home.”
