Dirk Pruis '82

“Unlike many Calvin graduates, I don’t work in a non-profit or a helping profession. I’m not a teacher, a social worker, a missionary or a doctor. But I’m here to help renew God’s world in any way I can.”

That’s how Dirk Pruis sees his role as a Wall Street CEO. Formerly a vice president with Goldman Sachs and now the head of EquiLend, a firm for securities lending owned by ten of the world’s leading financial institutions, Dirk often draws on his Calvin education for guidance.

“Calvin taught me that everything I do counts,” he says. “We learned that all of our activities — academics, music, athletics, campus newspaper, committee work — were preparing us to transform the world. Our professors said that your responsibility is to go out and live your faith, wherever you find yourself.”

Over the years, Dirk has found himself working in the world of finance — and the world of God — in places ranging from New York to Mexico City to Tokyo. While in Tokyo, he helped renew ties between Calvin and the Christian Academy of Japan and also initiated a fund that, through the college’s alumni association, provides scholarships for Japanese high school students to attend Calvin.

Much of his focus, though, is on Wall Street itself: “Wall Street is very much a people business — not creating and building things, but facilitating transactions. At EquiLend, I try to be a role model for the people who work for me while serving as a consensus builder among our many constituencies. I often have one-on-one opportunities to talk about my faith.”

Dirk says he’s thankful to work in this setting, which daily reminds him that “from everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required.” He continues, “Over the years I’ve worked for many people whom God has abundantly blessed with material things. It’s a constant reminder that with God’s gifts comes a responsibility to use them well.”

Perhaps that lesson, above all, is what Wall Street can teach. “Money drives a lot of people,” Dirk says. “I sometimes see where money can motivate people to do the wrong thing, and that’s certainly been prominently displayed over the past couple of years. But I also see the other side — the people who put their wealth to careful use. When money is in the right hands, it presents tremendous opportunities for doing good. That’s the Wall Street I’m working toward.”

Dirk Pruis
CEO, EquiLend Holdings LLC
New York, New York
Calvin College, B.A. ’82
University of Michigan, M.B.A. ’84