Who We Are

Walden Financial is a fee-only Registered Investment Advisor located in Granville, Ohio, serving clients across the United States. We help a select group of mid-career families get clear on their financial priorities and implement strategies to accomplish their goals.

Josh Dandurand

Founder & Wealth Advisor

How I got here:

I always knew I wanted to spend my career helping people in some way. Like many young adults, I didn’t know exactly what that would look like, so I followed my interest in human behavior and studied Psychology at Otterbein University.

After graduating, I spent the early part of my career developing and maintaining relationships as a National Account Manager for a Fortune 500 company. That experience exposed me to incredible personal and professional growth opportunities — and ultimately prepared me to begin my journey in the wealth management industry in 2014.

I was fortunate to join an independent firm with a strong focus on financial planning, where I spent seven years learning the nuances of the business under the guidance of a great mentor and partner. In 2020, I made the decision to lean into my entrepreneurial drive and establish my own firm — Walden Financial.

From the beginning, my goal was to build a firm that helps clients take a step back and think about what truly matters before setting goals and creating a financial plan. That idea inspired our mission: to enrich our clients’ lives by inspiring them to use their resources to live with intention and purpose. It’s a mission we strive to fulfill in every relationship we have.

Authenticity and independence are at the core of who I am, so when the opportunity to take my practice fully independent presented itself, I didn’t hesitate. On November 1, 2022, I transitioned Walden Financial to a fee-only Registered Investment Advisor — and haven’t looked back since. Every day, I’m grateful for the opportunity to serve our clients as a true fiduciary, helping them craft a life of intention, purpose, and fulfillment.

  • The Work I Do:

    As the founder of a business, you typically spend the early years as the “chief cook and bottle washer”. While I still manage the day-to-day operations of the firm, we now have a great team in place that allows me to focus the bulk of my time and energy working directly with our clients, collaborating on their financial plan, and managing their investment portfolios.

  • My Family:

    Like many of the families we serve, my own family is the root of my financial purpose — they’re my “why.” I’ve been incredibly fortunate to spend the past 17 years with my best friend and wife, Jess. Together, we’re raising four amazing kids who constantly remind us we must be doing something right — with their unique personalities, unprompted acts of kindness, genuine empathy, and infectious joy.

  • The Meaning of Money:

    The purpose of money in our lives is to ensure that on any given day, how we choose to spend our time is completely within our control so that we can relish hours together as a family, pursue hobbies and interests that we enjoy, instill in our children the true meaning of wealth, and have the time and resources to contribute to our community.

Kathy Patton

Financial Coach, Creator and Curator of Walden Roots

How I got here:

I, actually, always wanted to be a teacher. In 1988, freshly armed with my B. S. in Education from THE Ohio State University, I was one of 200 new graduates applying for a single position teaching English at Worthington High School, and I cried before I could even finish the interview.

While at OSU, I had also commandeered a Computer Science minor; such a credential didn’t exist at the time, ESPECIALLY for teachers, so I created one and camped outside of the dean’s office until he signed it.  Attempting to leverage both my strengths and pay the bills, I took a job writing technical documentation at AT&T, explaining very complex topics in plain English. 25 years later, I was the Senior Director of Planning and Operations with a Masters degree in Telecommunications Engineering. Over that epoch, I executed worldwide projects that took the mobile telephone from a Maxwell Smart cross-body briefcase to the device you hold in your hand today.

While climbing the technical ranks, I was also rocking the leotards and leg warmers teaching Step Aerobics at Bally’s Total Fitness. 25 years later, I am a Certified Crossfit Level 3 Trainer at Always Forward Crossfit. I’ve never understood why golf is considered the game of business professionals; in my experience, all the best business partnerships start at the gym. To wit, that is where I met Josh.

  • The Work I Do:

    My two core values are connection and responsibility, so I have very high expectations of someone handling my heart and my money. I had never met a financial advisor quite like Josh who talked to me about defining the true meaning of wealth on my own terms. Quite frankly, it changed my life. My objective as the creator of Walden Roots process is to discover, define, and document financial purpose in a way that brings meaning by uniquely informing financial decision-making, planning, and execution.

  • My Family:

    I have been married for 31 years to the man for which the term “outlaw biker dude” was coined. We’ve raised two adult children: Thomas, who has a Masters of Engineering from Cornell and lives in San Diego programming drones with artificial intelligence and Julia, who has a Bachelors of Science in Nursing from the University of Alabama and works in the Emergency Room at Granview Hospital in Birmingham. We are a tight-knit unit that loves technology, racing, travelling, and each other.

  • The Meaning of Money:

    I’ve written lots of financial purposes for our clients, but never my own, until now. The purpose of money my life is to live each day intentionally sharing abundant time and meaningful experiences with my family and my friends,  and working with a very small, select set of clients who are hungry to begin defining and living their own unique and sacred purpose.