Hello

Born and raised in Illinois, I’ve supported myself since I was 18 years old. In college, I worked full time during the day while taking classes at DePaul University at night, and built a solid foundation combining an ironclad work ethic and seizing opportunity whenever I could. Now based in the Valley of the Sun (Phoenix), I lived in the Chicago area most of my life but have had an opportunity to travel the nation and the world. I pride myself on the ability to espouse a Midwestern work ethic, West Coast ingenuity and East Coast drive.

 

I’ve always had a passion for consultative and data-driven nature of my industry, but as the world has changed, so has the focus on doing what is right. On the professional side, I’ve been through corporate mergers, reductions in force, poor management, and lack of vision. On the personal side, I survived sexual abuse, crushing depression in my early years, the loss of a child in utero after years of trying, an emotionally and physically abusive marriage and the death of some very important people in my life. I emerged on the other side, stronger and with renewed passion, in every situation.

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I have spent my entire career in financial services, but it wasn’t until I had climbed the ladder within the Private Wealth space that I realized the world had changed around me. At one point in my career, I found complete and intense joy in the work that I did, internally and externally, working with clients and stakeholders to develop best practices and execute in the highest possible manner, helping people feel safe and stable while still allowing myself to embrace finance, my true passion. However, I’ve seen the Private Wealth space step away from caring for clients – in an almost imperceptive way – and has instead focused increasingly on gathering finite, pre-created assets, rather than developing relationships and building wealth with business owners and entrepreneurs. 

 

When I began to analyze my next steps professionally, I decided to employ the Japanese concept of Ikigai, or (rough translation) “A Reason For Being”. The concept focuses on the intersection point of four broad theories; What You Love, What The World Needs, What You Are Good At and What You Can Be Paid For. Characterized visually as four overlapping bubbles laid across each other like a Venn Diagram, my Ikigai is what lies at the center; that professional pursuit which brings me joy, which solves a problem in the world, which I am good at and which an employer is willing to pay me to do.

 

What I Love: I built my career around helping people and developing relationships. I love numbers and integrative tax strategies and I love making the complex approachable and understandable. I love bringing heart and emotion to cold facts and helping Patrons understand their issues and arrive at better solutions with greater efficiency.

 

What The World Needs: Successful entrepreneurs of all sorts are experts in their field, but in many cases still struggle with the ability to simplify and optimize the complex needs of their family from a tax, legal, operational and integration perspective. I’ve been able to see firsthand the inefficiencies that exist in this space throughout my professional experience, and I believe that solution-first entrepreneurs are the world's greatest creators of good. 

 

What I Am Good At: Fortunately, those things that I love are also things I am good at; forming relationships, understanding data, financial modeling, operational efficiency, complex tax strategies, developing best practices, explaining the complex and finding solutions to complicated problems.

 

What I Can Be Paid For: I realized that my dream would be the ability to work with solution-first entrepreneurial families to help them create efficiencies, understand and execute complex structures, deploy and monitor key aspects of family governance, address tax inefficiencies and execute best practices from an operational and technological perspective in their personal world, allowing them to focus on next-stage funding and growing their business. To be part of something bigger than myself, to work with best-in-class teams, to learn and grow with them and walk away from something greater than that into which I walked. I sincerely believe that our job as their advisor is only about 10% financial & operational methodology… the other 90% is psychology, problem solving and good, old fashioned heart.

 

I look forward to exploring how The Fresh Approach™ can bring additional Clarity, Focus and Authenticity to your life...