Ami Kassar, is the founder and CEO of MultiFunding LLC, and author of The Growth Dilemma. He is a nationally renowned expert on access to capital for entrepreneurs. He’s committed to ensuring that business owners have the best possible access to the capital structures to help grow and manage their businesses. Kassar is regularly featured in the national press and writes a regular column for Inc.com. He has advised the White House, the Federal Reserve Bank and The Treasury Department on the business credit markets. In addition, Kassar is a regular speaker at universities and business events across the country on topics including entrepreneurship and access to capital. Ami is the 2015, 2014, and 2013 recipient of the Small Business Influencer Award as well as the 2012 Small Business Advocate Award. Kassar earned his MBA from the University of Southern California and graduated with a B.A. in American Studies from Brandeis University.

Christopher “Chris” Rivera is the Director of Client Relations at Entigrity Solutions LLC. He is an expert at leading and managing teams actively from the front. His expertise in sales, training, coaching, mentoring, influencing, combined with his competitive nature, make him a strong leader. Chris has traveled through the lengths and widths of the country and has spoken with more than five thousand CPAs! Understanding their challenges and limitations within their practice, workflow management, team building, recruitment & retention, he can now easily provide well analyzed opinions and solutions that can be immensely helpful to today’s accounting professionals. Chris has also represented Entigrity at several major accounting conferences and networking events, speaking to audiences, explaining the traits of offshore hiring and remote working. He is a frequent presenter of webinars on platforms like my-CPE.com Besides everything, Chris also hosts his very own series of live podcasts “Entigrity Live with Chris Rivera” where he interviews thought leaders, experts and influencers from the accounting domain while highlighting their insights on the latest trends within the accounting industry.

I am a proven certified Business Coach that helps business owners make more money and work less. I do this by asking the right questions, leading you to think differently and inspire action that generates desired results. I will help you with improving sales, implementing effective marketing and advertising, manage cash flow, team and leadership training

Heather Schreiber, founder of HLS Retirement Consulting, LLC, and holds the NSSA certification as a Social Security specialist. She partners with financial, legal, and tax professionals to build holistic client solutions for retirement. Her goal is to help you build customized solutions for your clients by incorporating advanced planning strategies that meet your unique client needs in easy-to-understand and deliverable terms.

Janel is the Chief Marketing Officer for TaxExact, the solution that revolutionizes the 1040 review process. She is an experienced B2B sales and marketing expert with over 25 years of experience in the FinTech and SaaS space, the past decade of which has been dedicated specifically to working with public accounting firms. She brings a strategic approach to marketing and sales leadership to TaxExact and an innovative growth mindset to the firms she serves. A StoryBrand Certified Marketing Guide, Janel also helps accounting firms learn how to tell their brand story and build marketing strategies that attract profitable clients.

Jeff Stolper started on Wall Street 30 years ago in 1993 and by 1995 was the top producer/Stockbroker at his firm. By 1996 he was recruited to run a Wall Street firm and by 1997 he had transitioned to co-owning a NYSE Franchise brokerage firm. After 10 years on Wall Street and 6 financial licenses, Jeff pivoted and started his own innovative advertising firm called NBP (Neighborhood Business Partnership) which had accrued over 700 Business Owners in NYC within its first 3 years alone. By the end of 2005, early 2006 Jeff had gotten involved in a Health & Wellness direct selling company called Isagenix and became the 68th Millionaire/Legacy Member in that company as well with over 30,000 members in his organization worldwide. But in early July of 2013 he had created the best business idea of his career! Creating & successfully pioneering the Bill Reduction/Bill Negotiation Industry. Jeff is well regarding for being the best bill negotiator in the world and his company iDeal Advocates by being the Premier Bill Negotiation Company in the industry. Some of Jeff’s other accolades include: Founder/Chairman of the Edgewater NJ Chamber of Commerce Former Board Member of the Morristown Chamber of Commerce Former Field Advisory Member of Savings Highway Global Graduate of the prestigious LaGuardia High School of Music and the Arts in NYC- Vocal Major (Fame School) Graduate of Tony Robbins Mastery University Programs Graduate of Peak Potentials Quantum Leap Programs Among his many, many accomplishments which are too many to list here, he is most proud of being a dedicated husband to his wife April and to his two children Mika and Jax

Mark Sims is President of Global Business for Captive Alternatives LLC. With more than 25 years of experience, he is an expert in the field of enterprise risk management and insurance consulting. He helps businesses insure catastrophic risk and employee benefit programs, converting premiums into financial assets through private insurance strategies. Working closely with tax attorneys, estate planning firms, family offices and trusted advisors to create customized risk management solutions for HNW individuals and business owners across multiple sectors. Mark is a graduate of Indiana University Bloomington. He is an active member of the Captive Insurance Companies Association and sits on the Committee of the Self Insurance Institute of America.

Mark Wagner has a 25 + year career in the payroll industry and with Heartland as a Specialty Product Advisor for the last 11 years. He has spent several years in management with 2 payroll companies and is passionate about finding the best solutions for all clients’ payroll needs. Working hard to identify the solution for each client and then being relentless to make sure clients expectations are met or exceeded. He structures affordable solutions that are a value and enhancement to the client’s payroll platform.

Matt’s career has been a series of entrepreneurial endeavors. A few years after the financial crisis, Matt pivoted into a role as a financial advisor and discovered a brand new fintech tool called Riskalyze. That discovery launched a transition into becoming the first sales hire at the startup technology firm and as Vice President of Sales, Matt built the process, strategy and sales organization from a start-up into a dominant industry leader. Ready for a new early-stage endeavor, Matt saw the desire advisors had to expand their holistic planning capabilities and the need for a high-quality estate planning partner. He joined Helios Integrated Planning and began building again a game-changing fintech solution for advisors. At the end of 2021, EncorEstate Plans was launched from Helios with its team intact where Matt took on the CEO role to lead the firm in its next phase of development and growth.

Founded on the principles of honesty, integrity, and outstanding service. Noel is able to offer his merchants the ability to process credit cards safe and securely, meeting all PCI-DSS & EMV-Chip industry standards. Card Group International delivers their customers overall savings, and virtually unlimited solution options without compromising the highest quality service your business deserves. They have strategically aligned themselves with industry leaders by partnering with a variety of top-notch companies such as CardConnect, NPC, Elavon, Chase Paymentech, First Data, Global Payments, and WorldPay to provide excellent service and individualized products. These alliances allow impact to customize front end, and back end solutions for each customer’s unique needs allowing them to process on any processing platform, in the US and Canada. Their merchants do not have to settle for meeting half their service needs.

President, Incentives Credit Advocate. We are in partnership with Business Incentives Solutions. BIS has been processing R&D Credits since 2004 and outsources their Customer Service and Business Development to I C Advocate. I C Advocate processes Employee Retention Tax Credits “ERTC” in-house. CPA’s review every file and we have an agreement with a tax attorney to defend all of our work should any taxing authority question the clients credits they received at our expense. I manage all aspects of the operations and business development. Former CEO, SDBizPros Inc. a full-service Professional Services Organization. SD Biz Pros provides Payroll, Human Resources, and Insurance services to small and medium size companies. I managed the operations and sales teams. Former CEO, New Century Search, A full-service wireless technology recruiting firm located in San Diego. Our specialty was placing engineers in companies that specialized in wireless products like cell phones, printers, and security devices. Qualcomm and Broadcom were two of our biggest clients. I managed all aspects of our operation.

Trevor is a C Suite Executive and business owner who has enjoyed a varied and successful career in Financial Services and Commercial Finance. He has worked for large, privately held corporations, as well as international public companies: Lloyds TSB Plc and Barclays Bank Plc. He has expertise in underwriting, sales, Premium Financing and relationship management. Trevor was born in London, England in 1962 but grew up in the historic town of Hastings, famous for the Battle of Hastings in 1066. He studied at University College London and graduated in 1983 with a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Geography. 1986 - 1996 - Barclays Sales Finance Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Barclays Bank Plc. 1996 - Joined the Bibby Group of Factors Ltd as CEO of Bibby Factors Slough Ltd. Bibby Group of Factors is owned by Bibby Line Group- a privately held company based in Liverpool, England that has been trading for over 200 years. 2002- Immigrated to the USA to as CEO of Bibby Financial Services North America. Negotiated further acquisitions in Westlake Village CA, Chicago IL, Nashville TN, and started new companies in Dallas TX and Toronto Canada, 2007 – 2021. Founded Asset Wealth Management, an Insurance Marketing Company for Advisors and Annuity Depot for Consumers. His organization provides expert, focused, safe money solutions to Clients locally in South Florida and support to Financial Advisors throughout the USA. 2021- The Atticus Group – VP Business Development. A joint venture formed in 2019 by experienced business executives from multiple industries including. Automotive, Insurance, Legal and Private Equity. Our mission is to help our clients solve their business challenges using fresh ideas powered by our unique insurance-based strategies. Specialized services include designing, implementing, and managing customized employee retention plans. Trevor is married to his best friend and partner Karen and resides in Lake Worth, Fl. They have been married over 35 years and have 2 children, Thomas and Marcus. When he is not helping clients and advisors, Trevor enjoys golf, travelling, skiing, boating and cooking Indian food.

Sterling Hirsch is a seasoned and solutions-oriented executive with eighteen years of senior level business management experience. During this time he has conceived, created and executed multiple business plans in the startup up of 5 different companies. He has proven his ability to identify needs and create strategies to realize success. His persistence and work ethic along with his “no panic” management style have given him the ability to see obstacles as opportunities in disguise. He has demonstrated consistent success in guiding new business enterprises to profitability from their inception. In 2005 he realized that he wanted to bring his planning experience to assist business owners, individuals and families with their longevity planning. In 2008, Sterling First Financial was established. Sterling First Financial specializes in business consulting, retirement planning and comprehensive wealth management. We serve a unique group of successful business owners, busy retirees, and high income professionals and develop relationships through education and strategic planning. The mission of Sterling First Financial is to create a legacy that will stay strong through the generations. We do this by focusing on the financial freedom our clients need to maintain their lifelong independence. We design and implement a holistic and proactive strategy for each and every client to empower them and their family to achieve their dreams.

Paul is a serial entrepreneur who qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Latham Crossley and Davis (which eventually became Lathams Chartered Accountants), becoming a Partner in 1986 and Head of Business Services in 1993. Whilst at Lathams, Paul started to develop the business planning process which is today at the core of The HaydenRock System™. Those processes were developed with the aim of helping business owners to Clarify Direction and Maximize Business Potential. When Lathams was sold to Tenon Group Plc in 2001, Paul became National Head of Business Planning at Tenon. Paul left Tenon to become Finance Director at Debt Free Direct Group Plc where he was a Founding Director in taking the business "Public". Paul emigrated to the USA in 2011 and has developed several business interests, including being a Founding Member of HaydenRock Solutions and Elite Mastermind, which today is all incorporated as the Elite Resource Team. Today Paul particularly specializes in helping business owners to: * Create a clear vision * Build an engaging purpose (or business mission) * Help professional partnerships create a succession strategy * Create a strong value proposition * Define clear service level separation (and "stop doing too much for the money") * Create a standard customer service framework (to help shape your business brand)

Mr. Stone is the principal and president of Stone Law Offices, Ltd. He has been practicing in the State of Nevada since 1993 and provides legal counsel and services to affluent clients and families in the areas of wealth transfer and preservation strategies, including advanced estate planning, sophisticated tax planning (federal income and estate taxes), charitable planning, and planned giving, multi-generational family governance, business law, including business exit planning (aka business succession planning), and domestic and international asset protection planning

Mr. Fox is a nationally known wealth strategist, philanthropic estate planner, educator and speaker. He has dedicated his career to helping individuals, professional advisors, charitable institutions and planned giving organizations, “do well while doing good.” Randy has authored hundreds of articles and presentations for attorneys, financial advisors, CPAs and HNW families. He is currently the Editor in Chief of Planned Giving Design Center, a national newsletter and website for philanthropic advisors, and has the following designations: CFP® and AEP®.

Bruce Gendein - A sought-after speaker on the topic of Qualified Retirement Plans, Bruce spends much of his time touring the country to share his insights with financial services professionals—financial advisors, brokers, CPAs, insurance agents, and attorneys. He has addressed MDRT’s Top of the Table, LIMRA’s Advanced Sales Forum, the Arizona Institute, and NAIFA and SFSP chapter meetings, as well as corporate educational symposiums nationwide. A financial services industry veteran, Bruce has been in the business for more than 30 years, helping successful individuals and advisors tackle complex financial and retirement planning challenges. As president and co-founder of The Senex Group, Bruce works with advisors nationwide to deliver seamless solutions that enable them to provide complete, end-to-end qualified retirement plans to their clients and generate a significant new revenue stream. Prior to founding The Senex Group, Bruce built a successful financial and retirement planning firm that served more than 850 clients from three offices in the Midwest. As a financial advisor, he started a third-party pension administration firm, was named “rookie of the year” for a major mutual life insurance company, and qualified for MDRT in his first year in the life insurance business. He has held Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) and Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) designations for more than three decades and remains committed to advancing the knowledge and capabilities of fellow advisors to help them better serve their clients.

James M. Duggan is a founding principal of DUGGAN BERTSCH, LLC, a Chicago-based business, tax, estate and wealth planning firm comprised of attorneys and accountants. Jim’s practice has concentrated principally on business and corporate law, and estate and wealth planning, primarily as they relate to closely held business interests and high net worth families. Jim’s experience in the structuring and implementation of Family Offices, sophisticated tax planning, and asset protection planning strategies is nationally recognized, as is his role in the firm’s development of a leading multidisciplinary planning protocol. In addition to giving frequent lectures and authoring articles in his areas of concentration, Jim also serves as a director on numerous for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. Jim’s educational background includes attaining a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from the College of Commerce and Business Administration at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Magna Cum Laude), a Masters in Business Administration in Finance from the DePaul University Graduate School of Business (Summa Cum Laude), and a Juris Doctor from the DePaul University College of Law, where he was awarded positions on both the DePaul Law Review and DePaul Business Law Journal.

Ben started early as an entrepreneur. In 2003 at the early age of 27 he bought his first company. It wasn’t very long that he opened his second and ran them side-by-side for 10 years. His primary focus was income taxes, tax planning, asset protection and tax resolution. After he sold both of those companies, he decided to move in a different direction and moved into railroad construction as well as opening another tax resolution business. Today Ben is a Tax Resolution Specialist that helps companies and individuals out of dire situations. He has saved clients millions of dollars and helped companies and individuals become financially free from the IRS past problems. He also helps his clients create a future by helping his clients reduce taxes in the future. Highlights from Ben’s business activities include National Speaker for Tax Planning, helped clients receive over 40M in BP Funding, helped clients save millions from the IRS, received construction contracts of over $10M, and increased sustained profitability in the construction field of over 75% in first year of ownership.

Donald S. Feldman, CExP™, CPA, CVA, MBA founded Keystone Business Transitions, LLC in 2009, a firm based in Lancaster, PA devoted to exit and succession planning for business owners. He has been a CPA for 30 years and a valuation professional for 25 years. For the last 20 years, Don’s practice has focused exclusively on succession and exit planning for business owners, including transfers of business interests to family members and key employees, as well as sales to outsiders. KBT also provides Business Valuation services in connection with Exit Planning transactions. Don has been awarded the designation Certified Exit Planner™ by the Business Enterprise Institute and is a member of the CExP™ Board of Standards. Don holds a joint M.S. in Accounting / M.B.A. degree from Northeastern University. He has been a regular columnist for Business2Business Magazine (Central PA) and is a frequent speaker for trade associations and continuing education programs for accountants, attorneys and financial advisors.

Aleksander R. Dyo is the Principal and Co-Founder of Profectus Financial and Profectus Wealth Management. He has been in the financial industry for over 14 years. In that time, he has studied and developed many creative strategies and has acquired an invaluable wealth of expertise in planning, finance and insurance. Aleksander is a frequently requested key speaker at many financial services industry conferences and educational seminars where he shares with fellow advisers his insights on advanced corporate and personal financial planning strategies. Aleksander is in the top 1% of more than 42,000 insurance and financial services professionals worldwide and is a member of the premier association “MDRT,” Top of the Table Million Dollar Round Table. His focus and expertise are best aligned with successful business owners. Aleks constantly strives to find more effective tax-reduction solutions, asset protection methods, max funded retirement plan designs, and graceful exit strategies. In addition, he also specializes in financial consulting for high net worth individuals, helping them to better manage their wealth and estate planning. As a serial entrepreneur and investor in several other ventures, Aleksander brings to his clients real life experience and provides practical rather than theoretical application of strategies. On top of the titles explained above, Aleksander is also an IAR (Investment Adviser Representative) and a licensed insurance adviser in many states. He has in-depth knowledge of the intricacies of conventional products such as stocks, bonds, ETFs, annuities, life insurance, and mutual funds, as well as non-conventional placements such as equity positions real estate, hard-money lending, fractional life settlements and structured cash flows. With a passionate understanding of the power of teamwork, Aleksander has built a network of professional service providers that specialize in finance, accounting, real estate, law and banking. Between them they have amassed decades of combined experience. With these partnerships, his clients can have access to unbiased recommendations, while Profectus Financials remains a single point of contact to coordinate all the aspects of planning and execution.

A licensed CPA since 1996, Chris has been consulting on specialty tax services since 2005. A Deloitte alumnus, he has been part of the Nevada accounting community for twenty years. He has a broad business background, having worked for a Fortune 500 company as well as start-up enterprises. Chris is a member of the AICPA and is an active supporter of the Boy Scouts of America. He is also an Eagle Scout. Chris currently lives in Southern Utah with his wife Michelle.

Fritz Strehlow is a Senior Analyst with The Mentor Group with expertise and 25 years of experience in business valuations, mergers and acquisitions, raising equity, and business management. His work has involved private and public entities - corporations, partnerships and sole proprietorships. His industry knowledge covers over 100 industries and includes all types of manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers, as well as government agencies. More specifically, client businesses have ranged from auto parts to restaurants; from aerospace to machine tooling; from agricultural irrigation products to electronics; from medical services and devices to financial institutions; from printing to plastics, etc. He has appeared as a business valuation expert witness before Superior Court on numerous occasions. He has 20 years of specific experience in the plastics industry, both as an employee and as a company owner, and also as an appraiser and intermediary. In addition, Mr. Strehlow previously owned an independent appraisal and business brokerage business. He also served as Vice President and General Manager of Wescorp South, a diversified manufacturing company

Trevor’s business sense was developed as he grew, at the age of eight Trevor had his first job. He strategized each job he held to maximize quality performance. By developing this skill Trevor improved his employer’s profitability and earned more money than peers of his age and became an operations strategist. He went to school and completed his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Accounting because it is the language of business. With Trevor’s performance driven character and accounting mastery, he orchestrates optimizing financial and business performance. He is passionate about the power of numbers and analytics to make meaningful and accurate business decisions. Trevor advocates that cashflow, profitability, data analytics, and prompt corrective business actions are the fundamentals of optimizing business performance. Devoted to his clients, Trevor obtained his pilot’s license to maximize his time. Trevor’s business vision prioritizes, motivates, and alerts clients on their progression toward achieving goals. Trevor’s practical foundation in accounting and analytics along with his operations ingenuity give him the expertise to maximize a business. Trevor is the Business Execution Expert.

Ron has spent more than 30 years helping businesses make sense of the numbers, not just counting the beans but evaluating the root causes and developing corrective actions. He has achieved success by teaching companies how to understand their financial picture and how to measure the results for success. When Ron is not found helping businesses succeed, he can be found spending time with his wife or one of his three children. This usually involves tinkering with a car, going to the gym or driving a team of horses. Ron holds both a Bachelor’s of Science in Accounting and a Masters of Accounting-Tax from Brigham Young University. Ron began his career at Ernst & Young. Since then Ron has been a controller, a Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, President and Chief Executive Officer.

Mr. White is an entrepreneur with over 30 years of engineering experience. As an expert in multiple engineering disciplines, he found his true calling in Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and quickly realized how this technology could revolutionize how small & medium-size businesses scale and compete. Wilton has put together an expert team that is helping businesses take advantage of the same technology that he helped create for the Fortune 1000.

Chris Hall is the founder of Estate Plan Navigator and heads up strategic partnerships and business development for this industry leading cloud based legal solution. His current role with the team at Estate Plan Navigator is a mission to provide access to quality legal assistance for the masses. The goal is to take advantage of today’s powerful technology paired with the still very important, human element. Before founding Estate Plan Navigator he worked in the real estate industry and as a financial advisor, building a successful practice which he ultimately sold. Following the sale of his financial practice Hall spent nearly 10 years trading futures and managing a real estate partnership. Mr. Hall grew up in San Jose, California where he attended both High School and College. He now resides in sunny Dunedin, Florida. When not working you’ll likely find him enjoying time with his wife, on a bike, or on the links.

Ashley began her career in 2006 working at MetLife. In 2007, she decided to make the cross-country move from Connecticut to sunny San Diego to further her insurance career where she then spent 9 years at LPL Financial mainly focusing on Underwriting and Sales as an Advanced Case Consultant. Ashley joined ERT in 2016 and is currently our in-house Life Insurance Specialist.

Todd offers nearly 30 years of experience emphasizing succession planning along with marketing and business development in the accounting and financial services industry. A respected leader in the industry, his experience includes developing new marketing strategies, succession planning for tax professionals, integrating financial planning into accounting practices, hiring and training of marketing personnel for accounting and financial firms nationwide and speaking at regional and national conferences as an authority on succession planning, marketing accounting services and financial services in tandem. Todd graduated from Rowan University with a degree in Business Administration. Todd is Series 7, 66, Life, Accident & Health Licensed. In his spare time, Todd enjoys staying active and spending time with his three children Sydney, Benjamin and Brooklyn.

Derek Spitzer began his career at a global tax consulting firm based in Dallas, Texas. As a consultant in the transaction tax practice, Derek worked directly with several Fortune 500 companies in the retail, healthcare, storage, and manufacturing industries. Derek joined Captive Insurance Group, LLC in March 2014 as Director of Operations and helped grow the firm until it was acquired by Higginbotham Insurance Agency in February 2020. Higginbotham is the largest independent insurance broker in Texas, and a top 15 insurance broker in the United States. Derek as a Managing Director, along with former management continue to run the captive insurance operations. Derek graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Finance from Brigham Young University. He is married with three children and lives in Colleyville, Texas.

Andrew Lassise (pronounced La-Cease) is a serial entrepreneur and has helped build and scale several 6, 7, and 8 figure IT businesses. He is the CEO (aka chief dorkestrator) of Tech4Accountants, an IT company that specializes in tech and cyber security for accountants. In 2020 & 2021were listed as an Accounting Today Top 100 VARS, The Manifest's Top 100 Cyber Security Companies, and have technicians that all hold certifications with the AICPA in cyber security. When he's not saving the world from hackers & malware, he enjoys traveling, cooking, and spending time with his wife and two sons.

Andy Ruhland has 15+ years in benefits and Human Capital sales, service, and innovation with a focus on helping small- and medium-sized businesses run better and reduce costs. Andy educates clients on complex healthcare, administration and service options, then customize solutions that streamline processes and stop excess spending. Ask about his 360-degree integrated Human Capital Management platform and consulting services, which improve every aspect of how your company does business. Or just rest easy knowing you’ve controlled healthcare costs without eroding benefits to your employees. Andy started at NationalHR in 2001, working from Account Executive to Principal. In that time, the company tripled its bottom line and rolled out forward-thinking benefits buying solutions as well as an innovative Human Capital Management platform - all in response to client needs. Andy is a married father of three, he truly loves his job, and relishes the chance to work at the forefront of industry change, educating consumers and undoing broker stereotypes one thriving client at a time.

Chris is a CPA and Middle-Market Investment Banker specializing in the sale of closely held companies to institutional buyers. Chris began his career with a 30-person CPA firm, BiggsKofford, located in Colorado Springs. In 2004, Chris launched the firm’s M&A practice, known as BiggsKofford Capital. In 2007 he was also appointed as the CPA firm’s Managing Partner. Chris has become a leader in the M&A sector, through his involvement in over 300 merger, acquisition, and sale transactions. Chris is active nationally in the M&A profession and was instrumental in developing M&A certification curriculum taught in Executive MBA programs at Pepperdine, Loyola, DePaul, and Wake Forest Universities. He is a member of the “Founders Circle” and currently sits on the Board for the Alliance of Merger & Acquisition Advisors, headquartered in Chicago. Chris serves as the lead instructor for the Certified Merger & Acquisition Advisor (CM&AA) designation, having personally instructed over 1,000 Certified M&A professionals throughout the world. Wiley Finance Publishing engaged Chris as co-author of “Middle Market M&A”, which was published in 2012 and is now used in continuing education courses and by investment bankers and M&A advisors around the world. Chris is a CPA, ABV, CM&AA, and he holds Series 7 and 79 Investment Banking licenses through Aaron Capital.

Christi started her career in Financial Services in 2009 after graduating from San Diego State University with a degree in Economics. She has been in the industry for the past 8 years, working for brokers dealers such as Mass Mutual and LPL Financial before joining us here at Elite Resource Team. Her most recent role with LPL was as an Annuity Consultant where she became the product expert on all available products including VAs, FIAs, fixed annuities, SPIAs, and DIAs. She brings a wealth of knowledge on the annuity industry as a whole. Additionally, Christi holds her Series 7, 66, and 24 securities licenses as well as the California Life & Health license.

Darren Sugiyama was born and raised in Long Beach, California and received a Bachelor’s Degree from Loyola Marymount University where he was also the team captain and 2nd Team All-Conference baseball player. He continued his education and earned a Master’s Degree in Multicultural Education from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. After starting his career as a counselor in a gang prevention program in his hometown of Long Beach, California, worked as a teacher in the public school system in Honolulu, Hawaii, and as a counselor in Halawa Prison and the Honolulu Detention Home. Darren decided to follow his entrepreneurial dreams and started his own employee benefits firm in 2003 called Apex. During his first year in the insurance business, his personal income for the year was only $277 (he proudly displays his personal tax return on the wall of his office). But just seven years later, Apex was producing over $37 million in annual sales and was the #1 producing firm in the country for three different insurance carriers concurrently. Since then, Darren expanded his insurance business portfolio, building a life insurance agency called DaVinci, which was responsible for 25% of all the life insurance policies sold for Pacific Life in Orange County, California in 2017. In 2018, DaVinci was responsible for 29% of the all the life insurance policies sold for Penn Mutual in Orange County, and in 2019, over 38%. In addition, Darren founded Lionsmark Capital in 2016 which is now one of the most dominant premium financing intermediary firms in the life insurance industry, and in 2020, he co-founded the revolutionary fintech firm Breadbox which offers proprietary solutions to investment advisors and life insurance advisors across the country. Darren is also an internationally acclaimed 8-time author with published works being distributed in over 15 countries. As a nationally acclaimed motivational speaker, business coach, and mentor, Darren does both live and virtual motivational speaking events, as well as private coaching sessions, teaching others how he built his businesses using extremely unorthodox methods.

Jeffrey Deckman is a consultant, thought leader, and an international award-winning author on the new leadership mindsets, models and methods being demanded by the modern economy. His recent book: “Developing the Conscious Leadership Mindset for the 21st Century” won 2 international and 2 national Stevie Awards® from the International Business Awards and the American Business Awards respectively. It is also an Amazon Best Seller in the Occupational and Organizational Psychology category. He is a serial entrepreneur who founded and built two multi-million dollar firms in the technology sector and was a partner in a think tank where he focused on developing new 21st century leadership and business models. In 2005 he founded Capability Accelerators; a consultancy firm specializing in helping business owners and executives transform their leadership teams, cultures and organizations to compete and thrive in the highly complex, rapidly changing modern business world.

Josh is a CPA and CMI with specialist knowledge as state tax specialist who has significant experience with delivering cost reduction opportunities in the areas of real and personal property tax reviews, compliance, and economic incentives. He brings extensive experience in real and personal property tax appeal advocacy, real estate appraisal and testimony, economic incentive procurement and audits, property tax compliance planning and delivery.

Kim has over 30 years of experience and has been in the retirement plan industry since 1983. His areas of expertise include ESOPs and executive compensation planning. He uses his income tax and accounting background to help companies determine the feasibility of an ESOP, forecast repurchase obligations, and craft ESOP transactions designed to address each client’s unique needs and objectives. Kim holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Earlham College and a Master of Taxation degree from the University of Denver. He passed the CPA exam in 1985. He is a member of The ESOP Association, the National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO) and the Employee Owned S-Corporations of America (ESCA) (including its Advisory Committee). In addition, he is a Past President of the Boise Chapter of the Western Pension & Benefits Conference. A frequent speaker on employee benefits and ESOP related topics, Kim has also written articles on technical ESOP issues for both The ESOP Association and the NCEO. Kim accepted the position as the Executive Director of the Beyster Institute at the UC San Diego Rady School of Management in March 2019. The Beyster Institute’s mission is to move the employee ownership community forward through educating students, academic faculty, management, company founders, and consultants to learn about and build ESOPs and other forms of employee ownership. Prior to joining the Beyster Institute, Kim worked in the ESOP practices at Principal Financial Group, William M. Mercer & Associates, RSM and KPMG.

Mark Goodman has consulted for Carlyle Group and investment banking firms of Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, J.P. Morgan, and many others building premium financing models for the past 25 years. A featured speaker and author of numerous published articles on advanced estate planning and tax reduction, he has co-authored the book Estate Planning for the 21st Century. Mark is a lifetime member of the Million Dollar Round Table and a lifetime member of Top of the Table, a distinction earned only by the top 450 financial planners in the world. In addition, he is a member of both the National Council of Certified Estate Planners and the International Association of Financial Planners. Mark is the Principal of National Wealth Advisors and the Founder of National Financial Partners, a formerly publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange, now owned by Madison Dearborn. These companies provide a broad array of services including wealth preservation strategies, estate planning, executive benefit planning, insurance, and investment management. Together, these offices are staffed by over 100 Principals supported by over 400 professional specialists with expertise in their fields. Their client base included some of America’s wealthiest families, Fortune 500 companies, privately held corporations, and charitable foundations. Mark and his wife Dustin reside in Naples, Florida with their children Jamie and Emma.

Matt Miller is an international tax specialist, specializing in the U.S. taxation of foreign source income, as well as planning and reporting for businesses and individuals with cross-border transactions. A graduate of the Master of Science in Taxation, with a post-graduate Certificate Degree in International Taxation from Golden Gate University, Matt has worked with hundreds of IC-DISC’s since 2012 and has managed the IC-DISC practices of two of the largest service providers in the U.S. Additional areas of U.S. international tax specialization include tax incentives on foreign sales available to C-Corporations (known as Foreign Derived Intangible Income (“FDII”)), Global Intangible Low-Taxable Income (“GILTI”), Subpart F Income, and Transfer Pricing.

Michael Galdieri is a Technical Director at alliantgroup, specializing in the manufacturing, engineering, software and integration industries. During his tenure with alliantgroup, he has worked with dozens U.S. businesses to help them identify valuable government incentives. Recently in his role, Michael helped mid-market companies claim over $80 million in credits and incentives.

James has been in the financial and insurance services industry for over 23 years and has had a sole focus on educating and training advisors about individual disability insurance planning for over the past decade. As Vice President of OneProtection, James leads the sales team and focuses on teaching Financial Professionals how to best use the OneProtection presentation tools to position and sell adequate income protection plans to their clients. James is married with three kids and has a passion for mountain biking, downhill skiing, muskie fishing, playing guitar and is car fanatic.

Nick Johnson As a process, technology and data driven investment & capital markets consultant serving the registered investment advisor (RIA) and broker/dealer communities, high net worth investors & corporate clientele, Nick strives to bring valuable investment insights to the marketplace that support the growth and expected ROI of his business partners and investor constituents. Nick’s background and experience in includes: investment and retirement plan consultation (401k, 403b, 457, Simple IRA, Defined Benefit), executive benefits, employee education, financial product sales and distribution including: 1031 exchange/DST offerings, private & publicly traded real estate offerings, Opportunity Zone offerings, Social Impact funds, private credit, energy & Reg D/private placement offerings, ETFs, mutual funds, liquid alternative investments and cash management solutions. Cantor Fitzgerald Capital was created as an extension of the firm’s broader real estate business to create and manage real estate investment vehicles for individual and institutional investors. Our business is fully integrated into the Cantor Fitzgerald organization, resulting in a strategic alignment of affiliated firms that represent every phase of a real estate transaction. Access to this vast real estate knowledge provides an information advantage that guides the development of our real estate investment product offerings. Our current platform includes non-traded REITs, Delaware Statutory Trusts (DSTs) to support 1031 exchanges, Opportunity Zone programs and other private placements.