ARTKICK

Issue 59 Feb / March 2014
ARTKICK
exclusive interview with
sheldon laube
Capitalizing on Bill Gates’ Vision
Realizing a Forgotten Dream
New Fed Chair MUM
Janet Yellen Heads the Fed
Federal Reserve Tappering
Uncertain Times
Solar Energy Efficiency
A New Energy Source in The World

Built for the road ahead.
Designed for living. Engineered to last.
Vertrek Crossover
w/ Ford’s Kinetic Design
Eco-Boost Engine
Hybrid Regenerative Braking
w/ Auto-Stop-Start Technology

publishers note
ISSUE 59 | FEB / MARCH 2014
Publisher
Erwin E. Kantor
Managing Editor
Michael Gordon
Editor in Chief
Helen Moss
Editorial
Robert Jordan
Lisa Walker
Sean Goldstein
Staff Writers
L. A. Rivera
Monica Link
Wendy Connick
David Gordon
Diane Alter
A. Marie Velthuizen
Judy Magness
Maria Esposito
Rich Monetti
Edwin Camacho
Peter Hocstein
John Travis Taylor
Amy Armstrong
Annabelle Preston
Asst. Art Director
Marienne Hilahan
Illustrators
Shafali R. Anand
Mike Moss
Jonny Hawkins
Paul Kales
Marketing / Advertising
Monica Link
Sean Rome
For subscription details, contact:
editorialdept@thesuitmagazine.com
For advertising inquiries, contact:
advertising@thesuitmagazine.com
Economics Of Gender Politics & Business
New Fed Chair remains
tight-lipped on being the
first woman to lead Federal
Reserve. Yet, Janet
Yellen, ultimately will become one
of the most powerful women in the
world — an extraordinary achievement
for the Brooklyn born New
Yorker. It’s too early in the game of
politics to have any discussion about
gender and breaking the glass ceilings
in corporate America. The Yale
graduate has her nose to the grindstone
today; expect great things from
this American economist. Certainly,
Yellen’s gift to connect economic
theory to universal life has been one
of the unique qualities of her profession.
Our cover story this issue tackles
the complexities of the digital technology.
Serial entrepreneur Sheldon
Laube has maximized on Microsoft
founder Bill Gates concept. He has
rolled out a free mobile app with over
50,000 images— renowned paintings
by Monet, Da Vinci, and Van Gogh,
along with thousands of works by
modern-day artists. The app syncs
up with Internet-connected TVs and
can display the pieces on the screen
when it’s not being used.
On page 12, our reporter Amy M.
Armstrong, reports on the effects of
Federal Reserve’s tapering still seem
uncertain. The market has entered the
final month of fiscal Q1 2014, and the
impact of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s
move to shrink its monthly purchase
of bonds via the Quantitative Easing
Program has been a mixed blessing.
Consumers interest in mobile personal
health monitoring devices has
spiked over the past year. Nick Warnock,
an entrepreneur and former
finalist of the Apprentice has invented
a time piece and health monitor
dubbed the Wellograph which will
hit the market soon in March.
And finally we take a look at a story
which focuses on Solar Power and
Solar Energy.
This March, I hope our reader’s enjoy
Saint Patrick’s Day.
Best,
Erwin Kantor
Erwin Kantor, Publisher

CONTENTS
FEB / MARCH 2014
Issue 59 Feb / March 2014
14
ARTKICK
exclusive interview with
sheldon laube
8
New Fed Chair MUM
Capitalizing on Bill Gates’ Vision
Realizing a Forgotten Dream
New Fed Chair MUM
Janet Yellen Heads the Fed
Federal Reserve Tappering
Uncertain Times
Solar Energy Efficiency
A New Energy Source in The World
Janet Yellen is the first woman to head the Federal Reserve, but don’t
expect the gender discussion to go any further than that. She has remained
completely silent regarding that aspect of her role as chair of
the national monetary policy maker.
FEATURES
12 Federal Reserve’s Tapering
As the markets enter the final month of fiscal Q1
2014, the impact of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s move
to taper or reduce its monthly purchase of bonds
via the Quantitative Easing program...
14 Artkick
How Bill Gates’ Failed 1990s Art Project
is Seeding New Startups in 2014. Serial
Entrepreneur Sheldon Laube Launches
Artkick
Mobile Health Device from
13 Former TV Apprentice
Consumer interest in mobile personal
health monitoring devices has tripled in the
past year, as indicated by research from the
Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)
and reported at the end of 2013 by Information
Week.
Solar Energy that is Aesthetic
14 And Efficient
Solar energy is the cleanest and most abundant
renewable energy source in the world.
It’s also the earth’s oldest energy form.
BUSINESS / FINANCE
22 A True Financial Journey
Sitrin Capital Portfolio Management
24 Educated Clients and Transparent Leasing Terms
Build a Business / Merrimak
25 Authentic Financial Advice
Colorado Capital Management Inc
26
Argo Data
29
Gains Footprint in Corporate America
Clearing Up Medicare Confusion
Rischall Financial Group
30 Wise Sustainable Wealth Management
WMS Partners
32
Insightful Financial Planning
NF Wealth Management
33
Serving the Public
Focus Financial Group
13
8
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - FEB / MARCH 2014

BUSINESS / FINANCE
34 Hutchinson Private Wealth
The Greatest Financial Resource Workable
Wealth and Investment Strategies
36 Malleck Wealth Management LLP
Building Wealth With no Surprises
37 Burns & Kelly Insurance LLC
Insuring Shoreline Properties Rising Prices
Create a Challenge
38 Strictly for Federal Employees
Ann Vanderslice Retirement Planning Strategies
40 West End Capital and Advisory
Its’ a Perfect Fit Finding Capital for Middle Market
Companies
42 Chrome Capital Group
Let the Riding Begin Leasing Get New Riders Started
43
43 Bull Financial, LLC
Funding Strategies for Startups
44 Legend Financial Advisors, Inc.
Legendary Financial Service
46 Wealth Planning Corporation
The Perception of Risk Building Relationships With Clients
47 SRS Wealth Management Group Inc.
Seriously Sensible About Wealth Management
48 Wealth Engineering, LLC
Teaching People to Fish A Unique Educational System
for Self-Directed Investing
50 Richman Wealth Management
Singing and Relationships Build a Strong Firm
52
Lowcountry Investment Advisors, Inc.
Thinking, Acting and Investing Like a Gentleman
Manhattan Buyers, Inc.
Honesty and Respectful Transactions Changing an Image
53 Wisdom & Wealth Solutions, Inc
Rule No. 1: Don’t Lose Money When You’ve Won
The Game, Stop Playing
54 FIS Group
Your Success… Their Passion The Alpha Advantage
56 Jim Beaulieu Financial Services LLC
Evaluating Today’s Decisions for Tomorrow’s Impact
57 Eternal Fine Jewels
Designing in Diamonds
58 Wealth Management Systems Inc.
Utilizing Technology to Improve Retirement Readiness
60 Argent Wealth Management, LLC
A Talented Team Means Success
61 Fountainhead Wealth
Goals, values and vision Finding a Fountain of Wealth in
Financial Discipline
62 CapitalQuest
Charity Begins at CapitalQuest
63 ELE Wealth Management LLC
Financial Planner Starts Early
63
Wealth Maximization Group
Retirement & Portfolio Planning: Results & a Relationship –
Plus Privacy
64
66
Pence Wealth Management
Need a Better Strategy than buy, hold and hope?
Far West Capital
Lending a hand to entrepreneurs
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.5

BUSINESS / FINANCE
67 Jumbo Capital Management
Local Boy Values Boston’s Middle Market Commercial
Real Estate
68 SeaCrest Wealth Management
A Customized, Conservative Culture
TECHNOLOGY & HEALTH
70
71
Heroix Corp.
Big Failure Leads to Big Success
72
73
Flexible Innovations, Ltd.
Great Promotional Product Boost Brand Recognition
ICI Insurance
Clients not Customers - Relationship not Price Clients
74
Health Capital Consultants
Providing Solutions in an Era of Healthcare Reform
76 Midwest Healthcare Management
Errors Abound Fixing the Thorny Issues of Medical Billing
77
Amperand, Ltd.
WANT A REVOLUTION? Here Comes the Biotechnology
Revolution
LAW
Cacace, Tusch & Santagata
Taking on the Problems From the Routine to the
Extremely Challenging
78 The Comstock Law Firm, PLLC
Bringing Personal Legal Help to Small Business

THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.7

y amy m. armstrong
NEW FED CHAIR MUM
on Being the First Woman to Lead Financial Agency
Janet Yellen is the first
woman to head the Federal
Reserve, but don’t
expect the gender discussion
to go any further
than that. She has
remained completely silent
regarding that aspect of her role as
chair of the national monetary policy
maker. According to the Washington
Post, she refused to comment on that
detail for a Sunday feature published
the day before she took the helm on
Feb. 3, 2014. In Aug. 2013 when everyone
else was aghast that President
Obama mistakenly referred to her as
“Mr. Yellen” in a press conference outlining
potential candidates to replace
outgoing chair Ben S. Bernanke, Yellen
said nothing publicly. She also is apparently
confident enough in herself
as a woman to not be consumed by the
dictates of style mandating a different
outfit for different public appearances.
Washington fashionistas and even
Roll Call, which usually keeps its focus
on the political side of politics, were
quick to point out that Yellen wore the
same outfit to her confirmation hearing
and nomination ceremony less than a
month apart. Again, Yellen, unlike the
hordes of bloggers coming to her defense,
was silent.
In reality, one could suspect Yellen’s
second wearing of what in photos appears
to be a tasteful, professional black
suit really represents less in terms of
whether she keeps track of fashion’s
rule and perhaps more a signal of the
economic climate we all live in: Wearing
an outfit twice is not a crime; it’s
a frugal example in a time when our
nation is paying for its previous excess.
If she wears that black suit when she
presides for the first time as chair over
the March 18-19 meeting in Washington,
D.C. of the Federal Open Market
Committee – the Fed’s monetary policy
making body – she might just be silently
sending a message.
Perhaps that message is something
along the lines that this nation’s economy
is facing bigger issues than her
wardrobe choices. It is when she is slated
to present a summary of economic
projections and actually hold a press
conference, according to the Fed’s
website. Maybe by wearing that black
suit she’d be saying that she plans to
continue in the same no nonsense path
that has steered her career for the past
four decades. It is a good-looking suit
and we believe it is American made.
One would expect an American tailored
product to withstand more than
one wearing and washing.
In 2013, Forbes made her #72 on its
list of the World’s Most Powerful People.
The list came out in late October
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - FEB / MARCH 2014

– just shortly after her nomination but before the Senate
banking committee approved it and forwarded to the full
Senate just before the Christmas holiday. On Jan. 6th, 2014,
the Senate approved her by a 56 to 26 vote. The Forbes
ranking seemed inconsistent with the fact that she was set
to head up one of the world’s most influential financial
agencies. Forbes editors explain on the magazine’s website
that list is put together based on the scope of influence
and financial resources each list maker has relative to their
peers. Seriously? Her predecessor was ranked #7 and I bet
he wears the same suit more than once.
Yellen’s other number has been the #2 spot at the Fed
since 2010 when she took over as vice chair. In this role,
she’s been an outspoken advocate pushing the Fed to take
a stronger role in reducing unemployment even it means
sparking higher inflation rates to make that happen.
From her comments at her White House nomination, it
shouldn’t come as a surprise if Yellen uses her new extended
sphere of influence to push this goal.
“The mandate of the Federal Reserve is to serve all the
American people. Too many Americans still can’t find a job
and worry how they’ll pay their bills and provide for their
families,” she said. “The Federal Reserve can help if it does
its job effectively.”
That issue - instead of whether she wears the same suit
more than once - ought to be how she’s judged in her new
role.
The Suit Magazine would love to see her wear that suit
again to the FOMC in mid March. It sets an example of getting
the most bang out of ones clothing budget. Besides she
looks classy in that black suit. I totally dare her to do it:
Wear that suit!
Author’s note: This opinion piece was written Amy M. Armstrong and in no way
reflects the opinion of the magazine’s ownership. Armstrong’s other work for The
Suit Magazine includes profile writing in which she has no opinion. She lives in Alaska
where notable fashion statements occur only when matching hats and gloves are
worn. Lol.
What Other Economists Expect From Yellen
While economic analysts predict the Federal Reserve’s
monetary policy under the leadership of Janet Yellen who
took the helm after Ben S. Bernanke’s departure in early
Feb. 2014 will be similar, there are some notable changes to
watch for.
Yellen is a strong advocate of rules based approaches in
determining what appropriate monetary policy is, according
to a paper jointly written by Erik S. Weisman, a fixed
income portfolio manager, and Robert Spector, an institutional
portfolio manager, with MFS Investment Management.
MFS is a global asset manager with nine offices
spread across five continents with a strong grip on the pulse
of how American economic development affects the rest of
the world. Its U.S. location is in Boston.
Weisman and Spector anticipate Yellen to move away
from the long-standing Taylor rule under which inflation
and unemployment are given equal rating in determining
the adjustment of short term interest rates. Yellen,the pair
propose in the Nov. 2013 paper, “What to Expect From Fed
Chair Yellen” published in MPS’ Investment Insight newsletter,
will give unemployment a double rating in making
determinations. The pair expect this move from Yellen in
part because bringing down the unemployment rate has
been the mantra of her tenure as vice chair of the Fed since
2010.
It’s a thought echoed by Michael Hirsh of the National
Journal based in Washington, D.C.
“No one feels this more intensely than Yellen, who understands
not just the human cost to individual lives and families
but also the damage that a demoralized workforce can
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.9

Organization of the Federal Reserve System A diagram showing the organization of the Federal Reserve System. 4 April 2013 Author Kimse84
do to the economy as a whole,” Hirsh wrote in an lengthy
magazine-style article analyzing the impact Yellen’s tenure
as head of the Federal Reserve may have on politics as usual
in Washington, D.C., but more importantly on the financial
future of Main Street America. He noted her congressional
testimony that joblessness is the issue of the moment.
“We can expect to see her focus on the employment issue
in a way that I don’t think we have seen a Federal Reserve
chairman do for a while,” Hirsh told the PBS Newshour
hosed by Judy Woodruff on Jan. 7, 2014 – just one day after
Yellen’s Senate confirmation. “Their economic thinking is
enormously influential, not just in Washington, but around
the world. This is the most important economic job in the
world and it’s said to be the second most important job in
Washington, after the president. So I think her four-year
term, during that time, we’re going to see a lot of testimony,
a lot of discussions with Congress that are going to shape
perhaps some new thinking on unemployment.”
Yellen most certainly will take a much more hands-on
approach to regulating banking and Wall Street’s trading
activities. Her predecessor, Bernanke, left much more of the
day-in-day-out discussion and policy-making to governors
within the Federal Reserve – most notably Daniel Tarullo,
according to Hirsh with whom Yellen has already fought
turf wars. Hirsh writes that Tarullo was given full license
by Bernanke to crack down, but instead treaded too lightly
for Yellen’s liking. Hirsh expects Yellen will reiterate Bernanke’s
marching orders in her own language laying down
specific expectations for Tarullo’s work within the banking
industry. Hirsh also expects Yellen to increase direct interaction
with officials at the U.S. Treasury Department including
pushing Secretary Jacob Lew to add more guidance to
the Dodd-Frank law. And while she might be seen as cracking
the whip on Tarullo, she has also in her short tenure as
Fed chair provided him with unquestionable support in his
efforts to regulate shadow banking.
Yellen represents another significant difference from so
many of the previous chairs of the Fed. She doesn’t come
from Wall Street, as Hirsh points out. In fact, as noted by
economist John Kwoka at Northeastern University in Boston,
Yellen is a “rara avis” or a rare bird on the Washington,
D.C., financial management scene in that her professional
career has been utterly detached from Wall Street.
Kwoka told The Brown Daily Herald at Yellen’s alma mater
shortly after Yellen was nominated, “Her nomination is
particularly welcome since her expertise is on the very issues
facing the U.S. and global economies – employment
and growth.”
As it currently stands, Yellen remains committed to Bernanke’s
use of “forward guidance.” It’s a financial term Bernanke
introduced in Dec. 2012 when he announced that the
Fed would not raise interest rates until the unemployment
rate fell below 6.5 percent as long as the inflation rate did
not go higher than 2.5 percent. It’s a policy holder over from
the Bernanke tenure that Weisman and Spector expect to remain
in place for an extended time period under Yellen’s
leadership the promise of steady long-term interest rates
is expected to calm jittery investors as the Yellen Fed continues
Bernanke’s plan to reduce the monthly Quantitative
Easing purchases of US Treasury bonds.
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - FEB / MARCH 2014

y amy m. armstrong
Effect of Federal Reserve’s
Tapering Still Uncertain
As the markets enter the final month
of fiscal Q1 2014, the impact of the
U.S. Federal Reserve’s move to taper
or reduce its monthly purchase
of bonds via the Quantitative Easing program
has been a mixed bag. That’s not exactly what
forecasters expected.
Interest rates did not skyrocket in Dec. 2013
as previously speculated when the Federal
Open Market Committee – the Federal Reserve’s
monetary policymaking body – announced
it would go forward with the first $10
billion tapering of QE bringing its then monthly
purchases of U.S. Treasury bonds down to $75
billion for Jan. 2014. Interest rates didn’t jump
either in late January 2014 when the FOMC
again decided to cut its purchasing by another
$10 billion for Feb. – essentially shaving off a
quarter of the program in less than two months.
That’s the pretty picture; the one that is in focus.
In the other picture that is still developing,
Wall Street is awfully unpredictable when it
comes to its reaction to QE cuts.
During early trading on Jan. 29 – the day the
FOMC made an afternoon announcement of
continued cuts – the Dow Jones Industrial average
fell just short of 134 point. Even though that
is close to only one percent of its entire trading,
it is still significant. Compare that downward
reaction to what happened on Dec. 18 when the
first taper was announced. By the close of trading
at 4 p.m. that day, the Dow was up just shy
of 293 points or about 1.5 percent. That positive
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - FEB / MARCH 2014

outcome – labeled an embrace of the
taper by CNN Money – was not what
forecasters expected. In mid-May 2013
when then Fed chair Ben S. Bernanke
announced the FOMC was “considering”
the beginning of a taper, the
market had the equivalent of financial
toddler tantrum. With a couple short
weeks as uncertainty increased, the
Dow dropped below 15,000 – a mentally
significant number to Wall Street
professionals – and remained there
often throughout the summer posting
several multi-day losing streaks. By
the end of May 2013, 30-year mortgage
rates climbed 17 basis points.
“What struck me when Bernanke
first announced the Fed was considering
taper was the immediate reaction
in the markets. Big jump interest
rates by a full percentage point in two
weeks. Yet nothing had been done
yet,” commented Dean Baker, co-director
at the Center for Economic and
Policy Research in Washington, D.C.
“When the Fed actually did say in December
that it would begin the first taper,
nothing happened.”
Baker suspects the panic beginning
in May and last throughout the summer
could be more attributed to human
behavior rather than economic
conditions.
“When people began to anticipate
the taper is when they actually reacted,”
he noted. “When the taper began,
there really wasn’t much of a reaction.
Perhaps between May and December,
everyone was used to the idea.”
This latest round of QE, which began
in Sept. 2012, is dubbed QE3.
However, it isn’t the third time the Fed
has taken significant action to bolster
the U.S. economy. The first action –
called “Operation Twist” in honor of
the dance fad of the era – came about
in 1961. At that time, the Fed exercised
open market option to sell short-term
public debt and reinvest it in longer
options. In 1979, the “Saturday Night
Special” increased the federal fund
rate on overnight borrowings between
banks and other entities to maintain
their bank reserves at the Federal
Reserve by a full percentage rate
over the first weekend in October. It
caused some U.S. Treasury bonds to
be defaulted and the Dow dropped
64 points in two days. QE1 between
Dec. 2008 and March 2010 started with
a plan of purchasing $600 billion in
government agency mortgage-backed
securities. It ended with the Fed owning
more than $2.1 trillion. Under QE2,
the Fed used a different approach
purchasing $600 billion of long-term
U.S. Treasury products between Nov.
2010 and June 2011. Three months later
in Sept. 2011, the Fed revamped the
1961 Operation Twist with its $400 billion
purchase of bonds with maturity
dates from six to 30 years while selling
off all bonds with maturity dates
less than three years as had occurred
40 years previously. It was indeed a
twist – the original maneuver in 1961
was believed to have not met its objective.
The Fed revived “twist” after one
of its economist based in San Francisco
– Eric Swanson – reexamined the original
plan recommending another goaround
with a few tweaks including
the maturity dates. Enter QE3, which
began Sept. 2012, and the Fed’s plan to
exit this market-bolstering strategy.
To Baker, all the discussion of the effects
of this latest round of QE might
be a big hurray over little impact. For
instance, QE3 most likely kept 30-year
mortgage rates from making an additional
half-percentage point increase,
he believes. That does not create a
huge boom in new home purchases,
but it does give existing homeowners
some leeway to refinance and free up
some cash for other purchasing or debt
service.
“People are exaggerating on the positive
and the negative,” said Baker.
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.13

Perennial
Entrepreneur:
Sheldon Laube
Launches Artkick
Picking up where Bill Gates left off in the 1980s
Serial entrepreneur Sheldon Laube, the former PricewaterhouseCooper CIO, and current CEO of
ArtKick has made his presence known as one of the new Silicon Valley startups in California. And
he’s making a lot of noise in the corporate world.
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - FEB / MARCH 2014
“I have been an entrepreneur my
whole life,” Laube says from his office
in San Franciso. “Artkick is my fifth
startup and my first was a consulting
company in my college dorm room
way back then,” he added, “While in
college I applied for a summer job as
a programmer, but no one wanted to
hire me. So, I started my own company
and hired myself and that’s where it all
started.”
Today, the lean-bearded-40-year-old
looks more like a Talmudic scholar in
the tech industry with stints as Pac’s first
chief innovation officer and Novell’s
former CTO. Now he’s at the helm of
one of Silicon Valley’s most promising
young art-tech startups.
It all started back in the 1980s, just before
the dot.com period, when Microsoft
founder Bill Gates created a first-of-itskind
22-foot “video wall” in his Seattle
home. From the on-set, it featured thousands
of digitized images of fine art and
classic photographs. In fact, Gates spent
millions crafting the world’s largest and
most impressive digital art library.
Why was Bill Gates unsuccessful with
his idea 25-years-ago?
First, there were no high definition or
flat screen TVs. They didn’t exist. Gates
wanted to display high quality art, but
had to buy commercial studio monitors.
Those cost tens of thousands of dollars.
Second, there were few high-speed Internet
connections in American households.
Gates had to build a whole server
farm in his house in order to host 100 images.
The technology of the day wasn’t
ready for Gates’ vision. He faced the
same problem George Lucas had when
he tried to produce Star Wars. However,
the technology wasn’t there, yet. Thus,
his efforts largely remained unrealized
outside of his personal home. In 1989,
Gates established a profit-making business.
However, Interactive Home Systems
failed to sustain a strong presence
in the market place. The company eventually
morphed into Corbis Corp., one
of the world’s major licensor’s of photos,
footage and other media.
“It’s an interesting story,” Laube explained.
“I didn’t even make the connection
to what Gates had done, even
though I sort of knew about it. But it was
a completely independent thought,”

Artkick organizes and
formats the images and
then makes them available
for your selection.
Image Sources
he added, while pausing in between
sentences. “Just goes to show you that
Gates was a great visionary with brilliant
ideas way back then.”
His success is very much a family affair.
In fact, Laube’s wife as it turns out,
is a fine arts photographer, whom sold
her art outdoors at fairs during the summers
in the Silicon Valley. People would
flock and pay hundreds of dollars to
have her photos in their home. “My
wife at the time was thinking about to
expand her business, because standing
in booths at fairs for days was tiring,”
added the tech industry veteran. While
attending a lecture at the San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art there was a
panel of art handlers who were discussing
the idea of collecting photography
and art. “The discussions were very
depressing,” he said with a chuckle.
At that moment, a light bulb went off.
“How do we bring fine art to the people
rather than the people to the art?”
From that befuddling question Artkick
came to fruition---a cutting edge
progressive digital technology company.
Not bad for a serial entrepreneur.
Laube said that the new state-of-the-art
technology includes the “proliferation
of mobile apps low-cost Smart TVs, and
high-tech tools such as Roku,” which
will catapult Artkick to new heights.
“The free app with more than 50,000
images which includes such artist as
Monet, Van Gogh and Picasso can be
made available on Artkick,” Laube said.
“We will offer subscriptions and we will
share the money with the artists.”
He acknowledges that copyright issues
will be handled fairly from a corporate
prospective. “Copyright is very
clear,” Laube continues, “All art falls in
the public domain in the United States.
Especially, an artist who has passed 70-
80 years or more.”
But Laube admits that it has been a
long, tough journey between then and
now. He says he has worked on multiple
startups and dedicated two long
stints at PricewaterhouseCoopers as a
big corporate executive. As an entrepreneur
and engineer, he enjoys building
“cool things for people.”
“I was the first CIO of innovation at
PricewaterCoopers in the dawn of the
PC era and it was tremendously exciting,
but after a decade, I went to being a
startup guy,” Laube said.
He helped found a company called
USweb which was the world’s largest
Internet consulting firm during the
Internet boom. That company grew
from five people to 2,500 in more than
Control Artkick from your Smart-
Device–think of it as an intelligent
remote control. Large, stunning
images are displayed on your TV.
23 countries in fewer than 25 months.
Laube also helped develop another
company called Centerbeam, that provided
outsource IT services for small to
mid-size businesses. Then Laube ended
up back at PwC got another seven years.
After leaving PwC roughly 18-months
later, and taking a hiatus, Laube had an
idea. And he literary couldn’t shake it.
That’s how Artkick was born. Today,
Laube now hopes to make a dent in
digital technology. “’We’re here to put
a dent in the universe. Otherwise why
else even be here.’ That’s a quote from
Steve Jobs. I’m here to help people be a
part of that, giving them the opportunity
to make a difference,” he added,
“That’s what I try to model my professional
life on. I motivate people. I get
them excited about this vision and get
them to be a part of changing the world
in a small way.”
Laube’s biggest strength is vision
building in corporate America, helping
people especially entrepreneurs, work
for startups, so they can rock the world,
very similar to what Gates did with the
personal computer. “Gates is aware of
our concept. Actually, I sent him a note.
The note said, ‘I am bringing your vision
to life,’” Laube admits.
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.15

y amy m. armstrong
Nick Warnock, Finalist of
The Apprentice creates
Mobile Health Device
Consumer interest in mobile personal health
monitoring devices has tripled in the past
year, as indicated by research from the Consumer
Electronics Association (CEA) and
reported at the end of 2013 by Information
Week. In 2012, the CEA reported only three percent of
consumers as showing any interest in purchasing a mobile
device capable of providing personal health information.
That number jumped to 13 percent in 2013. The
Pew Research Internet Project’s Dec. 2013 Health Fact
Sheet echoes that same upward spike regarding interest
in mobile health information. It includes 2012 data
showing that 31 percent of cell phone owners indicated
they used their phone to look up health or medical information
– more than double the number of the previous
two years, when only 17 percent reported doing so.
This emerging trend is good news for Nick Warnock,
an entrepreneur who has several irons in the fire of
today’s technology marketplace. He made his first indelible
mark on pop culture and the technology world
in 2004 as one of the top four finishers during the first
season of NBC’s “The Apprentice,” featuring Donald
Trump. Warnock’s latest invention is part timepiece,
part activity logger and part health monitor, called the
Wellograph, due to hit the online marketplace during
the third week of March 2014.
“This is not just a watch to tell time or look cool,”
Warnock explains. “This is a watch to tell time, look
cool and give the user relevant health information. This
device gives you a complete picture of your health.
But unlike other devices that track activity or provide
health information, this fits into any environment. You
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - FEB / MARCH 2014

can wear it to work, to the gym, to happy hour or
to dinner.”
The Wellograph – expected to retail at $320.00 –
offers a wide range of features that go well beyond
the initial check-in at your doctor’s office. While
being worn, its built-in heart rate sensor and 9-axis
motion sensor tracks maximum, average and minimum
heart rate information, along with the number
of steps taken by the wearer and the number of calories
being burned. The device syncs with Bluetooth
and with a smart phone app called The Wellograph
App for weekly and daily reports charting your fitness
progress (or lack thereof) and how much time
your heart rate spent in the various zones – rest,
light, fat burn, aerobic, anaerobic and max – that
fitness experts typically track. Users simply input
their age, height and weight, and the Wellograph
tracks the rest.
Made from a combination of stainless steel, sapphire
crystal and aluminum, it weighs in at 3.52
ounces and runs on lithium batteries. In full-monitoring
mode, a complete charge lasts two weeks: In
watch-only mode, a full charge can last up to four
months. The Wellograph has a 1.65 by 1.30 inch
footprint and is a half inch thick. It is also water resistant
to depths of 45 feet.
Warnock does not take full credit for development
of the watch, crediting instead his partner, Sarasin Booppanon
from Thailand, as being the genius behind many inventions,
including the Wellograph. After The Donald told
Warnock, “You’re fired!” in one of those famous reality TV
board room scenes, the duo formed a company called Atiz,
which has introduced a number of different inventions.
Warnock didn’t take The Donald’s tone and finger pointing
personally. Instead, he took to heart the lessons he said
he learned by being one of the first 16 apprentices in the
high-pressure environment of “The Apprentice.” It required
stamina to accomplish numerous daily tasks during
the two months of filming, even while the spectacular “firings”
were occurring every three days.
“He was very nice to me,” Warnock recalls. “I learned that
I can compete with the best of them out there. I figured if
I can take two and half hours of grilling from The
Donald and his staff, then I can take two and half
hours of grilling from anyone in the business world.
I learned that I work very well under pressure.”
Warnock took these lessons and applied them
when Booppanon approached him with an idea for
an automatic page-turning book scanning device.
Forgoing an offer from the Oakland Raiders to market
their luxury Oakland Coliseum suites, Warnock
returned to his pre-Apprentice roots in selling, except
with a significant twist. This time he was working
just as diligently but instead it was as co-CEO of
Atiz with Booppanon.
In Jan. 2006, the pair introduced BookDrive, an
automatic page-turning scanner and by May of that
year, their second product – BookDrive DIY, a manual
book scanner – was on the market. In October,
the pair was given the National Innovation Award
from Thailand’s National Innovation Agency. The
following year, Atiz released a portable scanner
called BookSnap, and in 2008, BookDrive Pro came
online as a mass digitization model for professionals.
In 2009, Atiz won the Red Herring 100 North
America Award, which is a technology industry
recognition highlighting top startups from Asia, Europe
and the Americas.
While the Wellograph is a product developed by
the same partnership of Warnock and Booppanon, it is not
an Atiz product. The watch/activity tracker/health monitor
is being marketed under a new firm called Wellograph Co.,
Ltd. According to Warnock, the watch will be available at
Wellograph’s website as well as on Amazon, with pre-orders
beginning the third week of March.
“My goal is for this to become a household name,” Warnock
said. “I want everybody to know about Wellograph
– about this wellness watch. Right now what I am really
focused on is seeing it on the street; seeing people wearing
it and utilizing its benefits.”
www.wellograph.com
www.atiz.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.17

Atlanta • Phoenix • Fort Collins • Reston • Los Angeles • Madrid
VION Receivable Investments, headquartered in
Atlanta, Georgia, is an international provider of
receivable investment services to businesses
managing consumer and commercial receivables.
VION provides a single, comprehensive source of
expertise in commercial receivable factoring and
consumer receivable purchasing, valuations, and
process consulting.
VION Receivable Investments
400 Interstate North Parkway
Suite 800
Atlanta, GA 30339
877.845.5242 phone
678.815.1557 fax
Mesquite Corporate Center
14646 N. Kierland Blvd.
Suite 122
Scottsdale, AZ 85254
480.729.6419 phone
866.260.1826 fax
123 North College Avenue
Suite 210B
Fort Collins, CO 80524
877.845.5242 phone
970.672.8714 fax
11921 Freedom Drive
Suite 550
Reston, VA 20190
703.736.8336 phone
VION Advisory Services
18017 Chatsworth Street
Suite 28
Granada Hills, CA 91344
818.216.9882 phone
818.891.8738 fax
VION Europa
Paseo de la Castellana 95-15
(Torre Europa)
Madrid 28046
Espanha
+34 91 418 50 88 phone
www.vioneuropa.es
RECEIV ABLE INVESTMENTS
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - DEC / JAN 2014

y diane e. alter
Focusing Solar Power
Solar Energy that is Aesthetic And Efficient
Solar energy is the cleanest and
most abundant renewable energy
source in the world. It’s
also the earth’s oldest energy
form. Throughout the last
couple of decades, cutting-edge technology
has changed the way we’re able
to harness this energy for uses that run
the gamut from providing light to generating
electricity to heating water.
Undeniably, the solar market faces
challenges. Chief among them are
getting individuals interested in solar
energy and proving to potential clients
that the sun’s source is affordable, efficient
and visually appealing. As a result,
the industry is racing to scale the
production of solar technology while
also driving down manufacturing and
installation costs. Competition is heating
up, bringing with it more and better
options. Without question, the solar
industry is chock full of lucrative opportunities
and possibilities.
Underscoring the industry’s profitable
and social promise, the demand
for solar electric energy has grown by
an average 30 percent annually over
the last two decades, helped by declining
costs, improvements in solar cell
effectiveness, growing environmental
concerns and monetary incentives. In
2009, the photovoltaic (PV) solar industry
bought in global revenues of
$38.5 billion, according to data from
leading solar market research firm, Solarbuzz.
Projections have the global PV
market raking in $96.8 billion in 2014.
Amid mounting interest and demand,
the solar energy industry continues
to explore ways to make photovoltaic
panels more efficient and
discreet. Presently, panels in place for
high power usage are large, intrusive
and must be placed in direct contact
with the sun at all times. That means
they need to constantly track the sun’s
position using expensive sensors. Then
there are the ever-changing and often
unrelenting weather patterns that can
impede a PV panel’s use.
Coming up with a groundbreaking,
game-changing way to overcome
those issues, and aiming to alter the
way we look at solar energy, is Andre
Broessel. This passionate and genius
German architect has created Rawlemon
– a revolutionary, innovative
and most advanced solar technology
that “squeezes more juice out of the
sun.”
Broessel explained to The Suit, “For
more than 40 years, the industry has
been turning the sun’s energy into
electrical and heating power. But in
general, solar PV panels have a performance
of just 15 percent or less. So I
developed Rawlemon, a focusing solar
ball lens that can outperform solar
panels by concentrating the light many
thousands of times. A built-in optical
tracking system that follows the sun
across the sky helps make the Rawlemon
up to 70% more efficient than a
typical solar panel. It’s so efficient that
you can even harvest energy from the
moon or the sunlight on a cloudy day.”
While unique in solar power, ball
lenses are commonly and effectively
used as a coupling tool in laser-based
applications, endoscopes and bar-code
scanners. By day, the Rawlemon system
can be installed as a building skin
to produce energy. By night, the sys-
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.19

tem can work as a multimedia energy
support.
The brilliant idea for the Rawlemon
glass solar generator came to Broessel
in a kind of “ah-ha” moment while he
watched his young daughter playing
with translucent glass marbles. As she
innocently held her marbles in the sunlight,
Broessel had an epiphany. Seeing
what the marbles did with the light, he
realized that if he could concentrate
sunlight, thus multiplying its impact
on solar cells, it could have a huge impact.
With that revelation, Broessel setoff
to create Rawlemon.
Rawlemon actually resembles a massive,
marvelous marble. The system is
a stunningly beautiful orb that uses a
large spherical glass lens to collect diffuse
light from myriad angles. Broessel’s
aim in the design process was to
balance energy consumption while
also combining aesthetics, efficiency
and autonomy. And he has succeeded:
This may be history in the making.
Hundreds of thousands of fans
were quick to share pictures of the
giant Rawlemon transparent sphere
via social media in the weeks following
its debut late last year. “We knew
the world loved our product after one
Facebook page posted a photo of our
Rawlemon sphere with the caption
‘this glass marble concentrates sunlight
and moonlight at 10,000x and
converts it into usable energy’ and it
got 100,000 likes, 25,000 shares and
2,000 comments in less than 24 hours,”
Broessel said.
Rawlemon also delighted judges
at the prestigious World Technology
Networks Awards in November 2013.
Going head to head with the most pioneering
people and organizations in
the world of science and technology,
Broessel’s Rawlemon snagged a prestigious
third place, behind only AT&T’s
Telstar communications satellites and
solar manufacturing giant BrightSouce
Additionally garnering a great deal
of buzz is Broessel’s Evil Genius Power
Phone. Known as the beta.ey, this
smaller version of the Rawlemon uses
an acrylic ball lens that directs sunlight
onto a PV cell-mounted moving
platform to track the direction of light
beams as the sun moves throughout
the day. The device stores charges in
its battery, can charge a smartphone
or other devices via a USB port and
emits a glow from
its LED at night.
It’s beautiful, functional
and simply
brilliant.
Broessel just
wrapped up a campaign
on Indiegogo,
an international
crowd-funding
platform, in an
attempt to not just
raise money for the
Rawlemon patent,
but to also raise
awareness and
get people really excited about this
thrilling development in solar power.
Technical problems on Indiegogo and
mishaps with overseas press releases
thwarted earlier fund raising efforts.
But after a recent Broessel interview
and Rawlemon article hit a popular
German news site, attracting more
views than the biggest news story of
the day – Broessel jubilantly reported
he reached his funding goal on Indiegogo.
“Next step is the production of our
Evil Genius Power Phone Beta.ey and
other pipeline products,” Broessel
shared in a tone flecked with infectious
energy. “We need to demonstrate
that our technology is efficient. Our final
goal is our MicroTrack Module for
building integration. This will be the
revolution in the energy field: autonomous
buildings empowered with our
transparent power generators. It’s our
vision. We did the first step of it…”
Broessel’s hope is not simply that
his solar cell systems will better the
way we harness the sun’s energy and
change the way we charge our smartphones,
tablets and desktops. His goal
is much bigger – with big social implications.
Broessel’s mission is to make
solar power an applied and affordable
solution in parts of globe where any
electricity currently remains out of
reach. His dream is to see the system
installed in remote places around the
world where people don’t have access
to clean energy, or any energy for that
matter.
To be sure, Broessel is working hard
to shine a sunny light on the important
things that truly matter in the world.
Great ideas come from great people –
like Andre Broessel.
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - FEB / MARCH 2014

Together, we’re unleashing potential.
asset-based lending
accounts receivable factoring
purchase order financing
inventory financing
$50,000 to 10,000,000 line of credit
manufacturing staffing transportation construction
wholesale/distribution b2b services high-tech
Do you know someone
who could benefit from our services?
farwestcapital.com I 888-988-1527
Austin Dallas El Paso Houston Phoenix

y diane e. alter
A TRUE
FINANCIAL JOURNEY
Last year’s stock market gains were ones for
the record books. The Dow Jones Industrial
Average rose 29.65 percent, hitting 52 record
highs in 2013. The broad-based Standard &
Poor’s 500 Index soared 32.39 percent, the small
cap Russell roared ahead by 38.82 percent and the
tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index surged 40.12
percent. Precious metals lost their luster, with gold
tumbling 28.65 percent, down for the first time in
13 years. Silver was even more tarnished, shedding
36.63 percent. Those hefty gains and losses
left scores of investors both elated and confused.
Perusing portfolios, many are adamant about holding
on to sizable gains and not sure what their next
move should be.
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - FEB / MARCH 2014

“It’s not about the next hottest stock, sector or IPO,”
Marcus J. Sitrin, Principal of Sitrin Capital Portfolio
Management, told The Suit. “It’s the entire process
that matters and makes a difference.”
Indeed, Sitrin has been making a difference in investors’
lives for decades. While the Century City, CAbased
firm is relatively new – established in 2012 – it
has already amassed some $350 million under management.
And the founding Sitrin boasts more than
three decades of investment experience, beginning his
career at Merrill Lynch and rising through the ranks to
senior vice president and
senior portfolio manager
“It’s not about the
next hot stock. It’s the
process that makes
the difference.”
in Merrill Lynch’s personal
investment advisory
program.
In the wake of the 2008
financial crisis, Sitrin
recognized the public
was no longer enamored
by large investment
houses. In fact, he saw
it becoming quite the opposite. “Wall Street’s biggest
brokerage firms suffered severe black eyes and their
reputations have forever been altered. Investment
clients, no matter how much money they have, have
increasingly become more comfortable with boutique
firms. Most niche firms, like Sitrin, maintain a fiduciary
responsibility (managing assets for the sole benefit
of a client) unlike giant wire houses where brokers
have a sales responsibility,” Sitrin explained.
Acknowledging the undeniably uphill, paper-laden,
time intensive battle he went through in moving from
Wall Street to Main Street, Sitrin said that the advantages
of moving far outweighed the disadvantages.
Being super selective in its client base is one distinct
and lucrative benefit. “We look for clients whose needs
match what we offer. Our clients are long-term, conservative
investors who are seeking an alternative to
today’s low savings rate environment with a minimal
pick/up in risk. We have found this kind of discerning
client base has the highest rate of longstanding
success. Our aim is to grow investments while closely
monitoring risk so that clients have a financially secure
retirement “Sitrin explained.
The relationship begins by getting to know clients
and their goals, and then establishing an open and
honest rapport. Making sure the firm has a clear picture
of clients’ current financial landscape and future
objectives,Sitrin sets out to establish a carefully curated
and customized portfolio made up of a combination
of large cap stocks and investment grade bonds.
The firm takes an active management approach, replacing
portfolio holdings as needed to stay in line
with clients’ investment goals and risk tolerance. Regular
communication is a priority. “There is nothing
more rewarding than helping a client achieve a financially
comfortable retirement. That has to be among
my greatest rewards and is what brings me the most
job satisfaction,” Sitrin shared.
While many investors like to believe they are smart
and savvy enough to manage their own funds, studies
show that this simply is not the case. To be sure,
the Great Recession, together with a number of highly
publicized scandals, convinced many to shun advisers
entirely. According to a recent Deloitte consulting
firm poll, 57 percent of respondents said that they are
very content to handle their own financial planning.
Moreover, 38 percent feel that they need no professional
planning advice. Yet the truth of the matter
is that most people don’t have the acumen, time or
desire to effectively manage their money in today’s
complex financial environment. Most people need a
financial pro, and even the ones who don’t are smart
enough to use one.
Qualified financial planners are adept at dealing
with and navigating a wide variety of financial topics,
including everything from budgeting to savings
to sound investing to how every financial decision affects
an individual’s taxes and goals. Plus, these money
pros help clients stick to their avowed priorities.
Hiring a reputable financial portfolio manager like
Sitrin is key. While all aspects of financial planning
are important the return one garners from the portfolio
is the key driver of success. That is what Sitrin has
and should continue to bring to the table.
“Despite last year’s stellar equity rally, people remain
skittish about investing. At Sitrin, we not only
monitor and manage their assets, we also educate
clients on the risks and rewards of investing. Our investment
strategy positions our clients’ portfolios for
the necessary return with the minimum amount of
risk. We can’t predict the future, but we can plan for
it. Clients successes are our successes,” Sitrin added.
When asked about his own great success in such a
short period of time, a modest Sitrin told The Suit that
he isn’t really comfortable “tooting his own horn.”
But we are.
www.sitrincapital.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.23

y annabelle preston
Educated Clients and
Transparent Leasing Terms Build a Business
Increasing demands
from
clients seeking
greater
transparency in
leasing contracts
is something Mary
Kariotis, CEO of
Merrimak Capital Company – an independent
leasing firm based in Novato,
CA – said that she welcomes. As
reported in the magazine World Leasing
News, the financial meltdown of
2007 through 2009 caused a significant
credit crunch and lack of liquidity in
the leasing market. Customers leasing
equipment soon began to carefully
scrutinize balance sheets and business
practices within the leasing industry
in an effort to control their costs. It's
a trend continuing today, and it is a
trend Kariotis views as beneficial to
her industry.
“Our industry is unregulated,
which is really interesting, because we
are loaning capital,” Kariotis said. “I
am surprised it has never been regulated.”
This, of course, leaves the door
wide open for abuses.
“For instance,” Kariotis said, “A
customer signing up for a 36-month
lease who does not thoroughly read a
contract might be surprised to discover
the length of the lease is actually 37
months, due to interim rent collected
prior to the lease commencement.”
Or, a client not accurately checking
accounts payable might discover that
their company was still paying rent on
equipment that had already been removed
or sold but due to a lack of inhouse
communication, accounts payable
simply kept paying the monthly
fee.
It has happened. Not to Kariotis,
and not to any of the clients under
her watch. But she has heard these
sad stories. “Customers are becoming
more experienced,” she said. “They
are demanding more disclosure. Our
approach has always been to have
full disclosure and make the customer
aware of all the financial terms of
any lease that we originate.” And she
isn’t kidding, either. The firm’s online
presence features an extensive
customer education section outlining
the meaning of leasing terms. Kariotis
wants educated customers.
“Our job is to support our clients
internal career path,” she explained.
“We don’t want a customer to sign
up for financial terms that they really
don’t understand. If they sign for
terms they don’t understand, leaving
their company with financial obligations
down the road, what you end up
doing is inhibiting that individual’s
chance of being promoted and growing
within their organization. They
will be perceived as not doing a good
job because they signed up for leases
that were not correctly budgeted or a
contract that has unexpected expenses.
We don’t want that type of experience.
The more educated a customer
is about leasing, the more successful
Merrimak will be.”
Taking an approach that combines
customer education with contract
transparency is what Kariotis said has
put Merrimak on track for nearly
doubling its revenues every year for
the past five consecutive years.
The firm’s mainstay leasing is in
information technology equipment
and materials handling equipment –
with these two segments comprising
approximately 40 percent each of the
firm’s annual originations. The other
20 percent of business is originated
from fitness, manufacturing and medical
equipment.
www.merrimak.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - FEB / MARCH 2014

y diane e. alter
AUTHENTIC FINANCIAL ADVICE &
Social Impact Investing
Steven Ellis founded Colorado
Capital Management in 2000 with
one purpose in mind. Now he
has another. The original vision for the
company, which provides wealth management
services to clients throughout
the country, embraces maximizing
returns, minimizing expenses, and
limiting risk. The expanded version
considers not only financial return, but
also how investors can make a positive
social or environmental impact.
An independent, fee-only wealth
management firm, Colorado Capital
boasts premier credentials, a proven
track record and an outstanding reputation.
One measure of the firm’s success
is its remarkable level of client retention,
which has averaged over 97%
annually since inception. Ellis told The
Suit “This speaks volumes about the
authentic and honest advisory relationship
we maintain with our clients.
We continue, as always, to focus on our
core values of Integrity, Quality and
Results”.
That kind of transparency and unbiased
advice has also helped the firm
flourish and garner recognition as one
of Boulder’s fastest growing companies.
“We presently have roughly $250
million in assets under management
for 180 families,” Ellis shared. “Using
low cost index funds, we don’t try to
time or beat the markets – which is
usually a losing proposition. And more
importantly, we remind investors to
remain calm and disciplined in both up
and down markets.”
To add value to clients and portfolios,
the firm focuses on broad diversification,
risk management, periodic
re-balancing and tax management.
Keeping up-to-date on the latest economic
news and developments allows
Colorado Capital to advise clients on
potential risks and opportunities in the
markets, and to suggest prudent investment
strategies.
Its financial planning process starts
with gaining a complete understanding
of a client’s unique situation and
goals. Only then does the highly qualified
team move ahead to create a carefully
curated financial map tailored
specially to each individual. Through
regular communication and reviews,
Colorado Capital works closely with
clients to help pursue and realize their
financial and life goals.
Ellis formed the company in 2000,
and brings 30 years of industry experience
to the table. A Chartered Financial
Analyst, his early work includes
teaching college courses in accounting
and finance and consulting for a major
accounting firm, in addition to researching
and acquiring investments
as the chief due diligence officer of a
national financial planning firm. His
current passion is growing the firm’s
presence in impact investing, an explosive
trend.
Also known as socially responsible,
sustainable, ethical, mission-related,
triple bottom line,and environmentally
friendly, impact investing is investing
with concepts and ideals strongly
felt by the investor. Over the last two
years, social impact investing has
grown by more than 22% to $3.74 trillion
in total assets, according to data
from Forbes. Roughly $1 out of every
$9 under professional management in
the U.S. is currently classified as a socially
responsible investment.
As Ellis emphasized, “Getting more
people to invest with their hearts as
well as their heads is a big priority of
mine. I want to help move the needle
on getting more dollars invested for
impact”
Colorado Capital Management commissioned this article
and paid a fee for it to be included in The Suit’s
online and print editions.
www.coloradocap.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.25

y diane e. alter
Gains Footprint in Corporate America
Financial and Healthcare Solutions Lower Costs and Boost Performance
Ernst & Young
Entrepreneur
Of The Year ®
Long before the 2012 American
political thriller “Argo”
became a household name by
winning the Academy Award
for Best Picture, ARGO Data Resource
Corporation was the “Argo” being
talked about.
Founded in 1980 by chairman and
CEO Max Martin – sans any outside
investment or debt – ARGO has since
grown into the premier and predominant
software solutions partner for
7 of this country’s top 10 financial institutions
– JPMorgan Chase, Bank
of America, U.S. Bank, PNC, Capital
One, BB&T, and SunTrust. The company
also serves the nation’s 200 leading
banks, credit unions and lenders,
as well as healthcare providers and
health information exchange organizations.
“We truly had humble beginnings,”
Martin told The Suit. “But I knew we
would succeed. I found we could leapfrog
industry competition by having a
lot better value in needed and offered
solutions – and by efficiently and effectively
delivering those solutions to
financial services organizations. Today
we also design and implement innovative
technology for the healthcare
industry.”
He added, “In the healthcare space,
ARGO delivers solutions to address
crucial issues – access to data across
healthcare organizations, duplicate
record detection, resolution and prevention,
quality of care, population
management, and Meaningful Use.
What’s more, the eighth largest Integrated
Healthcare Delivery Network
in the U.S. selected ARGO to deliver its
Entity Match & Resolution Enterprise
Master Patient Index solution to manage
patient information and registration
for more than 40 hospitals, clinics,
and facilities – and more than 5 million
patient records.”
ARGO’s many pioneering solutions
are supported by proven technology,
extensive research, implementation
expertise and decades-long industry
experience. Using this encompassing
expertise, ARGO solutions help clients
solve key issues, including cost reduction,
risk management, improved
customer or patient experience, secure
and accurate information exchange,
fraud detection and prevention, compliance,
and operational efficiency.
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - FEB / MARCH 2014

“In short, we help financial and
healthcare entities achieve goals of
attaining revenue growth, efficient
operations, satisfied customers, motivated
employees, reduced risk and
maximum opportunity by providing
the most cutting-edge technology solutions,”
Martin explained.
Currently, recognizing the growing
threat of fraud, ARGO is stepping up
its presence in the fraud space. Risks
associated with fraud are growing at
a rapid clip, calling for a systemwide
response. In the “2011 Business Banking
Trust Study,” the Ponemon Institute
found that 56 percent of businesses
surveyed had experienced fraud
in the preceding 12 months. Of those,
61 percent had been victimized more
than once. Among those experiencing
fraud, 75 percent suffered online account
takeover and/or online fraud.
Survey respondents reported that
their banks detected and stopped the
fraud in just 22 percent of the cases,
meaning that, in 78 percent of the cases,
the businesses’ banks failed to catch
the fraud and money left accounts –
for good. Stolen money was recouped
only 10 percent of the time, so defrauded
businesses suffered losses in 60 percent
of the cases.
Those kinds of figures propel Martin
into action. “2014 is going to be a
key year for ARGO,” Martin said. “We
just acquired a Toronto, Canada-based
company, specializing in fraud protection
across multiple payment channels,
detecting fraud at the point of presentment,
and Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money
Laundering monitoring and
management. Before the acquisition,
ARGO was a tier-two company in the
fraud software space, which was simply
not good enough. Now, ARGO is
a tier-one provider of fraud software.”
He added, “ARGO’s fraud solutions
provide analytical, investigative, and
resolution tools to detect fraud on personal
and business accounts, as well
as comprehensive fraud detection and
prevention for commercial checks and
electronic payments.”
Offices are located in Richardson,
Texas; Memphis, Tennessee; and Toronto,
Canada; but ARGO’s vast and
varied client base is dotted all across
the U.S. and Canada.
Always staying one step ahead of the
competition – and helping clients do
the same – ARGO’s analytics-driven
software predicts customer behaviors,
recommending actions and providing
proactive alerts to prevent issues, logjams
or bottlenecks. They also enable
organizations to improve workforce
staffing, patient identity, fees and pricing,
credit approval decisions, and
cash inventory. At the core of ARGO’s
technology platform is its multi-tiered
architecture, processing over 54 million
transactions daily. This kind of
industry standard foundation ensures
high volume and seamless user engagement.
Staying focused, obtaining
results and delivering a better outcome
is what ARGO is all about.
Characteristics like stellar leadership,
integrity, attention to detail and commitment
to quality have helped ARGO
stand out in the highly competitive
software solution sector. The recipient
of numerous awards and accolades,
ARGO and Max Martin won their own
version of the Academy Award – winning
the coveted Ernst & Young Entrepreneur
Of The Year® 2013 Award for
the Southwest Area North. Presented
to innovators and builders of better
business landscapes, this prestigious
honor is awarded to those individuals
who seek to manifest their ideas, help
move the economy forward and foster
goodwill in their communities.
To be sure, software and technology
have changed everything. They have
changed the way we communicate, the
way we do business, the way we work
and the way our every action is stored
and analyzed. And unquestionably,
software applications have changed
the economic landscape. Businesses
without computer software programs
are like books without words, and
those without the right kind of software
are like unreadable books littered
with meaningless words. Today, software
is crucial to nearly every company’s
performance. Some 20 years ago,
software was largely confined to big
transactional data center systems for
select businesses. Now, it supports
nearly every function in every industry
– meaning that software spending
has swelled, jumping from roughly 32
percent of the total corporate IT investment
in 1990 to more than 60 percent
today, according to market research
firm McKinsey & Company data.
By employing industry-specific
software tailored to unique needs,
organizations can lower costs, boost
performance and turn software into a
competitive advantage. That’s exactly
what ARGO has done and continues
to do.
1500 N. Greenville Avenue, Suite 500
Richardson, TX 75081
Phone: 972.866.3300
www.argodata.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.27

STILL PUZZLED
... by your supply chain solution?
Streamlining supply chains throughout the automotive, retail,
pharmaceutical, pulp & paper, logistic, and food industries.
www.meadewillis.com
Contact Meade Willis today for a free consultation regarding your e-commerce,
EDI, supply-chain requirements: (866) 369-1146 | www.meadewillis.com

y suit staff
Clearing Up
Medicare Confusion
Despite the fact
that Medicare
has been available
since 1966,
the bulk of those
eligible for the
program remain
somewhat unclear
regarding
its benefits.
www.rischallfinancial.com
A
2008 survey conducted by the National
Association of Insurance
Commissioners during the first
year that members of the baby boomer
generation became Medicare-eligible, indicated
that most were confused regarding
their post-retirement health insurance
options. Sixty-six percent of survey
respondents indicated they were not familiar
with the various Medicare options.
Fast forward six years down the road and
the situation has changed little, according
to professionals working in the insurance
industry.
Ben Rischall, president of Rischall Financial
Group based in Maple Grove,
Minn., testifies to the situation. He experiences
it nearly every day as he works with
his clients – a large percentage of whom
are approaching retirement age and losing
their employer-sponsored health care
benefits because of leaving the workforce.
“They often are fairly confused because
they do get a ton of mail at this time in
their lives,” Rischall explained. “They are
presented with a lot of information and
varying plan options. They need help
making a plan selection and evaluating
the opportunities with so many different
companies.”
For Rischall, the initial look at Medicare
options opens the opportunity to examine
ways his clients can maximize social security
benefits, determine how to turn their
current assets into income for life and discuss
purchase of long term care insurance.
That final category – long term care – is
a significant issue, according to Rischall.
He owns it and his 92-year-old mother
has benefited enormously from her coverage
as well. Unfortunately, his industry
experience documents the fact that too
few retirees ever purchase it.
“Only a small percentage of our population
has it,” Rischall laments, adding that
ownership of such a policy is one of the
first questions he asks senior clients. “I’ve
seen seniors who go without long term
care insurance end up having to spend
down much of their assets and then go on
Medicaid as a result.” Senior clients don’t
want to burden their families and they
don’t want all of their assets liquidated
for their care. Yet few have a plan in place.
“At some point in time, somebody is going
to suffer because of it,” Rischall notes.
That is why he is pleased to see new
products entering this marketplace –
products that aren’t as cost-prohibitive
compared to their predecessors but which
offer greater protection once coverage
kicks in. A few long term care underwriters
now offer inflation compounding
tied to the Consumer Price Index which
increases benefits to match the CPI’s inflation
rate.
Rischall believes his business will continue
focusing on the needs of seniors, especially
since more and more boomers are
retiring every day. Also, it’s the sector of
the industry where he really got a good
start. When his family’s sporting goods
business surrendered to surrounding big
box retailers, Rischall was mentored by a
friend. Soon he began making presentations
to senior groups on behalf of Medica,
a Midwestern-based firm specializing
in Medicare, and it didn’t take much time
for him to build a full book of business,
along with a new career.
“I’ve always enjoyed working with clients
on individual products such as Medicare,”
Rischall said. “It is always a great
lead-in to talk about other products and
develop a relationship with the client.”
Learn more about Rischall Financial
Group online at www.rischallfinancial.
com.
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.29

y diane e. alter
WISE
Sustainable
Wealth
Management
Building Relationships: A Family’s CFO
The 2008 financial crisis triggered a turning point
in the financial services industry. The broad failure
and subsequent bailout of many large Wall
Street firms, insurance companies and banks created
widespread mistrust by many of their wealthy
clients. Families who spent decades clinging to the
perceived safety of large institutions with storied
track records questioned how these firms could be
brought to their knees by poor decisions made by
their mortgage or investment banking subsidiaries.
One of the
most notable
after-effects
of this widespread
mistrust of big Wall
Street firms has been
the structural shift
among investors, to
move assets to trustworthy
independent
wealth managers, like WMS Partners in
Towson, MD.
“Our clients can always trust that we
have their best interest at heart,” CEO
Timothy W. Chase, told The Suit. “Our
people, independence and fiduciary
oath gives them peace of mind and allows
them to sleep at night. We build
relationships – not simply investment
associations. Functioning as a family’s
Chief Financial Officer, the firm is adept
at managing the often complex and intimate
issues that typically accompany
significant wealth.”
Chase and his partners founded Towson,
MD-based WMS Partners in 1993.
Prior to forming the firm, Chase managed
the financial planning division of
a regional accounting firm in Baltimore.
A Certified Public Accountant, Certified
Financial Planner, Chartered Life Underwriter,
and Personal Financial Specialist,
Chase has helped to build WMS
Partners into one of the top wealth management
firms in the country. Starting
out with a small staff and handful of clients,
WMS Partners today boasts a team
of 45 and has over $2.5 Billion in assets
under management. The firm works
with close to 300 families and builds
teams of experts to help support each
client relationship
“We’re selective in the clients we take
on. We cater to wealthy families and
individuals as our aim is to grow strategically
as our service is too intimate to
scale to the masses. Our goal is to provide
and foster partnerships with our
clients, relationships based upon mutual
respect and a shared value system,”
Chase explained.
WMS Partners starts each client relationship
with careful planning focused
on creating a shared understanding of
each client’s financial goals. After they
determine each client’s needs they work
in tandem with accountants, attorneys,
outside investment advisers, insurance
professionals and philanthropic advisers.
WMS Partners acts as a client’s
advocate and central point for financial
affairs, running the gamut from portfolio
management to estate planning and
gifting. “Wealth management is not a
one-and-done association; it’s an ongoing
relationship,” Chase added.
With its vast expertise, flexible approach
and unique understanding of
financial markets, the firm is an ideal
partner for families and individuals
who desire a discreet and highly experienced
team.
“Before we make any kind of investment
recommendation or plot a portfolio,
we get to know our clients. We keep
in regular contact and are proactive
making changes as necessary. A carefully
curated core portfolio is the foundation
of our approach to investing. We
have a saying here that goes ‘if you’ve
won the war why continue to fight the
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - FEB / MARCH 2014

WMS Partners
was founded
and continues
to operate as a
comprehensive
family office and
financial advisory
service whose sole
duty is to serve
our clients’ best
interests.
www.wms-partners.com
battle.’ In short, the majority of our clients
have reached the point where they
have realized financial freedom. To
them and to us it’s most important to
hold on to assets by using relatively safe
investments instead of chasing riskier
returns,” Chase detailed.
At WMS Partners investment portfolios
are created with a strategic outlook
and use the most efficient vehicles
(from both a cost and tax perspective)
to achieve their clients’ investment
goals. WMS Partners believes that investment
strategies no longer fit neatly
within traditional asset class categories
such as stocks and bonds. By maintaining
an objective and agnostic approach
to selecting the types of strategies and
securities utilized to achieve client
goals, WMS Partners clients can benefit
from owning mutual funds, individual
stocks, ETF’s, private investments and
alternative strategies. In fact, due to
their substantial asset base, clients gain
access to alternative strategies that may
not be available to most investors. Examples
of these types of investments are
direct investments into income generating
real estate, deep value distressed
debt, and a variety of private cash flow
streams. “Many of our best investment
ideas have been generated as a result of
working with our most affluent family
office clients. The research and relationships
we’ve built as a result of investing
larger portfolios has helped WMS Partners
provide our entire client base with
more opportunities to diversify their
portfolios using alternative assets.” said
Chase.
Many independent wealth managers
viewed the market turmoil in 2008 as
an opportunity to expand their regional
footprint. While Wall Street firms required
bailouts from the Federal Reserve
independent firms like WMS Partners
were hiring staff, increasing revenues
and adding new clients. “By keeping
our clients assets safe in the downturn
we had a very shallow hole to dig out of
when markets started to rebound. Our
clients and our firm fared well during
the financial meltdown.” Chase shared.
“Our client retention rate is proof. We
have lost very few clients over the years.
Looking out for clients is what we do –
and we work hard at it. That, plus open
and honest relationships, have served
clients and the firm well.”
What Chase and his firm do exceptionally
well is to maintain a clear focus,
placing themselves in their client’s
shoes and addressing complex and
delicate issues. Helping clients make
smarter decisions about money, providing
an objective perspective on sensitive
family issues, educating clients about
investing to meet their goals and providing
access to unique cash-flow based
investments are just a few of the perks
WMS Partners has to offer.
To be sure, today’s tricky and ever-changing
financial markets have
made wealth management more challenging
and more important than ever.
That’s why proficient, experienced professionals
like Tim Chase and the team
at WMS Partners – are the future of
wealth management.
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.31

y diane e. alter
Insightful Financial Planning
THAT INCLUDES THE “WHAT IFS”
Studies show that wealth managers
– financial advisors who develop
counseling relationships
with a select number of affluent clients
– are likely to have greater success
than those who engage in traditional
transactional business models.
As a result, big Wall Street firms have
shelled out big bucks marketing
wealth management as part of their
services and are training advisors to
provide it. Hence, the phrase “wealth
management” has become universal
throughout the financial industry.
However, research from Dow Jones
reveals only a small percentage of financial
advisors actually use a wealth
management model.
That’s why more and more individuals
who are serious about their
financial future, are turning to boutique
financial planning firms like
NF Wealth Management. One of the
firm’s uniquely skilled areas – highly
valued as the population is graying
– is in developing retirement income
plans for retirees and for those about
to retire. Based in California’s Silicon
Valley, NF Wealth Management
provides its diverse client base with
tailored investment advice, asset allocation
strategies and portfolio recommendation.
“Our goal is to help clients preserve
and grow their financial assets, and
lead them on a path towards financial
independence,” President Phil H.
Nguyen told the Suit. “While we do
help young clients navigate their financial
future, most clients are nearing
or in retirement. They want to
make sure their funds will meet all
their financial needs and last their
lifetimes.”
Portfolios are customized to meet
individuals’ needs and goals. But they
are all broadly diversified and risk
monitored. “We use a variety of metrics
to gauge risk and return opportunities.
Investment discipline is simply
in our nature. And, we don’t hesitate
to make major tactical shifts or take
defensive positions when necessary.
We believe that managing risk in today’s
complex and quickly changing
markets, which gyrate between riskon
and risk-off, is key to harvesting
growth for our clients,” Nguyen explained.
Nguyen began his illustrious financial
career in 1989 with Bank of America,
and soon found his calling was
helping clients prepare for the future.
With a multitude of financial licenses
under his belt, including general securities
registration series 6, 7, 63, 65
and life insurance, Nguyen is also a
frequent host of retirement planning
and investment strategy seminars, as
well career transition workshops in
the highly competitive Silicon Valley
area. Ranked #4 out of the top 50 bank
investment representatives in 2002
by Bank Investment Marketing Magazine,
Nguyen is a popular guest,
appearing regularly on community
television shows to share his insights
on retirement planning and risk management.
The 2008 financial crisis and subsequent
Great Recession, followed by
the stock market’s 30 percent gain in
2013 and weak start to 2014, underscores
the importance of risk management.
To be sure, risk management
is the single most important factor
in financial planning. Identified risks
include volatility, inflation, currency
and liquidity. But as investors found
out, and NF Wealth Management has
experienced, managing risks goes beyond
allocation and diversification.
There are a lot of “what ifs.” History
is a great guide.
Indeed, those who forget history are
doomed to repeat it.
www.nfwealth.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - FEB / MARCH 2014

Serving the Public
From a Uniform Fiduciary Standard to Caring for Clients
Opinions by experts in the financial advising field varied
widely as they participated in a recent Fiduciary
News online forum regarding the possible establishment
of a uniform fiduciary standard. Some indicated it
would not be a top 2014 priority for the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC). Others said that we can expect
the SEC and the U.S. Department of Labor to hammer out
any potential legal obstacles in order to begin hearings in
the fall. Still others believe that it will fall victim to the usual
political wrangling.
Away from the bureaucrats, Kenny Cutler, president of
FOCUS Financial Group, Inc., based in Tyler, Texas, said
that he welcomes a national uniform fiduciary standard
governing all aspects of financial investments.
“I hope so,” Cutler said regarding such a standard’s potential
establishment. “I think the public will be better
served with a uniform standard.” Such a standard would
ideally hold broker-dealers to a standard that is just as rigorous
as the current standard for fee-based investment advisers,
while preserving the unique services offered by each
group. FOCUS Financial moved to a fee-based model that
Cutler believes his clients value more than previous methods
of transacting financial investments.
“The disclosure up front seems to help them better understand
why the fee-based model is a more feasible and economic
model for them,” Cutler explained.
Cutler got his start in the financial services industry
through teaching. As a college professor, he was exploring
retirement methodologies with his students when his own
interest in finance was sparked, and in 1987 he became a
CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNING practitioner.
While he admits getting started was a bit difficult, Cutler's
biggest challenge exists in keeping today’s clients and
their financial goals on track. Longer life spans, sequential
retirements and helping clients adjust their expectations to
the market’s reality represent the most pressing tasks.
“It is the most challenging to implement,” Cutler said.
“None of us know how long we are going to live and so
that is the toughest challenge as a financial planner. I have to
look at the client’s particular situation in terms of longevity
and I really don’t know when it will end.”
One fact that doesn't change is his willingness to stick
with a client. Several clients represent three generations of
family members trusting their finances to Cutler. He not
only considers that a great success but also cherishes the relationships
he has built.
“Doing those kinds of things are very rewarding for me,”
Cutler said. “I want to be somebody that my clients feel they
can call on and rely on when the subject of money comes up
– even when it isn’t directly related to my services.”
www.focusfinancialgroup.net
Registered Representative, Securities offered through Cambridge Investment Research,
Inc., a Broker Dealer, Member FINRA/SIPC
Investment Advisor Representative, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors,
Inc., a Registered Investment Advisor
Cambridge and FOCUS Financial Group, Inc., are not affiliated

y diane e. alter
Often called upon to share his expertise,
Hutchinson has written a
number of articles for several financial
publications, hosted radio programs,
made guest appearances on
national television programs and is
a frequent keynote speaker, discussing
issues related to wealth management
and family office services. He
is keenly adept at addressing the top nine things high net
worth individuals look for from advisers. According to a
recent Cerulli Associates/Phoenix Market International Survey,
these are: maintaining lifestyle in retirement; funding
college education; protecting the current level of wealth; aggressively
growing wealth; leaving an estate for heirs; charitable
giving; minimizing income and capital gains taxes;
enhancing household cash flow; and improving the management
of market risk.
The management services Hutchinson provides include
comprehensive and carefully curated investment strategies,
divorce wealth strategies, a second opinion strategy and
family office, enabling exclusive access to a platform dedicated
to the holistic management of a family’s resources.
“Unlike a traditional wealth management office, our families
receive a high level of personal service and the uniquely
sophisticated view of wealth construction that is required
by affluent families,” Hutchinson noted. Hutchinson Private
Wealth complements these offerings, when appropriate, by
introducing clients to the broader network of resources the
firm has at its disposal. “We get to know and understand clients
before we create an investment blueprint. Just as every
client is unique, so is every investment plan. We purposely
limit the number of clients we have so that we can offer cutting-edge
management with a firm focus on wealth presthe
greatest
financial resource
Workable Wealth and Investments Strategies
Numerous studies show that most high net worth individuals don’t
manage their own investments on a day-to-day basis. They leave that
daunting, yet vital task to select financial advisers. To be sure, choosing
a reputable, hands-on and concerned financial adviser is crucial.
“
We manage wealth for high net worth clients with a concerned
focus on maintenance rather than rapid growth,” J.
Steven Hutchinson, CEO and CIO of Hutchinson Private
Wealth, told The Suit. “Most of our clients are conservative
investors who want to hold on to their wealth. They prefer
slow and steady gains to risky investment opportunities.”
Hutchinson and his stalwart team work closely with high
net worth individuals and families to develop personalized
wealth and investment management strategies. The Greensboro,
NC-based firm then identifies appropriate investment
opportunities that will help them reach their financial objectives.
Expertise, education and experience are indeed essential
features of a qualified financial manager. But what high net
worth individuals value most of all in an adviser is trust.
While this affluent group shares many traits in common,
their investment decisions and choices will always reflect
their personal preferences, biases and circumstances.
“Our aim is to become our clients’ most trusted adviser
and greatest financial resource,” Hutchinson added. “We
know that kind of trust must be earned, and our goal is to
earn it daily by providing stellar and attentive customer service.
Everyone here at Hutchinson Private Wealth genuinely
cares about our clients. We keep our promises and we are
always discreet. Building strong, meaningful and productive
relationships is a top priority.”
After nine years in the United States Marine Corps,
Hutchinson began building his financial career in 1982.
Driven and determined, he organized his first independent
financial services firm in 1986, at a time when such a move
was deemed daring and bold. Since then, with a bevy of
securities licenses under his belt, Hutchinson has flourished
by offering his elite client base truly independent private
wealth management and family wealth planning services.
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - FEB / MARCH 2014

ervation, income generation and potential portfolio repair
techniques should they be needed,” Hutchinson detailed.
Without question, life and financial markets are full
of surprises. Always staying attuned to clients’ life cycle
changes – and remaining ready to adapt quickly when the
economy changes – are at the forefront of successful wealth
management. A diligent and comprehensive approach to
analyzing complexities and opportunities is what results in
solid investment returns.
“We regularly review clients’ plans and regularly call
‘family meetings,’ which might include children, attorneys
and CPAs. Making sure goals are realistic, and spending is
in check, is a delicate dance we have to play. But it’s a twostep
we cannot tap over. Our technology platform is one
of the most advanced and allows customers the ability to
monitor all aspects of their financial plan. We believe accountability
is key,” Hutchinson added.
With the rapid changes in today’s financial market, one of
the best tools for helping to manage and maintain wealth is
a passionate and committed financial adviser.
With more than three decades of experience filling his
impressive resume, one would think Hutchinson might be
considering slowing down. Not a chance. “My only regret
is that I don’t have more time to do what I want to do –
what I love to do. This isn’t really work for me. Hutchinson
Private Wealth is a place I love. In fact, everyone who
works here shares that sentiment,” a passionate Hutchinson
emphasized. “We all know why we are here – what we are
supposed to do and why.”
“The biggest charge I get is the satisfaction of seeing our
clients realize their financial and family planning goals,”
Steven shares. “I believe that if we continue to keep working
hard and do the right things for our clients, we will have a
positive impact in helping them reach their financial goals.”
He adds, “We are a high touch practice, and we want our
clients to know we are very interested in them, not just in
their finances.”
Steve Hutchinson is a Financial Advisor offering securities
through First Allied Securities, Inc. a registered broker
dealer, member FINRA/SIPC and offers advisory services
through First Allied Advisory Services, Inc., a registered investment
adviser.
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.35

y the suit staff
BUILDING WEALTH WITH NO SURPRISES
Finding the Opportunity in Obstacles
Many people
find investing in
today’s constantly
changing and
challenging
economic
environment to be
more complicated
and frustrating
than ever. Gone
are the days when
a person needed to
do nothing but buy
and hold.
To be sure, the 2008 Great Recession
and handful of high-profile
scandals that seriously blemished
Wall Street, prompted every
investor to assess their financial situations.
Never has the need and desire
for the assistance of a seasoned wealth
management specialist been higher.
Indeed, David Malleck, a Certified
Investment Management Analyst and
principal with Raymond James Financial
Services, has seen the demand for
his services rise for well over the last five
years. “From 2008 through 2013, assets
we have under management at Malleck
Wealth Management LLP soared from
$35 million to $300 million,” Malleck
told The Suit. “We grew by ten times in
five years’ time.”
Malleck began his career in 1982 with
Shearson Brothers, and has indeed navigated
through both the most bullish
and bearish of financial times. That kind
of experience and credibility is invaluable
and rare. Not many financial planning
experts have endured for so long.
“I truly know how to find the opportunity
in obstacles,” Malleck shared.
“While I don’t try to time markets or
beat benchmarks, I do stay actively involved.
Helping clients reach goals and
reducing risk along the way is at the
forefront of what I do.”
The bulk of Malleck’s clients are
women in transition and in business.
“Our team has found we work best
with clients who allow us to delegate.
We don’t aim for full discretion by any
means. But those who allow us to do
what we do best tend to work out the
best for us,” Mallek explained.
With an expertise in building portfolios,
Malleck always starts by getting to
know the client and building an authentic
relationship. “We discuss all those
touchy topics that run the gamut from
retirement to long-term healthcare. We
run the best and worst case scenarios,
and address the inevitable hiccups upfront
so there are no surprises. Keeping
in close contact is also key. You can’t be
complacent in this business” Malleck
continued.
Working through the maze of investment
and retirement options, Malleck
and his team strive mightily to create
long-lasting, sustainable wealth. At the
core is a thoughtful and organized approach
to investing aimed at helping
clients achieve short and long term objectives,
whatever they may be.
Malleck says the three things that motivate
him every day are the same three
things he repeats daily to his children:
“to be kind, be responsible and be inspired.”
Who wouldn’t want a kind, responsible
and inspired professional like
Malleck, looking after their financial
well-being and future?
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - FEB / MARCH 2014

Insuring Shoreline Properties
Rising Prices Create a Challenge BY SUIT STAFF
Securing waterfront property insurance in today’s market
– post 2012’s Super Storm Sandy and 2011’s Hurricane
Irene – is a bit like getting dropped in the middle
of storm and being told there is no lifeboat, but only a
life ring out there for you to go find somewhere amidst the
crashing waves. And you’ll grab whatever you can secure
to stay afloat, because it isn’t the time to be too picky.
“There just isn’t much wiggle room from a price standpoint
at this stage of the game,” explains Ronald Burns,
president of Burns & Kelly Insurance LLC, located in Milford,
Conn. “Right now we are strictly trying to find insurance
carriers willing to offer the coverage.”
With a company located near the Atlantic shore and a
plethora of summer resort towns, securing waterfront insurance
has been his specialty for many years. Despite years
of experience, however, Burns admits he is frustrated.
“There certainly is only a very limited source of coverage
available now for waterfront properties,” he said. “Prices
that were absolutely unreasonable five years ago look pretty
attractive today.”
Burns knows that rising premiums are a natural market
reaction to an equally natural chain of weather-related
events. That part of the premium-raising equation can’t
be changed. Insurance companies have their own weather
modeling experts studying historical weather patterns, attempting
to forecast what’s to come. Even by 2009, premiums
were already being raised to reflect these predictions.
What could change, according to Burns, are state requirements
that large portions of the collected premium be invested
in U.S. Treasury bonds.
“The insurance companies are being forced to buy into an
investment instrument that previously had a reasonable rate
of return but now has a tremendously low rate of return,”
Burns said. “At one point, buying into the U.S. Treasury had
been considered the safest investment in the world, but I am
not so sure someone could say that now with a $17 trillion
debt.”
Burns thinks that the investment requirement burdens
insurance companies, creating an obstacle to finding lower
premiums. He sees a significant economic tie between the
storm surges flooding Atlantic coastlines and the nation’s
financial woes, pointing to the billions of dollars in claims
that had to be paid from a fund with no reserve or plan in
place to mitigate such a huge financial drain.
Yet Burns has no desire to leave the property insurance
business. Long before Obamacare was created, he opted to
not focus on health insurance.
“I could see the writing on the wall that health insurance
and life insurance were not the markets for me to be in. I
knew those markets were very unstable even 15 to 18 years
ago,” Burns said.
1362 New Haven Ave.
Milford, CT 06460
Phone: 203-301-0409
www.bkia.com

y diane e. alter
Strictly for Federal Employees
Retirement Planning Strategies for Government Workers
A
2013 retirement survey from investment powerhouse
BlackRock revealed that
the lack of widespread concern
about retirement planning is
linked to a serious lack of understanding
of retirement needs. “Confusion and lack
of clarity around retirement needs has led
many participants to inaction,” according
to the findings. “Forty-five percent say they
are not saving [for retirement] because they
don’t know how much they will need.”
That inaction is exactly why people need
to seek the advice and guidance of professionals
like Ann Vanderslice, president and
CEO of Retirement Planning Strategies.
Working in a niche financial services arena
– one strictly devoted to federal workers –
Vanderslice customizes retirement strategies
that are tailored to her federal employee-only client-base’s
specific needs and goals.
“We help federal employees break down the complexities
of federal benefits into easily understood language,”
Vanderslice told The Suit. “Our unique value comes not
from just helping clients understand
their complex set of benefits, but also
from knowing how to maximize those
benefits for clients.”
Based in Lakewood, Colorado, the
spirited Vanderslice founded the firm in 2000. She is now
nationally recognized as a premier authority in retirement
planning for federal workers, and has been featured in both
the Wall Street Journal and Reuters.
“Right now, some 40 percent of all federal government
workers are eligible for retirement,” Vanderslice explained.
“We help clients decide if they should accept a buy-out
package if offered one. Every client and every situation
is different, so we get to know clients before plotting any
course. And, our planning process is an ongoing thing. We
track clients’ progress to ensure their retirement dollars are
working optimally.”
Vanderslice also conducts lunch-time workshops and retirement
planning classes in various cities across Colorado
and throughout the country. Topics covered include how
to maximize federal benefits, the best day to retire, maximizing
sick and annual leave, survivors benefits, insurance
benefits and all there is to know about the Thrift Savings
Plan.
A secure, sound retirement is every worker’s ultimate
goal. And because we are living longer, healthier lives, we
can expect to spend more time in retirement than our predecessors.
Achieving this universal dream of a sound, comfortable
retirement is much easier when you
can plan your finances.
Presently, the median household headed by
a person aged 60-62 with a 401(k) account has
less than one-quarter of what is needed in that
account to maintain its standard of living in
retirement, according to the Center for Retirement
Research at Boston College. Faced with
shortfalls, people are postponing retirement,
cutting back on expenditures, taking on riskier
bets with investments and making the kind of
sacrifices they never envisioned.
Experts like Vanderslice picture a meaningful
retirement for all workers – as long as they can
start saving more, start saving earlier and start
saving smarter.
Federal workers can start the planning process
by calling Vanderslice.
Securities offered by Cabot Lodge Securities LLC, New York, New York,
Member SIPC / FINRA
www.annvanderslice.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - FEB / MARCH 2014

y the suit staff
It’s a Perfect Fit
Finding Capital for Middle Market Companies
Selecting the best qualified partner to help raise capital
is a key step in any successful financing strategy.
Describing this as one of the main ingredients
necessary to the success of a middle market firm’s
capital campaign, the Middle Market Executive
newsletter also issues a reminder that the person
selected is someone you will have to work with for a long
period of time.
That advice is echoed by Eileen M. Burke, founder and
managing partner of West End Capital and Advisory in
New York. “We advise management teams to take time
really getting to know their potential advisors,” Burke explained.
“Do they have enough experience to withstand
the difficult situations that can come up in a complex deal?
You’re going to be in the trenches together, and you need
an advisor who is strong, committed to moving ahead, and
that you like spending time with.”
West End provides a range of advisory services to companies
of all sizes, from corporate development to mergers
and acquisition advice. But West End’s specialty is helping
companies develop sensible capital formation plans, and
then taking them through the process from start to finish.
“Because my partners and I spent our careers making investments
at big banks and asset management firms, we
understand the investment process from the inside out. We
use our own experience as a litmus test when we consider
taking on new potential clients.”
Burke’s firm evaluates potential clients using several key
criteria. The first step involves a preliminary review of the
company’s business plan and operating track record. West
End tends to avoid start-ups, preferring to work with a
company that has some history. “We look for (a company)
that has been in business for at least a few years and has a
solid business plan,” Burke said. “It can be a small company,
but it needs to be up, running, and generating cash
flow.”
Burke’s team then analyzes the company’s position within
the marketplace and whether it has a sustainable competitive
advantage. They also look for special features of
interest to investors. “It’s never the same answer each time,
but we look for something distinct about the company that
an investor would be attracted to,” Burke explains. “Maybe
they’re in a very appealing market segment and are poised
to take off. On the other hand, a company may not have big
expansion opportunities, but their business throws off a lot
of cash. Or, maybe the CEO is a fantastic leader who has a
track record of picking great people and building market
leaders.”
Whatever that special feature may be, Burke and her colleagues
know first-hand just what investors seek. “The big
factor that differentiates our firm is my team’s combined 70
years of investing experience. Not only do we understand
the big picture, but we’ve managed the nuts and bolts of
getting billions of dollars of deals done behind closed doors
at banks and hedge funds,” Burke said. “It’s almost like
we’re a secret weapon for our clients. A lot of people working
in this business don’t have that background. They have
been more on the advisory side for their entire careers.”
Burke’s experience allows her to prepare an extensive investment
memorandum for potential investors. Although
time-consuming, it pays off in the end. “By the time the
investors finish reading the memo, it gives them a lot of
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - FEB / MARCH 2014

analysis – enough to make an assessment whether this is
an investment they would like to pursue,” she said. “This
benefits clients, since delays in gathering pertinent information
happen before investors are approached,” Burke said.
Speeding up the deal review process for investors reduces
the possibility of deals falling apart because of excessive time
lapses. One of the biggest challenges in her business is that in
reality, most jobs take much longer than anticipated.
“Eighty-five to 90 percent of the time it takes longer to
complete transactions and go through all the steps than you
expect,” Burke said. She believes this is because middle market
companies are often thinly staffed and have limited experience
raising institutional capital. “All of a sudden there is
this whole new project that is not your basic business,” Burke
said in describing the typical reaction a middle market firm
experiences once her team is on board and in house. “Sometimes
clients are overwhelmed by all the steps in the process.
Or they don’t listen because they’ve picked up some general
information along the way and think they know what is
needed. That’s why we only work with management teams
who are truly willing to listen and learn.” Burke explained.
“Otherwise it defeats the purpose and creates unnecessary
stress. When you understand what you know and what you
don’t know, it saves time and you get a better result.”
Despite the challenges, working with middle market companies
is exactly where Burke chooses to be. At Fleet Bank,
she founded and ran a successful entertainment lending
practice. When Fleet was being bought by Bank of America,
Burke used her banking and entertainment connections to
form the first junior capital investing business focused on the
entertainment industry.
“Entertainment companies benefited from a robust senior
Eileen Burke, Thurman E. Scott, Artistic Director Actors Theatre
Workshop, Shlomo Bakhash, President of the Kash Group and
Lilian Bakhash at the ART NY Local Hero Awards.
bank loan market and a range of equity investors,” Burke
notes, “but no one was focusing on junior debt: I wanted
to build a new business and at the same time, support the
people I’d worked with for so many years.” She did just
that, and five years later, she was in a position to start West
End. Burke has been successfully working the middle ever
since.
369 Lexington Avenue, Suite 311
New York, NY 10017
917-975-8723
eileen.burke@westendca.com
www.westendca.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.41

y amy m. armstrong
Let the Riding Begin
Leasing Gets New Riders Started
The demographics
of motorcycle riders
– particularly those
mounting a Harley
Davidson – is changing.
Once known
primarily as a bike
ridden by older white
males, it is now becoming
the bike of
choice for women, for
younger riders irrespective
of gender and
racial background.
The H-D leasing specialists.
Since 2011
These potential new riders are
some of the leading reasons why
Peter Wasmer, President & CEO
of Chrome Capital Group, and his team
of professionals established their innovative
leasing program to get more
riders onto more Harleys without the
burden of a long-term loan and a large
down payment.
“The TestRide lease affords riders the
opportunity to step into the Harley-Davidson
lifestyle on terms that match
their riding habits. ” Wasmer explained.
Many riders seek the thrill of riding
but aren’t ready to be married to the financial
commitment of a six- to seven-year
loan that an outright purchase
may require.
“A three-year lease is a much better fit
for the Harley-Davidson experience,”
notes Wasmer. Most riders want to tradein
or trade-up their bikes after two to
three years of riding. It’s especially true of
new riders who often opt for a less powerful
bike during the first years of riding,
as they learn the ins and outs of handling
a motorcycle. Riding out on the open road
with the wind whipping through your
hair represents absolute freedom.” Wasmer
said that a lease versus a purchase
also represents a similar sense of freedom:
the TestRide lease has no mileage limits,
and the lessee is free to take advantage of
numerous options at the end of the lease.
Harley-Davidson is iconic Americana
that people can readily identify with – as
does Wasmer, who is also a rider. Establishing
a Harley-Davidson leasing program
via his own company struck a particularly
American chord with him.
“I grew up in a family where having
your own business was part of life,”
Wasmer said. “I tell people that I am the
American dream made manifest. My father
came directly from Cuba in 1951, educated
himself, and successfully pursued
the American dream to its fullest extent.
He has given our family an excellent life,
focusing on providing top education and
brilliant life experiences, thereby demonstrating
the benefits of hard work, determination,
and ingenuity. By extension, I
am capitalizing on that gift. Working with
our world-class team to build Chrome
Capital is the ultimate dream for me.”
For 2014, the ultimate Harley dream
represents something of a watershed,
with the Motor Company commencing
the transition from the traditional aircooled
engines to liquid-cooled engines
that perform better in urban driving conditions
where gridlock and soaring outdoor
temperatures can tax an engine.
What hasn’t changed at all is the distinctive
rumble produced by a Harley-Davidson.
That sound and timeless styling
act like a magnet, enticing the adventuresome
to put on their leathers and head out
on the highway.
This drives Wasmer and his team to
continue expanding partnerships with
more dealers in a 36-state operating area.
Chrome Capital will add California and
New York to its operating area in 2014.
After all, he figures, shouldn’t everyone
who wants to, get the opportunity to ride
an American classic?
www.chromecapital.com
www.harley-davidson.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - FEB / MARCH 2014

Thinking, Acting and
Investing Like a Gentleman
Integrity: First in Any Financial Advice
A
gentleman knows that it’s
often those simple gestures
that mean the most. Indeed,
good manners will open many a
door that has been slammed in the
faces of others.
“First and foremost, I treat every
client as a gentleman would,” Justin
M. Follmer, a wealth advisor at
Charleston, SC-based Lowcountry
Investment Advisors, Inc., told
The Suit. “That’s why I put the title
“gentleman” on my business card.
Wall Street was designed to make money, but no one in this
industry – or any other for that matter – should ever take
advantage of a person’s finances. To me, it’s all about the
client. I am quick to respond to concerns, phone calls and
emails. And, I’m always respectful.”
Follmer has a steadfast and dedicated group of clients,
ranging from ultra-high net worth individuals to working
class couples. “I will work with any client that I believe I
can help and that I mesh with personally. I enjoy working
with people who bring complicated financial situations,
with many moving parts, to the table. It keeps me sharp
and on my toes.”
A U.S. Marine Veteran who completed his tour of duty
in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom II, Follmer knows
more than most about staying sharp. His courageous military
background, coupled with experience in using the
most powerful financial management tools, gives him an
edge when it comes to focusing on planning around clients’
needs, whether those be dreams, fears, “what-if” scenarios,
lifetime milestones or major achievements.
“Every client is unique and has different goals. I never
take a universal approach when plotting an investment
strategy. But I do help all clients manage risk and set realistic
goals. My goal is to see clients comfortably into retirement
and to grow in doing so,” Follmer shared.
To be sure, a gentleman like Follmer puts more into this
world than he takes out of it.
www.lowcountryadvisors.com
FUNDING STRATEGIES
FOR STARTUPS
Helping Small Business
Get Started and Succeed
No matter how groundbreaking
your idea for
a new business, you
won’t get out of the gate without
funding. While a number of
options exist in finding “seed”
money, most of them aren’t
available for start-ups. Typically,
banks only consider companies that have been in business
for two years. Moreover, they insist on seeing a tangible
asset that can be used as collateral.
Entrepreneurs spend an average of $70,000 to start a
business, according to William Bygrave, professor of free
enterprise at Babson College in Wellesley, MA. Most of that
money comes out of their own pockets.
“It isn’t easy starting a business, especially in the wake
of the 2008 financial crisis,” Harry E. LeBoeuf, CEO of Bull
Financial, LLC, told The Suit. “Banks won’t even look at
new businesses due to today’s tight lending environment.
Tougher government regulations have also made small
business loans harder to get.”
Recognizing the need and seizing a great opportunity,
LeBoeuf formed Bull Financial in 2006 to offer small business
owners additional benefits that conventional mortgage
brokers and bankers can’t, won’t or don’t. A retired U.S. Air
Force Colonel with expertise
in finance, LeBoeuf
seeks funding from
nontraditional sources
like venture capitalists
and angel investors.
LeBoeuf recently
beefed up his firm by
expanding services. He
also acts as a small business
financial consultant, assisting clients in management,
leadership and operations. “I help clients find solutions to
select needs. Superior customer support and full engagement
every step of the way, sets Bull Financial apart. Clients
know I’ve got their back,” LeBoeuf emphasized.
Small businesses are indeed the backbone of the American
economy. Today, over half of America’s workers either
own or work for a small business. What’s more, small businesses
have generated 64 percent of new jobs over the past
15 years. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban development, small businesses create two out of every
three new jobs in the U.S.
It’s those kind of numbers that are bullish for the economic
recovery, and good for LeBoeuf’s firm, Bull Financial.
www.bullfinancial.net
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.43

y diane e. alter
LEGENDARY FINANCIAL SERVICE
The word “legend” is
typically reserved for a
famous person known
to have done something
extraordinarily well, who then
becomes the inspiration for
legends. It’s not a word casually
tossed around or frequently used.
But it is the perfect word to describe
Louis P. Stanasolovich’s financial
advisory firm.
Founded two decades ago,
Legend Financial Advisors, Inc.
is widely respected as one of the
nation’s leading fee-only financial
advisory firms. Based in Pittsburgh,
PA, the firm serves clients
nationwide. Among Legend’s
numerous awards and accolades
is recognition as “Best Advisors
in the Country” more than 30
times by a wide variety of national
publications. Additionally,
Stanasolovich – named by Financial
Planning magazine as one of
America’s “Movers & Shakers”
– has been recognized numerous
times for his contributions to best
practices for portfolio management.
Yet when asked for his
biggest success story, the highly
accomplished Stanasolovich says
it’s helping people get to retirement
and helping them through
retirement, while allowing them to
sleep peacefully at night, knowing
their finances are well looked after.
To be sure, Legend builds
connections. “We’re focused
on long-term relationships,”
Stanasolovich told “The Suit.”
“There are no short term fixes.
Our objective is to provide
competitive returns over time with
less risk than the overall market.
When appropriate, we use ETFs,
mutual funds, equities and/or any
combination of these investment
vehicles.”
Managing all kinds of risk –
running the gamut from market
gyrations to inflation to credit risk –
Stanasolovich carefully researches
potential investments. “While ETF
investing is among today’s hottest
trends, there are a lot of underlying
issues that must be addressed.
Some are illiquid and some are a
headache at tax time. I always say
'buyer beware.' To use an analogy,
you have to look under the hood to
see what’s there. Most individual
investors don’t, or they’re not
knowledgeable enough to do that.”
As a fee-only firm, Legend has
a legal fiduciary responsibility to
always work in client’s best interest.
“That is something we have always
taken very seriously – and pride
ourselves on,” Stanasolovich said.
The fee-only method for
investment compensation
unquestionably results in the best
outcome for clients. Indeed, that’s
why the entire financial planning
and investment management
industry is moving in that direction.
Five key reasons to always choose a
fee-only advisor include:
• No pressure to buy or sell
investments
• No conflict of interest
• The investor and the
advisor share the same goals
• The investor and the
advisor stay in touch
• Wealth management is the
true priority
Such practices, coupled with
constant client communication
and Legend’s brand of dynamic,
creative and personalized financial
planning and investment solutions
are behind their legendary client
retention rate, averaging over 96%.
To put a spin on the immortal
words of American icon, Babe
Ruth – heroes get remembered
but legends like Legend Financial
Advisors, thrive.
www.legend-financial.com
“
There are no short term
fixes. Our objective is
to provide competitive
returns over time with
less risk than the overall
market. When appropriate,
we use ETFs, mutual
funds, equities and/or
any combination of these
investment vehicles.”
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - FEB / MARCH 2014

y the suit staff
The Perception of Risk
Building Relationships With Clients
Knowing the exact
measure of a client’s
risk tolerance is an
effective, yet at times elusive,
tool for financial planners.
Researchers at Texas
Tech University recently
presented findings at a conference
sponsored by the
national Financial Planning
Association, indicating that
a client’s risk tolerance itself
doesn’t change much with
market fluctuations. The researchers
determined that
real change is in the client’s
own perception of the risk.
They presented the idea that
clients load up on stocks in
a bull market, not because
they are more tolerant of
risk, but because they don’t
even perceive one to exist.
This reading of a client’s
perception is in line with
how C. Michael Johnson,
president of Wealth Planning
Corporation based in
Cincinnati, Ohio, handles
the interactions conducted
by his firm.
“In our firm, our unique
ability is that, because we
are planning advisers, we
start with building that relationship
around the answer
to the question: ‘What does
the client need?’ Generally
that is two things,” Johnson
explains. “What do they see
as their dangers, opportunities
and strengths, and how
do we guide them toward
the opportunities they may
be missing now to get them
to what they see as their bigger
future.”
This guidance is done
via a trademarked process
Johnson calls “The Money
Coaching System.” It is a
“Trust is the common
thread in
any successful
relationship. Jeopardize
the trust,
and the relationship
will become
stressful, eventually
dissolving.
Trust, however,
must be earned
over time.
coaching system chock full
of financial benchmarks, detailing
for a client what their
working capital must be in
10, 20 and 30 years, based
on their goals.
Johnson said, “It’s true
that everyone wants to
make more money. Yet the
question so many don’t ask
themselves is, ‘How much
more compared to what?’”
He said, “Most people don’t
have a clue what that really
is,” he said. “We use this
process to help us define for
them what their standards
and objectives are.” Doing
this often means making adjustments,
yet Johnson can
speak from experience that
the temporary pains associated
with making changes
are indeed temporary.
When he transitioned from
commission-based work to a
fee-based model, he himself
experienced a fair amount of
stress. Johnson admits that
going from a large, up-front
commission to a quarterly,
fee-based payment resulted
in a “hit on cash flow” and
he indicated that he “had
some scary times.”
Yet Johnson hung in, he
said – and persevered.
That was his motto during
2008 and 2009 when clients’
portfolio values were declining
due to a radical market
correction as the housing
bubble burst. Johnson
told his clients that he was
hanging in with them – and
he meant what he said.
“The biggest thing for getting
through that success-
fully was having constant
contact with the clients, reassuring
them about what
was going on and communicating
our strategy and
moves so they were comfortable
with the actions the
firm was taking on their behalf,”
Johnson said.
It worked: The firm had an
astounding (or use incredible)
92 percent client retention
during a time when client
migration between firms
more closely resembled the
habits of birds reacting to
weather patterns.
“We acknowledged that
yes, this is painful,” Johnson
said. “But we also said that
we are staying in dialogue
with you to get you through
this, and your money will
begin to grow again and you
will get back on course.”
www.wealthp.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - FEB / MARCH 2014

y diane e. alters
Seriously Sensible About Wealth Management
Total Care for All Your Investment Needs
Wealth managers do much
more than pick stocks, bonds
and funds. While their services
might start there, they go much
further. Good wealth managers are
actively involved in their clients’ current
situations as well as in their future
goals and objectives. Re-balancing an
investment profile and portfolio based
on where a client is in life and what life
changes have occurred, for example,
are among wealth managers’ top priorities.
In short, wealth managers deal
with many of the difficult financial
decisions that the majority of people
would rather avoid.
SRS Wealth Management Group
Inc. tackles those thorny issues headon.
For more than 14 years, the Baton
Rouge, LA-based firm has been flourishing
by providing comprehensive
and independent financial guidance to
scores of individuals, beginning with
former BellSouth employees. Its strong
commitment to “serving the customer”
remains central to the company's culture.
For that reason also, it partners
with one of the largest broker-dealers
in the U.S., in order to be free to offer
clients truly objective advice.
“We keep it simple,” Christopher
Boggs, SRS President, told The Suit.
“Offering a 'total care' approach to
wealth management, we provide investment
selection, address debt and
credit issues, and engage in estate and
retirement planning. With access to
expert estate attorneys, insurance providers,
Affordable Care Act healthcare
professionals and CPAs, we can ensure
that clients’ needs are expertly met and
in a timely manner.”
Specializing in helping individuals
approaching or already in retirement,
SRS doesn’t set limits on the amount
of assets necessary for someone to
come on board. “What’s important
to us is that a person is serious about
their financial planning, has realistic
goals and is dedicated to our direction
of helping them move forward, with
confidence in their financial future.
We take time to sit with each client to
get a clear picture of the big picture.
We have to be a good fit to get good
results. All prospective clients come
to us by referral. That speaks volumes
about our current clients’ satisfaction
with us,” Boggs explained.
Wealth managers have never been
more needed than now. Soaring stock
values have motivated investors to
shift sideline money into equities and
other investment vehicles. While 2014
is expected to be another positive year
for stocks, money managers say investors
shouldn’t expect the outsized
gains of 2013. Additionally, changes
to capital gains, dividends and estate
taxes can easily strip away investors’
profits. Then there’s the healthcare direction.
“People are living longer, and
in better health. It’s not only important
that people have enough funds to last
their longer lifetimes. They also need
to have a long-term care plan in place,”
Boggs shared.
Boggs also takes great care in selecting
the people he brings in to carry out
his carefully curated investment decisions
for the company's diverse client
base. Inspired by family, religion, his
work crew and love of country, Boggs
is passionately driven to succeed in
everything that he does. That unwavering
ambition serves his clients very
well indeed.
www.srswealthmanagementgroup.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.47

y amy m. armstrong
TEACHING People to Fish
A Unique Educational System for Self-Directed Investing
Five years past
the financial
meltdown of
2008, dubbed “The
Great Recession,”
the small investor
still does not trust
Wall Street. According
to a 2013 report,
issued in the fall by the American Enterprise
Institute (AEI) of Washington,
D.C., that distrust doesn’t simply exist
– it grew at a healthy pace and still
maintains an active presence. The AEI
report cited several recent polls from
Harris Interactive, The Atlantic and
the Aspen Institute. Using the same
survey as it has for the past 23 years,
Harris found that in 2007, only 30 percent
of respondents indicated little or
no confidence in the financial industry.
Just two years later in 2009, when the
effects of the 2008 meltdown had yet to
subside, that number doubled, climbing
to a startling 60 percent. Three
years later in 2012, those expressing
little or no confidence dropped by a
less-than-comforting nine percentage
points to 51 percent.
Public distrust at first glance might
not appear to benefit financial advisers.
Yet for Mario Romano, co-founder
and CEO of Wealth Engineering, LLC
based in Tinton Falls, NJ, it has transformed
into monetary self-actualization
not only for Romano, but also for
clients utilizing the system, uniquely
designed to aid self-directed investors.
“After spending 30 years on Wall
Street, I knew there was a huge void
for the ‘small investor,’” said Romano.
“Financial institutions do not necessarily
have the best interest of the client in
mind at all times. People want to start
learning how to manage a portion of
their own capital.”
A desire to help people do just that
is what prompted Romano to establish
Wealth Engineering in 2005. Completely
online, the firm specializes in
investor education and strategic trading
processes. Back in 2002, he asked
Annette Raynor, a financial IT expert,
to analyze a software program monitoring
the cash flow of publicly-traded
companies. In doing so, she advised
Romano of the enormous potential
for an efficient tool the general public
could use to manage investments.
Romano heeded Raynor’s advice,
and they co-founded Wealth Engineering.
The software program became
the framework for an online financial
education platform owned by what is
now a publicly traded company: Investview
Inc. (INVU) Romano’s firm
became a marketer for the company’s
services and brokered a deal for the
company with Questrade, a Canadian
discount brokerage firm and Raynor
worked with the firm as an education
Coach for their Core Investing room
and assisted the company in bringing
their 7 Minute Investor portfolio product
to market.
Partnering with Chad Miller and
Ryan Smith, both of whom are pioneers
of the online financial education sector
and managing members of CR Capital
Holdings, LLC of Farmington, UT
in March of 2013, Romano launched
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - FEB / MARCH 2014

“‘Remember, wealth is not automatic.
It has to be engineered!
It is generated!’”
- Patrick Kucera, Entrepreneurial Evangelist
a new online financial services platform,
called Wealth Generators. A few
months later, in November, Investview
became a distributor for Wealth Generators.
The Wealth Generators platform
does much more than analyze stock
performance and provide trade alerts.
It also helps investors earn income by
referring others.
“Wealth Generators takes the complexity
out of the stock market because
it offers strategies designed and managed
by their Market Experts,” Romano
said. “Each member is provided the
knowledge and trade details created
by the Market Expert. The best way to
learn is through application and that is
exactly what Wealth Generators does.
It educates each individual on the various
strategies but even more important
it applies the education through ongoing
trade alerts that take a strategy
from start to finish.”
To Romano’s way of thinking, the
focus on individual education is a key
component. He believes it empowers
the individual investor – whether big or
small in terms of dollars – to leave behind
the distrust of previous financial
experiences and the fatigue brought on
from worrying about future impacts.
By completing the educational videos
and then following and executing the
trade strategies, each individual gains
the confidence they need to better approach
their investment capital.
“Wealth Generators is seeking to
change the public’s perception that a
small individual investor cannot manage
his own portfolio,” Romano said.
The system’s users vary from
18-year-old’s with starter jobs learning
the first basics of money management
to the mid-lifer trying to maximize income
sources during working years to
the retiree mastering the art of managing
a nest egg. It also provides those
with limited or no working capital an
opportunity to bolster their
resources via referral generation
through the system’s network marketing
model. This gives users two methods
to increase cash flow each week:
first via regular market trading and
second by bringing other individual
investors online.
Wealth Generators utilizes the services
of market experts such as Corey
Halliday, a coach and instructor with
Investview, to advise platform users
regarding financial choices they believe
might be the most prudent under
current market conditions. What the
platform coach experts do not do is to
tell a user which specific trade to make
or not to make. “This,” Romano said,
“differs from the traditional client/adviser
relationship in that platform users
make the trade decision for themselves
but with the added benefit of the
Market Expert as a coach.”
“Two analogies that I quite often tell
people are: if Tiger Woods walked up
to you on the green and said your feet
are spread too far apart while you are
putting, would you not narrow your
stance?” Romano explained. “If Peyton
Manning was teaching your son how
to throw a football and he told your
son to step into his throws instead of
throwing off his back foot, would you
not expect your son to start stepping
into his throws?” Wealth Generators
and their Market Experts function as
a financial coach. Imagine what you
would have to pay for the services of a
private coach. The Wealth Generators
system is affordable enabling everyone
access and the ability to take their financial
future into their own hands.
Perhaps the question closer to home
for Romano could be posed in this
manner: Are you as a small individual
investor, going to listen to advice
from a guy who spent more than three
decades working on Wall Street and
who believes the system is broken?
If the answer is yes, then tune Romano
in. He started at Lehman Brothers
in 1982 while attending college at St.
John’s University. After, graduating in
1987, he worked as an assistant to several
brokers, formed his own company,
Romano Enterprises LLC, in 2000. That
firm – an equity hedge fund dedicated
to the needs of individual investors –
was in some respects a forerunner to
Wealth Generators. Romano believes
the biggest take away from his Wall
Street experience is the lack of trading
expertise by the majority of brokers.
In the past brokers were taught to be
salespeople not necessarily successful
investors. The brokers’ objective is to
earn a commission while the investor’s
objective is to make money. As long
as these objectives remain mismatched
we will continue to see distrust of Wall
Street increase.
Individuals can be educated and
they can apply this knowledge with the
proper coaching along the way. Wealth
Generators offers a platform that accomplishes
this along with a commitment
to transparency and compliance
as evidenced by the fact that each one
of the trade strategies includes full historical
trade performance including entry,
exit, adjustments and final returns.
“My goal for 2014 is to create financial
independence for all,” Romano
said. “If done right, we will teach
people a skill for life.”
www.wealthgenerators.com
Contact Us: 888-778-5372
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.49

y amy a. armstrong
Singing and Relationships
Build a Strong Firm
Nearly half of working Americans ages 50 and above
indicate they most likely will be forced to continue
working for pay during their retirement years.
This is according to a survey released in Oct. 2013 produced
by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs
Research. The survey suggests that by 2020, more than 25
percent of the American workforce will be age 55 or older.
With U.S. Census Bureau reports dating back to 1995 indicating
that older workers today tend to be better educated
and healthier, with longer life expectancies than their counterparts
in the 1960s, wealth management planners such as
Gary A. Richman, president of Richman Wealth Management
in Pikesville, Md., are increasingly aware of their specialized
needs.
Richman’s approach involves providing clients with
monthly income calendars detailing their expenses and the
income level they need to meet those expenses upon retirement.
“As we get older and get further along in our careers or
closer to retirement, we get closer to the concept that bills
are monthly; if bills are monthly, then life is monthly. And
since life is monthly, shouldn’t investment results start to
match up against the bills,” Richman said. “So I send my
clients calendars and they can see exactly how much money
is going to come in each month based on dividends. It keeps
me in communication with them and helps me to respond
immediately to their needs to reduce the volatility in their
portfolios.”
Richman is a believer in the customization of portfolios –
but with an old-school twist. He subscribes to the financial
investment theory that there truly is only one main portfolio
type which is then adjusted to meet the specific goals
and risk tolerance of each investor.
“A broker truly can only accurately and fully follow at the
most 50 different positions or stocks,” Richman said. “The
question you ask yourself as a broker is, ‘How much of each
of those positions do you put in each client’s account based
on what their goals are?’”
He explained that this is why no two portfolios he constructs
are identical. Yet all are built around a common list
of 50 positions Richman believes will produce desired results.
Despite their increasing popularity, Richman is not a fan
of computer-generated theoretical portfolios. He thinks that
the broker himself needs to determine what is appropriate
for the client – not a computer.
Richman accomplishes this by limiting his firm’s client
roster to 100 families. By contacting four clients a day for
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - FEB / MARCH 2014

a check-in conversation, he makes contact with each client
at least once every month, giving him the opportunity to
address any special concerns personally. It’s also created a
sort of passive income, in that the next generation of families
he currently works with, tend to select Richman for
their financial advising needs. In some cases, he is working
with the fourth generation of family members. This is the
brand of social media and modern communication that he
prefers.
“My approach is to supersede the Internet by meeting
with the families of my clients, inviting them to events
and doing conferences in the office,” Richman explained.
“My question is: ‘Which young clients do you want? Do
you want the ones that are Internet savvy only or do you
want the ones that are also the future generations of your
existing best clients?’ The best way to do that is to meet
with them now to help them formulate their approach to
the future.”
Richman has used other, less than traditional forms of
marketing as well. Every Monday night for five years, he
used his singing talents for a kind of night club act at the
McDonald’s in Pikesville, Maryland. Known as the $inging
$tockbroker, Richman belted out the greatest hits of Frank
Sinatra, Dean Martin, Perry Como and Bobby Darin to
show people his fun side.
It worked.
“Some people came to every show,” he said. “I got to
know them and they have become absolutely terrific clients.”
Although Richman's act moved to the Touch of Italy
restaurant in Rehoboth Beach, Del., every Thursday evening,
it still allows him to continue delivering the personal
touch that actually got him into the wealth management
industry. Richman has always had a strong entrepreneurial
spirit. At age 20, he started a pet shop, which was doing
well eight years later. He sold it as part of what he thought
might be a first step toward making a living turning real estate.
The pet shop purchaser told him he ought to become a
stockbroker instead, since he was constantly giving advice
to others.
“They (the recipients of his advice) were making money
and I was making money in the stock market, so I thought
about it,” Richman recalls.
In 1981, he started as a stock broker at a time he kindly
says had a “horrible market.” After stints in various
brokerage houses, Richman went independent with LPL
Financial, through which he offers securities. He was weary,
too, of the endless cycle of manager promotions, leaving
him never knowing whether the next manager would
be good or bad.
Becoming an independent through LPL Financial allowed
Richman to start doing what he enjoys the most:
being an entrepreneur and seeking out the best business
relationships he could find.
“The main thing I look for are long-term relationships
with people I enjoy. I can appreciate their goals, and they
value and appreciate the advice and guidance I can give
them,” he said. “When I begin to work with people’s children,
grandchildren and great grandchildren, I consider
that the greatest success. It just thrills me.”
Learn more about Richman Wealth Management Inc.
online at www.lpl.com/gary.richman .
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.51

y amy m. armstrong
HONESTY AND RESPECTFUL TRANSACTIONS
CHANGING AN IMAGE
The collateral loan business is the Rodney Dangerfield of financial
transactions: It doesn’t get the respect it deserves.
The business often plays a vital role in providing financial
resources for specialty situations more traditional options can't
accommodate. Until recent reality shows about pawn shops became
popular, even the words “pawn shop” themselves didn’t
necessarily bring to mind the most positive of images. Yet for
many owners of upscale collateral loan enterprises and the customers
they serve, the business is nothing to scoff at. Knowing
the industry has had a rough past, its reputation is something
owners such as Arthur Abramov of Manhattan Buyers, Inc.
in New York City strive to change, by delivering honest and
respectful transactions to each client who comes through the
door. For many, a collateral loan can be a lifesaver.
“It’s a very sensitive topic,” Abramov begins. “Often because
of the history, people have had such bad experiences. You don’t
get the same kind of trust from clients as you would in a different
business.”
But he does see that changing. Abramov takes in a large volume
of jewelry – both from estate sales and from clients with
temporary cash flow challenges wanting to borrow money.
One example of the changing state of the industry is a recent
deal with the owner of a local construction company. He was
waiting for payments from the state and used his wife’s jewelry
to secure a short-term collateral loan until he received payment
for the completed work.
“Once he got paid, he paid off the collateral loan plus interest
and kept his business functioning. It was a good way for him to
stay low key and not have to go through a lot of channels to get
the money he needed.”
This case more accurately represents the type of collateral
loan that Abramov conducts, rather than the low dollar value
loans attributed to the stereotypical “pawn shop” – a term
Abramov does not use to describe his business.
He willingly pays a bit higher than similar businesses
might, but it is a strategy that works. Abramov knows
that his “higher-paying” reputation brings more
clients through the door and he believes his
generosity is made up in volume. Rather
than having only two to three clients come
in each day, Abramov estimates that client
traffic averages at least 20 per day.
He also uses a significant
online presence to put his
company’s message
out to the public.
He started Manhattan
Buyers
just as the Internet
began transitioning from its infancy as a government
entity to a publicly-used tool. Bypassing standard yellow page
ads, instead Abramov put up a small but functional website, as
he describes it. Since then, his online presence has ballooned,
giving clients across the nation access to Manhattan Buyers
when searching for fine jewelry, diamonds, watches or rare
coins.
Currently Abramov recommends that clients invest funds in
silver – a precious metal that he believes is often overlooked.
Historically, he noted that gold and silver prices are 16 to 1 –
meaning that silver should be trading significantly higher than
it is now, at approximately $19 per ounce.
“You can’t buy much for 19 bucks. If you have 19 bucks to
spend, my suggestion is to buy some physical silver coins and
hold them,” Abramov said. “Twenty bucks can’t even get you a
decent lunch in the city.”
It is a slice of real advice that Abramov offers up to those willing
to receive the streetwise sense he’s developed throughout
the years. He calls each situation just as he sees it. This is what
gives him the ability to provide alternative financial assistance
and to improve the public’s perception of the collateral loan
business – one transaction at a time.
www.manhattanbuyers.com

y diane e. alter
RULE NO. 1: DON’T LOSE MONEY
WHEN YOU’VE WON THE GAME, STOP PLAYING
No amount of hope, luck or skill
can change the mathematically
certain fact that active investing
– in all kinds of financial markets
– is a zero sum game. After costs, most
active investors are doomed to underperform.
As daunting and discouraging
as that fact is, scores of investors
and money managers continue to try
to defy the odds, with most failing.
But some do succeed. For those fortunate
enough to come out ahead, Ryan
Peterson has some invaluable advice.
“When you’ve won the game, stop
playing the game.”
President of Raleigh, NC-based Wisdom
& Wealth Solutions, Inc, Peterson
says his firm’s mantra is “don’t lose
money.” When investing in securities
portfolios, Peterson certainly cannot
guarantee against any loss to a portfolio,
but he says it’s important to understand
the risk vs. return of the mix you
select with your advisor.
Having worked through the dot.
com boom and bust, the financial crisis
of 2008 and a number of scandals that
left a great many investors swearing
off Wall Street, Peterson says that his
approach to risk has changed. “One of
our main objectives is to minimize losses
– even if it means sitting out some
market rallies,” Peterson told The Suit.
Wisdom & Wealth Solutions, Inc. has
been helping clients with their money
for over 25 years. An independent Registered
Investment Advisor (RIA), Peterson
provides sage investment and
retirement planning advice to a broad
client base made up mainly of dentists,
physicians, active business owners,
former business owners and budding
entrepreneurs. Most clients are concentrated
in the Raleigh, NC and surrounding
area, but Wisdom & Wealth
Solutions, Inc services clients all over
the country.
Explaining the firm’s large concentration
of business owners, Peterson
said that most clients come in via re-
Wisdom & Wealth Solutions, Inc.
Independent Registered Investment Advisory Firm
Clarity for those with Vision
ferral. “Business owners have the advantage
of controlling the structure of
their business, which also allows them
to control their businesses’ cash flow.
We partner with established business
owners who are seeking to maximize
their cash flow efficiencies. Through
objective advice and unique solutions,
we help clients maximize savings,
minimize tax liabilities and manage
risk. We plan for both the best and
worst case scenarios so clients know
they’ll be okay either way,” Peterson
clarified.
The Affordable Care Act, aka
Obamacare, is one scenario that has
nearly all of Peterson’s clients worried.
“Amid all the delays and amendments,
uncertainty reigns. No one knows how
this will all turn out. The uncertainty
is keeping clients from making capital
investments, increasing headcount
and expanding. Many in
the medical industry say
Obamacare is the ‘straw
on the camel’s back’ that
has them mulling completely
getting out of medicine,” Peterson
shared.
While watching carefully how it all
plays out, Wisdom & Wealth Solutions,
Inc. continues successfully assisting
clients with all their financial
decisions.
Peterson’s aim has always been to
help people in any way that he can.
“Helping people get what they want
has helped me get what I want,” he
says. And that includes a great sense
of satisfaction.
www.wisdom-wealth.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.53

y diane e. alter
Born out of the vision of Chief Executive Officer and
Chief Investment Officer, Tina Byles Williams, FIS
Group’s mission is to provide innovative and effective
solutions for enhancing the wealth of our clients, implemented
by highly motivated and skilled investment
professionals; to exemplify high ethical standards and
excellence in all that we endeavor; and to improve our
communities.
YOUR SUCCESS… THEIR PASSION
THE ALPHA ADVANTAGE
Alpha represents different concepts
in physics, chemistry,
mathematics, zoology – and
even in finance. In the financial world,
alpha represents the value a portfolio
manager adds to or subtracts from an
account’s return above the market,
measured by commonly used benchmarks,
such as the S&P 500 index.
Alpha is the pillar of FIS Group, Inc.
“Alpha is an important source of
investors’ returns,” FIS Group CEO,
CIO and founder Tina Byles Williams,
explained to The Suit. “It is a necessary
component in helping investors
meet their investment objectives.
Yet alpha is a scarce and often illusive
commodity. Moreover, the more
smart people you have chasing it, the
more arbitraged away and diminished
it becomes.”
To be sure, the search for a competent
and successful money manager
should always focus on alpha.
Byles Williams began FIS Group,
an asset management and investment
advisory firm that aims to produce
alpha for its clients, in 1996. Capitalized
with $150,000 that was a second
mortgage on her home, Byles Williams
effectively grew the Philadelphia
firm, adding clients, assets under
management and employees. “Today
we manage several billions for our diverse
institutional client base,” Byles
Williams explained.
As with most things in life, risk and
reward go hand in hand. The greater
the potential reward, the greater
the risks that need to be undertaken.
The best investment managers, like
Byles Williams, use their experience
and skills to profit from management
strategies or assets whose risks are
mispriced and whose opportunities
are misunderstood. Examples of such
strategies include frontier markets as
well smaller, experienced and highly
talented entrepreneurial investment
management firms.
FIS Group specializes in offering
emerging strategies to public funds,
corporations, endowments and foundations,
with products tailored to specifically
suit each client’s needs and
mandates. Strategies are built around
navigating domestic, global, emerging
and frontier markets, as well as
sectors.
The firm also uses the more usual
investment vehicles like exchange
traded funds (ETFs) and U.S. equities,
but Byles Williams sees great potential
in global markets. “Currently, half
of our assets are invested in non-U.S.
equities, including small caps, emerging
and frontier markets,” Byles Williams
detailed. She is especially keen
on frontier markets, which represent
some of the world’s less developed
capital markets in countries such as
Croatia, Tunisia, Vietnam, Kenya and
Mozambique.
According to Byles Williams, “Frontier
markets, represent some of the
fastest growing economies, whose
companies (as measured by the constituent
companies in global stock
indices) are reasonably valued but
generate higher dividends and profit
margins than companies in either
developed or emerging countries.”
Companies in frontier markets consist
chiefly of stocks from those fi-
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - FEB / MARCH 2014

nancial, telecommunications and
consumer companies. Over the last
two decades, investments in frontier
markets have become increasingly
relevant to the global economy, rising
six-fold. While these countries do not
as a whole offer the highly evolved
governance structures and capital
markets as developed markets such
as the U.S., Byles Williams stated that
“investors’ perceptions of the riskiness
of these markets typically exceeds
reality and does not sufficiently
differentiate among what is in fact a
considerable variance in governance
structures and risks.”
Another area of misunderstood
risks and opportunity is the perceived
riskiness of smaller investment management
boutiques vs. the big wirehouse
firms. Research by FIS Group
and various academics suggest that
the skilled investors increase their
probability of generating alpha net of
their management fees through high
conviction portfolios whose holdings
vary considerable from common market
benchmarks, such as the S&P 500
index. Byles Williams says her firm
focuses on smaller entrepreneurial
firms that offer such portfolios “because
our research and experience
suggests that as investment managers
increase the size of their portfolios beyond
certain asset thresholds, they are
unable to trade as nimbly, their holdings
become more benchmark-like
and their alpha diminishes.”
“It’s a crucial element
for building successful
portfolios. My team and
I are always tinkering
with investment models,
seeking better, more
lucrative, more efficient
ways to invest and make
money. We are all a creative
and curious bunch
that enjoys solving investment
challenges. We
don’t take our financial
positions of helping people
lightly.”
Byles Williams did take a lighter
tone when asked about her greatest
successes. Without skipping a beat,
she said with a loving motherly undertone,
that her greatest success has
been in raising two good sons. Professionally,
she added, success has
meant building her company into a
successful and premier investment
advisory firm.
On a more serious note, Byles Williams
says that she and her firm are
also proud of their successes in improving
their community. Among
the charitable community initiatives
launched by FIS Group are: the FIS
Group Financial Literacy Program
designed to help increase the financial
literacy of students in low income
areas and life and leadership programs
focused on girls and women
from less privileged backgrounds. As
Byles Williams emphasizes, “We’ve
all done well. We’re in a position to
give back and we do. It’s important to
all of us.”
1818 Market Street
Suite 3205
Philadelphia, PA. 19103
Phone: (215) 567-1100
Fax: (215) 567-1810
www.fisgroup.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.55

y annabelle preston
Evaluating Today’s Decisions for
Tomorrow’s Impact
Despite dire warnings from
within his own industry
that establishing a national
uniform fiduciary standard
will be costly, many
registered financial advisors
such as Jim Beaulieu
continue to support the
idea. At the behest of the
Securities and Exchange
Commission spring 2013,
Schwab Advisor Services
surveyed 843 firms in May
2013 in an effort to determine
the cost of harmonizing
fiduciary requirements across
all aspects of the financial
services industry.
Achieve Balance,
Live Life on Purpose
www.jimbeaulieu.com
Schwab provided a conservative, yet
startling estimate of $174, 560 per registered
investment advisor for the first
year of compliance to a uniform standard.
With 10,500 currently registered
investment advisors in the United
States, that’s a whopping $1.83 billion.
No one is embracing these numbers.
Yet, Beaulieu, president of Jim Beaulieu
Financial Services LLC, said he thinks
the time has come for a uniform standard
to be established.
“It will be better for the industry and
better for clients,” Beaulieu said. “We,
whom are registered investment advisors
are upheld to the fiduciary standard.
I think people who are charging
fees for the business they conduct on
behalf of others should be held to that
same standard and I would help that it
does become law.”
He concedes he’s unsure a law will
be passed.
“There are a lot of forces pushing
back in the other direction,” he said.
In that same Schwab report, estimates
provided by the Securities Industry
and Financial Markets Association
for potential cost for broker-dealers to
comply with a uniform fiduciary standard
were significantly higher than
the RIA side. Estimates were up to $5
million per firm for fiduciary standard
compliance. Of the 18 firms surveyed,
the average estimated cost was $2 million.
These same 18 firms indicated
spending an average of $4.6 million
in July 2012 to comply with the Financial
Industry Regulatory Authority’s
suitability Rule 2111, which requires a
firm’s employees to determine if a particular
financial transaction is suitable
for a specific client.
Compliance costs in general already
segment Beaulieu’s industry. Investors
with small accounts are getting
squeezed out.
“When I started in the late 1980s, you
could help a small investor that had
only $50 a month to invest. But now,
it really isn’t possible to help that person.
Unfortunately, it has just become
too expensive in our business to help
somebody like that,” Beaulieu laments.
“That is part of the negative that has
happened from regulation.”
Beaulieu began his career directly
out of college working for a broker-dealer
in a bank setting. He started
his own firm in 1997 using the services
of an independent broker-dealer. His
firm quickly moved toward total financial
planning and wealth management
and he decided to sever ties with the
broker-dealer and become a registered
investment advisor.
Today he enjoys posing questions
such as the following to his clients: “At
age 45, are you happy with the outcomes
of the decisions you made at age
25? How happy do you think the age
65 you will be with the outcomes of
the decisions you at age 45 are getting
ready to make? Will they be thanking
you for that decision or will they be upset
with you?”
Beaulieu uses a hybrid investment
approach creating portfolios with diversified
access into various market asset
classes. He likes EFTs for their low
cost but shies away from alternative
investments stating he’s just seen too
many of them go wrong.
“Our approach to investing is both
passive and active but most definitely
based on asset class investing in an effort
to put together portfolios that are
suitable for a client with a reasonable
expectation of returns based on what
we are looking for in the numbers
needed to fulfill their financial plan.”
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - FEB / MARCH 2014

y amy m. armstrong
Designing in Diamonds
The halo setting, featuring a large stone completely
surrounded by tiny, bright and intricately cut diamonds,
continues its dominance of the engagement
ring market into 2014. It was the “go to” setting in
2013, as celebrities from tennis stars to bachelors on
reality television shows opted for this stunning setting
when they proposed.
This doesn't surprise Israel Bien, owner of Eternal Fine Jewels
in Manhattan, but he does offer a word of caution to ladies
wearing this style.
“The downside to that style, even though I do love it and it is
a beautiful way to get creative, is that the wearer does have to
be somewhat careful not to pop out a stone or bend the ring,”
Bien warned. “Be careful not to strike it against a hard surface
– such as a taxi cab door handle.”
A big fan of fancy colored diamonds, in dreaming about designing
a perfect piece, Bien would begin with a flower shape
and fill the petals in with multi-colored diamonds surrounded
by fine micro-pave set colored and clear diamonds.
“I think it would be an award-winning ring,” he said. Bien
knows diamonds, especially since both his father and grandfather
were diamond cutters. He himself contends that he
does not have the patience to sit at the diamond cutting
wheel, but Bien continues the family tradition
by offering upscale, uniquely designed jewelry
with top quality diamonds as graded by the
Gemological Institute of America (GIA).
Equally passionate about gemstones and
about designing for charities, Bien has done
pieces for the Parents of Autistic Children,
the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering,
Inc., the Paralyzed Veterans of America, the
Winthrop University Hospital Cancer Center for Kids
and the National Foundation for Facial Reconstruction.
For 2014, Bien's goals include increasing his clients' interest
in and ability to secure investment diamonds. Particularly
difficult to obtain and therefore most desirable are those sparkling
in the various shades of pink, orange, blue and red that
are currently aggressively being sought by investors and collectors.
“There is always going to be a market for these unique colored
diamonds,” Bien said.
10 West 47th Street,
New York, NY 10036
P (212) 869.0845
F (212) 944.9423
israel@eternalfinejewels.com
www.eternalfinejewels.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.57

y the suit staff
Utilizing
Technology
to Improve Retirement Readiness
Experts in the retirement planning industry expect the next five years to feature
significant improvements in participant engagement as advanced technology
provides greater targeting of individual goals. A Nov. 2013 survey conducted by
Transamerica Retirement Solutions of the leading 50 retirement specialists in the
United States indicates that the more than 88 million Americans currently relying on
defined contribution plans for their retirement nest eggs are beginning to demand
customized retirement planning. This demand will only continue to increase further.
John J. Geli - CEO
Mr. John Geli is a benefits
professional with over 24
years experience in the
Financial Services Industry.
Technology, the report points out,
can be used as an effective key
for unlocking that potential. John
Geli, CEO of Wealth Management
Systems Inc. (WMSI), based in New York,
agrees. His firm specializes in providing
unique technology and education solutions
to financial firms such as investment advisors,
money managers and 401(k) custodians.
“Times are changing,” Geli explains.
“Companies are looking for new ways to
differentiate themselves and deliver more
value to customers in every interaction to
deepen relationships and increase assets
under management. At WMSI, we aggregate
unlimited data feeds from internal,
external and vendor platforms – including
plan, participant and advisor information -
into one secure, centralized database making
data actionable and accessible to all
key stakeholders. Combining data with the
latest in content management and optimization
technologies enables us to anticipate
and individualize the customer experience
for our clients and energize service delivery
through all channels – marketing, web,
call center, and advisor. These solutions
deliver meaningful guidance to customers
while creating a more efficient, end-to-end
servicing model for investors, record keepers,
money managers and advisors.”
Since its founding in 2000, WMSI has taken
a leading role in developing integrated
data management and customer servicing
platforms aimed at improving the financial
services experience for investors. The
firm’s proprietary product – Rollover Central
– according to Geli, was the first of its
kind. Retirement plan record-keeping systems
were integrated with money managers’
IRA opening systems, creating an open
marketplace in which participants could
compare multiple options and electronically
open IRAs with the provider of their
choice. “As you can imagine, this was the
first time anyone in the industry was supporting
a marketplace of rollover options
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - FEB / MARCH 2014

Technology
Technology
Financial Education
Marketing &
Communications
Planning Tools
Empowering
Your Vision
WMSI helps you build greater brand loyalty
using advanced technology in combination
with education and marketing to deliver
personally relevant solutions to your customers.
Maximize
Engagement
and moving data electronically to
open IRAs in real time,” Geli remarks.
“It really revolutionized the way a participant
could initiate a rollover while
helping to fully educate them about
all of their distributions options – including
the dangers of cashing-out.”
Fast forward to 2014 and WMSI has
strategically grown through the acquisition
of Archimedes Systems in
October of 2012 and the purchase of
the S&P Capital IQ Financial Communications
Division in October of
2013. Focused on the future, WMSI
is committed to helping clients build
relationships using advanced technology
in combination with integrated
financial education, personalized benefit
statements and planning tools to
deliver relevant solutions to their customers.
“WMSI will continue to invest in
product offerings that will empower
our clients to better anticipate and respond
to customer needs," said Geli.
"Our industry has put a bright
spotlight on the challenges of engaging
employees in the planning process
to achieve retirement readiness. We
are taking a significant step forward
in providing not only multi-channel,
customer servicing solutions but the
integrated marketing and education
programs clients need to improve savings
behavior and retirement results."
Geli is now contemplating how a
pending national uniform fiduciary
standard will impact the technological
services his firm provides. Geli
sees the U.S. Department of Labor’s
planned August release of compromise
rules currently being formulated
to bring broker-dealers and fee-based
advisors closer to the same standard,
as a clear indication that changes are
indeed coming. “The important thing
here is that everyone in the industry
appears to agree that participant education
and clear disclosure of plan
options and costs are a top priority.
This is what we are hearing from our
clients, business partners and regulators.
WMSI will support clients in
conforming to the regulatory directive
and to do what is right and prudent
for participants trying to retire.”
Wealth Management Systems Inc.
110 Leroy Street, 5th floor
New York, NY 10014
973.241.5882
sales@wealthmsi.com
www.wealthmsi.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.59

A Talented Team Means Success
The Suit asked David Duchesneau
what he considers
to be the highlight of his
career. Without hesitation he said,
“That’s easy – bringing together
the talented staff at Argent Wealth
Management, LLC.” This full service
investment, tax and financial
advisory firm includes attorneys,
CPA’s, CFA’s and Certified Financial
Planners. “Our team is focused
on creating success for our clients,” said Duchesneau,
president of Argent Wealth Management, LLC. “Currently,
we have a healthy mix of experienced industry veterans and
young professionals – and we are committed to mentoring
our up-and-coming talent to best prepare them for future
roles. They are the future of the company.”
The Massachusetts-based firm opened in 1992 with Duchesneau
at the helm and primed for action, with extensive
experience in tax and financial planning for high net worth
individuals and businesses. From the onset, he determined
the course of the firm’s investing strategy: It would be based
on a financial planning perspective unique to each client’s
specific situation rather than solely focusing on “generating
alpha” or “creating beta” across all portfolios. “We establish
goals for clients and align their portfolios consistent with
those goals and their level of risk tolerance,” said Duchesneau.
“We use risk management tools so that we, and our
clients, have a better understanding of exactly the amount of
risk that is inherent within their portfolios.”
Argent Wealth Management, LLC is an independent
fee-only firm and as such, they select investment options
that are in the best interests of their clients, while at the same
time, providing full disclosure of any potential conflicts of
interest. According to Duchesneau, “So many investment
vehicles that used to lack transparency now have it.” Citing
hedge funds as one example, he explained, “There are a
number of hedge funds that do business in the form of mutual
funds, and you get significantly more transparency than
with a hedge fund that is not in the form of a mutual fund.”
Argent Wealth Management, LLC provides additional
benefits, as well, since Duchesneau, a Certified Financial
Planner and a licensed CPA in Massachusetts, is also licensed
to practice law in Massachusetts and Connecticut.
www.argentwm.com
by judy magness

y diane alter
GOALS, VALUES AND VISION
Finding a Fountain of Wealth in Financial Discipline
If you were told you could change your financial future for the better
by simply adopting one new habit, you’d be interested – right?
Garrett R. Morgan, president
and CEO of California-based
Fountainhead Wealth, has been
helping clients form and fine-tune their
investing approach with one word and
one action: discipline.
“Staying disciplined is key to financial
success,” Morgan told The Suit.
“Our clients share our methodical
investing process and recognize that
financial success is not an end – it’s a
means to an end.”
Morgan founded Fountainhead
Wealth in 2005, after spending several
years as a financial adviser and planner
at a big Wall Street multinational
company. His intention was to offer a
more holistic, transparent and intimate
investing environment. As a certified
financial planner, Morgan recognizes
the fact that investors are going
to make mistakes and
his intention is to reduce
those slip-ups by
addressing clients’ conduct.
“Investors’ greatest
risks often come from their own
bad behavior,” Morgan explained.
Indeed, renowned investment theorist
Benjamin Graham famously said,
“An investor’s chief problem – and
even worst enemy – is likely to be himself.”
Through regular communication
and education, Morgan keeps clients
focused on goals, values and vision.
“Our clients have the same deeply
rooted values that we all share at Fountainhead.
The things they care about
are the same things we care about. At
the core of the pursuit for wealth is our
fundamental belief that values matter.
Our values mold and monitor everything
we do and they bring significance
to our lives. Our mission at Fountainhead
is to help clients see money, and
the accumulation of wealth, for what it
is and has always b e e n
meant to be. That is
to help fulfill
life’s
purpose.”
Fountainh
e a d
uses a
tried-and-true six step process dubbed
Wealthology.
Step one is clarity, which involves
getting to know a client and vice versa.
Step two is attaining a clear understanding
of a client’s values, followed
by dynamic strategies to create an effective
and efficient financial plan in
the third step. Next comes action and
accountability. “We both must be committed
to attaining effective action for
accomplishing all the necessary steps,”
Morgan explained. “Basic principles
lead to successful investing, which
helps us be good money managers. It
also leads to good clients.” Step five is
wealth actualization. Fountainhead believes
wealth is intended to serve – not
to be exploited. And step six is sustainability,
or holding on to your wealth.
Holding on with this unique methodology
has
served clients and
Fountainhead
well for nearly
two decades. To
be sure, Morgan
and his team have
changed the way scores of
people look at investing. But the altruistic
Morgan has a higher aim, “I truly
want to change the way the world
thinks about financial planning.”
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.61

y diane e. alter
CHARITY
BEGINS
AT CAPITALQUEST
Moving People to Give to a Good Cause
Global charities have grown in number in recent years, garnering a great
deal of attention – thanks to the backing of some high profile celebrities
and prominent individuals. More and more people are recognizing the
many vital services charities provide. Their operations are so big that
during 2012, total giving in America alone amounted to more than $316
billion, about 2% of GDP, and a 3.5% increase from the prior year, according
to Giving USA 2013’s annual report on philanthropy.
4662 Gravelly Hills Road
Louisville, TN 37777
800-263-1976
800-949-9499 (fax)
info@capitalquest.com
www.capitalquest.com
That’s some very serious money going
to help some very serious causes.
Helping people and organizations with
their fund raising efforts is CapitalQuest,
a national fundraising consulting firm
headquartered in Tennessee.
CapitalQuest operates the most comprehensive
website dedicated to capital
campaigns for charities. This site originated
in 1997 as a marketing vehicle for
Capital Quest Inc. and has grown into a
comprehensive educational site for organizations
considering a major capital
campaign. Site traffic has since swelled
and it is now one of the web’s most comprehensive
and trusted sites for information
on non-profit capital campaigns.
A premier consultant in the capital
campaign process, CapitalQuest helps
clients design goals for the present, look
ahead and also plan beyond their campaign
goals.
“Capital campaigns are built on vision,
mission and dreams – all strong motivators
to give,” CapitalQuest’s founder
and president, Bill Krueger, told The
Suit. “People like to give for what ‘could
be.’ People don’t like to give to pay for
something that’s already there.”
To be sure, smart givers don’t respond
impulsively, and don’t drop
money into canisters at check-out
counters. They know it’s critical to find
out beforehand whether charities are
fulfilling their missions and actually
providing a public benefit. Potential
donors want to know about a charity’s
programs and how their money is being
or will be used.
“Our clients are those with a mission
of raising between $2 million and
$20 million for various non-profit programs,”
Krueger explained. “Most are
fund raising for things like a children’s
museum, community hospital, hospice
facility or a Ronald McDonald house.”
CapitalQuest’s website is a wealth of
invaluable information, guiding fundraisers
from start to finish. Included on
the site are sample materials, training
guides and articles related to managing
a successful capital campaign. The site
also serves as a place where non-profit
organizations can engage in discussions
about fund raising. Additionally,
non-fee workshops are offered.
“The most successful fundraisers
start with people who have a real passion
for what they do. They have reasonable
goals and know what they’re
going to do once the funds are secured.
They don’t build first and expect to pay
for the costs later,” Krueger emphasized.
Krueger says he feels blessed. His
successes stem from his unwavering
passion of helping charities raise funds
for those in need. That fervor not only
helps him sleep well at night, but also
has him jumping about of bed every
morning.
It’s good to be blessed, but it’s even
better to be a blessing to others.
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - FEB / MARCH 2014

While the current standard for a financial
planner’s client roster is
to cap off the list somewhere between
100 and 150 clients, there are professionals
in the financial services industry
who are ignoring that idea. This,
despite the trend being one that is touted at the bulk of professional
development conferences being held.
One such planner is Ellis Liddell, the CEO of ELE Wealth
Management LLC in Southfield, Mich.
“My vision was to grow our firm to be in a different space
than the Charles Schwab and Merrill Lynch,” Liddell said.
“I wanted to have lots of clients. We now have more than
2,000 clients.”
He’s known since childhood that financial planning was
his career destination. It started at age 12, when he took advantage
of a small tear in the envelope housing his mother’s
tax return information. Liddell surreptitiously removed the
paperwork and filled out the forms for his mother, who unknowingly
turned them in to her accountant. The accountant
quickly surmised that the forms were not in her handwriting
– but more importantly noted that they were filled
out perfectly.
“He told her, well, it looks like you don’t need me anymore,”
Liddell recalls with a chuckle. “She told me not to
touch her paperwork anymore. But at least I knew I did it
correctly.”
In 1980, fresh out of college, Liddell worked in Equitable,
in its three-year training program. In his third year, he
was named the C Class Agent of the Year or the top person
in the class. For Liddell, that was confirmation that he had
aptitude for sales of financial products in addition to an aptitude
for financial knowledge.
After several stints with insurance companies and banks,
Liddell started ELE in 2001. With Series 6 and 7 licenses and
an insurance license, he was ready to create a full service
firm. He remembers meeting every Monday morning with
the board to discuss the growth of the company and his vision.
“Ultimately my goal was to get up to 20 employees and
offer services from mortgages to insurance to 401K advice.
We now offer all of those services and of the original 20 employees
we hired, 13 are still with us. Managing to maintain
staff is one of my most proud accomplishments. In a business
that is generally characterized by a lot of turnover, we
have managed to create stability.”
18700 W. 10 Mile Road, Suite 100
Southfield, MI 48075
Phone: 248-356-6555
www.elewealth.com
Financial Planner
Starts Early
Retirement & Portfolio Planning:
Results & a Relationship – Plus Privacy
Topping scores of New Year’s resolution lists, year
after year, is an entry for “getting my finances in
order.” To be sure, we keep hearing how important
it is to save more money. People are living longer,
and many are likely to outlive their savings. Saving for a
healthy retirement is complicated! Taxing matters, changes
to healthcare coverage and fluctuating retirement plan
requirements lead to quite a bit of confusion. There’s a lot
at stake here, and the stakes are very high. After all, we’re
talking about people’s lives. That’s why professional help
is paramount when plotting a retirement course.
Helping individuals in Ontario, Canada with all facets
of retirement and portfolio planning is Julie Kranitz-Andrade,
president of Wealth Maximization Group. A
high-energy, driven individual, Kranitz-Andrade said
that her clients share those same traits. “My clients are
willing to invest the time, money and vigor needed to
achieve their goals,” Kranitz-Andrade told The Suit. “We
have to be a good, trusting fit to truly succeed. Because
that’s what I, and my clients want: results and a relationship
– plus privacy. I take clients’ dreams, personalities
and financial data, and work to produce a blueprint that
maximizes results. People don’t
take the time to focus on finances.
That’s what we do.”
Kranitz-Andrade and her team
provide a broad range of services
and products to help the firm’s
diverse client base each meet their
unique needs. Offerings include
investment optimization, wealth
maximization planning, sophisticated
wealth management services,
critical illness insurance,
segregated funds, long term insurance, annuities, business
insurance, life insurance and disability insurance.
“We plan appropriately, running different scenarios
and projections to help clients make educated decisions
before retirement. Also, so that there are no surprises,”
Kranitz-Andrade explained. “What we offer isn’t a single
product or investment vehicle – it’s a carefully created
strategy.”
Helping clients reach goals and improve their financial
situation is what motivates Kranitz-Andrade. “If I can say
I’ve made a real difference – if clients can say they are in
a better position and have confidence and clarity around
their finances – then I’ve done my job.”
Her satisfied clients are ample proof of a job well done.
Mutual funds provided through FundEX Investments
Inc.
www.wealth-max.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.63

y amy m. armstrong
Standard & Poor’s Isn’t Their Client
management of client accounts
In the post-Bernie Madoff investment
world, investors have become
more and more apprehensive
regarding the custody and
management of their accounts, and
much less reluctant to express their
concerns and ask pointed questions. In
Dec. 2013, the Wall Street Journal featured
an article addressing how Madoff’s
multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme
continues to impact the relationship
between adviser and client. It clearly
outlined how Madoff’s downfall has
made advisers more receptive to client
questions.
It’s an approach that Dryden and
Laila Pence of Pence Wealth Management
(PWM) in Newport Beach, California,
say they’ve taken all along.
“Helping Protect our clients’ wealth
has always been our first priority,” Laila
Pence said.
At a time when many other financial
advisers are opting for third-party
management, PWM, one of the leading
wealth management firms in Orange
County, California, continues to keep
account management in-house. It’s a
holding point Dryden and Laila Pence
firmly stick with, since they believe
that their clients – the bulk of whom
are high-net worth – are better served
by doing so.
“We are the managers,” explained
Dryden Pence, the firm’s chief investment
officer. “We have found our clientele
are tired of hearing from advisers
that they cannot answer a question
and need to get a hold of some manager
elsewhere. Our clients prefer to
be talking to the people directly managing
their money on a day-to-day basis.
They know who to talk to directly
when they have a question: Us. Our
team.”
The Pences use LPL Financial – one
of the leading financial services companies
and the largest independent
broker/dealer in the nation* – to handle
the custody and clearing of the transactions
of investments that the firm’s investment
team recommends and executes
on behalf of PWM’s clients. Both
Dryden and Laila Pence are registered
principals with LPL Financial and are
highly comfortable utilizing LPL’s services,
especially since it does not offer
its own financial products – thus removing
any possibility of bias.
This dynamic couple must be doing
something right. Since joining forces in
marriage in 1999 and in the financial
industry with the formation of PWM
in 2001, they’ve built a team of 24 employees
– 8 of whom are advisers. The
firm currently manages more than $1
Billion in client advisory and brokerage
assets. Laila Pence was named
Orange County’s number one wealth
manager by the Orange County Business
Journal 1 in both 2012 and 2013. In
June 2012, Barron’s Magazine 2 listed
her as 10th on its list of Top 100 Women
Advisers nationwide and she was
ranked number 76 in the Top 100 Independent
Financial Advisers nationwide
in August that same year.
She concedes these accolades are
nice, but only noteworthy in that they
point to great performance of the
firm on behalf of its clients. For Pence
Wealth Management, it’s all about
cash flow – how much clients need and
how the PWM investment team seek to
select investments to provide that cash
flow over the long term.
“Many of our clients are retirees
looking to maintain their income. Our
clients are more interested in consistent
return versus necessarily beating
the stock market,” she explained. That
has been her focus since starting in the
financial services industry 33 years
ago and it is the focus that Laila and
Dryden Pence employ within PWM.
“This is what we do and this is why we
have grown so dramatically – because
our focus is on cash flow.”
Dryden Pence said that too many
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - FEB / MARCH 2014

people focus on how their individual
investments are doing by comparing
performance to the results of the S&P
500. Half chuckling, he responds with,
“I don’t care what the S&P does. The
S&P is not my client. YOU are my client.
I am concerned with what your
portfolio does.”
The bulk of PWM clients have a minimum
of $500,000 in liquid assets and
for those assigned to Laila Pence, the
lower limit is $2 million. To customize
the right fit, the advisors at PWM
begin by establishing a “personal index”
for each client based on income
and expenses. This index also includes
each client’s goals as the leading factor
in determining the kind of cash flow
stream that clients will need to maintain
wealth.
Wealth means different things to different
people. And yet, wealth itself
has the same definition for Dryden
Pence, “It is being able to do what matters
to you most, when you want, for as
long as you want.”
To maintain wealth for PWM clients,
Dryden Pence is continually scrutinizing
new opportunities, and he isn’t
opposed to using Exchanged Traded
Funds (ETFs) in a portfolio, provided
they are concentrated to a specific industry
or idea. Basically, he wants to
make sure that the ETF is comprised of
quality holdings throughout, although
he knows that isn’t always possible.
Pence told Barron’s in November 2012,
he takes a long look at the top 10 to 15
holdings in an ETF and only if they
comprise about 50% of the ETF.
Laila Pence agrees. “To the extent
that they are concentrated and not contaminated
by too many holdings that
are not effective, we like ETFs. But they
have to be very specific for us to use
them.”
One example Dryden Pence provided
to Barron’s of the type of ETFs he
looks for, involves the transportation
industry. “That theme alone might
even be too broad,” he noted. “It could
involve various forms of freight transport
– rail, plane or truck. The first
does well when oil prices are higher
than $78 a barrel. The other two
transportation modes may struggle to
make ends meet at higher prices for
fuel. If an ETF labeled transportation
has assets in all three modes, chances
are likely that any gains in one will be
negated by losses in the others.” As
he told Barron’s, “It’s when you have
these big themes that you really have
to look at the composition of an ETF
versus its contamination point. If you
want to be rails, just be rails.”
Staying focused on client goals is
what PWM intends to do to reach its
2014 goal of growing the firm by 20 to
25 percent.
“We welcome the growth but we
want to be sure to maintain the current
level of client service,” Laila Pence
said.
www.pencewealthmanagement.com
Laila Pence & E. Dryden Pence III are Registered
Principals with and securities offered through LPL
Financial, Member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services
offered through LPL Financial, a Registered Investment
Advisor.
No strategy assures success or protects against loss.
An investment in Exchange Traded Funds (ETF),
structured as a mutual fund or unit investment
trust, involves the risk of losing money and should
be considered as part of an overall program, not a
complete investment program. An investment in
ETFs involves additional risks such as not diversified,
price volatility, competitive industry pressure,
international political and economic developments,
possible trading halts, and index tracking errors.
ETFs concentrating in specific industries are subject
to higher risks and volatility than those that invest
more broadly.
*As reported in Financial Planning Magazine, 1996-
2013, based on total revenue. “
1 Orange County Business Journal rankings are based
on Barron’s rankings.
2 Barron’s rankings are based on assets under management
and the quality of the advisor’s practice.
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.65

y annabelle preston
LENDING A HAND TO
ENTREPRENEURS
Asset-based Lending: When Traditional Lending Fails
The credit crunch following the Great
Recession of 2007 to 2009, along with the
three-week government shutdown in fall
2013, are both reasons why asset-based
lending now takes its place among more
traditional forms of financing. This is
particularly true for the small business
sector as explained by Bloomberg,
which noted in its reporting that tighter
lending standards have a crippling
effect on the efforts of small business to
drive economic stimulation. Cash flow
is critical to small businesses and if it
can’t be found from banks or government
programs, then entrepreneurs will
be – and are – forced to look elsewhere.
That’s where CEO Cole Harmonson and
his team at Far West Capital, based in
Austin, Texas, enter the picture.
“If you can obtain traditional capital
to accomplish your business goals, then
nine times out of ten you are going to go
ahead and sign up,” Harmonson said,
AT FAR WEST CAPITAL, YOU GET EXACTLY WHAT
YOU NEED FROM A FINANCING COMPANY AND
NOTHING LESS.
while discussing reasons why businesses
need to turn to asset-based lending.
“But if you cannot obtain that kind of
traditional capital – and you still need
to get from point A to point B – then
the alternatives are that you either sell
equity in your company, giving up a
large percentage of your company for a
long period of time, or you can look at
an asset-based loan that pays down
automatically as you go through your
normal routine of business. It allows
business owners to get the capital they
need while staying focused on growing
their businesses.”
An asset-based loan is a credit vehicle
that works pretty much just as it
sounds. The line of credit is secured by
the company’s assets such as inventory,
receivables, equipment and other
balance-sheet assets.
With clients nationwide and offices
in Austin, Dallas, El Paso, Houston and
Phoenix, Far West Capital works with
a wide range of businesses. While Harmonson
said that the firm considers itself
to be generalists, willing to work
with any sector with no minimum requirements,
they do have a specialty
niche in servicing the construction and
transportation industries. The firm’s
portfolio also includes manufacturing,
wholesale distribution, staffing
and consulting. Their largest client
has more than $15 million on Far West
Capital’s books.
“We will help anyone that has good,
clean receivables and is looking to
solve a timing problem regarding their
capital and financing needs,” Harmonson
said.
The firm began in July 2007 when
Harmonson and Don Stricklin, now Far
West’s chairman, sold their collective
interests in Texas United Bancshares
and State Bank, a publicly-traded commercial
bank based in La Grange, Texas
when it was acquired by another
bank. Most of Far West’s management
team worked there together for nearly
a decade and collectively, have over
50 years of experience in commercial
banking and finance.
Both Stricklin and Harmonson have
deep roots in financing and commercial
banking. Stricklin was a national bank
examiner for the Office of the Comptroller
of the Currency and a former
director of The Independent Bankers
Bank in Irving, Texas. Harmonson was
vice president at The National Bank
of Texas, joining State Bank to create
and run its asset-based lending and
factoring division. Right after graduating
from Texas Tech University in
Lubbock, Texas, Harmonson’s interest
in asset-based lending and factoring
immediately began to guide his career.
“I worked for this bank that had a
lending group. They weren’t doing
much with it and it piqued my interest,
so at age 22, I asked that bank if I
could run it,” Harmonson said, laughing
before making the next statement.
“Shockingly, they said, ‘No.’ ” That
denial only made him more interested
in the field of asset-based lending and
factoring, and the missed opportunity
only made him more receptive to the
idea of opening doors for others. “The
main focus of our business is the entrepreneur
we are doing business with,”
Harmonson said. “What is his or her
story – and how can we help that individual
find the resources to unleash
the potential inside that is not being
recognized? That is our question and
answering it is our goal.”
www.farwestcapital.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - FEB / MARCH 2014

y the suit staff
Local Boy Values
Boston’s Middle Market
Commercial Real Estate
www.jumbocapital.com
Middle market commercial real estate in the Boston,
Mass., area continues to attract high net worth investors
leery of the stock market since its meltdown
in 2008. These investors look to put their monies in
to under-valued or poorly positioned properties in which
an immediate gain is feasible. According to various reports
from area media including The Boston Globe, the Boston-area
office market is nearly recovered from the Great
Recession of 2008 and 2009 and many small to mid-size
firms actively seek office space in a business market that is
experiencing some economic upturn. Yet there remains a
significant inventory of distressed commercial properties.
It’s good news for commercial real estate investors such as
Jay Hirsh of Jumbo Capital Management.
He’s a native Boston son, having never left the Commonwealth
for more than two months in his life, he proudly
claims. When he’s evaluating the possibility of Jumbo purchasing
an under-valued, distressed or improperly placed
piece of real estate in the greater Boston Metro, he’s working
his back yard.
“I know all the players, the landlords, the tenants,” Hirsh
said. “I am driving by these buildings all the time. I know
the inventory.”
It’s exactly the position he’s wanted to be in. After a few
years of handling New England acquisitions and identifying
value-added opportunities for a larger firm, Hirsh decided
to form Jumbo early in 2009.
They named the company in honor of Hirsh’s college
alumna mater, Tufts University and the long-time mascot
Jumbo the elephant. He recalls being in college, kicking
back enjoying a beer or two after class and telling himself
that someday he would start a real estate firm and name it
after Jumbo.
Today, that dream is a reality, such an easy achievement.
Landing those first few deals were tough, he admits.
“It was very difficult at the beginning to cultivate the
track record and demonstrate to potential investors that
we knew what we were doing and that we can generate
returns,” Hirsh said. “It was not so much about finding the
opportunities. They were and still are there. It was about
finding the equity to capitalize. But over time and as we
did more deals, our name got out there and we demonstrated
to investors the specific returns we have generated
and it started to snowball from there.”
He prefers to identify a handful of projects within the
same municipal boundaries to work on in conjunction.
This allows him to get to know zoning officials and discover
what hurdles he must cross with zoning boards to bring
a project to fruition.
He’s typically looking at commercial real estate selling
between $3 and $20 million. It’s a market the larger firms
tend to stay out of, he said, leaving him with less competition
yet the opportunity to land properties that may already
have tenants which equal immediate cash flow for
the investors he represents.
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.67

y amy m. armstrong
A Customized,
Conservative Culture
Recent surveys conducted by Franklin
Templeton and Forbes indicate that
investors on the whole – but especially
baby boomers reaching retirement – are
indeed taking a much more conservative investment
approach. Indeed, Rajesh Gupta,
together with his partners Richard Sanchez,
Ronald Lenihan and Edward Sullivan, has
taken more than just a few notes on that
subject, since it typifies their approach to investment
and wealth management. Blame
it on the bear market in the early 2000s, or
attribute it to the financial meltdown from
2007 to 2009, the resulting lessons have
led investors and financial advisers such
as Gupta to become well-versed in wealth
preservation.
In some respects, this shift from “alpha”
investing to a more customized, conservative
and client-specific approach, in Gupta’s
opinion, does find its roots in the aging of
Americans.
“The clientele in most of the developed
nations of the world – and most certainly
this is true here in the United States – is aging.
Typically, when a population ages, they
tend to become more conservative,” Gupta
said in reference to baby boomers – those
born between 1946 and 1964, now turning
65 at a rate of 10,000 per day, according
to Pew Research Center. “Typically, when
they have been through difficult times in
the recent past, their thinking changes from
‘hey, let’s just generate the highest alpha’ to
‘let’s just make sure we are protected in case
we have a recurrence of what happened in
the early 2000 time period or in the 2007 to
2009 time period.’ The pain is fresh in their
minds.”
As one of the managing partner of
SeaCrest Wealth Management, he must be
doing something right for his clients. In
2012, Forbes recognized the wealth management
company as the 12th fastest growing
advisory business in the nation.
At SeaCrest Investment Management,
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - FEB / MARCH 2014

Gupta wears two hats –
chief executive officer and
chief investment officer.
Together with Sanchez
and Lenihan, he started
the investment side
of SeaCrest in 2006 after
nearly 19 years with Morgan
Stanley Investment
Management, where he
worked in increasingly
trustworthy leadership
roles, including managing
director; head of global
fixed income, overseeing
$180 billion plus in assets;
head of alternative
investments, formulating
and implementing expansion
plans, growing
assets from $3 billion to
$9 billion in 3 years; as
well as chief administrative
officer, overseeing
the integration of four
investment departments.
During those two decades
at Morgan Stanley, Gupta
gained invaluable experience
– experience he used
to guide the founding
of the SeaCrest group of
companies.
One of those guiding
principles was based on
the fact that large investment
firms tend to offer clients plans
that are too much alike. “Large firms
provide generic solutions to most of
their clients,” Gupta said, so with the
addition of Sullivan to the management
team, he began SeaCrest Wealth
Management – even in 2008 at the
height of the economic meltdown
– by providing customized, individualized
investment plans to clients.
“Our typical clients are those looking
for a good long-term customized
solution for their investments,” Gupta
explained. Now, seven years later,
SeaCrest, based in Purchase, New
York, oversees more than $850 million
in assets with wealth advisers in
11 different states. The Firm’s philosophy
has worked well, even in hard
times. Part of his philosophy requires
management and the Firm’s financial
advisers to spend regular face time
with their clients.
“Our goal from the very beginning
has been to ensure that we are providing
customized solutions to each
client,” Gupta said. “The only way to
accomplish that is through close and
frequent client touch. At the end of the
day, authentic client-adviser relationships
are created through a process of
communication and customization.
No two of our clients are looking for
the same investment strategy and/
or number of periodic reviews and/
or identical investment policy statements.”
Gupta believes a client’s investment
policy statement is a living, breathing
and dynamic document. He cites
the example of one particular client
who worked for years in the same
industry. During that time, his portfolio
was managed using a growth
approach with a greater percentage of
his assets in equities. After the client
retired, he wanted to travel abroad
with his family, so Gupta re-focused
the portfolio for more of an income
approach. He then returned stateside
and took on some consulting work
and Gupta again made changes reflecting
a need to balance growth with
income. Just recently, the client went
back to full-time work and Gupta has
again tilted the portfolio’s investment
strategy back toward a growth focus
due to the client’s regular income
stream from employment. Throughout
this entire process, Gupta’s creative
re-focusing allowed his client to
live without making lifestyle changes.
This is just one example of how
customized portfolio efforts by
SeaCrest work. Another includes the
SeaCrest Global Clean Energy Index
– a hand-selected mix involving
a weighted equity index of global
stocks representing leading companies
involved in bio-energy, clean
power, energy efficiency, energy
management, fuel cells, solar power,
water management and wind power.
SeaCrest, together with CRD Analytics,
LLC., see these industries as potentially
high-yielding as social and
governmental pressure, along with
climate change, continues to increase
environmental awareness.
Despite the financial struggles markets
have experienced in the past five
to seven years, Gupta and his partners
are optimistic about the future of
their Firm and the financial security
of their clients. SeaCrest was started
amidst the housing bubble debacle –
a time of great upheaval and mistrust
leaving investors searching for alternatives.
“What we saw in 2006 – and we
still believe is true for the bulk of the
investing world – is that it is largely
very standardized,” Gupta said. “Our
goal is to change that for our clients.
The business that we are in is a great
business. To be able to get up every
morning having the trust of our clients
is rewarding. To see and live the
result for our clients is the culture
within our firm.”
www.seacrestim.com
www.seacrestwm.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.69

y judy magness
WANT A REVOLUTION?
Here Comes the Biotechnology Revolution
Photo by Larissa Boiwka
For a man whose doctoral work was in the complex
fields of molecular cancer research and bioinformatics,
Jeff Spitzner, PhD, president and chief science officer
of Amperand, Ltd., used a deceptively simple three-step
formula to select a name for his new company: it had to
be easy to spell, it had to have a story and it had to start
with a letter from the beginning of the alphabet. “It puts
you at the top of the lineup when your company appears on
a list with other companies,” said Spitzner in support of this
proven marketing strategy – used since publication of the
first Yellow Pages directory in 1886. In explaining his new
company’s story, he added, “Amperand stands for ‘amplify
electronic research and development.’”
Spitzner came from a science background, but soon
discovered that he enjoyed the intersection of business and
technology. “Academics is great training, but it is confining,
so after my postdoctoral research at MIT, I came back to
Columbus, Ohio to start new technology companies,
help other companies grow and start new ventures
in healthcare IT,” he said. With more than 20 years of
experience as a founder and executive of scientific software
and biotechnology companies, Spitzner is a recognized
leader in electronic lab notebooks (ELNs), bioinformatics,
knowledge management and scientific research. He was
named the Technology Executive of the Year at the 2011
Innovation Awards.
Launching Amperand in 2012, Spitzner now works with
start-ups and existing companies needing assistance with
business strategy and guidance in bringing new technology
to the commercial marketplace. Amperand helps companies
form new products, develop sales and marketing strategies
and assists them in finding strategic partners to help finance
or distribute their products.
“Many inventors believe that because they have the best
technology, they are going to be successful. That would be
great if it were true, but the key is in understanding what
the market wants, how to present it to the market and how
to present it in terms of problems that customers want to
pay for to solve,” he said.
Currently, Spitzner is very excited about Amperand’s
collaboration with The Ohio State University regarding
a new healthcare information technology, and Signet
Enterprises to fund its commercialization. “We will soon
announce this new company (codename ‘Signet Accel’)
being created to provide big data management for
improving healthcare and healthcare research,” he said.
While individual inventions in the life sciences can
make for great news, Spitzner acknowledges that the
real advances often take place behind the scenes, and are
more complicated. “The advancement and integration of
healthcare and life sciences – combined with information
technology, bioinformatics and big data – will create what
I call the ‘biotechnology revolution,’” he said. Spitzner
predicts that this revolution will “shake things up”
even more than the information technology revolution.
“Ultimately, it’s going to transform healthcare, computing,
energy and new product creations that will help drive
the economy, change our quality of life and change our
communities for the better and forever.”
www.amperand.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - FEB / MARCH 2014

y amy m. armstrong
Big Failure Leads to Big Success
As reported in Forbes Magazine, businesses
are staying away from Microsoft’s
Windows 8 for their enterprise platforms.
Citing what is known in the information
technology industry as “upgrade fatigue,”
both Forbes and PC World list complaints
regarding Windows 8 ranging from requiring
far too much user training to the
new touch-centric user interface being too
complicated and less than intuitive.
Howard Reisman, CEO of
Heroix based in Braintree,
Massachusetts, couldn’t agree
more.
“The people who are skeptical of
Windows 8 have good reason to be
skeptical,” Reisman said. He isn’t using
it in his own company’s operation’s
– and his company is one that
provides support and technical advice
to other businesses. As Reisman puts
it, “The short of it is, I am not a fan at
all.”
Like many other professionals in
the information technology industry,
Reisman believes Microsoft rushed
Windows 8 to market because of pressure
created by new product releases
from Apple and Google.
“The (Windows 8) software isn’t mature
and from what I have seen, I don’t
think Microsoft has done a really good
job of fixing any of its problems.”
Having said that, Reisman’s firm
still remains a Certified Partner with
Microsoft – and he still sings the praises
of Windows 7. Most of his clients
still use it.
“People tend to be slow adapters
and many of them will stay with Windows
7 just as long as they can,” Reisman
explained. “That will be years
and years. I don’t see the commercial
users going to Windows 8 at all. They
will skip over it and wait for the release
of its upgrade.” (Remember Vista?)
Reisman himself doesn’t wait to depend
on other software manufacturers
to design what works for his business
– and what works for his business,
works for many others, too. Longitude
is proprietary software for his company,
Heroix. Running on many different
platforms, it monitors networks,
operating systems and applications
for availability and performance. The
software features a single dashboard
displaying the real-time results from
monitoring a system’s physical, virtual,
network and application layers.
Eminently intuitive, it can be installed,
used and understood, even
by non-technical staff, and is scalable
to the enterprise. Longitude is a software
gem that Reisman created after
a massive success turned into an even
bigger failure for his firm. It’s part of
why he can identify with Microsoft’s
current plight where Windows 8 is
concerned.
“Our product before Longitude was
my greatest failure that started out
very successful at first,” Reisman said.
“We got a pretty large user base initially
and they were very vocal in asking
us to keep adding functionality.
We did this without consideration of
the complexity it was creating and it
eventually became too unwieldy.”
The experience made him re-think
the software design process. In designing
Longitude, Reisman established a
set of design principles and stuck to
them despite plenty of requests for
adding various features. “The result,”
he said, “was a cleaner, crisper product,
much easier to maintain and one
with higher, longer lasting user satisfaction.”
Its name reflects lessons Reisman
learned well. He mentions how sailors
in the 1700s frequently lost their way
at sea due to a lack of longitudinal direction.
Eventually an extremely accurate
clock was created that gave sailors
a reference point for computing
longitude. The more accurate ability
to identify location made all the difference
in navigation.
“Knowing where you are at can be
difficult and complex,” Reisman said
speaking from personal knowledge.
“The idea is that our product helps
businesses identify exactly where
their critical computer systems are at
and lets them know how to get them
to the performance level needed.”
Heroix
165 Bay State Drive
Braintree, MA 02184
Phone: 800.229.6500
www.heroix.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.71

y diane e. alter
Great Promotional Product
Boost Brand Recognition
Promotional products are the
perfect way for a company,
business or organization to introduce
themselves to a wide
variety of people in whimsical, useful
and memorable ways. Few advertising
methods provide a better first impression
and have such a lasting impact
as a promotional item given by
a business. Plus, giving branded merchandise
to existing and potential customers
creates goodwill and implants
brand recognition.
Flexible Innovations, Ltd. has been
helping a wide variety of businesses
grow and promote themselves by providing
memorable, useful and innovative
promotional products. “We’ve
been in business since 2002, and in the
promotional products industry since
2006,” Fred Antonini, general partner
of Flexible Innovations, headquartered
in Fort Worth, TX, told The Suit.
“Thanks to the Internet – and to the
fact that our name comes up first and
frequently in searches – we’ve grown
into a truly global company.”
According to Antonini, what makes
Flexible Innovations truly stand out
among its competitors is the belief that
every marketing department’s goal is
to get the message about their company,
service or product to their existing
customers and to new prospects.
“The useful ‘techie’ items that we sell
are attached to print media – including
direct mail, invitations and tradeshow
announcements. When an item
is attached, it subconsciously obligates
the recipient to notice, and read the
message. The company has achieved
its goal and the item serves as a reminder
of what was read,” Antonini
explained.
Flexible Innovations also stands out
in the highly competitive, crowded
promotional marketplace because of
the uniqueness of its bespoke product
offerings, like its consumer products
made from the world’s most advanced
non-slip material – called egrips.
“When people first come in contact
with egrips technology material, their
most common reaction is to ask what it
is,” Antonini noted. “It’s made from a
specially formulated dimpled silicone
material that has an extremely high
amount of friction. It prevents things
such as smartphones, laptops and coffee
cups from slipping around on dry
surfaces like car seats, counter tops,
desktops, boats and even your shirt
sleeves.” This product has even been
used by motorcycle racing teams, who
put them on the tanks “to give them
leg control and position them securely
when racing,” Antonini added.Part of
the appeal of egrips is that it outperforms
any non-skid material currently
on the market. Easy to put on and take
off, stickers and strips made of egrips
are long-lasting, stay clean – and are
made in the USA. Businesses love their
functionality. And businesses also
love the fact that these full color, custom-made
egrips anti-slip stickers and
non-slip strips promoting their name
or brand, will be seen often.
Another widely popular Flexible
Innovations product that is also made
in the USA, is its DigiClean microfiber
smartphone screen cleaner sticker. The
explosive smartphone and tablet market
has definitely boosted sales. “Look
at your computer screen or cellphone
right now. Even if it doesn’t look dirty,
it’s covered with dust and oil from
your hands and skin,” Antonini added.
“These screen wipes are excellent
at removing makeup, fingerprints and
dirt. We’ve sold millions and millions
of these.”
These are only two examples from
among the products that Antonini offers.
Such promotional products are
great at doing exactly what they’re designed
to do. They draw attention, increase
brand recognition, create exposure
and promote a favorable image.
A Baylor University study found that
companies using promotional products
to create a favorable impression
do 22% more business than those that
don’t.
To be sure, promotional products
are a cost-effective and efficient form
of advertising. Products that are interesting,
innovative and fun, like those
from Flexible Innovations, can have
an even more profound effect because
people enjoy using them. And it is a
great service, too, that many of Antonini’s
products are made in the USA.
1120 South Freeway, Ste 132, Ft. Worth, TX 76104, USA ASI: 54596 - PPAI: 312814 - UPIC: Flexi01 - Sage: 67855
www.flexinno.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - FEB / MARCH 2014

y a. marie velthuizen
Clients not Customers
Relationship not Price
In post-Great Recession America, price seems to be
the driving force for decision makers – particularly
when it comes to purchasing insurance. Television
and the Internet are overrun with advertisements
from long-standing insurance companies, as well as
the new players in the industry, all touting their policies
as being the least expensive.
Yet, as CNN Money warns,
price is not always the best
parameter for judging the efficiency
of an insurance policy. This
holds true whether it be for business,
home, auto, health, life or even specialty
products such as wedding or
travel insurance.
Tom Murry, president of El Dorado,
Kansas-based ICI Insurance,
couldn’t agree more. He’s pretty
annoyed by the constant bantering
offering “cheap” policies. In his experience,
cheap doesn’t equate to the
kind of protection or service a client
deserves. Murry does not call them
“customers”. He feels strongly that
insurance protection is a contract
requiring personal and professional
help for their clients.
“You see it so much on television
and the Internet: ‘Buy from me because
I am cheap.’ ICI recognized
this was wrong and created an internal
culture that is focused on the
relationship. The ICI “ideal client”
has one phone number for their insurance
program. The relationship
is based on mutual trust, respect and
appreciation. Price is important,
but not always the primary factor.
That’s why they retain almost
94% of their personal and
commercial clients.
ICI is also strongly committed to
continuing education for their staff.
This allows them to bring a greater
service to their clients. There are 6
CIC’s (Certified Insurance Counselors)
and 8 CISR’s (Certified Insurance
Service Representatives). Some
of the staff have been with the company
for over 25 years.
The team is deeply committed
to “giving back” to the communities
they serve. Staff members have
served as Presidents of economic development
committees, Chambers of
Commerce, United Way, state associations,
hospital boards and adopt a
school programs.
As a broker ICI has access to over
50 insurance markets to make available
to their clients. This allows them
to mix and match coverage while
placing the best program on behalf
of their clients.
In his neck of the woods, located
in this country’s midsection, hail
and wind are the leading culprits for
property damage. There’s precious
little – other than pray – that the insured
can do to prevent Mother Nature’s
fury, Murry concedes. But the
insured can take steps to keep the
weather from adding to their premium
woes by maintaining their property
in good working order.
Murry states “you can’t control
hail”, but you can control work
comp, liability and automobile losses.
ICI commercial clients are seeing
significant reductions in their claims
activity as a result of their new
“Three Sixty Safety” program. ICI is
the exclusive Kansas partner of the
Michigan based program.
“I feel as if this is one of the most
important things we have done,”
Murry said. “The best policy is the
one you don’t have to put in a claim
for.”
El Dorado | Derby | Emporia
Wichita
316.321.5600 ext. 110
gkerstetter@icblueskies.com
www.icblueskies.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.73

y diane e. alters
Providing Solutions in an Era of Healthcare Reform
Robert James Cimasi,
CEO and founder
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - FEB / MARCH 2014
“Healthcare is, perhaps, the most heavily
regulated of all industries,” Robert James
Cimasi, MHA, ASA, FRICS, MCBA,
CVA, CM&AA, the CEO and founder
of Health Capital Consultants, explained to
The Suit. “Accounting for 20% of the country’s
gross domestic product, the healthcare industry
encompasses a broad swath of the American
economy. Staying on top of the scope of
complex capital market conditions and the vast
array of volatile regulations that govern healthcare
can be daunting for decision makers in the
healthcare industry.
Every segment and aspect of the healthcare
sector is regulated by several agencies – often
with overlapping jurisdiction. Healthcare
professionals frequently spend increasing
amounts of time on sorting out how to pursue
operational activities and transactional opportunities
while ensuring that they are in compliance
with the regulatory environment that
governs the markets in which they operate,”
Cimasi continued.
Early on, Health Capital Consultants (HCC)
recognized that the healthcare industry’s environment
of constant change required the skills
of a new kind of healthcare consulting firm
that could work seamlessly with inside general
counsel and outside law firms that advise
healthcare clients to ensure that the clients’
activities were conducted in a matter that was
legally permissible and defensible under regulatory
scrutiny. This led to HCC’s building an
integrated team of financial analysts, healthcare
economists, business valuators, regulatory
counsel, intermediaries, and researchers, who
have both the technical skills and experience to
competently and consistently respond to client

needs in a cost-effective, timely manner.
Founded in 1993, HCC developed and maintains significant
staff resources comprised of experienced professionals
with strong credentials; a dedication to the discipline
of process and planning; and, an organizational commitment
to quality client service as the core ingredients for the
cost-effective delivery of professional consulting services.
HCC has served a diverse range of healthcare industry and
medical professional clients in over 45 states, including
hospitals and health systems (both tax exempt and for profit);
outpatient and ambulatory facilities; accountable care
organizations (ACOs); managed care organizations; management
services organizations; group medical practices in
a full range of medical specialties, subspecialties and allied
health professions; ancillary service providers; federal and
state agencies; and, advisory professionals for those clients,
including their legal, accounting, and consulting firms.
Headquartered in St. Louis, HCC is a nationally recognized
healthcare financial and economic consulting firm
specializing in the valuation of healthcare enterprises, assets
and services; financial and feasibility analysis; merger
and consolidation in hospital/physician integration; development
of emerging healthcare models (e.g., Accountable
Care Organizations, Medical Home, Co-Management and
PSAs); and, litigation support and expert witness services
for healthcare providers and their advisors.
Cimasi explained, “Clients rely on HCC to develop the
requisite analysis and robust due diligence to determine
whether transactions are financially feasible, while also
meeting the regulatory thresholds of fair market value and
commercial reasonableness. We analyze every aspect of
each deal to assure our clients are fully informed in their
decision making process.”
Cimasi brings more than 30 years of healthcare industry
experience into each engagement. He holds a master’s
degree in health administration from the University of
Maryland in addition to a number of professional certifications
and designations from the premier valuation and
merger and acquisition professional societies. Cimasi has
also served as an expert witness in numerous court cases,
and provided testimony before federal and state legislative
committees. A nationally recognized speaker on healthcare,
Cimasi is the author of seven nationally published
books, including the newly published “Accountable Care
Organizations: Value Metrics and Capital Formation” [Taylor
& Francis 2013], and the recently released “Healthcare
Valuation: The Financial Appraisal of Enterprises, Assets,
and Services” [John Wiley & Sons 2014]. In 2006, Cimasi
was honored with the prestigious Shannon Pratt Award in
Business Valuation. He is the current Chair of the American
Society of Appraisers Healthcare Special Interest Group
Subcommittee, and is the Vice Chair of Research for the
American Health Lawyers Association (AHLA) Accountable
Care Organizations Task Force.
Without question, the rollout of the Affordable Care Act
(ACA, aka Obamacare) has dramatically changed the industry’s
landscape, with a significant impact on each of
the “Four Pillars” of healthcare value, a concept Cimasi
has coined to explain the influence of reimbursement, regulation,
technology, and competition on healthcare value.
These changes are driven by concerns related to increasing
healthcare premiums and costs; unparalleled concern
about fiscal deficit and unprecedented political fixation on
the federal public debt; the looming physician manpower
shortage; and, the capacity of the current U.S. healthcare
delivery system to meet the growing demand for services
from the aging baby boomer demographic. “HCC's services
have never been more needed, important, and in demand.
Clients benefit from our experience; our field-tested,
refined methodology; our robust research and analytical
resources; and, from the discipline of our process. In fact,
in many aspects, ‘our product is our process.’ These are exciting
times for the healthcare industry, and I foresee significant
opportunity ahead for HCC and our profession,”
Cimasi concluded.
1143 Olivette Executive Parkway
St. Louis, MO 63132-3205
Toll Free - (800) FYI-VALU [394-8258]
www.healthcapital.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.75

y diane e. alters
Errors Abound
Fixing the Thorny Issues of Medical Billing
Medical billing outsourcing
companies have emerged as
major figures in the healthcare
industry over the last decade. Designed
to help healthcare providers increase
cash flow and lower receivables
by streamlining the payment process,
medical practices and hospitals are
turning to these services now more
than ever for security reasons, to optimize
revenue, reduce errors and free
up precious time to provide quality
care. From digitized medical records to
the mountainous volume of insurance
claims, today’s medical billing landscape
looks different indeed.
“Changes in the insurance industry
command even stricter cost management,
efficiency and expertise,” Diana
Polyakov, founder and CEO of Midwest
Healthcare Management, Inc., told The
Suit. “We do that while maintaining a
high level of client satisfaction. We specialize
exclusively in providing clients
with the finest medical billing services
available.”
Formed out of a desire to create a
dynamic, quality-orientated practice
management company, Polyakov is
just as dedicated two decades later, as
she was when she launched Midwest
Healthcare Management, Inc. in 1994.
“While I can afford to be selective in
the clients I take on, I still
find that I can’t turn away
clients that are too small to
be profitable. Unquestionably,
I bring more to the
table than some clients.
But I got into this business
with a passion to
help where I am needed,”
Polyakov shared.
The passionate team at
Midwest consists of trained
medical billing experts who
understand the plethora of
pressures facing the healthcare
sector – such as the high cost of
doing business, the complexities of
managed care programs and unfair insurance
strategies.
Billing specialty areas include internal
medicine, family practice, cardiology,
gastroenterology, pediatrics, rehabilitative
medicine and psychiatry.
Services run the gamut from claim submission,
through follow up, insurance
appeal, verification of benefits, to end
of month practice reports, processing
patient credit card payments as well as
fee analysis and management.
Separating Midwest Healthcare
Management from the pack is its unwavering
commitment and willingness
to always go that extra mile to get the
desired results.
Underscoring the need for industry
experts like Polyakov are some eyebrow-raising
stats. According to Stephen
Parnete, a professor of health finance
at the University of Minnesota
who has extensively studied medical
billing, roughly 30-40 percent of medical
bills contain errors. Boston-based
health care advocacy group, The Access
Project, pegs this figure at closer to
80 percent.
Costly to healthcare providers and
consumers alike, medical billing errors
mar the credit reports of some 14
million Americans,
according to a
2013 study
Congressman Bob Dold, Diana Polyakov
from the nonprofit The Commonwealth
Fund. Moreover, the Federal Reserve
found that medical bills account for
more than half of all debts in collection.
Polyakov remains steadfastly accountable
to her growing client base.
She credits her attitude and drive for
her company’s success – two invaluable
traits sorely needed in this challenging
industry.
www.midwesthealthcare.net
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - FEB / MARCH 2014

y diane e. alter
TAKING ON THE PROBLEMS
From the Routine to the Extremely Challenging
The need for a good lawyer arises
not only when an individual is
slapped with a lawsuit or arrested
for a crime. When faced with a legal
problem or question a person can’t resolve,
it’s best – no, it’s imperative – to
talk to an attorney.
In the Stamford, CT area, the premier
law firm that people turn to and talk
about is Cacace, Tusch & Santagata,
which has been providing legal representation
to the area for more than 25
years. Founded with an initial focus
on commercial and residential real estate,
this flourishing firm has expanded
greatly over the years. Services currently
offered include land use and zoning,
family law, civil litigation, estate planning,
administrative hearings and appeals,
employment matters, construction
law and personal injury.
“I started the firm in 1982 and later
took on two lawyers who have since
become partners,” Michael J. Cacace,
founding partner, told The Suit. “As we
grew, we only hired the most qualified
individuals. Even more important, we
are comprised of an elite group that
works well together. After all, we work
as a team.”
Only taking on cases to which the
firm knows it can add value, Cacace
explains, “Our objective is to develop
long-term relationships with clients by
offering them quality legal guidance.
Litigation is a long and costly process.
We aim to provide results clients will
be pleased with.”
A graduate of Fordham University
and NY Law School, the accomplished
Cacace is active in his community, sits
on a number of prestigious boards,
and has had several cases published.
His most high profile case to-date was
successfully getting former professional
tennis player Renee Richards, who
underwent sex reassignment surgery,
into the U.S. Open. Denied entry into
the 1976 U.S. Open by the United States
Tennis Association – citing an unprecedented
“women-born-women policy”
– Cacace was instrumental
in seeing that the New York
Supreme Court ruled in her
favor in 1977. A landmark
decision in favor of transsexual
rights, it was also a
milestone for Cacace.
Today, Cacace, Tusch
& Santagata are busy
with the growing complexities
surrounding
legalizing marijuana.
Twenty states and
Washington, D.C. permit
marijuana use for
medical reasons. Others
are mulling over
the effects of legalizing
it. Additionally, Colorado
and Washington State
allow it for recreational
use. “The problem is
that while states have
made it legal, the federal
government doesn’t
recognize it as such. It’s
creating a hornet’s
nest for lawyers
who find themselves walking a tricky
tightrope. It’s also created a minefield
for developers and property owners
who own land where marijuana is sold
or dispensed,” Cacace detailed.
In addition to being a field that will
keep lawyers like Cacace busy and
challenged, marijuana is a growth industry,
projected to be worth $10 billion
by 2018.
Cacace does not shy away from the
hard problems. Not only relishing the
challenges, he never tires of the satisfying
emotions he feels when Cacace,
Tusch & Santagata obtain good results
for their clients.
777 Summer Street
Stamford, CT 06901
P: 203.327.2000
www.lawcts.com
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.77

Bringing Personal Legal Help to
Small Business Peace of Mind about Legal Issues
John Comstock of The Comstock Law
Firm, PLLC (Comstock Law) knows a
thing or two about running a business.
From working as a professional musician and
real estate agent during college, to starting his
own construction company before moving
into law, Comstock understands the unique
needs and perspectives of business owners firsthand.
Founded in 2004, Comstock Law is comprised of both
Comstock and his father, attorney Brian Comstock. Comstock
himself earned a J.D. With honors from Seattle University
School of Law in 2000, becoming in-house legal
counsel and then CEO, of Chrono-Logic Systems, Inc. shortly
thereafter. When that company moved to San Francisco,
Comstock stayed in Washington state and founded Comstock
Law, which proved to be another fruitful endeavor.
“Most of our business comes from word of mouth,” said
Comstock. He also persuaded his father, with a long and
distinguished legal career and a large client base, to combine
forces in Comstock Law. “We cater to small business
– local small business mostly.”
Small businesses have a wide variety of needs, and Comstock
focuses on providing a full range of services especially
for them. The law firm brings expertise in a wide variety of
areas, such as business formation, termination, acquisition
and sale, as well as handling contract issues, franchising,
employment issues and intellectual property, among others.
Getting to know his clients and enjoying their company
are just as important to Comstock. Events such as litigation,
arbitration and mediation can be stressful for small business
owners – who sometimes are reluctant to seek professional
legal representation at all. Comstock makes a point
of becoming acquainted with his clients personally, which
helps the entire experience become a less stressful and more
positive one.
Our goal is always to try to avoid court. But Comstock
adds, “Sometimes you’ve got to go to court.”
With another successful business venture tucked under
his arm, Comstock notes that he personally views his family
as his greatest success. As with any job, there needs to be a
balance between family and work, and Comstock has found
it.
The Comstock Law Firm, PLLC
9 Lake Bellevue Drive, Suite 105
Bellevue, WA 98005
www.comstocklaw.com
by travis taylor
huNGEr wAtchEs
rEAlIty shows,
too.
1 IN 6 AMErIcANs Now struGGlEs wIth huNGEr.
toGEthEr
wE’rE
hunger is closer than you think. reach out to your local food bank
for ways to do your part. Visit FeedingAmerica.org today.

Strength is nothing
without consistency.
At Northwestern Mutual, we’ve paid more
dividends than any company in the industry for
the past 14 years.
Put our strength to work for you. Contact us to learn how.
Alex Conti
245 Park Ave 18 FL
New York, NY
(646) 366 - 6577
alex-conti.com
James Bufalo
CLU®, ChFC®
Financial Advisor
(845) 562 - 4175
jimbufalo.com
05-2931 © 2011 Northwestern Mutual is the marketing name for The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, Milwaukee, WI (NM) (life and disability insurance,
annuities) and its subsidiaries. Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC (NMIS) (securities), a subsidiary of NM, broker-dealer, registered investment adviser,
and member of FINRA and SIPC. James John Bufalo, Alex Conti, Insurance Agent(s) of NM. Alex Conti, Registered Representative(s) of NMIS. James John Bufalo,
Registered Representative(s) and Investment Adviser Representative(s) of NMIS. The dividend scale and the underlying interest rates are reviewed annually and are
subject to change. Future dividends are not guaranteed.