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20140623-News--0010,0011-NAT-CCI-AA --6/19/20146:20 PMPage 2June 23, 2014 InvestmentNews 11InvestmentNews.comIDEALISTSSameer Somalhelping other financial advisers. In the spirit of“Blue Ocean Strategy” (Harvard BusinessReview Press, 2005), which encouragesentrepreneurs to target novel businessmodels, the firm provides innovativesolutions to help families, corporations, institutions and financial advisers with financial guidance andinvestment strategies.Mr. Somal, who built two businesses while earning his bachelor’sdegree in finance and accountingfrom Georgetown University, was anadviser for Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch, as well as an investmentanalyst for the Bank of Nova Scotia.He also has attained both the chartered financial analyst and certified financialplanner designations.— Liz SkinnerAge: 30Chief financialofficer, Blue OceanGlobal WealthSameer Somal is passionate about helpingfinancial advisers finishtheir working lives withouthaving to die with their bootson.As chief financial officer ofBlue Ocean Global Wealth, Mr.Somal spends about two weeks amonth on the road, meeting withadvisers to discuss and develop exit strategies aimed at maximizing value for their heirs andestablishing a legacy.Industrywide, more than half of advisers don’t have asuccession plan, and most don’t even know the value oftheir business, according to Mr. Somal.“Advisers create valuable plans for their clients’ retirement but don’t plan for their own,” he said.The CFO makes the case for succession planning inadviser presentations around the country, a plea BlueOcean outlined in a white paper last year. Some adviserssay his talk has spurred them to action — no easy feat,given the depths of the industry’s paralysis.Blue Ocean, a registered investment adviser Mr. Somalco-founded with former Ameriprise Financial adviser Marguerita Cheng in November, has the atypical mission of0FTS OF THE 4CA 1/2HavegraduatedegreesErik MilamRyan DiachokWTAge: 34Financial planner, TrustCore Financialhen Erik Milam first learned as a young child thathe had cerebral palsy, doctors told him he wouldnever be able to climb stairs without clinging tothe railing.But that didn’t stop him from playing on a championship high school football team, and it didn’t stop him afew weeks ago from running in a 5K road race.Mr. Milam, a financial planner at TrustCore FinancialInc., also had such a severe stutter as a child that he couldn’t even answer the phone.These days, as board presidentof the Middle Tennessee chapterof United Cerebral Palsy, heregularly gives speechesabout conquering difficultcircumstances.“I’ve done some thingsin my life that people toldme I’d never be able todo, but growing up andhaving some obstacles toovercome has made me astronger person,” he said.“That’s why I love what I do,because I view doing financial planning as a way to help people overcometheir obstacles and get to their goals.”Mr. Milam’s first taste of the financial services industrycame during a summer internship at an insurance company while he was still in college.“The internship helped me realize I didn’t want to be ina job that was based on a product; I wanted to be focusedon the client,” he said. “When I started taking some of theprerequisite financial planning classes, I realized I didn’tknow enough to be doing what I was doing during thatsummer internship. It really rocked my world.”Mr. Milam has used that experience, as well as othersin his personal life, to build a book of business based onholistic financial planning. A certified financial planner andregistered life planner, his words to clients and prospectson his company’s website proclaim: “My clients understand that I provide them with more than just financialguidance, but aim to help them establish a life of greaterpersonal satisfaction and well-being.”— Jeff BenjaminAge: 35President, Geneos Wealth Managementhe third-generation scion of one of theleading families of the independentbroker-dealer industry, Ryan Diachok knows what it’s like to start at thebottom rung of the family business.Promoted this year to president ofGeneos Wealth Management Inc., Mr.Diachok in 1999 started in the mailroomof the family’s previous broker-dealer,Multi-Financial Securities Corp., whichwas sold to ING in the 1990s and is now partof Cetera Financial Group.“As cliché as that sounds, that’s what I did. And then Iworked eventually in every department: operations, trading, compliance, marketing,” he said. “I really enjoyed thebusiness right from the beginning.”His grandfather, George, a longtime favorite amongold-timers at industry meetings, started Multi-Financial inRobert L. ScheinAge: 38Managing director and partner,HighTowerRobert Schein was born to be a financial adviser. Theson of Croatian immigrants, he was dealing baseballcards at 12. He started in the financial industry a fewyears later by cold-calling leads for his brother, a broker intraining at Merrill Lynch.“My brother had an internshipat Merrill in the ’90s, and I piggybacked from there,” Mr.Schein said.In 2011 he joined HighTower Advisors and HighTower Securities, wherehe is a partner and managing director. His teammanages 550 million.When his father diedfrom cancer four years ago,Mr. Schein realized he couldmake an impact helping femaleclients like his mother.“Mom never controlled the finances,” he said. His brainchild was a leadership and community forum called theSociety of Financially Empowered Women, where womencan gain the confidence to control their money.“Nine out of10 women are solely responsible for their finances at theend of their lives,” Mr. Schein said. “Everyone knows this,but no one is catering to this demographic.”— Bruce Kellythe 1980s, and his uncle, Russ, eventually took over thatfirm. The family and a core of loyal employees left in 2002to begin Geneos, which has seen solid growth during adecade of market turmoil. Dozens of Geneos’ IBD competitors have been wiped out due to bad investments andpoor due diligence.Geneos currently has 260 affiliated registered repsand posted 104.6 million in total revenue last year.Reps and employees also own shares of the company, with George Diachok, now 88, and RussDiachok controlling the largest amount.Ryan Diachok is proud of his family’s legacy ofbeing leaders in the independent-broker-dealerbusiness. He combines the old school, hands-onapproach when listening to advisers and potentialrecruits, but the Diachok family is not shy aboutinnovation. The family also operates a software company and leases its product to other broker-dealers.The IBD industry “is in my blood, and we have put ourselves in a good niche focusing on higher-producing,quality advisers,” he said. “It’s a tight-margin business,but if you have the right people, technology andprocesses, you can run this business profitably.”— Bruce KellyMORE ONLINEThis print issue is only half the story. Watch video of these young professionalssharing their experiences in their own words, read extended profiles and learninteresting fast facts about the group at InvestmentNews.com/40. And join theconversation on Twitter, posting your thoughts about the project with #IN40.

20140623-News--0012,0013-NAT-CCI-IN --6/19/20146:38 PMPage 1InvestmentNews.com12 InvestmentNews June 23, 2014ENTREPRENEURSKristen LukeJason Van DuynKLmarketing their businesses. And this summer, her firm is merging with Angie HerbersInc., a consultancy specializing in humanresources and other operational matters.Ms. Luke’s insights, provided via herblog and industry publications, are especially useful now as RIA firms navigatesocial-media-based marketing.— Darla MercadoPeter PrinciAge: 38Managing director, The PrinciGroup at Morgan StanleyMRyan O. SmithAge: 36President and chiefcompliance officer, DiversifyInc. and DFPG InvestmentsWBhen Ryan Smith’s broker-dealerclosed in 2011, he and his twopartners, who already ran theirown registered investmentadviser, decided to dosomething audacious.They launched abroker-dealer, DFPGInvestments Inc.Mr. Smith’s mission was to createfirst-class due diligence for theplethora of nontradedreal estate investmenttrusts and real estate private placements beginning to swamp the brokerdealer landscape.DFPG opened as a record number ofsmall and midsize broker-dealerswere closing. Thin margins, exacerbated by record-low interest rates,had erased once-rich spreads onmargin accounts and moneymarket funds.A significant part of buildingDFPG Investments, along withDiversify Wealth Management, hisRIA, has been expanding its internal due-diligence team.“We are very selective with thesponsors we work with, and we’re knownfor this,” he said. “Due diligence is a mustfor us.”— Bruce KellyBill WinterbergAge: 36President andfounder, FPPadill Winterberg founded FPPad in2008 with the objective of beinga leading source of news,insight and thought leadershipon financial planning technology. Six years later, he has succeeded in turning what startedout as a financial planning bloginto a consulting and mediaresource for advisers — including a popular YouTube channel,an iTunes podcast and keynote speaking engagements.“I think I’m the only one with a unique video channel foradvisers because I want to empower the industry to makepositive changes with technology,” he said.A certified financial planner, Mr. Winterberg has a goal ofhelping advisers move intothe future by creating a scalaTS OF THE 4ble, efficient business model.ACHe does this either by directlyconsulting with advisoryfirms or by getting his message out via traditional andsocial media.“It’s about creating a comNumber whosemunity to inform advisers andguilty pleasure isgenerate a dialogue,” he said.ice cream— Joyce Hanson80anaging close to 3 billion in assetsdoesn’t happen without hearing afew “no’s,” but that did notdeter Peter Princi.Having been a pitcher for a minorleague affiliate of the New York Metsout of college, he knew how to perform under pressure with thousandsof fans breathing down his neck.“To be able to block that all out andexecute at the highest level of the game, Ihad to have a thick skin,” he said.He brought the hard work and teambuilding ethos he learned in the sport tofinance — along with afew Major LeagueBaseball executiveclients.“The transition was relatively smoothwhen I decidedto hang up mycleats,” Mr.Princi said.As lead strategist for The PrinciGroup, Mr. Princi oversees a team of nine: threeanalysts, four consultants and two clientassistants.— Mason Braswellike many high school students, JasonVan Duyn was nofan of algebra.But one day, asubstituteteacher captured hisimaginationby showinghim a cost-ofwaiting calculation. Thepremise was simple: save now, bewealthy later. That realization launchedMr. Van Duyn’s career.“People try to make it confusing, butit’s a few very simple things,” he said.“If they just follow these rules thatanyone can follow, their lives will bedramatically better because they’llhave a lot more money.”Mr. Van Duyn started AQuestWealth Strategies, an LPL Financialaffiliated firm, in Sterling Heights, Mich.,in 2009 as the financial crisis hit. He considers the timing propitious. After all,monkeys throwing darts at stock tablescan pick winners in an up market, but people really needed help during that once-ina-lifetime market rout.And the former math skeptic is now acandidate for a doctorate in businessadministration.— Trevor HunnicuttGERARDO TABONESristen Luke clearly is in the driver’sseat at her firm, Wealth ManagementMarketing Inc.And when she isn’t there, she’s in thepilot’s seat. Ms. Luke has her private-pilot’slicense and is working to obtain a commercial-pilot’s license.Day to day, though, Ms. Luke and herteam of nine employees guide advisersthrough the challenges ofAge: 36President and founder,AQuest Wealth StrategiesFAge: 35President, WealthManagement Marketing Inc.

20140623-News--0012,0013-NAT-CCI-IN --6/19/20146:38 PMPage 2June 23, 2014 InvestmentNews 13InvestmentNews.comENTREPRENEURSMichael Dubiseveryone else has to do things hisway. He has been outspokenabout the fiduciary standardand other issues in nationalpublications and as a leaderof the Wisconsin FinancialPlanning Association.“From my perspective,disclosure in a pragmatic format would be somethingmore important than mandating that brokers have to be fiduciaries,” he said. “Then there’s noconfusion — rather than spendingtime regulating people for something they’re not.”— Mason BraswellClara ShihAge: 32Founder and CEO,Hearsay SocialClara Shih is onthe leading edgeof compliantsocial media marketing for broker-dealers.Her company, HearsaySocial Inc., has been aroundonly since 2009, but thus far it’smanaged to pick up a couple ofprominent clients, including Ray-mond James Financial Inc. and RBCWealth Management. To extend itsreach, Hearsay has alsoteamed up with LinkedInCorp. to make socialmedia managementeasier for firms eagerto comply with regulations.At 18, Ms. Shihwanted to be a software engineer. Sheearned her bachelor’s andmaster’s degrees in computer science at Stanford University, as well as a bachelor’s ineconomics. She also earned hermaster’s in Internet studies at theUniversity of Oxford.Whether it’s helming a startup orfighting her way to the top atschool, Ms. Shih attributes her success to pure and simple grit.“I can’t tell you how many 2 or 3a.m. late nights I pulled when I wasworking at Google and Salesforce— the process of working on something until it’s perfect,” she said.In those moments, having theright kind of boss also helped. “Thetoughest bosses I ever had — thoseare the ones in retrospect I view asbeing the most influential,” she said.— Darla MercadoAge: 37President, Michael A.Dubis Financial PlanningTwelve years ago, MichaelDubis was one of the first tobring a fee-only practice toMadison, Wis., and now he considers it his mandate to redefine thepractice of wealth management.“I think wealth management ishijacked,” he said. “We practicewealth management, but I don’twant to be tied to how people haveabused the term.”Mr. Dubis based his business ona quote he read early in his careerfrom Harold Evensky, author andco-founder of Evensky & KatzWealth Management. The quote,hanging framed in Mr. Dubis’ office,reads, “It’s not just your financeswe’re planning, it’s the quality ofthe rest of your life.”But Mr. Dubis doesn’t thinkAlan MooreAge: 27Founder, SerenityFinancial Consulting;Co-founder, XY PlanningNetworkAlan Moore doesn’t care if hehas the largest financial planning practice or if he everbecomes a millionaire, because hehas a good senseof what heneeds. “Westart businesses tosupportthelifestyle wewant to liveand not theother wayaround,” saidMr. Moore, founderof Serenity Financial Consulting andco-founder of XY Planning Network.Mr. Moore uprooted his 3.5-yearold Milwaukee practice to live andwork in Bozeman, Mont., where hecan “ski on Wednesdays.”He charges a monthly retainerthat starts at 100 and says hegrosses about 100,000 a year,which is fine with him.“Asset-based pricing won’t workfor Gen X clients, because theydon’t have any money yet,” he said.— Jeff BenjaminYour life insurance clients lookto you for sound solutions,not sound bites.At AXA, we’ve re-engineered ourofferings so you can meet yourclients’ needs with confidence.Things are changing at AXA: we’ve strengthened our lifeinsurance portfolio with new, competitively priced products likeBrightLifeSM Protect Universal Life Insurance and BrightLifeSMGrow Indexed Universal Life Insurance. Our Advanced Markets teamand Solutions on Demand platform deliver the tools and resourcesto exceed your needs. To find out how we can help your clients takesmall, manageable steps toward their financial goals, call our sales desk at877-216-0470 or visit axa.com/soundsolutions.Advice Retirement Life Insurance“AXA” is the brand name of AXA Equitable Financial Services, LLC and its family of companies, including AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company (NY, NY) and MONYLife Insurance Company of America (administrative oɉce: NY, NY), the issuing companies of the BrightLifeSM products. AXA S.A. is a French holding company for agroup of international insurance and nancial services companies, including AXA Equitable Financial Services, LLC. BrightLifeSM Grow and BrightLifeSM Protect areservice marks of AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company, New York, NY 10104. The obligations of AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company and MONY Life InsuranceCompany of America are backed solely by their claims-paying ability. Life insurance contains exclusions, limitations, and terms for keeping it in force. For costs andcomplete details of coverage, contact a nancial professional. GE-92842 (3/14)

20140623-News--0014,0015-NAT-CCI-IN --6/19/20146:40 PMPage 1InvestmentNews.com14 InvestmentNews June 23, 2014TRAILBLAZERSJon SteinAge: 34Chief executive,BettermentGERARDO TABONESLong before Jon Stein’sdays as chief executiveof Betterment, a NewYork-based onlineadviser with about 550million in assets undermanagement, he hadmajor aspirations.Growing up, he wantedto one day be president,a journalist, a doctor, anart dealer and a rockstar. Mr. Stein eventuallyreceived a bachelor’s ineconomics from Harvard University andan MBA from Columbia University.The risks and rewards of entrepreneurship were calling him.Enter Betterment — a shining exampleof disruption in the financial advisoryspace. Rather than meeting with a humanadviser in person, clients invest on theweb. Online platforms use technology tocraft customized portfolios and chargeclients a fraction of traditional advisoryfees — from 0.15% to 0.35% at Betterment, depending on the account balance.— Darla MercadoDave GrantFrancesca E.FedericoAge: 31President,Financefor TeachersAge: 25Financial adviser, TwelvePoints Wealth ManagementIAge: 39Director of financial planning,Clark NuberRAt 21, Francesca Federico was by farthe youngest person in her financialadviser training class at MorganStanley.But she found her way. Inspired by herown family background, immigrant smallbusiness owners are a key constituency forMs. Federico, now afinancial adviser atTwelve PointsWealth Management.“You have alot of hands inthe pot” in afamily business,she said. “At somepoint, someone hasto be the decisionmaker.”Ms. Federico takes her enthusiasm tohelp into the broader community. She is aco-founder of the USA500 club, a network ofhigh-ranking professionals, and assistsyoung women lookingto start businesses byhelping them withpaperwork. She alsoencourages others tolearn about the advicefield by having womenfrom her alma mater,Fairfield University,shadow her.— Trevor HunnicuttTS OF THE 4CA62.5%0achele Bouchand is a financial interventionist. A certified financial planner, she often works with clients onthe verge of making disastrous decisionswith their savings. “The clients don’t know.Their advisers will tell them that this type ofinvestment is very conservative, and that’sthe kiss of death,” she said.Ms. Bouchand was Schwab’s top planner in 2002 and 2003 for its 14 regions,leading the nation in the number of financial plans completed and revenue generated from those plans.She’s now director of financial planningat Clark Nuber, a regional CPA and consulting firm, where her focus is a client’s “complex financial plan, their entire financial life.”Ms. Bouchand knows that not everyperson who needs financial advice canafford it, and contributes pro-bono plansfor the Financial Planning Association.— Bruce KellyFRachele Bouchandn the seven years that Dave Grant hasbeen working as a financial adviser, hehas developed a unique niche by focusing on an area he believes is underservedby the financial advice industry.The name of his business says it all:Finance for Teachers.“My wife’s a teacher, and there are a lotof teachers in my family,” he said. “About85% of my clients are teachers.”Mr. Grant, who holds a bachelor’sdegree in psychology, works primarilywith clients in his home state of Illinois, buthis aspirations are to “franchise” his company in other states.“Teachers are definitely not a readilytapped market for advisers,” he said. “Fora lot of teachers, the only thing they knowabout investing is whatever they’ve beentold by a 403(b) plan salesman, and as I letthem know about different options, theyare hearing some of these things for thefirst time.”Mr. Grant recognizessome of the challengesthe financial adviceindustry faces —including a sometimesnegative image — butsees a bright future.“I’d like one of mybiggest contributions tothe financial adviceindustry to be my working with younger planners,” he said.— Jeff BenjaminHave a TwitteraccountJulia M. CarlsonAge: 37CEO and founder, FinancialFreedom WealthManagementGroupBalancingthedemandsof building afinancial advisory practice,educating thepublic and developing a personal brandare no easy feat. But neither is the exacting diet and exerciseregime demanded of competitive bodybuilders. Still Julia Carlson has managedto do all of these — and more — thanksto a good measure of discipline.“I’m a huge goal-setter,” she said.The Newport, Ore., broker and adviserhas done that in spades. She started hercareer in financial advice young, at age 19,with no CFP certification, no bachelor’sdegree and professional experience thatconsisted of flipping burgers at McDonald’s. Now people flock to her seminarsand turn to her local column for financialadvice — and she’s been endorsed by thepopular financial author and personalityDave Ramsey.Ms. Carlson is the chief executive andfounder of Financial Freedom Wealth Management Group, an LPL Financial-affiliatedfirm. And while Ms. Carlson’s public profilehas brought her wealthy clients, it’s moreoften brought people whose finances arenot in great shape. She still helps many ofthose people get on track — gratis.— Trevor Hunnicutt

20140623-News--0014,0015-NAT-CCI-IN --6/19/20146:40 PMPage 2June 23, 2014 InvestmentNews 15InvestmentNews.comTRAILBLAZERSKyle RyanAge: 36Executive VP,Personal CapitalKyle Ryan wishes the industrywould stop referring to Personal Capital as a robo-adviser.“It bothers me because we’renot,” said Mr. Ryan, executive vicepresident of the San Franciscobased firm that offers an onlineinvestment advisory platform.“From the beginning we’ve alsoembraced the traditional adviserrelationship because we think people want and need advisers.”In fact, Mr. Ryan is crafting anentirely new client experience at hisfirm, and is an industry leader intrying to figure out the best way oftransitioning from solely physicaldistribution of investment servicesto virtual delivery.As director of adviser services,he built out a process that blendsan adviser’s personal touch withhigh-tech investment and analysistools. He’s hired, trained and mentored the firm’s 40 advisers, each ofwhom works with clients that haveinvestible assets of at leastRebekahKohmescherAge: 37Managing director anddirector of investmentoperations,Altair Advisers 100,000.Mr. Ryan met Personal Capital chiefexecutive William Harris Jr. in 2009 when thefirm “was just an idea,” hesaid.“We talked about transformingthe wealth management businessby leveraging technology,” he said.Mr. Ryan joined Personal Capital in 2010, the year before thefirm launched its online tools andservices.“Technology enhances what anadviser can do for a client,” he said.— Liz SkinnerWes MossAge: 38Chief investmentstrategist, CapitalInvestment AdvisorsWes Moss is a chief investment strategist with a largepublic following in Atlanta,thanks to his hosting duties on“Money Matters,” a long-runningcall-in inv

Blue Ocean, a registered investment adviser Mr. Somal co-founded with former Ameriprise Financial adviser Mar-guerita Cheng in November, has the atypical mission of helping other financial advisers. In the spirit of "Blue Ocean Strategy" (Harvard Business Review Press, 2005), which encourages entrepreneurs to target novel business