FPA NexGen Gathering 2022 Speakers

 FPA NexGen Gathering Keynote Speaker

Dr. Ajamu Loving

As the first Black Ph.D. recipient for Personal Financial Planning in the profession, Dr. Ajamu Loving has dedicated his life to making financial planning more accessible and diversifying research.

Dr. Loving serves as Assistant Professor of Finance at the University of North Texas at Dallas where he teaches courses in the fields of Investments, Fundamentals of Finance, Financial Liquidity, and Financial Markets and Institutions.

Prior to his appointment at the University of North Texas at Dallas, Dr. Loving served as the Director of Academic Partnerships at the American College of Financial Services. His responsibilities included creating and coordinating relationships between colleges and universities and The American College to increase the availability of financial services education in academia.

Adam Blumberg, CFP®
Interaxis
Co-Founder and President

Adam has been in Financial Services for over 13 years, starting with an insurance B/D, and moving to his own RIA. He is the co-founder of Interaxis, a company dedicated to safely and compliantly bringing financial professionals to Crypto. The YouTube channel they created has over 10,000 subscribers. In 2021 they created and launched a course and Certification to teach Financial Adivsors how to make Crpyto and Digital Assets a part of their practice. They have educated thousands of advisors. In May 2021 they helped launch PlannerDAO, the first decentralized community for financial advisors. Planner DAO has grown to over 1,000 members.
 

Dr. Preston D. Cherry, CFT-I™, CFP®
Concurrent Financial Planning
Founder & President

Dr. Cherry is the Founder & President of Concurrent Financial Planning and Head of the Financial Planning Program at the UW – Green Bay. Preston specializes in empowering individuals to share stories that inform their financial resources and life’s design to achieve financial wellness. Preston has over 15 years of financial services and academic experience, including financial planning, investment management, published research in top journals, and extensive leadership in the planning profession. He is an Investopedia 100 Top Financial Advisor and currently serves as President of the Financial Therapy Association, and practitioner editor of the award-winning Journal of Financial Planning.

Violeta Diaz, Ph.D.
St. Mary's University
Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Finance

Dr. Violeta Díaz is an award-winning researcher with 20 years of teaching experience and currently Associate Dean of the Greehey School of Business at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, TX. She is the Faculty Advisor for the $3.7 million Student Managed Fund and prior to joining St. Mary’s, she was Assistant Professor at New Mexico State University. Díaz has a Ph.D. in Finance from The University of Texas-Pan American, and Master’s degree in Finance from Monterrey Tech. She has also been visiting professor at the University of Bergamo in Italy and at EGADE Business School in Mexico.




 

Jessica Harrington, MS, PCC
Carson Group
Executive Business Coach

Jessica has been an Executive Business Coach at Carson since 2019. Prior to Carson she worked at a Broker Dealer (BD) for nearly a decade. During her time at the BD she was introduced to and fell in love with coaching. She holds a MS in Leadership and Organizational Development from UT Dallas and is a Professional Certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation. Her "why" is to partner with and challenge advisors to discover, develop, and reach their fullest potential.



 

Abby Hasling CFP®, ChSNC® 
HC Financial Advisors
Financial Advisor

Abby Hasling is a Financial Advisor at HC Financial Advisors in Lafayette, California. A graduate of the Texas Tech Personal Financial Planning Program, Abby is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional and holds the Chartered Special Needs Consultant Designation®. With a focus on supporting and developing the next generation of advisors, Abby handles the training and oversight of new associates at HC Financial Advisors in addition to her work with students and young professionals as President of the Texas Tech Personal Financial Planning Alumni Board and Chair of the NAPFA Women’s Initiative.






 

Bryan Hasling CFP®, EA
Lodestar Private Asset Management
Partner Advisor

Bryan, a Partner and Financial Advisor at Lodestar Private Asset Management, helps ambitious professionals and successful families reach financial independence. His specialties include retirement planning with ongoing tax guidance and investment management. In addition to being a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, he is also an IRS Enrolled Agent and a graduate of the Texas Tech Personal Financial Planning Program.

 

Neela Bushnell Hummel, CFP®
Abacus Wealth Partners
Co-CEO

Neela Hummel, CFP® is co-CEO of Abacus Wealth Partners in Santa Monica, CA. Starting as an unpaid intern in 2009, Neela has helped grow a values-aligned firm that supports gender equity through flexible policies, career path creation, and compensation transparency. As a consequence, over 50% of Abacus’ advisors are women, in an industry where 20% is the norm. As a mom of three tiny humans, she can juggle and delegate, all while covered in ketchup. Neela aims to make financial planning more impactful and accessible (less jargon, more mom jokes). She also believes that taking care of people is everything.




 

Julie Johnson
XY Communication
Founder and CEO

Julie Johnson started her career in 1996 as a rookie with Smith Barney in Denver. By
2007 she and her team managed over $1B in AUM. They moved their team and every
client, including pensions, foundations, 401k’s, family offices and ultra HNW individuals, to UBS in the Fall of 2007. Julie was named SVP with UBS, her team received Barron’s top advisor and top team awards during her tenure. In 2016 Julie received her Behavioral Finance Certification and began her career as a full time certified coach, consultant, public speaker and author. She was engaged to consult with management, advisors and teams, and speak at such esteemed national conferences as Barron’s and Fidelity, as well as several regional conferences, both in person and virtually with FPA, Forbes, Morgan Stanley, Wealth Management, UBS, Ameriprise, BNY Mellon, just to name a few.

Sam Nguyen, CFP®, EA
XY Planning Network
Director of Tax

Sam Nguyen has over 12 years of experience in tax planning and preparation in the financial planning industry. He is an Enrolled Agent, a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional, and graduated from Virginia Tech’s financial planning program in 2009. Sam has extensive experience working with financial planners and their clients, and knows that understanding the goals and the comprehensive financial planning picture of a client allows for better tax planning and advising.







 

J.J. Peller
Carson Group
Executive Business Coach

J.J. is an Executive Business Coach with Carson where he works with 38 financial advisors every month to make great decisions and grow their businesses faster and more efficiently. J.J. spent the first five years of his career as a financial advisor and the past four years as a coach which is his passion and calling in life. J.J. is a member of the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and an Associate Certified Coach (ACC) through the ICF. His high-energy personality helps him build people up, while creating the right environment to provide constructive coaching that helps advisors reach their goals.

Chelsea Ransom-Cooper, CFP®
Zenith Wealth Partners
Managing Partner and Financial Planning Director

Chelsea Ransom-Cooper is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ who specializes in working with women founders and in the tech industry. Through Zenith Wealth Partners, Chelsea helps her clients through the many financial challenges they face as women with ambitious goals. As a managing partner of Zenith Wealth Partners, Chelsea Ransom-Cooper, CFP® and her team offer comprehensive financial planning for Gen X and Millennial clients. Together, they believe that financial planning professionals can work to help close the gender and racial wealth gap, and they prioritize forward-thinking and simplified strategies that make financial planning accessible to all.