David S. Pope

Darren Rock is the principal advisor at Rock Financial Planning, LLC in Wilmington, NC. He holds a Series 65 credential and has recently transitioned into the financial advisory field following a 21-year career in the United States Marine Corps and subsequent roles in consulting and technology. Rock Financial Planning, LLC provides fee-only, comprehensive financial planning and investment advisory services primarily to individuals and families, employing a long-term, passive investment strategy focused on asset allocation, diversification, and low-cost, tax-efficient vehicles. The firm offers various engagement options, including ongoing advisory relationships and limited-scope consulting, and utilizes multiple billing structures rather than a single fee model.

Counterweight Private Wealth is an independent, fee-only fiduciary wealth management firm based in Raleigh and Wilmington, NC, serving clients virtually nationwide. Founded in 2021 by Nick Murphy, CFP®, the firm specializes in tax-forward retirement and business-exit planning, helping executives, business owners, and professionals turn decades of accumulated wealth into a tax-efficient, purpose-driven retirement. Counterweight is one of the few advisory firms that prepares client tax returns in-house, allowing deep integrated tax planning strategies for lifetime tax optimization to be directly implemented with precision into the financial plan. Clients typically range from $2 million to $30 million or more in investable assets. Who We Serve Our clients are successful individuals and families in the later stages of their careers who desire a collaborative partner to help them transition through significant professional and personal milestones. We typically partner with clients who have $2 million or more in investment assets, a threshold that reflects the level of complexity where our deep, tax-integrated planning and wealth management approach delivers the most value. Most of the families we serve generally have between $2.5 million and $30 million or more in assets, and are often navigating retirement transitions, business sales, or other major financial milestones. Our Services Our team provides expertise in the areas of Retirement Planning, Investment Management, Tax Planning, Business Succession Planning, Sudden or Inherited Wealth, Legacy and Philanthropic Planning, Executive Compensation Strategies, and Social Security Income Strategies.

Michael Hudson, AIF®, is a Wilmington, North Carolina-based financial advisor who brings more than 30 years of experience to helping families navigate their most important financial decisions. Licensed since 1994, Michael serves pre-retirees, retirees, business owners, and executives, specializing in the critical five-year window just before and after retirement. As a fiduciary, Michael is legally obligated to act in his clients' best interests. His comprehensive planning approach centers on tax-efficient retirement income, risk management, and investment management. To ensure every piece of a client's financial puzzle works in harmony, he routinely coordinates with their CPAs and attorneys. Outside the office, Michael and his wife, Deanna, have been married for over 30 years. He is deeply involved in his local community, serving on the board of the Wilmington nonprofit Going Beyond the Pink. An avid outdoorsman, Michael spends waterfowl season in a duck blind and the rest of the year offshore chasing blue marlin, passions he proudly shares with many of his clients.

I’ve always been fascinated by money, but I never planned on working in finance. Fresh out of college I moved to Columbus, Ohio to live with my wife while she finished up grad school. I needed a job, and I stumbled my way into a role at Morgan Stanley by responding to a sketchy Craigslist ad. I was about 70% certain it was a scam. Luckily it wasn’t, and I got the job! It was a great learning experience, and I got my feet wet while learning the industry fundamentals there. After a few years though my dad recruited me to return to my hometown in Charlotte, NC to help run the family business in the natural gas industry. I loved working with family, but ultimately decided my heart wasn’t in it. Discussing thread counts on screws and the viscosity of silicone didn’t get my intellectual juices flowing. Meanwhile I was spending countless hours of my free time researching personal finance and finally had the realization “why don’t I make a career out of this?” So I made the difficult decision (sorry, dad) to transition back into finance with a job at Vanguard. I was right. This was finally scratching that intellectual itch. But I wanted to make a more personal impact on people’s lives, and I couldn’t accomplish that as a tiny cog in a giant machine. So I took jobs at a few smaller firms where I was able to develop personal relationships with clients, get their finances on track, and help them accomplish their goals. Now this was my jam! During my time there I worked with clients in tech and realized how much complexity there was in managing their finances. Managing their company equity was complicated! Managing their stock options was extra complicated! But I loved the complexity, I loved the people, and I loved the look on their face when it all finally came together. Soon though, I began to get the entrepreneurial itch (thanks, dad) to start my own firm. I knew exactly who I wanted to work with – tech professionals. I saw first hand the impact I could have in their lives. That was my inspiration for founding Tech Financial Planning. Now I get to put it all together: intellectual fulfillment, meaningful relationships, and personal impact, all while working with awesome folk in tech solving their complex problems. Now that’s what I call a dream job! As for a bit about my personal life, in 2022 I celebrated my 10th wedding anniversary with my amazing wife, Allie. We met in high school and survived a 4-year long distance relationship during college while she attended school in Ohio and I attended the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. We have two amazing kids, Elliot and Reya, and an adorable, yet clingy Australian Shepherd named Cassie. I value experiences over things, so my wife and I love traveling domestically and internationally to explore new places and cultures. I’m also a firm believer that you don’t need to spend money to have fun, so I’m always exploring my current hometown, Nashville, for fun, free activities. I love board games, I’m an avid podcast listener, and I’m always on the lookout for a great show to binge.

Eric Cerrone is a financial advisor at Harborside Capital with six years of industry experience. He holds a Series 65 designation and has worked at Harborside Capital since 2019, following a prior tenure at Liberty Capital Inc from 2006 to 2022. Harborside Capital provides discretionary portfolio management and advisory services to individuals, including high-net-worth clients, as well as entities such as LLCs, corporations, and trusts. The firm combines medium- to long-term positions with selective short-term trading, employing a range of analytical methods and actively trading derivatives, futures, options, and digital assets within client accounts.

Richard Greulich Jr. is a CFA® charterholder with 19 years of industry experience. He has been with REG Capital L.L.C. since 2006 and is the sole advisor at Reg Capital Advisors in Southport, NC. Reg Capital Advisors provides discretionary portfolio management to individuals, IRAs, corporations, and charitable organizations. The firm focuses on a “Value Plus Favorable Change” investment approach, targeting low-valuation securities with potential for fundamental improvement, typically constructing concentrated portfolios of smaller-cap stocks and employing a mix of fundamental, technical, and cyclical analysis supported by proprietary research and direct company contacts.