James Michael Birks

Ben Arie is a Series 66-licensed financial advisor with Independent Financial Group, LLC, based in North Bethesda, MD. He has four years of industry experience and previously worked at Plotkin Financial Advisors and APEX Home Loans. Outside of advising, he is involved in selling life insurance and annuities. Independent Financial Group, LLC is a dual-registered broker-dealer and SEC-registered investment adviser serving individuals, charities, corporations, and plan sponsors. The firm offers a variety of advisory programs through its AccessPoint platform and third-party asset managers, providing both discretionary and non-discretionary portfolio management.

David Setia, AIF, CMFC, is a financial advisor with LPL Financial in McLean, Virginia, holding Series 7, Series 65 and Series 63 credentials and over 10 years of industry experience. He has been with LPL Financial since 2016. LPL Financial is an SEC-registered investment adviser and broker-dealer serving individuals, retirement plans, financial institutions, and charitable organizations through a national network of investment adviser representatives. The firm offers a range of financial planning and advisory programs, retirement plan consulting, and brokerage services, utilizing both proprietary and third-party research and model portfolios.

Simeon’s role is to help clients create a coordinated financial strategy that aligns their investments, taxes, retirement income, and long-term goals into one cohesive plan. A big part of his approach is helping clients simplify complexity and make confident decisions during periods of uncertainty.

Girish Gupte is a financial advisor at Magnus Financials LLC with a Series 65 designation and one year of industry experience. He has prior business experience spanning various ventures including insurance and real estate companies that he has been involved with since 2008. Magnus Financials LLC serves individual investors and small businesses by providing financial planning, non-discretionary portfolio advisory, and targeted consulting such as small-business valuations. The firm’s investment approach focuses on strategic asset allocation informed by top-down and fundamental analysis, with advice delivered on a non-discretionary basis and tailored to client preferences.

Kevin Lozer is a CFP® with 17 years of industry experience, currently serving as the sole advisor at Oakton Financial, LLC. He previously worked for ten years at CLEARLOGIC FINANCIAL, INC., formerly known as Ticknor Atherton & Associates. Oakton Financial serves high-net-worth individuals and small businesses with comprehensive financial planning and discretionary investment management. The firm emphasizes a strategic asset-allocation approach based on Modern Portfolio Theory, tax-aware investments, and a boutique, limited-client model without charging percentage-of-assets-under-management fees.

Oliver Fratzscher is the principal of EM Leaders, LLC, an independent advisory firm based in Bethesda, MD. He holds a Series 65 designation and has 13 years of industry experience. Since founding EM Leaders in 2012, he has focused on providing investment advisory services related to emerging markets. EM Leaders serves institutional investors seeking exposure to emerging markets by selecting and monitoring local investment managers across multiple jurisdictions. The firm offers multi-manager and fund-of-fund supervisory services, emphasizing thorough local due diligence and customized investment policy implementation.