Michael Dowd

John Piershale is a CFP® professional with 32 years of industry experience. He is the sole advisor at Piershale Wealth Management, LLC in Crystal Lake, Illinois, and has held prior roles at Origin Financial, Ausdal Financial Partners, Inc., Piershale Financial Group, Inc., and Triad Advisors, Inc. Piershale Wealth Management provides discretionary investment management and a variety of financial planning services to individual clients. The firm emphasizes strategic asset allocation based on Modern Portfolio Theory and fundamental analysis, offering specialized tax and estate planning within a modest, single-advisor model.

Patrick Mcrae is the principal of Kintail Holdings d/b/a Kintail Advisors and holds a Series 65 designation. He has over eight years of experience in the financial industry, including roles at Kapco Futures, Inc. and CGB Diversified Services, Inc. Mcrae maintains an ongoing role with a registered introducing broker/futures firm alongside his advisory work. Kintail Advisors is a recently formed firm that provides discretionary portfolio management through model portfolios designed for high-net-worth individuals, qualified companies, and institutions. The firm uses a combination of technical and fundamental analysis within a long-term investment framework, offering strategies that include ETFs and spot cryptocurrency ETFs with varying risk profiles.

Timothy McDonald is the sole advisor at Timothy J McDonald CPA CFP, an independent firm based in Lake Barrington, IL. He holds CFP® and Series 63 designations and has 27 years of industry experience. He is also a partner in the CPA firm McDonald Doherty & Co., where he has been active since 1988. The firm provides personalized financial planning and investment management to individuals and families, integrating tax planning with investment strategies. It employs a combination of fundamental and technical analysis and asset allocation tailored to clients’ risk tolerance and goals, managing approximately $65 million across about 60 client relationships.

Anton Prokopenko is a CFP® and holds a Series 65 license, currently serving as an advisor at HighPoint Planning Partners with one year of industry experience. He is also the president of Sansone & Associates, P.C., an accounting and tax services firm for businesses and individuals. His prior work includes positions at Northern Illinois University, UnitedHealth Group, Concordia University Chicago, and the College of DuPage. HighPoint Advisor Group provides discretionary asset management, financial planning, and consulting services to individuals, pension plans, trusts, estates, charitable organizations, and corporations. The firm manages approximately $4.0 billion in client assets and employs a fundamental analysis approach to construct individualized investment policies across a range of securities and custodial platforms.

Trevor Johnson is a financial advisor at Dream Weaver Financial Planning LLC in Richmond, IL. He holds a Series 65 designation and has one year of industry experience. Prior to founding his firm in 2024, he worked at Discover Financial Services from 2013 to 2018 and was involved with the organization I Am! I Can! for five years. Dream Weaver Financial Planning LLC serves individual and high-net-worth clients, offering discretionary asset management, comprehensive financial planning, and consulting. The firm uses fundamental analysis combined with Modern Portfolio Theory to create customized portfolios and manages accounts on a discretionary basis with quarterly reviews.

Richard Vandersande is an independent financial advisor with Smart Stewardship Advisors, holding Series 63 and Series 65 licenses and over 20 years of industry experience. He has been associated with Efficient Capital Management, LLC since 2009 and has operated Smart Stewardship Advisors since 2005. Vandersande is also vice president of The Stewardship Alliance, LLC, which provides stewardship planning based on biblical principles. Smart Stewardship Advisors serves individual investors, pension and profit-sharing plans, trusts, estates, charitable organizations, and businesses. The firm offers a structured coaching program for wealth and charitable estate planning, pension fiduciary reviews, and educational seminars, focusing on an analytical coaching process rather than direct portfolio management.