Jacob Leon is a CFP® and PFS™ credentialed advisor with 27 years of industry experience. He currently serves at Kestra Advisory and has prior experience with Tlc Wealth Management and Kestra Investment Services, LLC. In addition to his advisory work, Leon is active in community service through leadership roles with the Houston Jewish Community Foundation and Jewish Family Service, including past presidencies and board memberships. Kestra Advisory Services offers investment advisory and retirement-plan consulting to a diverse client base that includes institutional and individual investors. The firm provides fiduciary services, plan design, compliance testing, and access to multiple management platforms, serving clients with over $79 billion in assets under management.

Connor Lo Cascio is a financial advisor at Citigroup Global Markets with two years of industry experience. He holds a Series 66 designation and has previously worked at several firms including Jordan Park Group, Drive Wealth Advisers, and Brigham Capital. His background also includes multiple roles at Brigham Young University and experience outside the financial industry, such as work with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Citigroup Global Markets serves individual and institutional clients across various wealth segments, offering a broad range of investment advisory programs and execution services. The firm employs multi-asset, multi-manager strategies through both discretionary and non-discretionary programs and maintains unique market roles including in-house research and acting as a swap dealer and futures commission merchant.

William Perry is a CFP® with 32 years of industry experience currently affiliated with Private Advisor Group, LLC. He has worked at multiple advisory firms including Mariner Independent Advisor Network, Teamwork Financial Advisors, and LPL Financial. Outside of advisory work, he is a partner at Ascend Integrated Tax, a Houston-based firm specializing in tax review and preparation. Private Advisor Group serves a diverse clientele including individuals, business entities, trusts, estates, and charitable organizations, offering discretionary and non-discretionary portfolio management, financial planning, and retirement-plan consulting. The firm provides access to various advisory programs, third-party asset managers, turnkey asset management platforms, and a proprietary separately managed account program.

Johnathon James is a financial advisor at United Planners' Financial Services of America, holding Series 63 and Series 66 credentials with eight years of industry experience. His prior roles include positions at PNC Investments, Avantax Advisory Services, Truist Advisory Services, and JPMorgan Securities. Outside of financial services, he is involved with Amped Fitness. United Planners Financial Services is a national wealth-management enterprise serving a broad client base that includes individual investors, retirement plans, corporations, trusts, estates, and institutional clients. The firm delivers advisory and brokerage services through independent representatives and employs a mix of custodians, third-party money managers, and platform programs to implement investment strategies.

Dali Fu is a financial advisor with Transamerica Financial Advisors, holding Series 65 and Series 63 licenses and bringing six years of industry experience. In addition to his advisory role, he is involved in various insurance-related agencies and operates his own P&C insurance agency businesses. Fu also participates as a college success advisor for Kyros AI Corp, a college preparation platform using artificial intelligence. Transamerica Financial Advisors serves a diverse client base including individual investors, high-net-worth clients, and institutional entities, offering both advisory and broker-dealer services with a range of proprietary and third-party investment models. The firm manages substantial discretionary and non-discretionary assets and operates uniquely as both a registered broker-dealer and registered investment adviser with affiliated retirement solutions.

Justin Reed is a financial advisor with Focus Partners Wealth, LLC in Houston, TX, holding a Series 66 designation and four years of industry experience. He previously worked at Equitable Advisors, LLC for three years and has been involved with the Lambda Chi Alpha Educational Foundation. Focus Partners Wealth serves a diverse client base including individual, high-net-worth, family office, corporate, retirement plan, and institutional clients. The firm employs a long-term, tax- and fee-sensitive investment approach using enhanced open architecture, combining fundamental and quantitative analysis, and integrates a broad range of investment strategies and affiliated service offerings.

Cole Vanassche is a financial advisor with Guardian Life in Houston, TX, holding Series 63 and Series 65 designations and bringing 18 years of industry experience. He worked at New York Life Insurance Company for 10 years prior to joining Guardian Life in 2024. Vanassche also teaches and helps individuals prepare for the CLTC designation exam as a Certified Long-Term Care instructor. Guardian Life’s subsidiary, Park Avenue® Wealth Management, provides brokerage, financial planning, retirement consulting, and investment advisory services to individuals, pension plans, charitable organizations, and corporate clients, offering both discretionary and non-discretionary investment solutions including proprietary and third-party model portfolios.

Mark Connely is a CFP® with 29 years of industry experience, currently affiliated with Primerica Advisors and Park Avenue Securities. He has worked at Guardian Life Insurance Company since 1998 and has been with Primerica Advisors since 1999. Outside of his advisory work, he is involved in a music business venture and operates several business entities related to insurance and investment activities. Park Avenue Securities serves a broad retail client base, including individual and high-net-worth investors, offering both brokerage and advisory services. The firm utilizes a range of proprietary and third-party investment strategies and provides various account-level solutions such as lending and donor-advised funds.

Gary Sagarnaga is a financial advisor with Kestra Advisory Services, LLC, holding a Series 63 designation and bringing 40 years of industry experience. His prior work includes 13 years at Girard Securities, Inc. He also operates as a sole proprietor managing insurance and investment recommendations. Kestra Advisory Services provides investment advisory and retirement-plan consulting to a diverse client base, including institutional and individual investors. The firm offers services such as fiduciary consulting, plan design, and employee education, and supports complex investment solutions through multiple management platforms.

Benjamin Almeda is a CFP® with 17 years of experience in the financial industry. He is currently with Hightower Advisors and has prior experience at TD Ameritrade Investment Management, Charles Schwab, and Td Ameritrade. Hightower Advisors provides investment advisory and planning services to a broad range of individual and institutional clients. The firm’s approach emphasizes manager selection and multi-manager solutions, utilizing both affiliated and third-party managers across various investment vehicles.

Larry Mott is a financial advisor with Primerica Advisors, holding Series 63 and Series 66 licenses and bringing 35 years of industry experience. He has worked with Park Avenue Securities and Guardian Life Insurance Company since 2016. Outside of his advisory role, he provides continuing professional education seminars for CPAs and other professionals. Park Avenue Securities LLC serves a diverse retail client base with brokerage and advisory services, offering proprietary and third-party investment programs along with financial and business consulting. The firm manages approximately $15 billion in regulatory assets and supports a range of investment strategies and account services.

Tom Lam is a financial advisor at Voya Financial Advisors, Inc. with one year of industry experience. He holds Series 63 and Series 65 designations. His prior experience includes roles at Corebridge Capital Services, Inc. and American General Life Insurance, as well as involvement with ZenCosmic Jiu Jitsu. Voya Financial Advisors, Inc. serves individual and institutional clients such as retirement plan sponsors, charitable organizations, corporations, and high-net-worth individuals. The firm provides financial planning, portfolio management, and plan-sponsor consulting through a variety of program structures, emphasizing recommendation-based, non-discretionary advice.

Angela Bryant is a financial advisor at VOYA Financial Advisors, Inc. in Houston, TX, with 15 years of industry experience. She holds Series 63 and Series 65 credentials and has been with VOYA Financial Advisors since 2015. Outside of her advisory role, she serves as secretary for the nonprofit organization Q'ING FOR A CAUSE and works as an independent insurance agent. VOYA Financial Advisors serves a diverse client base, including retirement plan sponsors, charitable organizations, corporations, and high-net-worth individuals. The firm offers a variety of advisory services through multiple program structures, emphasizing recommendation-based relationships and a combination of advisory and brokerage services.

Xavier Smith is a financial advisor at Empower Advisory Group with eight years of industry experience. He holds Series 63 and Series 66 licenses. Prior to joining Empower Advisory Group in 2024, he worked at Bank of America and Merrill from 2019 to 2024 and has held positions at City of Houston, CMG Financial, Bank of Texas, and Realty Associates. Empower Advisory Group provides financial planning and investment management primarily to employer-sponsored retirement plan sponsors and their participants, as well as to Empower Premier IRA and certain retail brokerage account holders. The firm offers integrated services tied to Empower’s recordkeeping and administrative platforms, emphasizing long-term portfolio returns, annual rebalancing, and clients’ savings rates.

Andrew Calhoun is a CFP® professional with three years of experience in financial advising. He is currently with Sequoia Financial Group, L.L.C. in Houston, TX, and has previously worked at firms including Briaud Financial Advisors, Northwestern Mutual, and New York Life. Sequoia Financial Advisors, LLC provides wealth planning, investment management, retirement-plan advisory, and consulting services to a wide range of clients, including individuals, family offices, corporations, and charitable organizations. The firm employs both model and custom portfolio management strategies, utilizing various investment vehicles and an Investment Policy Committee to oversee client portfolios.

Rafael Carballo is a financial advisor with Primerica Advisors in Houston, TX, holding Series 63 and Series 65 licenses and bringing 12 years of industry experience. His prior roles include positions at MassMutual Life Insurance Company, MML Investors Services LLC, Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company, and Hornor, Townsend & Kent, LLC. Outside of advisory work, he is involved in insurance brokerage through his role as an agent with 1847Financial. He is currently affiliated with Park Avenue Securities LLC, a firm that serves a broad retail client base with transaction-based brokerage and fee-based advisory services, including financial planning and retirement-plan consulting. The firm utilizes a mix of proprietary model portfolios, third-party strategists, and digital advice solutions to manage client accounts.

Brian Branda is a CFP® and ChFC® with 45 years of experience at Equity Services, Inc. in Houston, TX, where he has worked since 1980. In addition to his financial advisory career, he is also an artist working in painting and ceramics, occasionally showing his work at local galleries. Equity Services, Inc., doing business as ESI Financial Advisors, provides financial planning, consulting, and asset management services to individuals, corporations, trusts, estates, charitable organizations, and employer retirement plans, utilizing multiple advisory platforms and a combination of long-term strategies with options for shorter-term trading.

Bradley Poff is a financial advisor with PNC Wealth Management in Houston, TX, holding Series 63 and Series 66 licenses and bringing 27 years of industry experience. His prior experience includes roles at Mercer Global Advisors, Morgan Stanley, and E*Trade Securities. PNC Wealth Management offers retail brokerage and advisory services through model-based programs, including an invitation-only digital portfolio strategy for employees that employs algorithm-driven risk assessment and discretionary investment management using mutual funds and ETFs.

Isabelle Liu is a financial advisor with Eagle Strategies (NY Life) based in Houston, TX. She holds the PFS™ designation and Series 63 license and has four years of industry experience. Prior to joining Eagle Strategies, she worked at Belleview Consulting, LLC and John M. Thomas, P.C. Liu serves as an officer for the Houston Society of Chinese American CPAs, where she provides annual CPE training, and is a board member of the Nanjing University Alumni Association – Greater Houston. Eagle Strategies serves a broad mix of individual and institutional clients, offering financial planning, investment management, and retirement-plan advisory services through a large affiliated adviser network. The firm emphasizes tailored recommendations and manages the vast majority of its assets on a non-discretionary basis.

Summer Rose is a financial advisor with PNC Wealth Management in Houston, TX, holding a Series 66 designation and eight years of industry experience. Her career includes roles at BBVA Wealth Solutions, BBVA Insurance Agency, BBVA Securities, and Edward Jones. PNC Wealth Management offers retail brokerage and advisory services through model-based programs, including a digital discretionary model account available by invitation to employees. The firm uses algorithmic risk assessments and delegates portfolio management and proxy voting to third parties.