Michele Strauts is a financial advisor with Ausdal Financial Partners, Inc. in Park Ridge, IL, holding a Series 66 designation and 22 years of industry experience. She has been with Ausdal Financial Partners since 2010. Outside of her advisory work, Michele is an online influencer focusing on interior design, seasonal decor, and table setting. Ausdal Financial Partners is an SEC-registered investment adviser and FINRA-member broker-dealer managing approximately $2.13 billion in client assets through a network of 152 advisors. The firm offers investment advisory programs, retirement plan services, and financial planning to individuals, trusts, corporations, pension plans, and charitable organizations, utilizing both discretionary and non-discretionary strategies across a wide range of investment products.

Kenneth Guttentag is a financial advisor with Northern Trust Securities, Inc. in Chicago, IL. He holds Series 63 and Series 66 registrations and has 29 years of industry experience, including 26 years with Northern Trust Securities. Northern Trust Securities, Inc. is a multi-team firm providing discretionary portfolio management through a wrap fee program. The firm serves high-net-worth individuals, retail investors, and institutional clients using model-driven strategies that combine proprietary and third-party investment products with brokerage and custody services.

Luke Pawelkiewicz is a financial advisor at FourStar Wealth Advisors, LLC with 11 years of industry experience. He holds Series 63 and Series 65 licenses and has previously worked at Northwestern Mutual Investment Services and Corey McQuade. FourStar Wealth Advisors serves individuals, retirement and profit-sharing plans, trusts, estates, charitable organizations, and business entities, offering financial planning, discretionary portfolio management, and retirement-plan consulting. The firm combines fundamental and technical analysis to manage diversified portfolios primarily on a discretionary basis, tailoring strategies to clients’ risk tolerance and time horizon.

Saraphina Peters is a financial advisor at Merit Financial Advisors in Chicago, IL, holding a Series 66 designation with two years of industry experience. Her prior experience includes roles at Purshe Kaplan Sterling Investments, Commonwealth Financial Network, and Blueprint Wealth Advisors, as well as several positions at the University of Dayton. Merit Financial Advisors is a multi-team registered investment adviser with over 260 advisors serving more than 20,000 clients across 66 offices. The firm offers coordinated wealth-management services and employs a long-term, diversified investment approach managed by an internal team, allowing advisors to customize portfolios to client needs.

Michael Drozd is a financial advisor with LaSalle St. Investment Advisors, L.L.C. He holds Series 63 and Series 66 licenses and has 12 years of industry experience. His prior roles include positions at Bank of America, Merrill, Citigroup, and JPMorgan Chase Bank. LaSalle St. Investment Advisors provides fee-based financial planning and investment supervisory services to individuals, trusts, estates, pension plans, charitable organizations, and small businesses. The firm offers both non-discretionary and discretionary investment approaches, managing a substantial portion of assets on a non-discretionary basis through programs like the LaSalle St. Asset Management Program (LAMP).

Kathleen Hosty is a CFP® professional with 36 years of industry experience, currently serving at IHT Wealth Management LLC since 2019. Her prior experience includes roles at LPL Financial, Independent Financial Partners, and J.P. Morgan Securities among others. She also serves as a non-profit board member for the Chicago Finance Exchange. IHT Wealth Management serves individuals, corporate and institutional clients, and retirement plan sponsors with discretionary asset management, financial planning, ERISA plan consulting, and outsourced CIO services. The firm uses a structured investment process involving proprietary model portfolios, third-party managers, and a combination of fundamental and quantitative strategies.

Edward Malysiak Jr. is a financial advisor at Chicago Capital, LLC with 36 years of industry experience. He held a position at William Blair and Company, L.L.C. for 20 years before joining Chicago Capital in 2024. He serves on the Investment Policy Committee of The Carle Foundation, a nonprofit hospital in Urbana, Illinois, and has been a member of its investment committee since 1990. Chicago Capital provides discretionary investment management, financial planning, and consulting services to individuals, families, foundations, registered investment advisers, and corporations. The firm employs an active management approach combining fundamental and technical research to construct individualized portfolios and manages over $4.8 billion in client assets with a focused team of 11 advisors.

Kyle Dell is a financial advisor with LaSalle St. Investment Advisors, L.L.C., holding a Series 66 designation and one year of industry experience. His prior work includes roles at LaSalle St. Securities, RHM, Avenue Logistics, Airliner, and American Metalcraft. LaSalle St. Investment Advisors offers personalized, fee-based financial planning and investment supervisory services to individuals, trusts, estates, pension and profit-sharing plans, charitable organizations, and small businesses. The firm provides both non-discretionary and discretionary investment programs, with a notable predominance of non-discretionary assets under management.

Arash Kadivar is a Certified Financial Planner® with 15 years of industry experience. He is currently affiliated with Highpoint Planning Partners and has held positions at firms including LPL Financial and Charles Schwab. HighPoint Advisor Group serves individuals, including high-net-worth clients, as well as pension and profit-sharing plans, trusts, estates, charitable organizations, and corporate entities. The firm offers discretionary asset management and financial planning, employing fundamental analysis to construct diversified portfolios across multiple asset classes and utilizing various third-party and LPL-sponsored platforms.

Kyle Laska is a financial advisor at Northern Trust Securities, Inc. with six years of industry experience. He holds a Series 66 designation and has worked previously at North Shore Sign Company, The Ayco Company, L.P./Mercer Allied, and Clybourne. Northern Trust Securities, Inc. is an SEC-registered investment adviser and FINRA-registered broker-dealer serving high-net-worth individuals, retail investors, and institutional clients. The firm offers model-driven discretionary portfolio management through Separately Managed Accounts, Fund Strategist Portfolios, and Strategist UMAs, combining advisory, brokerage, and custody services.

Dennis Wojcicki is a financial advisor at Forum Financial Management, LP with 28 years of industry experience. He has been with Forum Financial Management since 2013 and previously worked at DSL Group from 1997 to 2013. He holds a Series 63 designation. Forum Financial Management, LP provides fee-based wealth management, financial planning, qualified plan services, and educational workshops to individual and institutional clients. The firm also serves as a sub-advisor and turn-key asset management platform for other independent RIAs, managing portfolios primarily with DFA institutional mutual funds and ETFs following a Modern Portfolio Theory approach.

Steven Schmuhl is a financial advisor at McAdam LLC in Chicago, IL, with eight years of industry experience. He holds Series 63 and Series 65 licenses and has previously worked at Madison Avenue Securities and Purshe Kaplan Sterling Investments. McAdam LLC advises individuals, trusts, estates, charitable organizations, corporations, and government entities, including high-net-worth households. The firm provides financial planning, investment management, and retirement plan consulting, managing client accounts on a discretionary basis with a focus on diversified portfolios that incorporate traditional and alternative investments.

John Vires is a CFP® and CFA® with 10 years of industry experience. He is currently a financial advisor at Forum Financial Management, LP and also provides financial advice through Mathieson, Moyski, Austin & Co., an accounting firm. Outside of his advisory roles, he volunteers with the Lions Club of Wheaton and serves as a Park Commissioner for the Wheaton Park District. Forum Financial Management, LP offers fee-based wealth management, financial planning, and qualified plan services to individual and institutional clients. The firm also serves as a sub-advisor and turnkey asset management platform for other independent RIAs, implementing primarily Modern Portfolio Theory-based portfolios using institutional mutual funds, ETFs, and other fixed income strategies.

David Pazdan is a financial advisor at Northern Trust Securities, Inc. with 29 years of industry experience. He holds Series 63 and Series 65 licenses and has been with Northern Trust Securities since 2014. Northern Trust Securities, Inc. is a subsidiary of Northern Trust Corporation that provides discretionary portfolio management through a model-driven wrap fee program. The firm serves high-net-worth individuals, retail investors, and institutional clients, offering a range of managed account solutions with brokerage and custody services integrated into its platform.

Craig Ibrahim is a financial advisor with Highpoint Planning Partners, holding a Series 66 credential and 22 years of industry experience. He has worked at Highpoint Advisor Group, LLC since 2016 and has been affiliated with LPL Financial since 2009. HighPoint Advisor Group serves individuals, including high-net-worth clients, as well as pension and profit-sharing plans, trusts, estates, charitable organizations, and corporate entities. The firm provides discretionary asset management, financial planning, retirement plan advisory, and operates a wrap-fee program, utilizing fundamental analysis and a range of investment vehicles to implement client portfolios.

Benjamin Offenhartz is a financial advisor at Savvy in Chicago, IL, holding a Series 65 designation with over six years of industry experience. His prior roles include positions at Nuveen, Northern Trust, The Mather Group, Capital Group, and Pacific Investment Company LLC. Savvy provides customized discretionary and non-discretionary investment and wealth management services to individuals, trusts and estates, ERISA retirement plans, charitable organizations, corporations, and other legal entities. The firm’s investment approach combines an index-based core with tailored strategies such as direct indexing with tax-loss harvesting, active and passive stock portfolios, option overlays, and ESG-focused models, supported by a parent technology platform and third-party sub-advisers.

Samantha Ngooi is a CFP® at Apella Wealth with four years of industry experience. She previously worked at Park Piedmont Advisors LLC and spent three years at the University of Chicago Medicine. Apella Wealth serves a diverse client base, including individuals, high-net-worth families, trusts, retirement plans, and insurance companies. The firm uses a largely model-driven and quantitative investment approach, integrating proprietary and third-party tools to manage both discretionary and non-discretionary portfolios.

Richard Kitick is a CFP® professional with 22 years of industry experience. He has been with Highpoint Planning Partners, doing business as OnPath Financial, since 2013 and has also been associated with LPL Financial since 2007. Outside of his advisory work, he is involved in amateur hockey as an assistant coach and a referee in the Chicagoland area. HighPoint Advisor Group serves a broad client base including individuals, pension plans, trusts, charitable organizations, and corporate entities. The firm provides discretionary asset management, financial planning, retirement plan advisory, and manages wrap-fee programs, implementing portfolios through fundamental analysis and a variety of investment vehicles across multiple platforms.

Bennett Kinkade is a financial advisor at Zacks Investment Management, Inc. He holds Series 63 and Series 65 licenses and began his advisory career in 2025. Prior to joining Zacks, he worked in education at DePaul University and John Adams High School. Zacks Investment Management provides discretionary investment management services to individuals, trusts, estates, retirement plans, pooled investment vehicles, and institutional clients. The firm employs a blend of proprietary quantitative models and qualitative portfolio management across various investment strategies and manages mutual funds, ETFs, and multiple wrap-fee and unified managed account platforms.

Karim Antoni is a financial advisor at Arete Wealth Advisors, LLC with 25 years of industry experience. He holds a Series 66 designation and has worked at firms including Blackrock Investments, Inc., Merrill Lynch Investment Managers Venezuela, Lazard Asset Management, and Golub Capital, where he currently serves as a director. Arete Wealth Advisors provides investment advisory and financial planning services to a diverse client base, including individuals, pension plans, trusts, and charitable organizations. The firm primarily manages assets on a discretionary basis using both advisor-driven and proprietary model allocations, and it integrates affiliated financial businesses and product channels into its service offerings.