James Diffly is a financial advisor with BFC Planning, Inc. in Cumming, GA, holding a Series 63 license and bringing 41 years of industry experience. He has worked with BFC Planning and Berthel, Fisher & Company Financial Services since 2016 and previously managed investment and commodities trading through Trendline Trading & Investments, LLC. Outside of finance, Diffly is a certified baseball and softball umpire for Georgia high schools. BFC Planning, Inc. provides financial planning, asset management, and referral-based outside money manager services to a diverse client base, including individuals, corporations, pensions, trusts, and banks. The firm supports over 11,000 client relationships and approximately $3.8 billion in assets under management, delivering advice through a network of independent investment adviser representatives who utilize a range of program structures and investment strategies.

Deborah Dougherty is a financial advisor with Merit Financial Advisors in Albany, GA, holding Series 63 and Series 65 licenses and having six years of industry experience. She previously worked at LPL Financial and IVNEST Financial Corporation. Outside of her advisory role, she serves as President/CEO of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks lodge in Albany and is a member of the finance committee at Move Christian Church. Merit Financial Group, LLC is an SEC-registered advisory firm managing approximately $10.6 billion with 144 advisors and over 14,000 clients. The firm serves a diverse client base, offering asset management, financial planning, retirement plan advice, and employee financial wellness programs through a long-term, diversified investment approach using model portfolios and customizable strategies.

Michael Gaddy is a financial advisor with LPL Financial in Gainesville, GA, holding the CFP® designation and Series 63 and 66 licenses, with 27 years of industry experience. His prior experience includes roles at Wells Fargo Advisors and Wells Fargo Clearing. He is involved in managing Strong, Gaddy, Lee Wealth Management Group, a registered investment advisor firm affiliated with LPL Financial. LPL Financial provides advisory and brokerage services to a diverse client base, including individuals, retirement plan sponsors, institutions, and high-net-worth households. The firm offers a range of investment solutions supported by an in-house research team and a large network of investment adviser representatives.

Aaron Calhoun is a financial advisor at Merit Financial Advisors with four years of industry experience. He holds a Series 65 designation and previously worked at Yeomans Consulting Group, Inc. for six years. Outside of financial advising, he has operated a travel agency, Fairytales Unlimited Travel, assisting with domestic travel planning. Merit Financial Advisors is a multi-team registered investment adviser with 264 advisors serving over 20,000 clients across 66 offices. The firm offers coordinated wealth-management services and employs a long-term, diversified investment approach centered on centrally managed portfolios overseen by an internal Investment Management team.

Gianna Campo is a financial advisor with Sound Income Strategies, LLC and holds a Series 65 designation. She has seven years of industry experience and has worked at firms including Blackridge Asset Management, Verity Asset Management, and Appreciation Financial. Campo is also president of Bulletproof Financial, a fixed insurance sales business. Sound Income Strategies, LLC manages approximately $4.0 billion in client assets and serves a diverse client base including individuals, pension plans, trusts, and corporations. The firm offers customized managed portfolios with an emphasis on fixed-income analysis and equity review, utilizing a scalable advisor network model and a range of discretionary and non-discretionary services.

Burns Lowry Jr. is a financial advisor with ACR Alpine Capital Research, LLC, holding Series 63 and Series 65 credentials and bringing 30 years of industry experience. His previous roles include positions at Easterly Securities, John Hancock Funds, and James Alpha Advisors. ACR Alpine Capital Research provides discretionary portfolio management to institutional investors, intermediaries, and individual clients, employing a valuation-based investment approach focused on bottom-up equity analysis and opportunistic multi-asset strategies. The firm manages a diverse set of vehicles including mutual funds and private partnerships and maintains a high client-to-advisor ratio.

Jeffrey Buice is a CFP® and holds a Series 66 license, with 18 years of industry experience. He has been with Main Street Financial Solutions, LLC for 10 years and is also a minority owner of J.M. Buice Properties Inc., where he assists with back-office management on a part-time weekend basis. Main Street Financial Solutions serves a diverse client base including individuals, pension plans, trusts, and corporations, offering financial planning, wealth management, and retirement plan consulting. The firm employs an academic-based, multi-asset class investment approach, combining passive and active strategies tailored to clients’ objectives and risk profiles.

Darius Hicks is a CFA® charterholder with 16 years of industry experience. He currently serves as a financial advisor at BIP Wealth, LLC and previously worked at Merrill and Bank of America, N.A. for eight years. BIP Wealth, LLC provides investment advisory and comprehensive financial planning to individuals, trusts, estates, and employer-sponsored retirement plans, managing approximately $5.29 billion across about 3,100 client relationships. The firm specializes in customized, diversified portfolios emphasizing low-cost mutual funds and ETFs, with additional strategies in private market investments through affiliated entities.

Michel Cowdery is a Series 66-licensed financial advisor with 21 years of industry experience. He has worked at BIP Wealth, LLC since 2018 and previously was with Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc. for one year. BIP Wealth, LLC provides investment advisory and comprehensive financial planning services to individuals, trusts, estates, and employer-sponsored retirement plans, managing approximately $5.29 billion across over 3,100 client relationships. The firm offers customized, diversified portfolios emphasizing low-cost mutual funds and ETFs, supplemented by individual securities and private market investments.

Roberto Arteaga Ascencio is a financial advisor at OpenArc Corporate Advisory, LLC with five years of industry experience. His prior roles include positions at Merrill, Fidelity Investments, and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC. He holds the Series 65 and Series 63 designations. OpenArc Corporate Advisory serves a diverse client base that includes individuals, trusts, nonprofit endowments, and retirement plans. The firm offers wealth management, financial planning, portfolio management, and retirement plan services using tailored strategies across a broad range of asset types, including private markets and digital assets.

Tyler Knapp is a CFP® professional with six years of industry experience, currently serving as an advisor at Merit Financial Advisors in Alpharetta, GA. His prior experience includes roles at Purshe Kaplan Sterling Investments, Morgan Stanley, and The Vanguard Group, among others. He holds Series 63 and Series 65 licenses and provides both investment and fixed insurance advice. Merit Financial Advisors is a multi-team registered investment adviser with over 260 advisors serving approximately 20,000 clients across 66 offices. The firm offers coordinated wealth-management services with a focus on long-term, diversified portfolios managed through centrally overseen models and customized by advisors.

Charles Crowley IV is a financial advisor at BIP Wealth, LLC with 16 years of industry experience. He holds the CFP® and Series 66 designations. His prior work includes roles at Veracity Capital LLC, Mercer Global Advisors Inc., Commonwealth Financial Network, and Atlanta Financial Associates. He maintains licenses for life, health, and sickness insurance but is not currently active in selling fixed insurance products. BIP Wealth, LLC serves individuals, high-net-worth clients, trusts, estates, and employer-sponsored retirement plans, managing approximately $5.29 billion across 3,100 client relationships with a multi-advisor team. The firm offers comprehensive financial planning and customized, diversified portfolios emphasizing low-cost mutual funds and ETFs, alongside private market investment opportunities through affiliated entities.

Matthew Johnson is a financial advisor with Synovus Securities, Inc. in Atlanta, GA, holding a Series 66 designation and two years of experience at Synovus following prior roles at Ameriprise Financial. His background includes five years in full-time education before entering the financial services industry. Synovus Securities serves a diverse client base including individual and high-net-worth investors as well as institutional clients. The firm offers investment advisory and brokerage services across multiple programs and utilizes both discretionary and non-discretionary portfolio management on the Envestnet platform.

Michael Love is a financial advisor at Beacon Global Advisor Network, LLC with three years of industry experience. He holds a Series 65 designation and has previously worked at Austen Morris Associates and Ten Cent Investments 5. Beacon Global Advisor Network, LLC provides investment advisory and planning services to individual clients, including both non-high-net-worth and high-net-worth individuals, through a network of about 60 independent advisors. The firm offers discretionary portfolio management, modular financial planning, and retirement consulting, with a focus on tailored portfolios using mutual funds, ETFs, individual equities, and fixed income.

Jeffrey Jones is a CFP® professional with 28 years of industry experience, currently serving at Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC since 2015. He has also worked with LPL Financial since 2013. Outside of his advisory roles, Jones is a silent investor in a family-owned e-commerce coffee distributorship. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC manages approximately $6 billion in client assets with a team of over 150 advisors, serving individuals, trusts, estates, retirement plans, charitable organizations, and businesses. The firm employs a goals-based, client-centered planning approach supported by proprietary software and combines behavioral economics with fundamental and technical analysis to construct long-term portfolios.

Alan Sabo is a financial advisor with Berthel Fisher & Company Financial Services, Inc., holding a Series 63 designation and 27 years of industry experience. He has been with Berthel Fisher since 2013. Outside of his advisory role, he has worked as an Uber driver. Berthel Fisher & Company Financial Services provides investment advisory and financial planning services primarily to individual and high-net-worth clients, managing approximately $906 million in client assets through a range of platforms, including discretionary and non-discretionary management, model solutions, and third-party arrangements.

Blair Enfield is a financial advisor with Balefire, LLC, holding the CFP® designation and Series 65 and Series 63 licenses, with 18 years of industry experience. His prior roles include positions at Portsmouth Financial Services, Vaikus Advisory Group, Pfs Investments Inc, Primerica Financial Services, and involvement with Made Media Network, LLC and Made Holdings, LLC. He is also a licensed insurance agent in Georgia, Tennessee, and Florida. Balefire, LLC is a multi-team SEC-registered investment adviser serving individual investors, retirement plans, trusts, charities, and business entities. The firm employs a core-and-tactical investment approach with ongoing discretionary portfolio management, leveraging a multi-advisor platform managing approximately $2 billion in regulatory assets.

Hugh Singletary IV is an advisor with Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC based in Marietta, GA. He holds Series 65 and Series 63 licenses and has one year of industry experience. His prior work includes roles at LPL Financial, Trinity Wealth Securities, and Florida Financial Advisors. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC provides investment advisory and financial planning services to individuals, high-net-worth clients, trusts, estates, retirement plans, charitable organizations, and businesses. The firm employs a goals-based financial advising discipline using proprietary quantitative metrics and integrates passive and active investment strategies.

Brendan Keelan is a CFA® charterholder with eight years of industry experience. He is currently an advisor at NewEdge Wealth and has held prior roles at Roswell Housing Authority, Keelan Capital L.L.C., Edge Capital Group, LLC, and Edge Advisors. He serves on the board of the Roswell Housing Authority, which oversees affordable and public housing in Roswell, GA. NewEdge Wealth primarily serves ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families, as well as foundations, endowments, and other institutional or charitable clients. The firm offers comprehensive advisory services and employs an investment process that emphasizes asset allocation and investor behavior, utilizing a range of strategies including proprietary investment solutions and alternative exposures.

Kris Joslyn is a financial advisor at OpenArc Corporate Advisory, LLC with 16 years of industry experience and holds a Series 66 designation. Prior to joining OpenArc in 2025, he worked at Bank of America and Merrill for a combined 13 years. Outside of his advisory role, he serves as the music director for Beach United Methodist Church and is involved with Wilbur Ministries, a charitable organization, where he writes, arranges, and records music and performs both domestically and internationally. OpenArc Corporate Advisory serves a diverse client base, including individuals, trusts, nonprofit endowments, and retirement plans, offering tailored wealth management and consulting services. The firm combines institutional retirement solutions with private markets and digital asset capabilities, operating through both discretionary and non-discretionary models.