Wealth Advisor / Partner
My dad was a doctor, and taught me from an early age to treat people with compassion and empathy. I often went with him to his family medicine practice, where I got to watch the genuine care he showed his patients. In 1980, my mom was killed by a drunk driver at just 34 years old, and through that experience, I learned firsthand how the absence of a will, financial planning, and life insurance could make an already devastating situation even harder. These experiences ultimately led me to a career in financial advising.
In 1999, I started my advising career with a pen, a legal pad, and a small office in downtown Columbus. As I started working alongside family-owned businesses, I quickly saw how many of them were so focused on running their companies that they hadn’t taken the time to plan for taxes, retirement, succession, or their families’ financial futures.
Over time, I recognized a critical truth in wealth management: the greatest risks to wealthy families rarely stem from market volatility or poor investment performance. Instead, long-term wealth erosion often comes from a lack of structured family meetings, an absence of family governance early on, and a missing sense of shared accountability. My core philosophies evolved from this understanding and have led me to design my work around solving these problems – bringing families together to create clarity, communication, and a sustained multi-generational purpose.
At the end of the day, I want to treat my clients the same way my dad treated his patients, with genuine care, empathy, and trust, so they can get unstuck and move from where they are to where they want to be.
A business owner or founder a few years out from a sale or transition who wants the company to command a premium when it goes to market. Jeff assembles and runs the team around you — tax planners, attorneys, M&A advisors — and works on the structural changes that raise value before a buyer ever looks. He also builds the executive compensation plans that keep your key people in place through the deal, because losing them mid-diligence costs more than almost anything else.
Someone who spent a career generating income from a business or practice and now has one pool of money that has to last for decades. Jeff builds the plan for what that money does next: which accounts the income comes from, what the tax bill looks like each year, and how much can be spent without putting the rest at risk. The goal is a number you can live on and stop re-checking.
A family with enough wealth that it will shape the next two generations whether or not anyone plans for it. Jeff handles the governance that estate documents don’t cover: regular family meetings, a written statement of what the wealth is for, and clear roles so heirs know what they’re responsible for. He then works with your attorney so the estate plan matches what the family agreed to, instead of being read for the first time after a death.
