Mario exudes enthusiasm and drive.  He’s a self starter, savvy, and highly intelligent.  He’s a veteran, serving in the U.S. Army as a financial sergeant to help his follow soldiers reach their financial goals.

He holds a degree in financial planning from the College of Financial Planning, a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from Tennessee State University and has his Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) and Accredited Asset Management Specialist (AAMS) credentials. Less than 2% of all licensed African American financial advisors are a CFP®. His firm TOAMS Financial, is one of a select few SEC registered INVESTMENT ADVISORY FIRMS that is African American owned in the United States. Mario made history in February 2022. The company he co-owns, launched the first African American owned AI ETF on the New York Stock Exchange. The symbol is LETB. The goal of this fund is to limit investment losses while maximizing gains.

Mario has several board mandates, including serving as an Executive Board Member at Knots4Kids, a non-profit organization, and was also selected as the Financial Chairman of the Board of Trustees for Jacksonville Public Library, and a Tennessee State College of Business Alumni Board Member, among others.

We had a wonderful time listening to his stories of triumph as he powered through stigmas and racial stereotypes.  This man is a winner.

Please join us as we follow the journey of Mario J. Payne on the next episode of Journey: The Financial Advisor Experience.

Tune in to Journey: The Financial Advisor Experience with your hosts Garland Scott, CIMA®, Grier Rubeling, and ED Dudley.

You can find our podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and on YouTube here https://youtu.be/Z_pwUugxP2s

If you know someone in and around finance with an exciting story, don't hesitate to contact ED Dudley.

#thejourney #thefinancialadvisorexperience #garlandscott #grierrubeling #eddudley #financialadvisors #stockmarket #stories #storytelling #IamtheBRIChampion

Welcome to season 2 of Journey The Financial Advisor experience.

To kick off our new season, we had a chance to chat with Natalie Bergsma. Natalie is the founder of BeyondFA.  As a consulting firm, BeyondFA, provides leadership and business coaching, plus hands-on implementation consulting to progressive firms and financial services leaders committed to creating an impact, breaking the mold, and doing more.

Natalie’s journey has taken her down some interesting paths and locations. Her story is very intriguing, you not only hear about her starting BeyondFA, but also her work to empower mothers.

Please tune in to Journey: The Financial Advisor Experience with your hosts Garland Scott, Grier Rubeling & ED Dudley to hear the journey of Natalie Bergsma.

You can find our podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/C7lPNUUfjxI

If you know someone in and around finance with an exciting story, don't hesitate to contact ED Dudley.

#thejourney #thefinancialadvisorexperience #garlandscott #grierrubeling #eddudley #financialadvisors #stockmarket #stories #storytelling #IamtheBRIChampion

Alex David is one of the few African American CEO’s in the financial advisory and investment arena.  His meteoric rise is movie worthy.  His humble start was as a bicycle messenger delivering paper and packages to Wall Street.  His ferocious appetite for reading and learning led to a successful college career and literally landed him his first job in financial services.

Earlier in his career, Alex was an institutional wholesaler with Lord Abbett, Federated Investors, and Oppenheimer Funds. He has worked on a number of financial services industry initiatives in Washington, D.C., including representing Wells Fargo on Capitol Hill in discussions with the House Ways and Means Committee regarding the tax status of 1099 independent contractors. He holds a doctorate in business with major concentrations in economics and marketing and a master’s degree in economics from the Lubin School of Business at Pace University.

Alex joined Stifel after spending nearly 13 years at Wells Fargo Advisors, where he was Head of Branch Development and Marketing for the firm’s independent brokerage arm, Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network (FiNet). In this role, he guided FiNet’s business development and market strategy and led a team responsible for recruiting, consulting, coaching, and managing independent financial advisors. Prior to that, as a Managing Director from 2008-2014, he helped bring in more than $55 billion in assets through recruiting and M&A activity.

Now he is President and CEO of Stifel Independent Advisor and the Incoming Chair Emeritus for the Association of African American Financial Advisors (Quad A).  In April, he was awarded the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award from Investment News.  He’s had a lifetime of achievement award, but he’s just getting started.

Please tune in to Journey: The Financial Advisor Experience with your hosts Garland Scott, CIMA®, Grier Rubeling & ED Dudley to hear the journey of Alex David.

Thank you, Brandon Dixon-James, for enlightening our show with your philanthropic, caring, and giving attitude.  He is the embodiment of paying it forward and giving back.

He’s an active volunteer in the Fresno underserved communities, and he volunteers as a regular presenter for financial literacy courses to the youth; he’s a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc., he’s a volunteer for the CFP Board Center for Financial Planning and a champion for diversity and inclusion.

Brandon is the President and Founder of Resilient Wealth Management, INC, a wealth management firm based out of Fresno, CA.  Brandon and his wife established RWM Inc as a fundamental theme that has not only allowed them to survive but to thrive in life: Resilience.   

Resilience is such an appropriate name for Brandon’s perseverance and success.  Please join us as we follow the journey of Brandon Dixon-James on the next episode of Journey:  The Financial Advisor Experience.

Please tune in to Journey: The Financial Advisor Experience with your hosts Garland Scott, CIMA®, Grier Rubeling & ED Dudley to hear the journey of Brandon Dixon-James

Nola Kulig is elegant, knowledgeable and experienced both as an advisor but also for the advocacy of women in financial services.  This independent advisor in Longmeadow, Massachusetts is a Certified Financial Advisor and a Chartered Financial Analyst.  In that regard, amongst the first to be so well versed.  Our conversation was collegial and thorough.  We were learning life lessons like sitting in an advanced business or philosophy class.

Prior to beginning her advisory practice in 2012, Nola managed Kulig Consulting, LLC, a consulting firm for high net worth individuals and family wealth offices. Her previous experience includes being a senior consultant at Blue Heron Consulting, a boutique management consulting firm to investment management organizations, consulting on roughly $1 trillion in assets. 

Before joining Blue Heron in 2000, she was part of the senior management of Russell Investment Group, then the country's leading pension consulting firm and manager of over $100 billion in investments. Nola served most recently at Russell as portfolio manager with direct responsibility for $3 billion of assets. Nola was also a senior investment strategist, a member of Russell's Index Policy Committee and a consultant to Fortune 500 pension funds.

Please tune in to Journey: The Financial Advisor Experience with your hosts Garland Scott, CIMA®, Grier Rubeling & ED Dudley to hear the journey of Nola Kulig.

It is not often that we Marine Corp diesel mechanic and CDL Long Haul truck driver as part of the journey in financial services.  If fact, we have never heard of that.  With the CB handle “Lamb Chop”, Jessica Lamb went from the trucking company owner to President of her own independent financial planning practice.

You can find our podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/HPt9gkO-j3o 

If you know someone in and around finance with an exciting story, don't hesitate to contact ED Dudley.

When we started this podcast, we wanted to share different journeys that lead to achievement in financial services.  We wanted to find successful people that uniquely created their success.  The Lee Baker story embodies the person and story we were looking for.  This son of a preacher man has never forgotten that he is a servant to people.  He didn’t pursue the top 1% of income earners.  He instead has built a very successful firm working with everyday people, people who need his advice and help.

He’s a community leader and an active church member, once serving as the career development director.

Lee graduated with industrial engineering from Georgia Tech.  He worked at an insurance company and learned planning through that lens.  While working in insurance, he soon realized that he was much more interested in problem-solving client needs unrelated to insurance.  Financial planning would soon become his passion.

He did not take the familiar path of working for a large financial firm.  His journey took him from an insurance company, a job head had while in college, to founding his own investment firm.  He became a Certified Financial Planner in 1998 and an active member of the Financial Planning Association of Georgia.

Please tune in to Journey: The Financial Advisor Experience with your hosts Garland Scott,, Grier Rubeling & ED Dudley to hear from Lee Baker

We had the great pleasure of having financial and prosperity keynote speaker and NY Times Best-selling author Ellen Rogin on the show.

A seasoned financial advisor that now spends her time making a global impact and teaching individuals how to create prosperity on purpose. With her innovative and thought-provoking strategies, she now impacts the world on how to create purposeful prosperity.

Please tune in to Journey: The Financial Advisor Experience with your hosts Garland Scott, CIMA®, Grier Rubeling & ED Dudley to hear from the amazing Ellen Rogin

You can find our podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and on Youtube here: https://youtu.be/SR6Ekb2JhQY

Please follow us on YouTube and all major streaming platforms.  

If you know of someone in and around finance with an exciting story, please get in touch with ED Dudley.

#thejourney #thefinancialadvisorexperience #garlandscott #grierrubeling #eddudley #financialadvisors #stockmarket #stories #storytelling #IamtheBRIChampion

Nikki Gajoo joined us from South Africa.  She brought with her a refined professionalism that was very refreshing.

 Please tune in to Journey: The Financial Advisor Experience with your hosts Garland Scott, CIMA®, Grier Rubeling & ED Dudley to hear and learn from our wonderful special guest Nikki Gajoo

You can find our podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and on Youtube here: https://youtu.be/al-fb5130Io

Please subscribe, comment and share with your networks.  

If you know of someone in and around finance with an interesting story, please contact ED Dudley.

If you ever need an encouraging word or a positive spin, be sure to contact Jerome Franklin. 

Follow us on all major streaming platforms or on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/x6-Fudy0dW4

#thejourney #thefinancialadvisorexperience #garlandscott #grierrubeling #eddudley #financialadvisors #stockmarket #stories #storytelling #IamtheBRIChampion