Smart Money Circle

Tim Smith, the Founder & CEO of Aurora Private Wealth. $3.4B in AUM

The Financial Dad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbQMUujNA5Q

Aurora Private Wealth Website:

https://www.aurorapw.com/

Bio:

Tim started his financial services career in 1985 with an independent financial planning firm in northern New Jersey. While the firm was fee-and-commission oriented in its business model, he moved primarily fee-based in 1988 to manage client portfolios. In 1995, he went on his own by starting an RIA firm, and in 1997 he started what is now APW Capital, Inc., as a broker-dealer to service the transactional needs of several colleagues who had joined.

When calls started coming in looking for a fee-friendly broker-dealer, Tim joined with a successful Florida entrepreneur to seize the opportunity and penetrate this market niche. Today, APW Capital is a national leader in providing broker-dealer services to advisors who market under their own unaffiliated RIA.

In addition to APW Capital, Tim founded Comprehensive Capital Management, Inc., an SEC-registered investment advisor, in 2002, as a compliment to the broker-dealer. The company allows investment advisory representatives to manage client portfolios for a fee, or to connect clients with other money managers. Most recently, he started Aurora Private Wealth, Inc., a new investment advisor driven by high technology solutions for investment advisors who want to grow their practices rapidly at minimal cost.

Tim has been an industry leader as well, serving three years on FINRA District Committee, including two as Chairman of his region and the final year as Chairman of the National Advisory Council, representing the industry’s interests in the regulatory policy and rulemaking process before FINRA and the SEC in Washington, DC.

He has also served as a panelist for the TD Ameritrade Advisory Panel.

Tim also provides leadership in private capacities, including as a former Councilman and Mayor of his municipality; founder and chairman of New Jersey’s Government Efficiency Movement; Board Member of his county’s Economic Development Corporation; Board Member of the Arts Council of the Morris Area; Trustee of Centenary College in Hackettstown, NJ; Finance Chairman of the Morris County Republican Committee; and currently as Chairman of the Morris Republican Victory PAC and a Trustee of Skyline Theatre Company. Tim has been married to his wife, Tara, for over 25 years. They reside in Roxbury Township, NJ. His avocations are politics and theatrical performing.

He has a daughter who is a yoga instructor, a son who works at Google, and a daughter who is a student at NYU studying musical theatre.

This $4.5B VC Helped Build Capital One. Meet Frank Rotman Co-Founder & CIO QED InvestorsGuestFrank Rotman is the Advisor for GME ETH and Founding Partner and Chief Investment Officer at QED Investors, a fintech VC firm managing $4.3 billion in assets. Frank is a seven-time Forbes Midas List honoree as “One of the World’s Best VC Investors,” and played a key role in shaping Capital One’s business model. https://x.com/fintechjunkiehttps://www.gmeethereum.com/https://www.qedinvestors.com/

Motley Fool’s, Chief Investment Strategist, Bill Mann Shares $2B Of Timeless Lessons From The Market Trenches

Bill Mann, Chief Investment Strategist, Motley Fool Asset Management

($2B AUM)

Website

https://fooletfs.com/

Bio

Bill Mann Chief Investment Strategist

• Industry experience: 26 years

• Education:B.A., International Relations from American University

If you’ve been following The Motley Fool, LLC for a while, you’ve probably encountered Bill and his Foolish takes on the market—he’s the former co-host of the Motley Fool Morning Show, a popular contributor to fool.com articles, and a regular guest on the Motley Fool Money podcast.

Bill has also applied his institutional knowledge, stock investing experience, and economic insights to leadership roles all across the “Fooldom” of The Motley Fool, LLC and Motley Fool Asset Management. He has held various positions since 1999, having previously served as Senior Editor at The Motley Fool, LLC, Portfolio Manager and Chief Investment Officer at Motley Fool Asset Management, and most recently, Director of Small Cap Research at The Motley Fool, LLC. Today, Bill continues to educate both seasoned and new investors with uniquely Foolish strategies as our Chief Investment Strategist here at Motley Fool Asset Management.

This CEO Is Helping People Hear Better - Meet Brent Lucas CEO Envoy Medical $COCH

Guest:Brent Lucas CEO Envoy Medical

Ticker: COCH

Website: https://www.envoymedical.com/

Bio:

Mr. Lucas, CEO of Envoy Medical since November 2015, has nearly two decades of direct experience with implanted medical devices specific to the hearing industry. Rising from an intern to CEO and Board Member, he has held various roles within the organization including General Counsel and Business Development Manager gaining deep industry knowledge and unique hands-on expertise. He is a long-term shareholder in the Company dating back to his parents’ first investment in St. Croix Medical in 1995 and has a deep personal commitment to the organization. He holds a Bachelor's from the University of St. Thomas and a JD from Mitchell Hamline School of Law.

Company Overview

Envoy Medical (Nasdaq: COCH) is a hearing health company focused on providing innovative technologies across the hearing loss spectrum. Envoy Medical has pioneered one-of-a-kind, fully* implanted devices for hearing loss, including its fully implanted Esteem® active middle ear implant, commercially available in the U.S. since 2010, and the fully implanted Acclaim® cochlear implant, an investigational device. Envoy Medical is dedicated to pushing hearing technology beyond the status quo to improve access, usability, compliance, and ultimately quality of life.

*Once activated, the external Esteem Personal Programmer isnot required for daily use.

CAUTION: The fully implanted Acclaim Cochlear Implant is aninvestigational device. Limited by Federal (or United States) law toinvestigational use.

From LTCM Collapse to $2B Success: Victor Haghani’s Path with Elm Wealth and Dynamic Index Investing®

Website:

www.ElmWealth.com

Ticker: $ELM

Bio

Bio Victor Haghani graduated from the London School of Economics in 1984. He worked for Salomon Brothers in New York in research and on the bond arbitrage desk from 1984-1993. In 1993, Victor was a co-founding partner and co-headed the London office of the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management.

He founded Elm Wealth in 2011 to help clients, including his own family, manage and preserve their wealth through Dynamic Index Investing®, an investment approach pioneered at Elm.

Victor discussed the potential benefits of combining the best features of passive and active investing in a TEDx talk he gave on investing, Where Are All the Billionaires and Why Should We Care?. Victor has been a prolific contributor to the academic and practitioner finance literature, writing many articles published in peer-reviewed academic journals, anthologies, and mainstream news media.

Victor has helped run several widely referenced investor psychology experiments, often based on subjects betting real money on uncertain, positive edge opportunities (Coin Flip game and Crystal Ball challenge). He is a co-author of The Missing Billionaires: A Guide to Better Financial Decisions (Wiley, 2023), which was named to The Economist’s Best Books of 2023 list.

How This Biotech CEO Takes Smart Risks

Name: Joe Payne

Title: President & CEO

Website: ArcturusRx.com

Ticker: $ARCT

Bio:

Joseph E. Payne, is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Arcturus Therapeutics. He serves on Arcturus’s Board since March 2013. He brings with him an exceptional track record of ushering novel therapeutics to the clinic including targeted RNA medicines utilizing lipid-mediated delivery technologies. Joseph’s background includes over 20 years of successful drug discovery experience at Merck Research Labs, DuPont Pharmaceuticals, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Kalypsys, and Nitto as evidenced by over 40 publications and patents, and several investigational new drug (IND) clinical candidates. His academic training includes a Bachelor's Degree in Chemistry, magna cum laude from Brigham Young University, a Master of Science in Synthetic Organic Chemistry from the University of Calgary and Executive Training Certification from MIT Sloan School of Management.

About Arcturus:

Founded in 2013 and based in San Diego, California, Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: ARCT) is a commercial mRNA medicines and vaccines company with enabling technologies: (i) LUNAR® lipid-mediated delivery, (ii) STARR® mRNA Technology (sa-mRNA) and (iii) mRNA drug substance along with drug product manufacturing expertise. Arcturus developed KOSTAIVE®, the first self-amplifying messenger RNA (sa-mRNA) COVID vaccine in the world to be approved. Arcturus has an ongoing global collaboration for innovative mRNA vaccines with CSL Seqirus, and a joint venture in Japan, ARCALIS, focused on the manufacture of mRNA vaccines and therapeutics. Arcturus’ pipeline includes RNA therapeutic candidates to potentially treat ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) deficiency and cystic fibrosis (CF), along with its partnered mRNA vaccine programs for SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) and influenza. Arcturus’ versatile RNA therapeutics platforms can be applied toward multiple types of nucleic acid medicines including messenger RNA, small interfering RNA, circular RNA, antisense RNA, self-amplifying RNA, DNA, and gene editing therapeutics. Arcturus' technologies are covered by its extensive patent portfolio (over 400 patents and patent applications in the U.S., Europe, Japan, China, and other countries).

Breaking Glass Ceilings, From Wharton to Wall St, How Sevasti Balafas Built a Female-Led RIA

GuestSevasti Balafas, Founder/CEO of GoalVest Advisory

Website https://www.goalvestadvisory.com

AUM $630M

BioSevasti Balafas, is CEO of GoalVest (AUM: $630M+), a female-led boutique wealth advisory firm dedicated to providing personalized portfolio management services tailored to high-net-worth clients. As a fee-only, SEC-registered investment advisor, they build innovative and institutional-caliber portfolios for clients, corporations, and financial advisors. Recently ranked by USA Today as one of the “Best Financial Advisory Firms” in the country, GoalVest Advisory empowers clients to achieve their financial goals through personalized attention, unbiased advice, and seasoned guidance.In Q4 2024, GoalVest launched a $50 million Venture Growth Fund specifically designed for RIAs and their clients. The fund provides RIAs access to “blue-chip” venture-backed companies, such as AI, SaaS, climate tech, and fintech firms— opportunities historically reserved for large institutional investors.

This Tungsten CEO Tells You Why It’s Better To Be Lucky Than Smart. Lewis Black, CEO of Almonty

Guest:

Lewis Black, Director, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Almonty Industries (Ticker: OTCMKTS: ALMTF)

Website:

https://almonty.com/

Bio:

Lewis Black was born in London and educated in traditional British private schools. He earned a BA in management and technology from Manchester University and took a job at a global insurance company upon graduation. He found the industry stifling and left after a year to move to Australia where he took a job in a clothing factory. When a friend asked him to help run a tungsten mine in Thailand, Black jumped at the opportunity. He eventually led sales and marketing for SC Mining Tungsten in Thailand and served as chairman and CEO of Primary Metals Inc. Black founded Almonty Industries in 2011 as a Canadian corporation but recently began the process of moving Almonty's incorporation to the US, specifically the state of Delaware.

Black has overseen Almonty's growth to the world’s largest tungsten mining company outside of China, which controls 80% of global tungsten supply. When China banned exports of tungsten to the U.S. recently, Black was quoted in world media saying his U.S buyers were “shocked” because China’s move directly threatens American industry and national defense.

Almonty offers a solution: its Sangdong Tungsten Mine in South Korea, the world’s largest, will begin producing 2,500 tons annually by April, doubling to 5,000 by 2026. Black can break down what China’s tungsten export ban means for the U.S. economy and national security.

This CEO Is Fighting Kidney Disease. Dr. Shalabh Gupta Founder & CEO Unicycive Therapeutics $UNCYGuestShalabh Gupta, MD, founder and CEO of Unicycive Therapeutics (UNCY). Website: https://unicycive.com/ Bio:Shalabh Gupta, MD, is the founder of Unicycive and has served as Chief Executive Officer, President, and director since August 2016. Previously, Dr. Gupta served in various other roles, including founder and Chief Executive Officer of Biocycive Inc.; a commercial strategy role at Genentech, Inc.; equity researcher covering US pharmaceutical companies at UBS Investment Bank; and as an equity researcher covering biotechnology companies at Rodman & Renshaw (currently HC Wainwright). Dr. Gupta previously served as a medical advisor to Synageva BioPharma Corporation and as an advisor to New York University (NYU) Langone Medical Center’s Office of Technology Transfer. Dr. Gupta is also the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Globavir, which had licensed diagnostic technology from Stanford university, which was then partnered with global commercial diagnostic companies. Dr. Gupta is an advisor to the UCSF Innovation Center, a role he has held since 2020. Since 2012, and has also been an advisor to SPARK, Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Gupta previously served on the board of directors for the Beall Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of California Irvine, Paul Merage School of Business.Before his roles in business and finance, Dr. Gupta was an attending physician at NYU Medical Center and a clinical faculty member at the NYU School of Medicine. Dr. Gupta was a board-certified physician, and he currently holds a license from the California State Medical Board. Dr. Gupta completed his internship in Internal Medicine, medical residency in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and research fellowship in Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation at NYU School of Medicine. Dr. Gupta received his MPA in Health Care Finance and Management from NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and his MD from Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research, India.Dr. Gupta has been in several leadership roles throughout his academic and professional career. He was elected president of the Resident Physicians Council during his residency training, representing approximately 1,500 resident physicians in physical medicine and rehabilitation across the US. He also served on the Board of Directors at the Wagner Alumni Association, and was elected to the Board of Directors of the UC Irvine Beall Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in 2018.

This $135M Money Manager Shares Timeless Lessons And Has Over 30 Years Of Experience On Wall Street

Full Name: Jon Knotts

Title: Chief Investment Officer, Expressive Wealth

AUM: $130M

Website: https://expressivewealth.com/

Bio:

With over three decades of experience in investment, Jon’s career is marked by roles as a stockbroker, financial product creator, and stock research developer. His expertise in quantitative, fundamental, and technical analysis was honed at esteemed firms like Benzinga, Zacks Investment Research, and Prophet.net (now part of Schwab).

At Benzinga, Jon contributed to launching a successful stock analysis product, providing over 2600 recommendations to individual investors. During his 20 years at Zacks, he played a key role in establishing it as a leading figure in fundamental research and quantitative analysis. As Senior Vice President of Operations & Product Management, he led the creation of innovative financial websites and subscription-based products, collaborating with industry giants like Fidelity and TD Ameritrade.

Outside the corporate world, Jon serves as a Professor of Finance at North Central College, emphasizing the importance of personal finance and investing. He founded Fiscal Investor, a platform offering personalized investment strategies, bridging the gap between individuals and complex financial markets.

Jon holds a Master of Science in Financial Markets & Trading from the Illinois Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Arts in Finance from Ball State University. His academic background complements his pragmatic investment approach, blending theoretical knowledge with real-world application.

Throughout his career, Jon has remained dedicated to helping investors reach their potential, aligning with the ethos of Expressive Wealth. His contributions to finance and education reflect his commitment to excellence and empowerment in investment.