WealthTech on Deck

In this episode, Jack talks with Daniel Crosby, Chief Behavioral Officer at Orion Advisor Solutions. Daniel is a psychologist and a behavioral finance expert who helps advisors and investors understand the psychology of financial markets. He believes that through tools, such as the Irrationality Index and the new 3D Risk Profile from Orion, we'll be able to assess emotional reactions to volatility...

In this episode, Jack talks with Jud and Kim Mackrill, Co-Founders and CMOs at Milemarker, Inc. Kim and Jud Mackrill are partners in life and in business. Together, they have built careers on providing solutions in tech integration for the finance world. Before Milemarker, they helped advisors innovate through their marketing company, Mineral Interactive. After Mineral’s acquisition, Kim and Jud l...

In this episode, Jack Sharry talks with John Connors, the Founder and CEO of Boathouse Inc. Before building his firm in 2001, John worked for corporations such as Hill Holiday and McCann Worldgroup. John’s vision of success and high performance as a marketer was greatly influenced by these industry pioneers and set him on the path to building his own firm. John talks about why maintaining clients...

In this episode, Jack Sharry talks with Heather Kelly, the Senior Vice President of Advisory and Strategic Accounts at Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America. Heather has been in the industry for over 25 years. However, if she was asked at the beginning of her career what wealth tech means, and what it would mean after decades, she would brush it off and continue doing what the mentors be...

In this episode, Jack Sharry talks with Len Reinhart, a pioneer in the UMH industry and founder of several successful advisory firms. Len began discussing the subject of separately managed accounts, managed money, an advisory approach, and, of course, UMH, nearly 20 years ago.  As a baby boomer himself, Len witnessed firsthand the diminishing benefits for boomers as retirement suddenly became thei...

In this episode, Jack Sharry talks with LifeYield colleagues Harry Bartle and Steve Zuschin. Harry is the EVP of Enterprise Sales while Steve is the EVP of Enterprise Technology Adoption.  What should I do with my rollover? When should I take social security? As money in motion is underway, these questions become a high priority for retiring clientele. Leading the innovation arms at LifeYield, Har...

In this episode, Jack Sharry talks with Yaqub Ahmed and Harshendu Bindal of Franklin Templeton. Yaqub is Head of the U.S. Investment-Only Division while Harshendu leads  Digital Strategy and Wealth Management. While his parents wanted Yaqub to pursue medicine, Yaqub fell in love with financial services and began his career as a record keeper in an asset management organization. Having spent the la...

In this episode, Jack Sharry talks with Andrew Salesky. Andrew leads Digital Advisor Solutions at Charles Schwab, overseeing a suite of tech platforms used by more than 7,500 independent advisory firms working with Schwab.  Having worked at Schwab for more than 20 years, Andrew has held jobs big and small under the Schwab umbrella – from branch leadership to running schwab.com and driving the grow...

In this episode, Jack Sharry talks with Rose Palazzo and Eric Lordi from Morgan Stanley. Rose heads financial planning while Eric leads efforts across WealthDesk, a place for advisors to manage household portfolios. At Morgan Stanley, Rose and Eric have been instrumental in building the industry’s most comprehensive wealth management platform.  Creating a comprehensive ecosystem and saying goodbye...

In this episode, Jack Sharry talks with John Thiel, former Head of Wealth Management at Merrill Lynch and longtime advocate for comprehensive advising. John began his career in public accounting where he realized the impact of tax law on financial planning and decision-making. He was eventually recruited into the insurance business and, while it wasn’t popular at the time, John became an advocate...

In this episode, Jack Sharry talks with Samantha Russell, Chief Evangelist at FMG Suite, and Matt Nollman, VP of Marketing at LifeYield. The two share their expertise on all things digital communication.  Six years ago, Samantha’s husband stumbled upon a problem with seemingly no solution. Every advisor at a firm had an identical web presence. So he created Twenty Over Ten, an easy-to-use website...

In this episode, Jack Sharry talks with Eric Clarke, CEO of Orion Advisors. Eric is committed to improving client outcomes through strategic acquisitions and smart technology. Straight out of grad school, Eric began his career as an asset management wholesaler. The company he worked for was experiencing operational challenges and, eventually, Eric realized the fiduciary IRA business needed stronge...

In this episode, Jack talks with Lori Hardwick, Chairman of Riskalyze and Board Member at firms like Orion Advisor Tech and Cetera Financial Group. Lori began climbing the financial services ladder working as a wholesaler. In 1997 she had her first baby and realized the wholesaler lifestyle didn’t mesh with motherhood. So she pitched an idea to her senior executive team about starting an RIA progr...

In this episode, Jack Sharry talks with Mary Beth Franklin, a columnist and contributing editor at Investment News, specializing in social security, medicare, and retirement income.  We’re living in a time where traditional retirement rules no longer apply, in part because of COVID-19’s dramatic impact on money in motion. As a result, helping clients navigate retirement is more complex than ever b...

In this episode, Jack Sharry talks with longtime colleague Steve Gresham, CEO of The Execution Project, a consulting firm that works with advisors and their firms to help advisors better serve the needs of retiring clientele. For many of us, the questions, stressors, and concerns of our clients are changing. As Baby Boomers hit retirement age, it’s our responsibility as advisors to help them affor...

In this episode, Jack Sharry talks with Chairman and CEO of LifeYield Mark Hoffman. In addition to leading the company, Mark is responsible for pulling resources and customers together to construct Unified Managed Households.  Early in Mark’s career, a colleague’s father broached the idea of combining household assets to achieve client goals, particularly as advisors help clients prepare for retir...

In this episode, Jack Sharry talks with Cheryl Nash, CEO of the Financial Supermarkets Division at InvestCloud. Cheryl unpacks her acquisition-filled journey to CEO and everything that makes InvestCloud an industry standout. Cheryl began her career as a data entrant at Security APL before automation was as widespread as it is today. Security APL was ultimately acquired by Fiserv which recently sol...

In this episode, Jack Sharry talks with Michael Liersch, Head of Advice & Planning at Wells Fargo. They dive into Michael’s transformative approach to financial decision-making and what drives his desire to improve financial opportunities for future generations. With a background in academia, Michael took a somewhat unusual path to the financial industry. Growing up in a household where money wasn...

In this episode, Jack Sharry talks with Dani Fava, Head of Strategic Development at Envestnet. Envestnet’s mission is to make financial wellness widely accessible.  Having entered the financial tech world in a non-traditional way, Dani encourages others to embrace what makes them unique. After unintentionally impressing a firm with her technical abilities, Dani found herself catapulted into the wo...

In this episode, Jack Sharry talks with Ed Murphy, CEO of Empower Retirement. Empower is the second-largest retirement plan recordkeeper with more than one trillion dollars in assets for more than 12.5 million Americans.  The chaos of 2020 has launched more people into retirement than ever before. In fact, a recent study suggests that four times as many people retired in 2020 versus 2019. To stay...

WealthTech on Deck is a new podcast from LifeYield about the future of wealth management technology.  We created this podcast specifically for wealthtech innovators, financial services executives, fintech product leaders, and financial advisors who want to stay ahead of the wealthtech game.  Join us each week as our CMO, and host of the show, Jack Sharry, talks with industry leaders looking to bui...