Page 37 - Investment Advisor September 2021

ucts, and promote healthy and accurate publicity in the mar- Peter Krull, CEO, Earth Equity Advisors, is a
ket. More than 60% of her workday involves pro bono longtime advocate for fossil fuel-free and sus-
advocacy in the annuity and life insurance industries. Moore tainable, responsible and impact investing. He
works with regulators, legislators and journalists fact-check- has been investing his clients’ assets responsibly
ing inaccuracies, providing education and addressing insur- for two decades. He regularly speaks on panels,
ance-related issues, and she regularly assists the National at events, and with journalists and other advisors about how
Association of Insurance Commissioners in its work to pro- investors can align their investments with their values. In
mote understanding of indexed insurance products. December, Krull launched a self-guided digital investment plat-
form with a minimum of only $5,000 that offers a portfolio of
individual stocks complemented by responsible ESG and green
INDIVIDUALS – RIAs bonds that can be customized to align with an investor’s values.

Eric Roberge heads up Beyond Your Hammock, Kimberly Foss, president and founder of
which is a fee-only firm that focuses on meeting Empyrion Wealth Management, provides afflu-
the needs of young professionals dealing with ent family stewards, women in transition and
major life transitions and milestones, and open- retirees with tools and analysis to help them
ing their eyes to opportunities with the support make the best financial decisions to meet their
of good financial planning. For early to mid-career profession- needs. To enhance her clients’ experience and knowledge, she
als who are not paying clients, he and his team have developed has implemented the resources portal on Empyrion’s website
content in the form articles and blogs for Forbes, Kiplinger and during the past year, adding life stages checklists and calcula-
Business Insider and content for the “Beyond Finances,” a pod- tors. She also created landing pages for the white papers
cast to get listeners to think differently about financial plan- “Informed Investor” and “Divorce.” Foss is active on social
ning and money management. Roberge also delivers personal media, discusses financial topics during regular television
finance education to students through relationships with appearances and writes columns for Financial Planning,
Babson College’s undergraduate and MBA programs. Advisor Perspectives and Rethinking 65.

Sue Stevens, of Buckingham Strategic Wealth, Hannah Moore, owner, Guiding Wealth, is a
serves 80 clients as lead advisor and supports financial planner who, last year, when the pan-
another 80 clients she has transitioned to her demic lockdown caused students to lose their
successors. In addition, she owns a separate internships, stepped in to create the Financial
company, Stevens Visionary Strategies, that Planning Association Virtual Externship, an
creates financial education content. A new brand of the firm, eight-week internship experience that shows students what a
Dreams of Wealth, recently launched a website; a series of four career as a financial planner looks like at a variety of firms. The
books Stevens wrote during the pandemic to address the finan- program gave some 1,100 ethnically diverse students the ability
cial planning process at the heart of building wealth; and a to do the work as if they were in an internship, but for many
subscription service for advisors of educational content found different firms. It provided an opportunity for people —
in the books to use with their clients. She also is a presenter at including career changers, stay-at-home parents and college
several industry conferences. students — who would have never had access to a traditional
internship experience.
Taylor Schulte, founder and CEO, Define
Financial, is co-founder (with Justin Castelli) Gary Furukawa, chief investment director,
of The Advisor Growth Community, a paid- Freestone Capital Management, leads a team
membership group of more than 150 advisors that sources, investigates and manages private
whose intent is to foster collaborative conver- investments that create both social and finan-
sations and communication between those who are looking to cial returns. In 2020, they brought to conclu-
grow their firm with advice from their peers. In 2020, sion a strategy to provide low-cost housing to America’s most
Investopedia named Schulte the No. 2 independent advisor in financially fragile citizens, raising some $400 million to invest
the United States, citing his influence in bringing financial in low-cost housing units. This money combined with the
education to diverse audiences. That meant addressing com- prior years’ efforts amounted to nearly $1 billion that has
mon concerns of retirement savers around the world about the already bought 20,000 units with the potential to house at
pandemic’s effects on financial markets, retirement goals and least 100,000 people. Furukawa wants to be part of the advi-
personal finances through his Define Financial blog and “Stay sory community seeking a “win for all solution” that will lead
Wealthy” podcast. more advisors and investors to find similar opportunities.

SEPTEMBER 2021 INVESTMENT ADVISOR 35