Wealth Education Instructors

Instructors of the Institute include those Members who have completed a Practice Assessment and have been approved by the Wealth Education Fellows Board to teach and present our educational programming to other financial professionals on a regular basis.
 

Lori Adasiewicz-Palmatier
Janice Amato
Greggory R. Banner
Diedra Wachbrit Braverman
Sal Capizzi
Trey Fairman
William Fortner
Jeff Groves
John Jenkins
Vito Lanuti
Shelley Lightfoot
Stephen Mancini
Jeffrey Matsen
Alejandro Matuk
Mark Merenda
Dr. George Pransky
David Reyes
Teofla Rich
Laura Stees
Carl Sheeler
Richard Scott Stewart
Joseph Strazzeri

Click to learn more about becoming an instructor

Feel free to browse all the different Members who are a part of the Southern California Institute.

• Wealth Education Fellows
• Wealth Education Instructors
• Educational Members

Profiles

Lori Adasiewicz, Esq.

Ms. Adasiewicz is a wealth strategies attorney and partner with Bay Laurel Law Group, LLP in San Mateo, CA. Lori hos practiced exclusively in the areas of estate and business planning and administration since 1998, when she earned her JD from Hasting College of the Law. Lori serves on the Board of the Peninsula Estate Planning council and is a Laureate Circle Member and Fellow of the Southern California Institute.

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Janice Amato, CFP®

Jan is a Certified Financial  Planner practitioner with over 27 years of experience. A graduate of Rutgers University and the College of Financial Planning, Jan specializes in financial planning for "suddenly single" women. Ms. Amato has conducted seminars for organizations including Xerox Corporation, Children's Hospital, and UCSD. Her office is located in San Diego.

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Gregory R. Banner, CFP®, CLU®, CRTP

Greg is also licensed as a Registered Investment Advisor with Asset Preservation Strategies, Inc. and is fully licensed as an insurance broker. He obtained his Registered Tax Preparer license with the State of California in 1995, allowing him to prepare income tax returns and give tax advice on investments.

Greg specializes in working collaboratively with all of the clients’ advisors, providing complete planning services which include advanced business planning, business exit strategies, investment management, advanced executive planning, retirement planning, tax reduction strategies, insurance and estate planning strategies for both individuals and businesses.

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Diedra Wachbrit Braverman, Esq.

Diedra is a Board Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust, and Probate Law focusing her practice on Estate Planning, Special Needs and Asset Protection. Quoted in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and Time, Mrs. Braverman and her Westlake Village based firm were touted by Working Mother Magazine as one of the top 25 small Companies in the US.

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Sal Capizzi

Salvatore M. Capizzi is Chief Sales & Marketing Officer for Dunham & Associates Investment Counsel, Inc. Mr. Capizzi is a seasoned industry veteran with over 26 years of financial services experience. He possesses a wealth of expertise in global sales and distribution leadership, marketing, business development and strategic planning.

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Trey Fairman, JD

As the Managing Principal of the Highland Capital Brokerage-San Diego office, Trey Fairman partners with independent and institutional financial advisors helping them increase productivity by providing insurance-based solutions to their high net worth clientele. His office is responsible for all of Highland's relationships in San Diego, Orange, Riverside, San Bernadino, and Imperial Counties.

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William Fortner

Bill Fortner has focused on life insurance sales for 14 of his 18 years in the financial services industry.  He started at Bank of America for 7 years, moved to John Hancock for 2, and recently was at Hartford for almost ten years where he was one of 8 individuals nationally who served as Director of Private Wealth Management, and a Bank Advisor specialist.  Jan 3, 2011 Bill started a new chapter in his career moving to MetLife in order to start calling on UBS, MSSB, WFA and  Edward Jones advisors in Southern California.

Fortner is a graduate of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where he earned a BA in Communication Arts and Sciences.   Bill has been named to the permanent faculty at the Southern California Institute, which offers California's most complete business, estate and wealth strategies curricula to help wealth advisors interact and share with clients to inspire action.  He is also a graduate of the Laureate Center for Wealth Advisors.

In his leisure time, Fortner has been known to perform at the local "IMPROV" and he has successfully used comedy to educate and motivate clients and their advisors to action.  He is a member of the Roosters of Orange County, a non profit social and charity organization whose membership consists of professional men of diverse backgrounds dedicated to fund-raising for the benefit of disadvantaged and at-risk children in the community.  Bill is an avid endurance cyclist and just completed a ride across the state of Iowa this summer for the longest, largest, oldest ride of its kind in the world for charity.  10,000 riders, 494 miles, 22,000 feet of elevation, 7 days, and whole lotta corn.

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Jeff Groves

Mr. Groves consults broker dealers and investment advisors on various issues regarding SEC and FINRA regulations, assists in the preparation for regulatory audits and consults on business issues as they relate to compliance. Mr. Groves also served as a lead consultant with ComplianceMAX Financial, a large compliance technology firm in San Diego.

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John Jenkins, AEPR, EA, CFPR

John is a Certified Agent for the California Partnership for Long Term Care and an Enrolled Agent (EA), having successfully passed the exam administered by the IRS. He is also a Laureate in Wealth Strategies graduate and Fellow of the Southern California Institute. John has 26 years industry experience as a Registered Investment Adviser.

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Vito Lanuti, Esq.

W. Vito Lanuti practices law exclusively in the area of estate planning and business planning. He is certified as a specialist in estate planning, trust, and probate law by the State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization. He is experienced in planning and administering high net worth estates and is active in a number of estate planning organizations, and speaks locally and nationally on the subject. 

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Shelley Lightfoot

Shelley is responsible for driving seven high-quality, collaborative, educational, and informational programs through the SCI platform. Shelley's unique combination of experience, passion, and creativity lend themselves to SCI's objective of helping wealth advisors attract and engage clients through collaborative efforts with other advisors.

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Stephen Mancini, Esq.

Principal & Founder: Law Firm of Strazzeri Mancini LLP. Educator and author, Steve is an Instructor for the Academy of Multidisciplinary Practices, courses accredited by the Estate and Wealth Strategies Institute at Michigan State University; Instructor, Paralegal Courses; Speaker for Continuing Education for Financial Professionals, including Certified Public Accountants, Attorneys, and Financial Planners. Laureate Circle Member and Fellow of the Southern California Institute.

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Jeffrey Matsen, Esq.

Jeff is the founder of "Wealth Strategies Counsel", the Estate Planning and Business Transactions Department of the Orange County California law firm of Bohm, Matsen, Kegel & Aguilera, "Wealth Strategies Counsel" provides legal services in the areas of estate planning, asset protection, business formation and transactional matters, probate and trust administration and real property law.

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Alejandro Matuk, Esq.

Mr. Matuk is a partner of Strazzeri Mancini LLP. He started his professional career in the San Diego City Attorney's Office. Mr. Matuk was a Senior Deputy City Attorney for the City of San Diego in the City Attorney's Civil Litigation for eight years. Mr. Matuk was the principal attorney in numerous cases involving property, zoning, government contracts, land use, personal injury and various governmental matters. Mr. Matuk also served as Special Deputy Counsel for the Redevelopment Agency of the City of San Diego, negotiating and litigating eminent domain cases for the Agency. 

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Mark Merenda

Mark Merenda founded Smart Marketing in 1994. It has since grown to be one of the nation's leading marketing and consulting firms for attorneys and financial professionals, with clients in 30 states. Smart Marketing's services include strategic planning, coaching, and practice development, as well as the development and implementation of seminars, brochures, newsletters and e-newsletters, advertising campaigns, corporate identity and image, direct mail, websites, search engine optimization, client base marketing, referral source marketing, and more. Merenda's SmartBlog (http://www.lawfirmhelp.com) is a popular resource for attorneys and financial professionals.

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Dr. George Pransky

Dr. Pransky, a specialist in the field of relationships, is one of the pioneers introducing the importance of human factor in estate planning. He partners with estate planning professionals to help them address internal quality of life issues with their clients. His book on relationships and his extensive experience has made him a popular speaker for professional organizations and conferences.

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David Reyes

Reyes Financial Architecture, Inc. is a financial architectural firm specializing in tax reduction, asset preservation, estate & retirement planning. David works with leading CPA's, attorneys & advisors to design & implement strategic tax & wealth plans for high net-worth individuals, families & business owners. David has been a nationally recognized advisor, author & speaker for over 15 years.

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Teofla Rich, CFP®

Teofla's responsibilities at Torrey Pines Bank includes advising high net worth clients, business owners and their businesses, and corporate executives on banking products and services and coordinating investment and trust services with the Bank's affiliates.

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Laura Stees, CPA

Laura is a CPA and Business Strategist at Kellogg & Anderson in Rancho Bernardo, CA. Laura's expertise is focused on helping business owners gain control and direction in their businesses while improving their profit potential and business growth.

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Carl Sheeler, PhD, CBA, AVA

Dr. Sheeler is a 20+ year, court/IRS qualified, Business Valuation and Discounting expert having conducted over 800 engagements and testifying on 135 occasions. 

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Richard Scott Stewart, Esq.

Scott has concentrated his law practice on solving the legal problems affecting estate planning and asset protection and retention.

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Joseph Strazzeri, Esq.

Principal and Founder, Strazzeri Mancini LLP, practicing in Estate Planning, Business Succession, Charitable Planning, Asset Protection and Retirement Issues; Former Partner, Law Office of N. Munro Merrick; Principal of The Founders Group, a Business strategies Collaborative. Frequent educator and author, Joe is also a Laureate Circle Member and Fellow of the Southern California Institute and serves on the board of several foundations including Sharp Healthcare.

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Click to learn more about becoming an instructor

Feel free to browse all the different Members who are a part of the Southern California Institute.

• Wealth Education Fellows
• Wealth Education Instructors
• Educational Members