Virtual Family Office

Aleksander stands out in the financial landscape for his deep experience in complex Qualified Plan models and innovative Financed Charitable Gifting techniques. Catering to a sophisticated clientele of business leaders, high-wage earners and high-net-worth individuals, Aleksander has masterfully orchestrated tax savings exceeding $60 million. With a career spanning over a decade as a wealth creation strategist, Aleksander is on a mission to empower his clients to safeguard and enhance their wealth using Advanced Pension Plans and Charitable Gift Financing strategies. As a dynamic serial entrepreneur, seasoned venture investor, and dedicated advisor, Aleksander applies his extensive firsthand experience to offer practical, impactful wealth-building strategies. Aleksander is the mastermind behind the Pre-Tax Wealth Creation Blueprint—a comprehensive, step-by-step framework designed to significantly boost tax savings, reinforce asset protection, and accelerate personal wealth growth. His fluency in English, Russian, and Korean allows him to serve a diverse range of clients effectively. Aleksander is known for his straightforward personality, results-driven focus, and out-of-the-box thinking. These qualities have cemented his reputation as a “financial surgeon” of creative solutions for wealth creation, making him a sought-after strategist in the financial domain.

Ami Kassar, is the founder and CEO of MultiFunding LLC, and author of The Growth Dilemma. He is a nationally renowned expert on access to capital for entrepreneurs. He’s committed to ensuring that business owners have the best possible access to the capital structures to help grow and manage their businesses. Kassar is regularly featured in the national press and writes a regular column for Inc.com. He has advised the White House, the Federal Reserve Bank and The Treasury Department on the business credit markets. In addition, Kassar is a regular speaker at universities and business events across the country on topics including entrepreneurship and access to capital. Ami is the 2015, 2014, and 2013 recipient of the Small Business Influencer Award as well as the 2012 Small Business Advocate Award. Kassar earned his MBA from the University of Southern California and graduated with a B.A. in American Studies from Brandeis University.

Andrew Lassise (pronounced La-Cease) is a serial entrepreneur and has helped build and scale several 6, 7, and 8 figure IT businesses. He is the CEO (aka chief dorkestrator) of Tech4Accountants, an IT company that specializes in tech and cyber security for accountants. In 2020 & 2021were listed as an Accounting Today Top 100 VARS, The Manifest's Top 100 Cyber Security Companies, and have technicians that all hold certifications with the AICPA in cyber security. When he's not saving the world from hackers & malware, he enjoys traveling, cooking, and spending time with his wife and two sons.

Andy Ruhland has 15+ years in benefits and Human Capital sales, service, and innovation with a focus on helping small- and medium-sized businesses run better and reduce costs. Andy educates clients on complex healthcare, administration and service options, then customize solutions that streamline processes and stop excess spending. Ask about his 360-degree integrated Human Capital Management platform and consulting services, which improve every aspect of how your company does business. Or just rest easy knowing you’ve controlled healthcare costs without eroding benefits to your employees. Andy started at NationalHR in 2001, working from Account Executive to Principal. In that time, the company tripled its bottom line and rolled out forward-thinking benefits buying solutions as well as an innovative Human Capital Management platform – all in response to client needs. Andy is a married father of three, he truly loves his job, and relishes the chance to work at the forefront of industry change, educating consumers and undoing broker stereotypes one thriving client at a time.

Ashley Lupiani began her career in 2006 working at MetLife. In 2007, furthering her insurance career, she made the cross-country move from Connecticut to sunny San Diego, California. She spent nine years at LPL Financial, mainly focusing on Underwriting and Sales as an Advanced Case Consultant. Ashley joined Elite Assurance Team in 2016 and is currently the in-house Life Insurance Specialist. Outside work, she enjoys spending time with her husband, Tony, and German Shepherd, Maverick, traveling, cycling, wine tasting, and cheering on her beloved New England Patriots. Ashley’s focus within Elite Assurance Team is with regard to life insurance consulting, case management, and agent contracting.

Ben started early as an entrepreneur. In 2003 at the early age of 27 he bought his first company. It wasn’t very long that he opened his second and ran them side-by-side for 10 years. His primary focus was income taxes, tax planning, asset protection and tax resolution. After he sold both of those companies, he decided to move in a different direction and moved into railroad construction as well as opening another tax resolution business. Today Ben is a Tax Resolution Specialist that helps companies and individuals out of dire situations. He has saved clients millions of dollars and helped companies and individuals become financially free from the IRS past problems. He also helps his clients create a future by helping his clients reduce taxes in the future. Highlights from Ben’s business activities include National Speaker for Tax Planning, helped clients receive over 40M in BP Funding, helped clients save millions from the IRS, received construction contracts of over $10M, and increased sustained profitability in the construction field of over 75% in first year of ownership.

Boris Piskun is the Managing Principal of both Greenday Finance and GreenPACE Capital. Boris started GDF in 2016. GDF is a commercial solar developer and Power Purchase Agreement (“PPA”) provider throughout the US. GDF offers commercial & non-profit property owners a long-term solution to convert to solar energy with its proprietary commercial PPA. GDF has developed and manages over 700 projects since inception GreenPACE Capital LLC (“GPC”) provides C-PACE financing to commercial & non-profit property owners. The Company originated and C-PACE bonds in excess of $50 million. Prior to starting GDF & GPC, Boris ran several private equity firms in NYC, targeting the commercial real estate sector and acquired more than $1 billion in commercial assets during my tenure. He holds a Bachelor of Art degree at Columbia University and played professional basketball in Europe prior to starting his business career.

Brian Ableman, Co-Founder Founder and CEO of AGS Advisors, is an Employee Benefits, Personal and Commercial insurance, and Life Insurance innovator and strategist. His diverse background enables him to not only find solutions to complex benefits and insurance situations but also to help navigate AGS through a constantly evolving insurance environment and the growing needs of commercial and individual clients. With a foundation in publishing, Brian prides himself on not only building comprehensive solutions for clients but also on conveying those solutions in a clear, digestible way for company owners, employees, and individuals. As Co-Founder of AGS Advisors Gary has spent 30 years building benefit solutions for fully insured and self-funded companies ranging for 5 to over 3000 employees. His decades-long journey has made him an expert in putting together customized plans that match the needs of his diverse client base including funding strategies, retention strategy and new technology implementation. Gary has a very hands-on philosophy and works closely with his clients to maintain compliance in an ever-changing regulations landscape and to help them fulfill all their planning needs from employee benefits and risk management to growth and retirement planning.

Bruce Gendein – A sought-after speaker on the topic of Qualified Retirement Plans, Bruce spends much of his time touring the country to share his insights with financial services professionals—financial advisors, brokers, CPAs, insurance agents, and attorneys. He has addressed MDRT’s Top of the Table, LIMRA’s Advanced Sales Forum, the Arizona Institute, and NAIFA and SFSP chapter meetings, as well as corporate educational symposiums nationwide. A financial services industry veteran, Bruce has been in the business for more than 30 years, helping successful individuals and advisors tackle complex financial and retirement planning challenges. As president and co-founder of The Senex Group, Bruce works with advisors nationwide to deliver seamless solutions that enable them to provide complete, end-to-end qualified retirement plans to their clients and generate a significant new revenue stream. Prior to founding The Senex Group, Bruce built a successful financial and retirement planning firm that served more than 850 clients from three offices in the Midwest. As a financial advisor, he started a third-party pension administration firm, was named “rookie of the year” for a major mutual life insurance company, and qualified for MDRT in his first year in the life insurance business. He has held Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) and Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) designations for more than three decades and remains committed to advancing the knowledge and capabilities of fellow advisors to help them better serve their clients.

Charles enjoys explaining the R&D tax credit to anyone. He wants business owners to understand the credit’s potential. Having helped dozens of companies grow by enabling them to keep more money in their own bank account rather than the government’s, he wants to see the same benefit for your business as well, through appropriate usage of the R&D tax credit. While working at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in Los Angeles, CA, Charles was fortunate to work with several large, high-profile Fortune 500 companies from various industries. He also worked for another CPA firm, Gatto, Pope, & Walwick LLP in San Diego, CA where he was able to engage with small and medium-sized businesses, again of various industries. Current clientele varies in size and location, so no matter where your business is located, and from start-ups to well established firms, he’s happy to work with you. Drop him a line so he can help you understand how your business can benefit from the R&D tax credit. Charles currently resides in Utah with his wife and two children. Sometimes he’s not looking at spreadsheets full of tax savings because his wife has pulled him outside for some fresh air, and makes him hike around the mountains. He does enjoy games of all types, reading books of all varieties, lounging around, and lunch. He’ll usually say “Yes” if you ask him out to lunch.

Chase Ravsten is a Regional Vice President at Vistia Capital. He is a FINRA Registered Representative in 50 states. In his role, he oversees capital raising, business development and providing alternative investments and opportunities for his clients. Having worked in the financial services industry since 2007, Chase started his career with a focus on putting together retirement plans, Insurance products and later pursued licensing with FINRA to further provide value to his clients by offering alternative investment products in the private market. Chase brings investors a personalized approach through his understanding of investment products and strategic planning. Chase works to provide his clients with the necessary information and resources to make investment decisions. He believes that building long-term relationships with clients is the way to help them reach their goals no matter what stage of life they are in. Chase holds FINRA series 7 and 63 licenses. He has a bachelor’s degree in Entrepreneurship, with minors in Spanish, and Financial Planning from Utah State University.

Chris Hall is the founder of Estate Guru and heads up strategic partnerships and business development for this industry leading cloud based legal solution. His current role with the team at Estate Guru is a mission to provide access to quality legal assistance for the masses. The goal is to take advantage of today’s powerful technology paired with the still very important, human element. Before founding Estate Guru he worked in the real estate industry and as a financial advisor, building a successful practice which he ultimately sold. Following the sale of his financial practice Hall spent nearly 10 years trading futures and managing a real estate partnership. Mr. Hall grew up in San Jose, California where he attended both High School and College. He now resides in sunny Dunedin, Florida. When not working you’ll likely find him enjoying time with his wife, on a bike, or on the links.

Mr. Stone is the principal and president of Stone Law Offices, Ltd. He has been practicing in the State of Nevada since 1993 and provides legal counsel and services to affluent clients and families in the areas of wealth transfer and preservation strategies, including advanced estate planning, sophisticated tax planning (federal income and estate taxes), charitable planning, and planned giving, multi-generational family governance, business law, including business exit planning (aka business succession planning), and domestic and international asset protection planning

Damayanti Weese is a seasoned leader in professional services, currently leading operations and business development at Incentives Credit Advocate in partnership with DST Advisory Group. She is also serving as the CEO of SDBizPros Inc. She has an extensive background spanning roles in taxation, human resources, and recruitment. Damayanti is committed to empowering small and medium-sized enterprises, advocating for transparent and comprehensive services in payroll, tax credits, and beyond to foster business efficiency and growth.

I am a proven certified Business Coach that helps business owners make more money and work less. I do this by asking the right questions, leading you to think differently and inspire action that generates desired results. I will help you with improving sales, implementing effective marketing and advertising, manage cash flow, team and leadership training

When Dan Gramann co-founded Cultivate Advisors in 2013, he wanted to form an advising team built by owners, for owners. He and his team have now built a business that advises over 1,000 small to mid market businesses every month, overseeing over two billion dollars in client revenue annually. You could say that entrepreneurship is in Dan’s blood. His first job at 14 was as employee #1, working out of his parent’s basement. He watched them struggle to maintain the financial health of the house. He witnessed his father fight cancer while working the third shift at General Motors and running his own business during the day. His parents instilled in him a strong entrepreneurial drive and a deep understanding of the challenges and hardships of owning a business. Dan was just 20 years old and in college when he bought his first franchise in the home services industry. His hard work and dedication paid off, and the Franchisor leadership asked him to join their team so he could train and advise franchisees across the Midwest. He then moved on to an even larger franchise organization and traveled throughout North America, launching, training, and advising businesses. After helping so many franchises succeed in even the most difficult economic markets, Dan was ready for his next challenge: launching Cultivate Advisors. His experience in multiple industries helped highlight the core business foundations that all leaders need to scale successfully. It just made sense to Dan to support small-to-mid-market business owners that cared about scaling a sustainable business, better prepared for a healthy and higher valued exit. Today, Dan and his partners at Cultivate lead three different brands with over 135 employees dedicated to serving Entrepreneurs daily.

Darren Sugiyama was born and raised in Long Beach, California and received a Bachelor’s Degree from Loyola Marymount University where he was also the team captain and 2nd Team All-Conference baseball player. He continued his education and earned a Master’s Degree in Multicultural Education from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. After starting his career as a counselor in a gang prevention program in his hometown of Long Beach, California, worked as a teacher in the public school system in Honolulu, Hawaii, and as a counselor in Halawa Prison and the Honolulu Detention Home. Darren decided to follow his entrepreneurial dreams and started his own employee benefits firm in 2003 called Apex. During his first year in the insurance business, his personal income for the year was only $277 (he proudly displays his personal tax return on the wall of his office). But just seven years later, Apex was producing over $37 million in annual sales and was the #1 producing firm in the country for three different insurance carriers concurrently. Since then, Darren expanded his insurance business portfolio, building a life insurance agency called DaVinci, which was responsible for 25% of all the life insurance policies sold for Pacific Life in Orange County, California in 2017. In 2018, DaVinci was responsible for 29% of the all the life insurance policies sold for Penn Mutual in Orange County, and in 2019, over 38%. In addition, Darren founded Lionsmark Capital in 2016 which is now one of the most dominant premium financing intermediary firms in the life insurance industry. Darren is also an internationally acclaimed 12-time author with published works being distributed in 14 countries in addition to the United States of America. As a nationally acclaimed motivational speaker, business coach, and mentor, Darren does both live and virtual motivational speaking events, as well as private coaching sessions, teaching others how he built his businesses using extremely unorthodox methods.

Darren Sugiyama was born and raised in Long Beach, California and received a Bachelor’s Degree from Loyola Marymount University where he was also the team captain and 2nd Team All-Conference baseball player. He continued his education and earned a Master’s Degree in Multicultural Education from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. After starting his career as a counselor in a gang prevention program in his hometown of Long Beach, California, worked as a teacher in the public school system in Honolulu, Hawaii, and as a counselor in Halawa Prison and the Honolulu Detention Home. Darren decided to follow his entrepreneurial dreams and started his own employee benefits firm in 2003 called Apex. During his first year in the insurance business, his personal income for the year was only $277 (he proudly displays his personal tax return on the wall of his office). But just seven years later, Apex was producing over $37 million in annual sales and was the #1 producing firm in the country for three different insurance carriers concurrently. Since then, Darren expanded his insurance business portfolio, building a life insurance agency called DaVinci, which was responsible for 25% of all the life insurance policies sold for Pacific Life in Orange County, California in 2017. In 2018, DaVinci was responsible for 29% of the all the life insurance policies sold for Penn Mutual in Orange County, and in 2019, over 38%. In addition, Darren founded Lionsmark Capital in 2016 which is now one of the most dominant premium financing intermediary firms in the life insurance industry, and in 2020, he co-founded the revolutionary fintech firm Breadbox which offers proprietary solutions to investment advisors and life insurance advisors across the country. Darren is also an internationally acclaimed 8-time author with published works being distributed in over 15 countries. As a nationally acclaimed motivational speaker, business coach, and mentor, Darren does both live and virtual motivational speaking events, as well as private coaching sessions, teaching others how he built his businesses using extremely unorthodox methods.

Derek Spitzer began his career at a global tax consulting firm based in Dallas, Texas. As a consultant in the transaction tax practice, Derek worked directly with several Fortune 500 companies in the retail, healthcare, storage, and manufacturing industries. Derek joined Captive Insurance Group, LLC in March 2014 as Director of Operations and helped grow the firm until it was acquired by Higginbotham Insurance Agency in February 2020. Higginbotham is the largest independent insurance broker in Texas, and a top 15 insurance broker in the United States. Derek as a Managing Director, along with former management continue to run the captive insurance operations. Derek graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Finance from Brigham Young University. He is married with three children and lives in Colleyville, Texas.

Donald S. Feldman, CExP™, CPA, CVA, MBA founded Keystone Business Transitions, LLC in 2009, a firm based in Lancaster, PA devoted to exit and succession planning for business owners. He has been a CPA for 30 years and a valuation professional for 25 years. For the last 20 years, Don’s practice has focused exclusively on succession and exit planning for business owners, including transfers of business interests to family members and key employees, as well as sales to outsiders. KBT also provides Business Valuation services in connection with Exit Planning transactions. Don has been awarded the designation Certified Exit Planner™ by the Business Enterprise Institute and is a member of the CExP™ Board of Standards. Don holds a joint M.S. in Accounting / M.B.A. degree from Northeastern University. He has been a regular columnist for Business2Business Magazine (Central PA) and is a frequent speaker for trade associations and continuing education programs for accountants, attorneys and financial advisors.

Jacob Fleming holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Management. He started his career working in staffing. He was responsible for a $13 million dollar increase with a 22% EBITDA. Subsequently he took an opportunity to help create a new staffing company. In only two years it grew to over $15M in sales and 5 offices. In this positions Jacob was responsible for the sales, operations, and the training and managing of the staff. Jacob then created a new company recruiting CDL A drivers nationwide. This new adventure quickly became the #1 3rd party recruiting company for some of the largest trucking companies in the nation. On the side Jacob loves to invest in real estate and has purchased many homes, and multifamily properties. He has also developed properties and financed construction projects. Through the experience of selling businesses and properties Jacob understood the impact that taxes have on individual and company growth. This fueled the desire to help companies maximize growth opportunities and minimize tax implications. His love for real estate and building has helped with the latest endeavor Ascendancy; helping building contractors capitalize on their appraisals and tax credits. Ascendancy is a consulting firm that helps construction companies participate in programs to increase profits and decrease tax liabilities. Ascendancy’s team of certified energy star and HERS (Home Energy Rating System) raters provide certifications to their customers, ensuring that each property meets each program’s standards.