SoCal PPLI & PPVA Forum Speakers

Robert is the Founder and CEO of Gideon Strategic Partners, a boutique investment advisory firm headquartered in Century City, Los Angeles, with offices in Midtown Manhattan and Baltimore, Maryland. Since its inception in 2012 and independence in 2016, Gideon has grown under Robert’s leadership to manage over $1 billion in client assets, offering sophisticated financial planning, investment management, and tax-efficient strategies tailored to the unique needs of high-net-worth families, entrepreneurs, and executives.

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As a thought leader in the financial services space, Robert is a public speaker on topics such as alternative investments, tax structuring, estate planning, and wealth preservation strategies. He frequently shares his expertise at industry events and conferences, helping to demystify complex financial concepts for clients and peers alike.

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Robert began his career at Van Eck Global in 2007 before joining AXA in 2008, where he quickly rose to become Regional Vice President, building and leading the company’s largest and top-producing U.S. team. He earned multiple accolades during his tenure, including Circle of Excellence, Summit, and Hallmark I awards, as well as membership in the Elite Producer Group and Million Dollar Round Table.

Damien is a Managing Partner and Co-Chief Investment Officer at Evoke Advisors. He has over 20 years of experience advising some of the world’s leading institutional investors and financial companies on investment and risk management issues. Damien began his career at Oliver Wyman, a premier financial services advisory firm. As a consultant, he focused on risk management at global banks and insurance companies. After Oliver Wyman, Damien spent nearly a decade as a Senior Client Advisor and Senior Investment Associate at Bridgewater Associates, one of the world’s largest hedge fund managers. In this role, Damien was responsible for managing relationships across more than 50 North American institutional clients – including endowments, foundations, pension plans and family offices – ranging in size from $1 billion to $100 billion. Damien advised institutional CIOs on a range of investment topics, including portfolio construction, manger selection and asset-liability management. While at Bridgewater, Damien participated in the rigorous Investment Associate program, a requisite for Bridgewater’s senior investment professionals, which included ongoing testing and education around the global economy and financial markets. In 2014, Damien co-founded Aris with business partner Alex Shahidi, with whom he oversaw ARIS’ investment research and client service functions.

Fred is a Partner at Freedom 3 Capital and has more than 30 years of experience in middle market finance including sourcing, structuring and syndication of private credit. His primary responsibilities consist of building out the Manager’s senior credit platform, managing relationships with investors in new and existing funds, and syndication of co-investments. Fred has been involved with over 100 different companies syndicating several billion dollars of investments.

Prior to joining the Manager in 2016, Fred was a Managing Director and Head of Capital Markets for Fifth Street Asset Management where he was responsible for origination of capital markets and club investments, providing market and investment intelligence to the firm and syndication of private credit to co-investors. He has held similar roles at TD Securities, Jefferies & Company, Berenson Minella & Company and CIBC World Markets, where he began their professional career beginning in 1994.

Travis has been collaborating with advisors of ultra-high net worth domestic and foreign national clients and institutions for over 25 years, working to address their complex financial needs on a global basis. As a recognized thought leader in global wealth structuring and cross border planning, he has a proven track record of delivering innovative and customized insurance and asset management solutions to help ultra-high net worth and institutional clients grow and preserve their assets.
 

He is responsible for spearheading development of the Axcelus proprietary Catalyst PPLI solution, where he oversees all aspects of the product’s evolution, marketing, and sales strategies to ensure its ongoing success and growth. This has resulted in over a half of billion dollars of new assets under administration.

Josh is a Vice President at Neuberger Berman and a member of the Private Debt investment team. Prior to joining Neuberger Berman in 2019, Josh worked at Affiliated Managers Group focusing on GP stake investments. He began his career at Millstein & Co (now Guggenheim), a boutique restructuring investment bank.

Matt is a Managing Director on the Apollo Tax-Advantaged team and works with institutional clients,
including insurance companies, broker-dealers, family offices and advisors, to expand the firm’s
presence in the tax advantaged private investing space.
 

Prior to joining Athene/Apollo, Matt was the head of the Financial Institutions Group at American
Century and previously was the head of the Insurance channel at Dimensional Fund Advisors.

Based in Denver, CO, Daniel partners with firms nationally where he specializes in the business development, design, and implementation of private placement life insurance solutions. He is highly experienced and knowledgeable in
using private placement life insurance to benefit your clients.

Through a collaborative and consultative approach, Daniel's primary focus is to drive profitable sales through third-party and independent producer distribution channels.

Daniel has been in the financial service industry since 1993 and joined Prudential in 2019. Prior to his current role, he was a Managing Director at Lombard International for 3 1/2 years.

Sean provides consulting and case development expertise for NFP’s ICOLI clients and strategic alliances. Sean has over 25 years of experience in corporate-owned life insurance (COLI) and ICOLI and has a deep understanding of product, regulatory, taxation, accounting and investment related matters.
 

Prior to joining NFP, Sean spent 14 years as a senior consultant at Newport Group, Inc., where he led their ICOLI efforts and provided subject matter expertise for COLI
and nonqualified executive benefits. He also held similar roles in the COLI and nonqualified plan space at Promus Financial, Andesa Strategies and Hartford Life Private Placement.

Ben co-founded Provenio in 2016 and is the Chief Investment Officer. Prior to Provenio, he was CIO of a large single family office and before that, a Director at ICG Advisors. Over the last twenty years Ben has also worked as a trader for Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and Vantis Capital Management. Ben earned his BS in Psychology from Tufts University and his MBA from Columbia Business School with a concentration in Finance and International Business.

Ken brings 20+ years of financial services and insurance industry experience.  Ken oversaw the build out of the administration program at Spearhead Capital Advisors (our predecessor company). As head of the program, he personally managed each relationship with our insurance carriers and sub-advisor partners. He was also responsible for managing the marketing/sales program across the entire firm.

Prior to joining Spearhead, he served as the Senior Vice President of Agency Distribution at Lombard International. There he oversaw all agent distribution in the U.S. and managed the Alpha Alliance, the exclusive membership program at Lombard reserved for professionals and firms with a proven tradition of service to the high-net-worth client community.

Riccardo works with clients and their trusted advisors to develop asset protection, pre-immigration, investment enhancement, wealth preservation and succession solutions using Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI). His background includes previous executive roles at global financial institutions, a Master of Laws with Distinction, a professional postgraduate diploma in Private Wealth Advising, and a STEP TEP.
 

Additionally, Riccardo is the Co-Founder of TrustedGovernance.com, a family-founded organization dedicated to supporting the smooth transition of family legacies to the next generation in close collaboration with all family members and relevant third parties.

Bruce is a partner in the Chicago office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. He has extensive experience advising fund sponsors and investors (both offshore and domestic). Bruce concentrates his practice on the organization and structuring of real estate, infrastructure, and other alternative-asset investment funds. He also has significant experience representing offshore investors in the U.S. property and infrastructure markets and maintains a broad tax planning practice representing REITs and other investors in real estate.

Sarah is the Director of Life Underwriting for the M Distribution. She has over 20 years of experience in underwriting with a background in high-net-worth cases, private placement, foreign national business and reinsurance.

Since joining in 2019, Vince has helped grow the ICOLI and BOLI practices by over $2 billion, with a consistent focus on cost reduction and private/alternative asset strategies.
 

Previously, Vince was a Principal at Vanbridge, an EPIC Company, and Director of Corporate and Institutional Insurance. He began his career at Nationwide Mutual
Insurance Company, gaining experience in Retirement Plans (QP, NQDC/SERPs), Life and Annuity, and COLI/BOLI/ICOLI.
 

In 2022, Vince co-founded 3A Partners, LLC, where he currently serves as Co- President. 3A Partners, a wholly owned subsidiary of NFP and an SEC-registered investment advisor, provides specialty investment advisory services to banks related to the SBA’s SBIC program.

Megan focuses her practice on a broad range of complex tax issues with an emphasis on entities, family offices and individuals. She assists clients in domestic, international and multijurisdictional tax and corporate planning relating to startup company and entity formation, investment entity structuring and the acquisition, disposition and restructuring of businesses, corporations and partnerships.

With extensive experience in the technology and energy industries, she advises both entrepreneurs and companies on a variety of matters, including digital assets, blockchain technology, NFTs, energy credits and related tax issues. Her experience with startup entities extends from the startup phase, through a recognition event and then as a public company.

A substantial portion of Megan’s practice includes personal estate planning, family succession planning and family office structuring. She also works with clients on complex estates and investment holdings, crafting both foundational plans and more complex structures. She advises foreign individuals and entities moving to the United States on pre-immigration, income, gift and estate tax planning opportunities and helps those leaving the United States or California.

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Jay provides strategy, validation and structure to a wide range of individual and corporate life insurance clients.  He founded Life Insurance Strategies Group to offer unbiased and pragmatic advice to enhance and simplify the distribution, sale and purchase of life insurance.

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Jay is a former senior executive with carriers Crown Global Insurance Group and BF&M Insurance Group.  He served as the Country Manager for Life Insurance Distribution for Sun Life’s Bermuda Branch and for Old Mutual (Bermuda) Ltd.  

Ben is Managing Director and head of Investor Relations at GSRM.  Previously, Ben had worked for over twenty-five years in Fixed Income institutional sales and trading for some of the most venerable banks, including JPMorgan, Union Bank of Switzerland, Nomura Lehman Brothers and Royal Bank of Canada.  He held various sales and sales management roles throughout his career.

Sam is Chief Insurance Officer at Arta Finance Inc., a series A fintech based in Mountain View, CA and funded by Ribbit Capital, Coatue and Sequoia. She also serves on the Board of One Degree, a licensed general insurer based in Hong Kong.
 

Prior to her current role, Sam was based in Hong Kong and Bangalore and spearheaded insurance partnerships with super-apps like Alibaba, Tencent, GRAB, Flipkart and PayTM. Previously she managed the multi-billion dollar Accident & Health portfolio for MetLife Asia across nine markets and was Chief Distribution Officer and Interim CEO for MetLife’s $1B+ AUM Hong Kong business.
 

Prior to moving to Asia, she led strategy for MetLife’s global employee benefits business across 30+ markets and led operations at Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield’s retail business in Richmond, Virginia.

With over 25 years of industry experience Dennis informs M’s corporate strategy and initiatives by providing insights into life insurance companies, products, and distribution. He played a central role with the development of M Financial Group’s exclusive private placement life insurance products since their inception in 2000 by providing marketing and product design support to M Financial’s Member Firms. His efforts have helped M’s private placement insurance suite to achieve over $8 billion in assets under administration.

Dennis also provides thought leadership on life insurance carriers and products by authoring knowledge and insight pieces for M Financial’s members and industry publications. Prior to joining M Financial Group in 1998, he was an agent for BMA Assurance Company and a Registered Representative for Mutual of New York.

Kevin co-founded Provenio in 2016. Over the last twenty-five years Kevin has built a number of highly successful insurance and planning practices based on his unrelenting passion to help families grow, safeguard and manage their wealth for generations to come. 

As a Partner with WealthPoint, Ben brings more than 20 years of experience and background in business, finance and insurance. Ben began his career in Boulder, Colorado in a single-family office and has continued to serve that same family office with multiple insurance solutions since his
departure in 2001.

After getting started in the insurance industry in 2001, the entrepreneurial bug bit and he left in 2004 to launch a new life insurance enterprise with a partner. Together they successfully originated more than $1 Billion in life insurance in just four years. Parting ways in 2009, Ben founded another boutique firm with a focus on sophisticated life insurance solutions designed to meet the demanding
needs of the ultra-high-net-worth families and the advisors that serve them. After running the company for 11 years he merged with WealthPoint at the end of 2019 where he currently leads their efforts in Private Placement Life Insurance.

Dave has 15+ years of financial services experience spanning from capital raising, new IDF and SMA formation and structuring, as well as the implementation and structuring of PPLI and PPVA solutions for ultra-high net worth and family office clients.  He previously served as Director of Business Development at Spearhead, where he originated and serviced new client relationships across the firm’s wealth management, administrative services, and asset management divisions. 

Dave has co-authored several articles and developed and presented Continuing Education programs related to PPLI/PPVA structuring and related investment solutions to various Financial Planning Association (FPA), Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), and estate planning council chapters across the US.

As chief investment officer and a founding partner of Running Point Capital Advisors, a multifamily office, Michael Ashley Schulman is responsible for the firm’s global macro
outlook, research, investment strategies, PPLI & PPVA management, and asset allocation across public and private investments. He has built quantitative and fundamental equity programs, modelled collateralized debt obligations, and managed a fixed-income arbitrage hedge fund and a multi-strategy fund-of-funds. Michael has an MBA from MIT Sloan, a CFA designation, and a BA in Economics from UC Berkeley. He is often quoted in the press and in his spare time enjoys art and adventure travel.

Anthony draws on more than 15 years of experience in financial services, including insurance, to support advisors with designing advanced, customized life insurance solutions that address the planning challenges faced by ultra-high-net-worth clients. He has robust knowledge

in estate planning, wealth transfer, and business planning in addition to extensive experience working with high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients and their
families. His passion for client service and desire to address individual’s financial needs head-on with creative financial solutions was born during his early career days as an insurance and wealth planning specialist at Merrill Lynch and UBS.

Prior to joining Investors Preferred in 2022, Anthony served in leadership roles at Lincoln Financial Group and AIG. He was Sales Vice President at Lincoln Financial Group, covering the West Coat producer group distribution, and Regional Vice President at AIG.

Rob skillfully guides high net worth families, business owners and real estate developers and investors through the complex process of estate and wealth transfer planning. Rob approaches each client with a fresh perspective, conducting extensive discovery to discern their unique objectives, challenges and concerns. By considering a client’s full array of needs, assets and goals, Rob develops creative and customized solutions that reduce estate taxes, achieve liability and creditor protection and, if desired, incorporate charitable giving and life insurance planning. Rob’s clients appreciate his interactive style, responsiveness, and ability to communicate complex structures in plain English, enabling them to make informed decisions.
 

Rob applies experience as a transactional attorney to advise owners of businesses and real estate regarding business succession plans and pre-liquidity event wealth transfer plans. Conversant in current business and real estate trends, Rob effectively considers external variables along with the client’s business goals and personal needs to provide sound guidance.