Meet the Fool Wealth Team

Nick is one of the most eclectic investors to have come up through the ranks of The Motley Fool, LLC. As a senior analyst, he contributed to the portfolio-management decisions and security selection for Motley Fool Pro, Motley Fool Options, and various other newsletter services. Tasked with identifying and developing the next generation of investing talent, Nick led a team that retooled and decentralized The Motley Fool’s selective Analyst Development Program.

As president of MFWM, Nick is responsible for overseeing the trading and operational teams who support SMAs. He works closely with the portfolio managers to develop and oversee the investment strategies — and develop future wealth management offerings.

Though both a lifelong investor and Fool, before joining The Motley Fool and then Motley Fool Wealth Management, Nick learned valuable leadership skills by proudly serving as a paratrooper in the U.S. Army. Later he used these skills to advise clients, manage teams, and create a development program serving bankers who provided investment advice at a major bank.

Nick has a B.A. in business administration and earned the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Ariana Tobias donned her first jester hat in 2014, when she joined The Motley Fool’s Member Services team. Prior to being named Director of Client Experience for Motley Fool Wealth Management, she specialized in assisting the Fool’s premium members on the phone, via email, and at member events across the country. At Fool Wealth, Ariana focuses on making your experience a little easier — from optimizing our client communications to streamlining the process of account creation.

Ariana graduated from Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College with a B.A. in political science.

Bryan has more than a decade of investing experience, specializing in absolute-return, long/short, and options-focused portfolio management. He began working on Foolish SMAs for Motley Fool Wealth Management in 2014 after more than four years at The Motley Fool, where he helped manage the Fool's long/short and options portfolio service, Motley Fool Pro. Bryan also served as a senior analyst on Motley Fool Options for more than four years, and led the Fool's prestigious Analyst Development Program for two years.

Before life at The Motley Fool, Bryan was a portfolio manager at Bulwark Capital Management, a hedge fund with an approach that balanced fundamental long-term equity investing, options income, and special situations. Earlier in his career, he worked as a research analyst for an asset manager in Florida who provided portfolio management and operated a covered-call hedge fund.

Bryan graduated from Stetson University with a bachelor's degree in finance. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of The Boston Security Analysts Society.

Bill initially joined The Motley Fool from 1998 to 2001, specializing in value-stock analysis. After rejoining the company in 2005, he wrote extensively for The Motley Fool online, as well as for three of the company's investing newsletter services: Stock Advisor, Hidden Gems, and Pay Dirt. He also contributed to three published Motley Fool books, before moving downstairs to work for Motley Fool Wealth Management.

Before coming to The Motley Fool, Bill worked for the Securities and Exchange Commission in their Office of Investor Education and Assistance, as well as for the U.S. Department of the Treasury in their Office of Foreign Assets Control (Foreign Terrorism Division). Prior to his work in finance, Bill was a trial lawyer for the Commercial Litigation division of the City Solicitor's Office in Philadelphia, and also an associate for Patton Boggs, LLP, in Washington, D.C. He's also been published in Newsweek and has appeared as a commentator on CNN, CNBC, CNBC Europe, MSNBC, and The Today Show on NBC.

He earned his undergraduate degree in political philosophy from Yale University and his J.D. from the University of Virginia, followed by his CFA designation in 2008.

Nate specializes in international and banking stocks, so it's easy to see why after joining The Motley Fool in 2007 as an equity research analyst for Motley Fool Global Gains and several other newsletters, he subsequently moved to London to become a co-advisor on Motley Fool Champion Shares Pro and Motley Fool Share Advisor (The Motley Fool's newsletter products targeted to the UK market) from 2011-2014, before moving downstairs to work for Motley Fool Wealth Management's Foolish SMAs.

After graduating from the University of Arizona with a B.S. in finance, Nate worked as a banking consultant at United Bankers' Bank in Minnesota.

David specializes in identifying the greatest growth opportunities of both today and tomorrow. He's comfortable with both the physics and economics of a wide variety of technologies and technology investments, which gives him his edge in the market. David joined The Motley Fool in 2005, working alongside Motley Fool co-founder David Gardner as an analyst on Motley Fool Rule Breakers and as a mission leader for Motley Fool Supernova, as well as serving as an associate advisor for Motley Fool Million Dollar Portfolio — before moving downstairs to work for Motley Fool Wealth Management.

Before working for The Motley Fool, David spent more than a decade as an engineer, designing and developing gas turbines at both Rolls-Royce and General Electric.

He graduated from Virginia Tech with bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical engineering, and earned his M.B.A. from Wake Forest University.

After joining The Motley Fool in 2005, Charly contributed research on biotechnology companies to Motley Fool Rule Breakers. He subsequently became an associate advisor for Motley Fool Million Dollar Portfolio, and was also one of the founding advisors on the UK investment newsletter Motley Fool Share Advisor. In 2014, Charly moved downstairs to work for Motley Fool Wealth Management, and focuses on identifying companies that are doggedly committed to reinvesting their profits and earning a high return on capital.

He earned his M.A. in psychology from Illinois Wesleyan University and also holds an M.S. in pharmacological and physiological sciences from St. Louis University.

Tony's focus on statistical analysis and investor psychology complements his value-investing focus. After joining The Motley Fool in 2008, he contributed his writing and analysis to Motley Fool Million Dollar Portfolio, as well as several other Foolish newsletter services, before moving downstairs to work for Motley Fool Wealth Management's Foolish SMAs.

Tony earned his M.B.A. from DePaul University, with a concentration in finance, and also holds a B.S. in computer science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Megan is a rare breed, in that she enjoys specializing in areas that most would rather avoid - individual tax and estate planning. She began her career as a CPA, mainly working with high-net-worth families and business owners. She spent several years working almost exclusively with corporate executives of Fortune 500 companies. In addition to financial planning responsibilities, she led the income tax compliance function in her previous role.

Megan came to Motley Fool Wealth Management in 2014 with a desire to help investors put together ALL the pieces of their financial well-being instead of just handling taxes — and to have the opportunity to enjoy weekends between January and April every year.

She graduated with a BS in Commerce from The University of Virginia and has a Master of Accounting from The Ohio State University. Megan loves horseback riding and travel, but she has never traveled on horseback. She may be the only CPA you know who has run with the bulls in Pamplona.

Having spent time in major Wall Street brokerage houses, Ross became aware of the disconnect between what's best for investors and what's best for brokers. Today, he's happy to serve as a Foolish financial planner and put your interests first – and believes that the best financial advice is holistic and, most important, actionable. An entrepreneur at heart, Ross loves helping small business owners navigate financial markets; he also has a penchant for using options as short-term instruments for leveraging long-term ideas.

Ross is a graduate of Christopher Newport University, where he obtained a BSBA with a focus in finance and communications, and became a Certified Financial Planner™ in 2012 after studying at the College for Financial Planning. When he's not poring over financial statements and tax returns, Ross enjoys golfing, skiing, and honing his skills as a DJ.

Sean embodies an ethos of extreme saving in his personal life, but as a Foolish Financial Planner at Motley Fool Wealth Management, he is busy developing impactful, tax-saving, wealth-building strategies for our clients. Sean started down the path to becoming a financial planner after his father's retirement benefits were cut, and as he saw the stress that money decisions have on people. Sean completed his Certified Financial Planning™ board-certified program at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Building on his education, Sean entered the financial-services industry in 2007, helping families build comprehensive financial plans. He codified this background with his CFP® designation in 2013. Working in the trenches, Sean recognized that incentives drive behavior and watched financial professionals rationalize selling expensive investment products. Seeing such a lack of integrity around him, he jumped at the chance to work at Motley Fool Wealth Management, starting in 2014.

Amanda is excited to be a part of the talented team at Motley Fool Wealth Management. After earning an M.B.A. in Finance from the University of Rochester's Simon School of Business, Amanda spent several years as an analyst at a Rochester, N.Y.-area asset management firm, where she headed up the company's fee-based consulting practice and its mutual fund research division. She became a professional Fool in 2007 and served as the senior advisor for the Champion Funds investment service and then as the fund advisor for Motley Fool Rule Your Retirement. Amanda joined the financial planning team in 2013 and hopes to continue to make the world a more Foolish place, one investment at a time. She holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a Certified Financial Planning professional^™.

It's a little-known fact that Amanda spent several years in college as a musical theater major, training for a career on Broadway. Despite giving up her professional performing ambitions, she now enjoys singing as a hobby and performs onstage with local community theater groups.

After turning an internship into a full-time position as a financial advisor at a prominent Wall Street firm, Joe saw firsthand how monetary incentives in the financial services industry could shift the focus from a client’s need to an advisor’s pocket. Joe would rather focus on providing honest advice to help clients meet their goals. In addition to his experience with investments, he spent time in the risk management industry, providing internal consulting on disability insurance, life insurance, and long-term care insurance to representatives of Northwestern Mutual.

Originally from Bethlehem, Pa., Joe attended American University and earned the Chartered Financial Analyst, CFP®, and Chartered Life Underwriter designations. Joe joined Motley Fool Wealth Management in 2014 and lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife, Diane, and pup, Lola. His Foolish hobbies include playing and watching soccer and going to concerts in search of the next up-and-coming bands.

Max has evolved into the financial planner he is today through years of experience helping individuals and businesses achieve their unique financial goals. He loves the opportunity to positively affect the lives of our clients and their families, and he believes that every good planner should have a thirst for education and the ability to take a unique perspective to each plan.

Max completed his undergraduate studies in 2010 with a B.A. in communication, business at Coastal Carolina University, where he also ran competitively for the track and cross-country teams. His passion for learning led him to earn CFP® designation in the summer of 2014. When he isn't helping the world invest better, he's probably off running, listening to music, watching baseball, or eating.

Daniel comes to the Fool with a background as an independent financial advisor. With exposure to many of the products investors are presented in today’s marketplace, he can help people evaluate their effectiveness (or sometimes lack thereof) within their financial situations, and he takes pride in doing it. Daniel is excited to have joined the Motley Fool Wealth Management team in 2014 to help our members get objective and educated financial guidance.

Daniel is a graduate of the University of Maryland, where he received a B.S. in finance in 2009, and he earned the CFP® designation in 2015. His passion for financial planning extends to the local community where he serves as the chair of charitable planned giving for a non-profit organization. He lives in Bethesda with his wife and their hound dog, Blueberry. In his spare time, he enjoys playing guitar with his rock band and lamenting the woes of D.C. sports.

Naima joined Motley Fool Wealth Management in January 2016 after working for various companies handling high net worth and ultra-high net worth clients. She believes that financial planning should be for everyone, not just a specific group of people. When she isn’t helping clients reach their goals, she is helping to spread financial literacy by leading the program for High School age students through The Motley Fool LLC’s education initiative, Fool School.

Naima graduated from The Ohio State University with a BS in Consumer and Family Financial Services. She lives in Alexandria with her dog, Smokey. She loves to travel, knit and cheer on the Buckeyes. She is hoping to travel to six out of seven continents in the next five years!

Raff graduated from Alfred University with a degree in communication and psychology. He then went on to The University of Michigan where he received his Master’s in communications. As a graduate student Raff read personal-finance books in between coursework in statistics and survey methodology. That was when he discovered The Motley Fool's You Have More Than You Think. He's been a Fool ever since.

Raff started at Fool HQ as an analyst on the Business Intelligence team in 2008. He went on to manage the BI team before moving to Motley Fool Wealth Management in 2014. Before joining the Fool, Raff worked at AARP, Capital One, and Wunderman.

Raff earned the CFP® designation in 2016. Outside of his Foolish career, Raff is part owner of a craft brewery in North Carolina. He is excellent at pub trivia and terrible at poker. He recently trekked into the Impenetrable Forest of Uganda to observe a troop of mountain gorillas.

Mike, originally from Santa Fe, NM, received his degree in Economics from Westminster College in Salt Lake City. While living in Utah, Mike discovered the world of financial planning through a top-10 internship at Northwestern Mutual. Upon graduation Mike parlayed his internship experience into a full time position with Northwestern Mutual where he worked with clients and advisors in a financial planning capacity where he specialized in financial security and risk management. Mike also developed and trained new advisors and played an active role in the company’s internship program.

Mike believes that a healthy financial house is among the most important aspects of a person’s life. In 2014 Mike leapt at the opportunity work at Motley Fool Wealth Management, and was delighted to join as a Foolish Paraplanner. When he is not helping the world invest better, Mike enjoys cycling and cooking and is self-proclaimed “Jack of all trades.” Mike lives in the DC area with his wife and their two rescue boxers, Apollo and Olivia. Fun fact - Mike and his wife exchanged vows while running a marathon in Las Vegas, NV.

Phil joined Motley Fool Wealth Management in September 2014, coming over from The Motley Fool's parent company, where he had served as corporate controller and treasurer since joining the company in 2005. Phil is energized to now work directly with members of The Fool’s community, where he can provide support and guidance to those who need assistance with their personal finances.

Phil has been a CPA since 1989 and is currently pursuing the CFP® designation. Before joining The Motley Fool, he spent time in the steel industry as an analyst and audit manager, and before that he was an auditor with a Big Four (actually, Big Eight at the time) public accounting firm. Phil earned his bachelor's degree in accounting and his MBA with a concentration in finance from Loyola University in Maryland.

Phil has been investing in the stock market, following Foolish principles, for over 20 years and is the founder and treasurer of a Baltimore-area investment club. He lives near Baltimore and has been a longtime season-ticket holder of both the Orioles and Ravens.

As Director of Operations and Cat Herder Extraordinaire, Mohna is responsible for making sure Fool Wealth runs like a well-oiled machine. She is particularly skilled at setting other Fools up for success – whether that’s clearly documenting procedures, enforcing compliance requirements, or facilitating communication with our brokerage partner, Interactive Brokers.

Someday, Mohna aspires to wear as many hats as Chris Harris. But for now, she handles promotion fulfillment, trade error reporting, recordkeeping, AUM billing, special-snowflake wrangling, fitness coaching, and anything else that doesn’t neatly fall into someone else’s role.

Mohna graduated from Emory University with a degree in Economics and subsequently earned her Masters in Professional Accounting from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Washington, DC with her husband and their adorable cat, Puig. Outside of work, she’s usually running or reading, and she tries to have her passport stamped at least once a year.

Derek was introduced to The Motley Fool during his years at the Securities and Exchange Commission, where he was the examiner of the filings done for Motley Fool Funds. His experience with regulated entities proved invaluable when he joined the Fool in 2015, in the early years of Motley Fool Wealth Management’s development. Now he spends his days as the go-to person for our regulated businesses, whether that involves ensuring day-to-day compliance, determining how the latest SEC guidance impacts our operations, or investigating [confidential] new ventures.

After completing his undergraduate work at The College of New Jersey, Derek received his JD from Syracuse University College of Law. Although he set out to be a history professor, he was guided into the field of law when he was working in politics. Derek has a winning trifecta of legal experience – years spent working for respected law firms, a large asset management company, and most recently the Securities and Exchange Commission.

If you think all lawyers are heartless, you haven’t met Derek. He’s known for organizing some of the region’s best play dates for his young boys, and he volunteers as a runner for Athletes Serving Athletes. Derek also spends his time training in extreme sports, cooking, and leading a local Whiskey club.

Michael joined Motley Fool Wealth Management in 2015 as an Investment Management Specialist with a focus on SMA trading. Michael has nearly 20 years of equity trading experience. He got his start on the floor of the Pacific Stock Exchange and worked over 10 years on institutional trading desks at two different investment banks.

Michael graduated from The University of Vermont in 1996 with a B.A. in History

Anthony's role is one of the most important jobs in all of Fool Wealth – he’s one part of the three-man team that works with our portfolio managers to execute trades in our clients’ accounts. He also works with our brokerage partner, Interactive Brokers, to implement new initiatives such as the ability to trade in fractional shares within Separately Managed Accounts. Goodbye cash drift, and thank you Mr. Price!

Anthony began his Foolish career in the Finance Department at The Motley Fool in 2001. He has had a long career in Accounting and Finance, with roles including Accounts Payable, Receivable, Contract Management, and trading The Motley Fool LLC's real money portfolios. When the opportunity came to build Motley Fool Wealth Management from the ground up with respected Foolish investor Nick Crow in 2014, Anthony accepted the challenge.

When he’s not dodging nerf darts at the office, Anthony can be found grilling in his back yard (Do I sense a competition, Bo Boland??), watching the many food channels on TV, or brushing up on his knowledge as a car enthusiast.

Jeb has over twenty years of history with The Motley Fool, beginning with building a design team in the early days of the Motley Fool's internet presence. Jeb held Director, VP and Product Owner roles with Motley Fool, LLC before joining Motley Fool Wealth Management at its inception, where he was excited to be in a start-up type of environment, building things from the ground up.

As MFWM’s Lead UX Designer and Front End Web Developer, Jeb works on designing and building the interface that clients use as part of our service. He is always thinking about how to make foolwealth.com an easy to navigate, pleasant user experience.

Jeb holds a degree in History from Kenyon College. He is a lifelong Washingtonian, and lives with his wife, two young boys, and three Traditional Siamese cats. Space comes at a premium in the DC area, but Jeb makes sure he has room for his drums, guitars, Thai chili plants, and Kaffir lime trees.

Bo spent 12 years as a systems engineer and contractor for the government, but his real drive is in solving complex problems. After teaching himself programming from online courses and working through some of his own projects, including the Crowdsourced FIRE Simulator, Bo joined Motley Fool Wealth Management as a Software Developer in 2016. Now his work is comprised of developing and maintaining our website as well as some administrative processes for our trading team. As Motley Fool Wealth Management continues to evolve, Bo is excited to see the broadening of our investment offerings so that our clients have a complete solution.

Bo earned a B.S. in Information Sciences and Technology from Pennsylvania State University, and a M.S. in Systems Engineering from The George Washington University. He lives in Annandale with his wife of ten years, and his two young boys. Lured into learning how to smoke meat after tasting a friend’s brisket, Bo is the company’s reigning chili cook off champion with a recipe that included smoked chuck roast.

Scott’s career has changed quite a bit since he started down the path to being an engineer, or maybe even a math teacher. He came to Motley Fool, LLC as a representative of the member services team, where he spoke with members daily and helped guide some of the first Separately Managed Account users through our system. With the help of a fellow Fool, Scott learned SQL and expanded his role. Since starting in Motley Fool Wealth Management in 2015, Scott has led the charge on our internal reporting, works on getting email communications to the right people, and makes sure that no client gets stuck on their way to opening an SMA.

Scott holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and is a reverend of Universal Life Church. He lives with his wife and newborn daughter. Scott enjoys running, playing board games, and home brewing. He even won medals for his brews in the IPA and fruit beer categories. In a less official role, Scott is the president of the Nerf Club, which organizes battles, tests new weaponry, and honors the Foolish tradition of simulated office warfare.

Chris has held various roles at The Motley Fool, LLC over the course of his Foolish career, starting in 2005 as an Executive Assistant. He spent some time working as a business analyst with CAPS, later attending law school and joining the legal team as Associate General Counsel in 2010. Chris has been involved with what is now Motley Fool Wealth Management from its infancy, and was excited to be involved with this new and growing business under the Motley Fool brand umbrella.

Starting in 2014, Chris put his legal and technology talents to work for Motley Fool Wealth Management as Director of Product where he now works with the tech team to prioritize their work and set the direction for new features we release to clients. He also makes sure we are on the right side of the law as a Registered Investment Advisor working on how we store client information, and security and retention policies.

Chris graduated from St. John’s College with a degree in Philosophy, and received his JD from Georgetown University Law Center. He is a long-time resident of Washington, DC and favors the Portrait Gallery out of all seventeen Smithsonian museums located the district.

Spencer joined The Motley Fool, LLC in 2013 as a web developer, and joined the Motley Fool Wealth Management team in 2015. As a Software Engineer, Spencer works on designing, building, and maintaining the systems that make everything on our website work. Whether it’s physical objects or software, he enjoys building things and likes the challenge of solving consequential problems. Spencer recalls the first experience that got him hooked on a career in technology – as a middle schooler, he purchased a personal digital assistant (before the days of cellular phones!) and figured out how to program an adventure game into it. Motley Fool Wealth Management may not be quite the same adventure, but Spencer is still excited about what’s on the horizon for the team – index-based investing portfolios, and fractional shares just to name a few.

Spencer has always enjoyed learning, and holds two interdisciplinary degrees from Baylor University. He lives in the DC area with his wife and two children. Outside of the office, he is involved in the Maker Community, which is a technology-based extension of the DIY community.

Jeff joined The Motley Fool, LLC in 2013 with a background in product analysis, testing, software design, and systems integration. He jumped at the opportunity to work for Motley Fool Wealth Management in its infant stages since he believed it would become an important part of the Fool’s mission to help the world invest better. Jeff is excited about some of the initiatives for MFWM that will deliver value to clients earlier in our process.

There is no “average day” for Jeff, since his work touches all aspects of our service. He could be working on how to display information on our webpage one day, and making backend processes work more smoothly on the next. One thing is constant in his work – he likes solving logic puzzles, and being creative by coming up with solutions that may not be obvious.

Jeff graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a B.S. in Information Systems. He plays several musical instruments and enjoys running, but mostly thinks of himself as a boring dad to his two children. His third child is a cat names Tobias, inspired by a character from the TV show Arrested Development.

David is an accomplished IT professional with over twenty years of experience, and is the person that makes sure the infrastructure for our website and backend processes is working. His background with multiple databases, operating systems, web server platforms and a variety of web languages provides any project he works on with the strong technical expertise needed for a reliable backend infrastructure and user experience.

If all of that sounded like a foreign language, just know that his work allows all the other developers on the tech team to build foolwealth.com. In thinking about what is on the horizon for Motley Fool Wealth Management he is most excited to see what role machine learning will take in the future, not only improving our lives with automation but also by helping us make optimized decisions.

David progressed down the path to a career in technology when he learned how to program in elementary school, wrote a program to test the central limit theorem and visually display the results in middle school, and build his own computer in high school. He lives with his wife and five boys. David enjoys all elements of soccer – playing, coaching youth teams, and watching the English Premier League.

Aaron came to The Motley Fool, LLC in 2006 as a Software Developer, where he worked on various systems that power the premium newsletters including the real-time market data system that remains intact today. Attracted by Motley Fool Wealth Management’s mission and potential to improve clients’ investing outcomes, he joined the Fool Wealth tech team in 2014.

As the head of the Tech team, Aaron is in charge of all development efforts and tech systems, and is ultimately responsible for the team’s output and product quality. He makes sure that fellow technology Fools are collaborating to complete projects, all of which manifest in our website and account trading functionality.

Aaron graduated from Frostburg State University with a degree in Music and Vocal Performance. His passion for technology was sparked when he combined an existing computer program with his custom coding to compose music during his undergraduate studies. He also completed Computer Science coursework at University of Maryland and University of Maryland University College. Aaron does not whistle while he works (or sing while he codes) but he can be found singing with his wife at church. He lives in Annandale with his wife and three boys.