FPA NJ - May 14, 2026 Spring Symposium

AGENDA* Subject to change

IAR and CFP CE will be applied for.

Advisor Roundtable Dinner: Curated Conversations for Advisors

Join us for a curated, small-group dinner designed to spark meaningful conversation and genuine connection. When registering, you’ll have the option to select the table topic that interests you most. These are conversation themes—not labels—and everyone is welcome at any table.

Choose a table based on what you’re curious about, what you’re currently working through, where you want to learn—or where you feel you can contribute your experience and perspective to support others.

• Succession & Continuity Planning - Buying in, selling out, internal succession, external succession, continuity plans, what people wish they’d done earlier.
• NexGen/Career Transitions - Career pivots, second acts, moving firms, launching something new, or simply reassessing what “success” looks like.
• Practice Management & Scaling - Capacity issues, systems, hiring, delegation, tech stacks, and getting out of your own way.
• Behavioral Finance in the Real World - Applying BeFi beyond theory—what actually works, what doesn’t, and how advisors handle their own biases.
• Marketing Without Ick - Content, LinkedIn, newsletters, speaking, authenticity vs. compliance, and finding your voice.
• General Networking - For people who want connection but not a narrow topic.

Meet Our Speakers

Carl Richards started The Sketch Guy column in The New York Times from the hills of Utah, crafting clear, relatable insights about money with just cardstock and a Sharpie. The column ran weekly for a decade. This journey began when Carl applied for what he thought was a job as a “security guard,” only to find out the ad actually said “securities.” That slight misstep sparked a lifelong dedication to reshaping how we think about money.

Since then, Carl has become a Certified Financial Planner™, built and sold a successful investment firm, and spoken at financial and investment events worldwide—from Australia to South Africa, the UK, and major economic centers across Europe, Canada, and the United States. His bestsellers, The Behavior Gap and The One-Page Financial Plan, have been translated into over ten languages and continue to resonate globally.

His latest book, Your Money: Reimagining Wealth in 101 Simple Sketches, came out in October 2025. It’s a collection of 101 sketches and essays, designed to spark real conversations about money.

Through his daily podcast, Behavior Gap Radio, which now has over 1,300 episodes and over one million downloads, Carl shares new perspectives on aligning our resources with what truly matters. His latest audio project, 50 Fires, backed by executive producers Chip and Joanna Gaines, explores the intersections of money and meaning with guests like Pete Holmes, David Whyte, Krista Tippett, and his favorite guest by far, his wife, Cori.

Carl founded The Society of Advice, a community of financial planners dedicated to the craft of advice. They gather for a monthly online workshop and frequent retreats in Park City, Utah.

When he’s not exploring ideas about money, Carl, a Wilderness First Responder, can be found navigating Utah’s high mountain ridges on foot, skis, or bike. Married to Cori since 1995, they have four kids, whom they consider their best friends.

Amy Florian is the CEO of Corgenius and an expert in life transition. She is an acclaimed speaker and author, and has published over 250 articles and the multi-award-winning books No Longer Awkward: Communicating with Clients through the Toughest Times of Life and A Friend Indeed: Help Someone You Love When They Grieve. She has been honored with many awards for her ground-breaking work, including:

• LUMINARIES Class of 2021 from ThinkAdvisor
• The 20 Most Creative People in Insurance and Financial Services from LifeHealthPro
• Influential Woman in Business from the National Association of Women Business Owners
• Women of Influence from the Chicago Business Journal
• List of 25 FrontRunners and Influencers from Investment Advisor Magazine

Amy holds a Master’s Degree and is a Fellow in Thanatology (the highest level of certification in the field of grief studies).

She taught a graduate class at Loyola University of Chicago for almost 10 years, she has worked with over 2,500 grieving people, and she consults with firms, corporations, and individuals across the country and the globe.

Scott Becker, CFA, Senior Vice President, Head of Portfolio Specialists

As head of the investment team’s portfolio specialist group, Scott is responsible for communicating our investment process and strategy, macroeconomic perspectives, strategy performance, positioning, and risk attribution to clients, consultants, and other stakeholders and investors in the firm’s strategies. In addition, he provides our co-portfolio managers and co-chief investment officers with analysis of portfolio activity, positioning, and risk attribution. He contributes more than 30 years of industry experience. Prior to joining Calamos in 2003, Scott worked at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM) as an equity portfolio strategist and was the senior strategist for MLIM’s U.S. value equity portfolios. Previously, he was a senior product manager and a financial analyst with Van Kampen Funds. He received a B.S. in Finance from the University of Illinois. In addition to being a CFA charterholder, he holds a Series 7 license.

Siobhan Broadbery is a public private solutions sales specialist for the eastern part of the United States at Capital Group. She has 18 years of investment industry experience and has been with Capital Group for one year. Prior to joining Capital, Siobhan worked as a senior vice president at Brookfield Oaktree. Before that, she was a director of business development at Stone Ridge. She holds a bachelor's degree in business administration and mathematics from Copenhagen Business School. Siobhan is based in New York.

David Haas, CFP®, is the founder and owner of Cereus Financial Advisors, LLC. Before entering the financial planning profession, David spent many years as an electrical and software engineer in the telecommunications industry, where he worked on developing secure internet connectivity products for companies including Hayes Microcomputer Products and Fujitsu Network Communications.

He transitioned to financial planning in 2012 and founded Cereus Financial Advisors in 2015. His technical background gives him a unique perspective on cybersecurity, scams, and fraud prevention—an increasingly important issue for financial advisors and their clients.

David has been a long-time volunteer with the Financial Planning Association of New Jersey (FPANJ), serving in several leadership roles including Education Director and President. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, an MBA from Pace University, and a Certificate in Financial Planning from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Laura Reeves, CFP®, CRPC®, MPAS™, is the founder of LJR Financial, where she partners closely with clients to create personalized strategies that reflect their values, priorities, and long-term goals. She takes a holistic approach to financial planning, helping clients build, protect, and ultimately pass on their wealth with clarity and confidence through every stage of life.

Laura is also passionate about community education, regularly hosting seminars that empower seniors to safeguard their finances and avoid scams. She has served on the Board of the Financial Planning Association of New Jersey for several years as Major Conferences Co-Chair and currently serves as President-Elect. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Finance from Stockton University and a Master’s of Advanced Planning Studies in Financial Planning from the College for Financial Planning.

Stacey Brown Randall is the multiple award-winning author of Generating Business Referrals Without Asking, author of the newly released book, The Referable Client Experience and host of the Roadmap to Referrals podcast. Stacey teaches business owners how to generate referrals naturally… without manipulating, incentivizing or even asking. She has been featured in national publications like Entrepreneur magazine, Investor Business Daily, Forbes, and more. She received her Master’s in Organizational Communication and is married with three kids.

Xander Bernhardt is a sales leader at Betterment Advisor Solutions, where he heads the Advisor sales team. With more than six years at Betterment, he has partnered with hundreds of RIAs to help them scale their practices and deliver better client outcomes through technology. His work spans firms of all sizes, giving him a front-row seat to the operational and service design challenges advisors face as they grow.

Michael Finke, PhD, CFP® is a professor of wealth management and Frank M. Engle Distinguished Chair in Economic Security at The American College of Financial Services. 

He received a doctorate in consumer economics from the Ohio State University in 1998 and in finance from the University of Missouri in 2011. He leads the O. Alfred Granum Center for Financial Security at the American College and is a research fellow at the Retirement Income Institute, and a member of the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association Academic Advisory Council. He also serves on the board of the Puerto Rico Pension Reserve Trust. 

He is a nationally known researcher in the areas of retirement income planning, retirement spending, life satisfaction, and cognitive aging. He is a frequent speaker at financial planning conferences and was named one of the 25 most influential people in the field of investment advising in 2020 and 2021 by Investment Advisor Magazine.