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CFP Board News - September 2007


2008 BOARD OF DIRECTORS ANNOUNCED

CFP Board’s Board of Directors has announced the names of its 2008 members. On January 1, 2008, David G. Strege, CFP® will begin his term as 2008 Chair of the Board of Directors, and Marilyn Capelli Dimitroff, CFP® will serve as 2008 Chair-Elect. They will be joined by four new members: Nancy A. Kistner, CFP®; Terry L. Lister, JD; Charles A. Moran, JD, CFP®; and Charles D. Robinson, CFP®.

CFP Board awards CFP® certification to individuals in the U.S. who successfully complete CFP Board's initial and ongoing certification requirements. The Board of Directors is comprised of volunteers with various experiences and backgrounds that represent different groups of CFP Board’s stakeholders, as well as the public interest. A majority of Board members must be CFP® certificants and, aside from CFP Board’s CEO, who serves in an ex officio position, each serves a four-year term.

CFP Board’s 2008 Board of Directors will include fourteen members:

David G. Strege, CFA, CFP®, 2008 Chair
Marilyn Capelli Dimitroff, CFP®, 2008 Chair-Elect
Dan Candura, CFP®
Theodore R. Daniels
Robert J. Glovsky, JD, LLM, CFP®, CLU, ChFC
Alan Goldfarb, CFP®
Nancy Johnson Jones, CFP®
James A. Kaitz
Kevin R. Keller, CAE, CFP Board’s CEO
Nancy A. Kistner, CFP®
Terry Lister, JD
Charles A. Moran, CFP®, CEBS, JD
Charles D. Robinson, CFP®
Virginia M.K. “Ginny” Stanley, CPA/PFS, CFP®, CVA

“I look forward to working with the 2008 Board of Directors,” said David G. Strege, CFP®, 2008 Chair. “I’m confident each member of the Board of Directors understands CFP Board’s important purpose in establishing rigorous standards for financial planning professionals and promoting the public benefits of competent and ethical financial planning.”

Strege is a senior wealth coach at Syverson Strege & Company in West Des Moines, Iowa, and has more than 20 years of experience as a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ practitioner. Worth and Money magazines have named him one of the nation’s top financial planners, and he has been quoted in financial publications and appeared on television and radio. He has taught personal financial planning courses and has been actively involved with professional financial planning organizations, including serving on the inaugural board of the Financial Planning Association in 2000 and acting as its liaison with CFP Board during the development of CFP Board’s Financial Planning Practice Standards.

When Strege assumes his duties as chair on January 1, 2008, Marilyn Capelli Dimitroff, CFP® will become chair-elect for 2008 and will become chair in 2009. Dimitroff is president of Capelli Financial Services, Inc., in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., and has held CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certification since 1982. She has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the New York Times and was named one of the nation’s top financial planners in Worth and Money magazines. Dimitroff was past chair of CFP Board’s Board of Practice Standards and recently chaired the Ethics Task Force that developed the revised and strengthened ethical standards for CFP® certification that become effective July 1, 2008.

The Board of Directors also recently appointed the following individuals to four-year terms on the Board, beginning January 1, 2008:

Nancy A. Kistner, CFP® is head of the Financial Planning Group of the Citigroup Private Bank in New York, N.Y., where she has also served as a fee-based financial planner in the retail bank operation. Prior to joining Citicorp Investment Services, she directed Financial Planning Training for MetLife Financial Services. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Financial Planning Association and as FPA’s career development liaison. Kistner holds Series 7, 63 and 65 registrations and is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional.

Terry L. Lister, JD, is Chief Regulatory Officer with Waddell & Reed, Inc. in Shawnee Mission, Kan., and brings to the Board 30 years of experience as a regulator, private practice attorney and financial services firm executive. He served previously as General Counsel and Director of Government Affairs with the Financial Services Institute, an advocacy organization for independent broker-dealers. Lister has also served as Regional Counsel to NASD District 3 and Chief of Enforcement with the Missouri Securities Division.

Charles A. Moran, JD, CFP® is President of Strategic Financial Advisors, a consultancy firm in for international corporate governance and financial and benefits planning issues. Moran is also Professor of Business Administration and Accounting at State University of New York Cobleskill, where he directs the university’s CFP Board-Registered Program. Previously, he served as founding President of Government Securities Clearing Corporation. Moran holds the Certified Employee Benefits Specialist (CEBS) credential and is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional.

Charles D. Robinson, CFP® is Senior Vice President of Investment Products and Services at Northwestern Mutual in Milwaukee, Wis., where his responsibilities include oversight of the company’s broker/dealer division, Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, and its registered investment adviser division, the Wealth Management Company. Prior to joining Northwestern Mutual, he held senior executive positions with VALIC-American General and AIG, where he was Chief Marketing Officer of AIG’s Global Retirement Services Division. Robinson is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional.

“We are extremely pleased with the caliber of the four new members selected for the 2008 Board of Directors,” said Karen P. Schaeffer, CFP®, 2007 Chair. “2008 will be an important year for CFP Board as it settles into its new headquarters in Washington, D.C. and works to become a more vigorous advocate for the public’s interest.”

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CFP BOARD ANNOUNCES "TASK FORCE ON CONTINUING EDUCATION AND COMPETENCY" AT SENATE HEARING

CFP Board re-affirmed its strong support for the protection of consumers at a hearing on September 5, 2007 before the Senate Special Committee on Aging. In a statement to the Committee, Kevin R. Keller, CFP Board’s chief executive officer, formally unveiled the details of the Task Force on Continuing Education and Competency, the purpose of which is to undertake a comprehensive review of CFP Board’s continuing education (CE) standards and the enforcement of standards related to CE courses currently registered with CFP Board.

The Senate hearing, which addressed the topic of “Advising Seniors About Their Money: Who Is Qualified - and Who Is Not?”, explored the marketing tactics used by individuals with questionable financial designations whose purpose is to mislead elderly Americans into purchasing unwise or inappropriate investments. CFP Board, which has established the most rigorous standards in the financial planning profession, has a mission to safeguard the integrity of the CFP® marks for the benefit of the public. To further that mission, CFP Board has appointed a task force to ensure that the CE requirements for CFP® certification promote ongoing professional competency for financial planning professionals and that CE courses registered with CFP Board are not used in ways that might cause confusion for the public, especially our elderly citizens.

“CFP Board’s Task Force on Continuing Education and Competency is the first of its kind in the financial services industry,” said Keller. “Working in partnership with the Committee on Aging, CFP Board is committed to doing everything in its power to ensure that America’s senior citizens have access to the most competent financial planning advice possible, and I am grateful to the members of the Task Force for their dedication to this important endeavor.”

The Task Force’s mission is three-fold: 1) To determine if the CE requirements for CFP® certification adequately encourage the availability of quality financial planning training and professional development opportunities appropriate for CFP Board’s high standards; 2) To review the marketing and end use of CE courses registered with CFP Board, with special attention given to those CE courses connected with credential-granting programs; and 3) To recommend any changes to CFP Board’s continuing education requirements that might be necessary to better protect the public interest and minimize public confusion about credentials other than CFP® certification.

The Task Force will be chaired by Dan Candura, CFP®, a current member of the Board of Directors and the former Chair of CFP Board’s Board of Professional Review. Additional members include Alan Goldfarb, CFP®, Board of Directors member and the 2006 Chair of CFP Board’s Board of Professional Review; Terry L. Lister, JD, an incoming member of CFP Board’s Board of Directors; and Charles D. Robinson, CFP®, also an incoming member of CFP Board’s Board of Directors.

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EMIL S. MARA, CPA, NAMED AS CFP BOARD'S CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

Emil S. Mara, CPA has joined CFP Board as its Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Mara possesses twenty years of financial experience that spans various industries and includes expertise in nonprofit institutions and other corporate entities, including managing multi-million dollar budgets for large organizations, program development and implementation, and organizational development. Most recently, Mr. Mara served as Controller for the American Petroleum Institute in Washington, D.C., where he oversaw financial operations for an organization with a budget of nearly $200 million.

“Emil Mara has an impressive range of professional experience that will make him a key member of CFP Board's senior leadership team,” said Kevin R. Keller, CAE, Chief Executive Officer of CFP Board. “We take pleasure in welcoming him to CFP Board as the organization continues to build a team of professionals that will move CFP Board to the next phase in its development.”

CFP Board is in the process of moving its operations to the nation's capital from its current location in Denver, Colorado. The organization expects the move to help it become a more vigorous advocate for the public's interest, and to facilitate a more influential voice in public policy debates during a time when more Americans than ever are in need of ethical financial planning options.

“I am excited to be part of this new team,” said Mr. Mara. “As the standards for CFP® certification have increasingly been embraced by financial planning professionals and the public, CFP Board has made great strides in establishing quality operations and prudent financial management. I look forward to assisting CFP Board's efforts to reach operational excellence as it moves to Washington, D.C.”

Mr. Mara began his career as a senior auditor at Arthur Andersen & Company in Washington D.C. and continued to assume progressive responsibilities at various companies, including Deltek Systems and the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association. Mr. Mara holds a Bachelors degree in Accounting from Georgetown University and is also a Certified Association Executive (CAE).

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EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES AT CFP BOARD'S WASHINGTON HEADQUARTERS

Key positions at CFP Board’s Washington, D.C. headquarters still remain open, including Managing Director, Examinations and Education, Director of Examinations, Director of Education, Director of Professional Review and Director of Public Policy. If you are interested in sharing your talents to help shape the ongoing development of CFP Board’s mission, and if you have a solid understanding of the value of financial planning, we invite you learn more about available employment opportunities at www.CFP.net/aboutus/jobs.asp.

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