One City Built to Last

Issue 63 NOV 2014 

Top Billing 

Docs who Overcharge Medicare 

After the FLOOD 

Climate Change Law Passed 

7 Lessons Learned From Cancer 

Getting Cancer Wasn’t on the List 

Functional Medicine 

Drives Breakthroughs in Breast Cancer 

NEWYORK 

one city built to last 

mayor de blasio

Built for the road ahead. 

Designed for living. Engineered to last. 

Vertrek Crossover 

w/ Ford’s Kinetic Design 

Eco-Boost Engine 

Hybrid Regenerative Braking 

w/ Auto-Stop-Start Technology

publishers note 

ISSUE 63 | NOV 2014 

Publisher 

Erwin E. Kantor 

Managing Editor 

Michael Gordon 

Editor in Chief 

Helen Moss 

Editorial 

Robert Jordan 

Sean Goldstein 

Rachel Feinstein 

Staff Writers 

L. A. Rivera 

Matt Camara 

David Gordon 

A. Marie Velthuizen 

Judy Magness 

Enid Burns 

Felix Badea 

Peter Suciu 

David Stein 

Amy M. Armstrong 

Annabelle Preston 

Illustrators 

Paul Kales 

Steve Delmonte 

Steve Smeltzer 

Norman Jung 

Marketing / Advertising 

Monica Link 

Sean Rome 

For subscription details, contact: 

editorialdept@thesuitmagazine.com 

For advertising inquiries, contact: 

advertising@thesuitmagazine.com 

No part of The Suit Magazine may be 

reproduced or transmitted in any form 

of by any means, without prior written 

consent of the editor. 

Due to the nature of the printing process, 

images can be subject to a variation of up 

to 15 per cent, therefore The Suit Magazine 

cannot be held responsible for such 

variation. 

MEDICAL QUAGMIRE? 

The news is in: On November 

7, 2014, the justices announced 

they would decide on a lawsuit 

claiming that the language of 

the Affordable Care Act doesn’t allow 

the government to provide tax-credits 

to low-and-moderate-income health 

insurance consumers using federally 

funded Obamacare exchanges operating 

in more than 30 states. 

Indeed, there’s a medical quagmire. 

And there is a lack of communication 

between doctors, staffing and patients. 

For example, the Affordable Care Act 

isn’t just about insurance coverage. The 

legislation is also about transforming 

the way health care is provided. In fact, 

it has brought in new competitors, services 

and business practices, which are 

in turn producing substantial industry 

shifts that affect all players along health 

care’s value chain. Read Amy Armstrongs 

story on page 16. 

On page 21, our reporter Judy Magness, 

profiles companies all over the 

country making incredible advances. 

Take a look at Functional Medicine and 

the driving breakthroughs in breast 

cancer while looking at conventional 

and alternative healthcare approaches. 

In addition, we featured Scott Petinga, 

Chairman and CEO of The Scott Petinga 

Group. 

The article looks at the 7 business lessons 

learned from Cancer and his views 

on the way people commit to change, 

on page 14. 

Outside of Health, we look into the 

problems of climate change. How New 

York City has embarked on an aggressive 

plan to curb the predicted impacts 

of global warming. 

In the end, as the clock winds down 

on 2014, we look forward to another 

year shaped with change and innovation 

in health and technology. It’s 

quite an issue. Take some time to read 

and learn from great innovators, entrepreneurs, 

and experts from around the 

country. And as always we invite you to 

visit our website at www.thesuitmagazine.com 

and let us know what you 

think. 

Best, 

Erwin Kantor 

Erwin Kantor, Publisher

CONTENTS 

NOV 2014 

Issue 63 NOV 2014 

12 

NEWYORK 

one city built to last 

mayor deblasio 

Top Billing 

Docs who Overcharge Medicare 

After the FLOOD 

Climate Change Law Passed 

7 Lessons Learned From Cancer 

Getting Cancer Wasn’t on the List 

Functional Medicine 

Drives Breakthroughs in Breast Cancer 

FEATURES 

14 

I never set out to be a “survivor.” My life’s 

aspirations were pretty basic: become successful 

professionally, marry my soul mate, have two 

beautiful children and perhaps even retire early. 

Getting cancer certainly wasn’t on the list. 

7 Business Lessons learned from Cancer 

16 Physician Shortfall in the ACA 

Courts continue to hammer out whether the subsidies 

promised to low-income holders of health 

insurance benefits will be honored. 

8Top Billing: Meet the Docs who Charge 

Medicare Top Dollars for Office Visits 

Medicare paid for more than 200 million office visits for established 

patients in 2012. Overall, health professionals classified only 4 percent 

as complex enough to command the most expensive rates. 

HEALTH / TECHNOLOGY 

26 

Specializing for a Productive Business Venture 

A die-hard believer in specialization 

28 

Never Make the Same Mistake Twice 

The Affordable Care Act firmly entrenched and grossly over-complicated 

30 Seeking to Become a One-Stop Shop 

Ohio Medical Equipment Services Firm Launches Innovative 

“replacement-parts finance Program” 

32 Cyber-Connecting with Health 

International health plans a Corporate Family of Insurance 

33 Compliance is Key for Health Care Industry 

Affects more than just care providers while under PPACA 

18 New York’s Green Revolution 

New York City has embarked on an aggressive plan 

to curb the predicted impacts of global warming thus 

setting an example for other major metro areas to follow 

in their own respective efforts to thwart the threats 

caused by warmer ocean temperatures 

23 Functional Medicine 

Drives Breakthroughs in breast cancer. Just what is 

functional medicine? Perhaps it is better explained 

by also describing conventional and alternative 

healthcare approaches. 

16 

THE SUIT MAGAZINE - NOV 2014

BUSINESS / FINANCE 

34 Technology Services Tailored to client needs 

Consultants partner forming end-to-end solutions providing 

Dynamic Strategies 

37 Obamacare Fuels Compliance Industry 

Implementation of the Affordable Care Act 

38 

Helping Small Lenders 

transformative time for the financial industry’s 

lending segment 

40 Employee non-Competition Agreements: 

Fairness and Enforceability Should be the Benchmark 

Legal Target 

41 Independent But Connected 

An Independent Consultant Who Sees Her NETWORK 

as a Key to Success. 

42 

Everyone’s a Potential Client 

The limitations on Health Insureance 

46 

48 

Early identification of LD and ADHD 

Children’s Diagnostic Learning Tests 

49 The Business of Brightness 

Without the business of lighting, the world would be 

in a dark age 

50 Commitment to Community 

A Passion With a Purpose 

51 A straightline path to Retirement 

STOP the jargon, it’s too confusing 

52 

Cornerstones of Honesty and Loyalty 

Putting Information Together in One Place 

54 Offsetting the Traditional Four % Rule 

Butler, Philbrick, Gordillo & Associates Group 

57 

Providing More than Just Health Insurance 

Alaska’s largest Affordable Care Act enroller 

Shifting Markets Demand Capability 

Taking defensive positions lessons learned from the 

2008 meltdown 

58 Wealth: It’s More than Just Money 

Looking beyond having the wealth needed to retire 

60 Making a Strong Case 

Expert witness views financial disputes 

62 Thinking the UNTHINKABLE: 

Envisioning the “What Ifs?” in business 

63 

Beyond Accounting 

Financial metrics improves credit-worthines 

64 Expert Witness Use on The Rise 

A rise in court cases requiring expert testimony is expected 

66 Familial Advice at Any Hour 

There for the just “in case of” planning for retirement 

67 

68 A Mission to Create Affordable Housing 

Putting partial blame on banks for the residential credit crisis 

71 

The Financial Cacoon 

Ensuring irreplaceable capital isn’t lost 

Guiding People Through Retirement 

Understanding the need to prepare for retirement 

72 

A Balance of Emotion and Economics 

Helping clients through financial hardship 

74 

A Uniform Fiduciary Standard? 

It Could Work - If Done Right 

THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.5

BUSINESS / FINANCE 

76 

Paladin a Different Methology 

Better than a knight in shining armor 

77 Guiding clients is Key 

Communication is crucial to ensuring client confidentiality 

78 

80 

82 

Retirment Looks Different for Everyone 

Blanket investment policies are gone 

Keeping Clients Poised on the Rollercoaster 

Expert Testimony From Registered Nurses 

An emerging career field making an impact 

84 

86 

Opportunity in Down Markets 

It is said that investing is not for the faint of heart 

Independent advice Based on own Experience 

Businesses searching for quality and independent advice


Top Billing: 

Meet the Docs who Charge 

Medicare Top Dollar for Office Visits 

by charles ornstein and ryann grochowski jones, propublica 

Photo: Javier Jaen 

Medicare paid for more than 200 million office visits for established patients in 

2012. Overall, health professionals classified only 4 percent as complex enough to 

command the most expensive rates. But 1,800 providers billed at the top level at 

least 90 percent of the time, a ProPublica analysis found. Experts question whether 

the charges are legitimate. 

Office visits are the 

bread and butter of 

many physicians' 

practices. Medicare 

pays for more than 

200 million of them 

a year, often to deal 

with routine problems like colds or high 

blood pressure. Most require relatively 

modest amounts of a doctor's time or 

medical know-how. 

Not so for Michigan obstetrician-gynecologist 

Obioma Agomuoh. He charged 

THE SUIT MAGAZINE - NOV 2014 

for the most complex — and expensive 

— office visits for virtually every one of 

his 201 Medicare patients in 2012, his 

billings show. In fact, Medicare paid Agomuoh 

for an average of eight such visits 

per patient that year, a staggering number 

compared with his peers. 

Doctors and other health providers nationwide 

charged the top rate in 2012 for 

just 4 percent of office visits for patients 

they had seen before. But Agomuoh was 

one of more than 1,800 health professionals 

nationwide who billed Medicare for 

the most expensive type of office visits 

at least 90 percent of the time that year, 

a ProPublica analysis of newly released 

Medicare data found. 

Dr. John Im, who runs a Florida urgent 

care center, charged the program at 

that level for all 2,376 visits by his established 

patients. Kaveh Farhoomand, an 

Oceanside, California, internist facing 

disciplinary charges from his state medical 

board, collected the highest rate to see 

almost all of his 301 Medicare patients an 

average of seven times each.

By exposing such massive variations in 

how doctors bill the nation's health program 

for seniors and the disabled, experts 

said, ProPublica's analysis shows Medicare 

could—and should—be doing far more to 

use its own data to sniff out cost-inflating 

errors and fraud. 

"I think this is a smoking gun," said Dr. 

Robert Berenson, a former senior Medicare 

official who is now a fellow at the Urban 

Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank. 

"Who's asleep at the switch here?" 

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid 

Services, which runs Medicare, declined an 

interview request and said in a statement 

that it could not comment on ProPublica's 

analysis because it had not seen it. 

"CMS is working to ensure that physicians 

and health care providers appropriately 

bill" for office visits, part of a category 

known as evaluation and management 

(E&M) services, the agency said. "Some 

providers have sicker patients, thus are 

more likely to bill at E&M coding levels 

that carry higher payments. Every day we 

work with providers to make patient care 

the priority, and at the same time ensure 

they use E&M codes that reflect the level of 

service provided." 

The agency also said "it would be highly 

unusual for a provider to knowingly 

use the highest E&M billing code for all or 

nearly all of his or her outpatient visits." 

American Medical Association President 

Dr. Ardis Dee Hoven cautioned that billing 

data can be misleading without considering 

further details about doctors' practices. 

Even those who handle medical billing 

professionally sometimes disagree about 

the right way to classify a visit. 

Agomuoh, Im and Farhoomand insist 

that they treat older, sicker or more difficult 

patients than their peers. Agomuoh 

also suggested that the Medicare data contained 

errors; the agency stands behind it. 

Individually, office visits for established 

patients cost taxpayers little, ranging from 

an average of $14 for the simplest cases to 

more than $100 for the most extensive. But 

collectively, they add up. Medicare shelled 

out more than $12 billion for them in 2012. 

Agomuoh received $174,000 for the visits 

he billed at the top rate alone, tens of thousands 

of dollars more than he would have 

taken in if his charges were more in line 

with his peers'. 

In April, Medicare released data showing 

2012 payments for outpatient services, 

and for the first time specified how much 

money went to individual health provid- 

ers. Since then, most of the attention 

has focused on doctors who made the 

most from the program. 

Looking at raw numbers, though, 

can unfairly flag some doctors who 

have multiple providers billing under 

their IDs or who justifiably use expensive 

services. It can be more revealing 

to look at which procedures doctors are 

performing and how frequently, and 

how their billings compare with those 

of their peers. 

Office visits are a case in point. Doctors 

or their staffs determine how to 

bill for a visit based on a variety of factors, 

including the thoroughness of the 

review of a patient's medical history, 

the comprehensiveness of the physical 

exam, and the complexity of medical 

decision-making involved. The AMA's 

coding system gives them five options. 

An uncomplicated visit, typically of 

short duration, should be coded a "1"; a 

visit that involves more intense examination 

and often consumes more time 

should be coded a "5." The most common 

code for visits is in the middle, a 

"3." 

ProPublica focused its analysis on the 

329,500 physicians and other providers 

who charged for at least 100 office visits 

for established patients. (Medicare 

did not release data on services that a 

provider performed on fewer than 11 

patients.) 

We found that while most providers 

had a tiny percentage of level 5 cases, 

more than 1,200 billed exclusively at 

the highest level. Another 600 did it 

more than 90 percent of the time. About 

20,000 health professionals billed only 

at levels 4 or 5. 

The AMA's Hoven warned that the 

data could reflect errors or attribute 

high-priced visits to one doctor when 

the services were actually provided by 

another. Further, she said, because a 

growing number of seniors have multiple 

chronic conditions and complex 

medical histories, more level 4 or 5 office 

visits may be justified. 

But other health industry leaders 

called the billing patterns identified by 

our analysis troubling. 

"I can't see a situation where every 

visit would be a level 5, especially on 

an established patient," said Cyndee 

Weston, executive director of the American 

Medical Billing Association, an industry 

trade group. "I was trying to talk 


myself into it, but I just can't see it." 

She said such providers "would be ripe 

for audit," because they are outliers. 

Medicare has long known that office 

visits are susceptible to fraud and what's 

known as "upcoding," or billing for a 

more expensive service than was actually 

performed. 

A May 2012 report from the U.S. Department 

of Health and Human Services' 

inspector general found that doctors are 

choosing higher codes more often for 

evaluation and management services, the 

broad category that includes office visits. 

The proportion of level 4 visits by established 

patients increased by 15 percentage 

points from 2001 to 2010, while level 

3 visits dropped by 8 points. 

The HHS inspector general recommended 

that Medicare educate doctors, 

ask its contractors to review E&M billings, 

and conduct detailed reviews of 

physicians who consistently bill for higher-level 

visits. CMS administrator Marilyn 

Tavenner agreed with the first two 

recommendations but only committed 

the agency to reviewing a small number 

of the highest billers. 

She noted that the return on investment 

to check billings for visits wasn't 

great. The average error cost Medicare 

$43, but the program paid $30 to $55 to 

review each claim. 

Using a sample of Medicare data, nonprofit 

investigative group the Center for 

Public Integrity found a similar trend in 

upcoding office and emergency room 

visits across the country in an analysis 

it published in September 2012. And a 

Medicare report from 2013estimated that 

established patient visits had a 7 percent 

improper payment rate, accounting for 

approximately $965 million in 2012. 

"That's real money coming out of the 

Treasury," the Urban Institute's Berenson 

said. "Some doctors are robbing the commons 

for themselves." 

By looking at provider-level data, patients 

can evaluate their doctors' billing 

patterns. The providers flagged by Pro- 

Publica stand out from others in their 

specialties and states. Some were senior 

doctors at prominent teaching hospitals 

who may disproportionately care for 

complex cases; most were not. 

Explore Obioma Agomuoh's provider profile 

Agomuoh was one of 790 Michigan 

obstetrician-gynecologists who billed 

Medicare for established patient visits 

in 2012. Together, these doctors billed 


for about 61,000 office visits, of which 

7 percent were classified as level 5. By 

contrast, 97 percent of Agomuoh's office 

visits were at the highest level. His level 

5 visits accounted for 35 percent of those 

for all ob-gyns in Michigan. 

In an interview, Agomuoh said he does 

not believe the data is accurate, even 

though Medicare says it is. Agomuoh 

also said he takes on tough patients other 

providers won't see in the impoverished 

community of Hamtramck, Michigan, 

outside Detroit. 

"Most of these patients have been rejected 

by other doctors," he said. "I'm 

probably the only one taking care of 

them." 

But Agomuoh's Medicare billings were 

unusual in other ways, too, ProPublica's 

analysis showed. 

The program paid for wheezing evaluations 

for every one of his patients in 

2012, at $50 a pop. On average, each of 

his patients was checked for wheezing 

eight times. Almost all of his patients 

also received an average of seven ultrasounds 

of arteries in the legs (at $149 per 

test) and seven ultrasounds of arteries in 

the arms (at $144 per test). Most of his 

peers rarely, if ever, billed for these services. 

All told, Medicare paid Agomuoh 

$769,000 in 2012. 

Agomuoh has a long history of discipline 

against his medical licenses and 

has been sanctioned for negligence, making 

false statements, failing to pay child 

support and lying about it. He has surrendered 

his license in New York, agreed 

not to renew his license inConnecticut, 

withdrawn his application for a license in 

Ohio and was once on probation in Michigan. 

Agomuoh, who is running for governor 

of a state in Nigeria, where he was 

born, said his billings reflect that many 

of his patients have asthma, chronic obstructive 

pulmonary disease and drug 

addictions. He initially said a reporter 

could visit his office but then changed his 

mind a day later, referring further questions 

to his lawyer, Fred Freeman. 

"Why are you bothering him?" Freeman 

asked. "You're not being fair to him 

at all. He has nothing to say to you." 

Medicare declined to answer questions 

about Agomuoh, or about other 

individual practitioners, and there's no 

indication that program officials have 

challenged his billings. Medicare officials 

have said that their data may not take 

into account money collected by a provider 

and subsequently returned to CMS, 

or payments that "may have been withheld 

after claims were already processed 

but prior to release to the provider." 

Medicare did question the billing practices 

of Im, the doctor who coded 100 percent 

of his visitsas level 5. Im runs Exceptional 

Urgent Care in The Villages, a huge 

retirement community in central Florida, 

and said that because of his training as an 

emergency room physician, his center attracts 

sicker patients than others do. 

He said that after being contacted by 

Medicare officials last year, he took "voluntary 

tutoring and counseling" and now

estimates that around 90 percent of his 

office visits are level 5. 

"Yes it was inaccurate in 2012," he conceded, 

blaming his coding problems, in 

part, on Medicare's lack of billing categories 

tailored to urgent care. "Medicare 

gave us a call. 2013 is going to be a lot 

more accurate." 

Experts, however, said that it was 

implausible that an urgent care doctor 

would never see patients with minor ailments. 

Other urgent care centers in the 

region, including some run by emergency 

specialists, have lower proportions 

of level 5 visits, ProPublica's analysis 

showed. 

"Bring in the logic police," said Shelley 

C. Safian, who teaches medical billing 

and has written textbooks on the topic. 

"Even an emergency room in a hospital, 

not everybody is a level 5." 

Im earned $237,600 from the government 

for his level 5 visits in 2012, plus 

patient copays. Im is still a Medicare provider 

in good standing, according to the 

program'sPhysician Compare website, 

and Medicare declined to respond to 

questions about him. 

Farhoomand offered a similar explanation 

to Im's for why his patient visits 

were predominantly coded at the top 

level. All told, the San Diego-area internist 

billed Medicare for more than 2,100 

level 5 visits, one of the highest tallies in 

the nation. 

"I have a predominantly geriatric population, 

and I do mostly chronic critical 

illness, so all of my patients have, like, 

multi-organ failure, heart failure, diabetes 

with multiple complications, etc. 

etc.," he said. "I'm savvy enough that I 

handle most of their issues myself, and 

I use specialists only for procedures and 

such things." 

Farhoomand is facing a 2013 accusation 

by the California medical board of 

gross negligence in his prescribing of 

controlled substances, a charge he denies. 

"No good deed goes unpunished," he 

said. "I wind up managing most of their 

chronic pain." 

He said he is in talks with the board to 

settle the accusation. 

Experts say there are plenty of flaws 

with the way Medicare reimburses doctors. 

The program pays a premium for 

hands-on procedures, such as inserting 

a pacemaker, but undervalues the decision-making 

at office visits to sort out 

the cause of a complaint and the proper 

treatment, some say. 

Dr. Christine Sinsky, a Dubuque, 

Iowa, internist has shadowed more 

than 50 physician practices to assess the 

way they are organized and has written 

about the topic. She said she worries that 

as Medicare imposes more rules and requirements, 

the focus is shifting away 

from patients' needs and toward checking 

boxes on electronic health records. 

These systems are designed to keep better 

track of doctors' services but have 

been linked to upcoding. 

"Physicians are very afraid of being an 

outlier," Sinsky said. "I have a lot of compassion 

for physicians who are struggling 

with the billing rubric, because it is 

sometimes a force pushing us away from 

what we know is best for our patients." 

Indeed, some health professionals 

blamed billing issues on electronic health 

systems. Arizona optometrist Serge 

Wright was surprised to learn that 959 of 

his 2012 office visits were coded as level 

5 — and that he'd charged the top rate 

more than all the other optometrists in 

the state put together. 

"Wow, that sounds distorted," he said. 

Wright speculated that the coding 

could reflect a switch to a new electronic 

medical record system a couple of years 

ago. 

"I don't think I ever used a 99215 [level 

5 visit code]" until then, he said, noting 

that the new system is supposed to check 

whether enough documentation has 

been entered to justify each charge. "In 

the past, without the electronic records, 

it took more time to keep track of all of 

the elements of an exam to code it. I think 

everyone was undercoding at that point, 

myself included." 


7 

Business Lessons 

Learned from Cancer 

By Scott Petinga 

I 

never set out to be a “survivor.” 

My life's aspirations were pretty 

basic: become successful professionally, 

marry my soul mate, 

have two beautiful children and perhaps 

even retire early. Getting cancer 

certainly wasn’t on the list. But there 

I was, lying on the operating table the 

day of my surgery, shivering - not 

knowing how much longer I actually 

had to live and hoping that, when I 

opened my eyes, I would awaken from 

the nightmare. It didn’t happen. Cancer 

was a cold, hard reality that has 

certainly changed me. I look different, 

feel different and act different. Besides 

indelibly altering my outlook on life, 

cancer taught me hard-learned lessons 

on how to conduct business and realize 

success in a more significant and 

gratifying way. 

Here are 7 business lessons I learned 

from cancer that can help others in 

their own professional endeavors: 

1. Fight for what you believe in. 

I have a tattoo on my left forearm that 

says, in Chinese, “to turn defeat into 

victory.” That is how important the 

concept is to me. If you don’t take a 

stand for those issues that really matter 

to you, someone else is going to 

make the decision for you. Regardless 

of how extremely difficult a business 

or workplace challenge might appear 

in the moment, it's only temporary. It 

is human nature to question our own 

ability, especially when we are facing 

a challenge that is taxing, difficult, 

new or involves opposition or criticism 

from others. When you have a 

viable position that bucks the status 

quo, don’t be afraid to take a stand in 

line with your vision and values. And, 

be prepared. Base your position on 

facts, figures and well-researched information 

rather than trying to make 

emotional appeals. Anticipate objections 

and backlash and be prepared to 

counter with an even stronger argument. 

Be as transparent as possible so 

that there is no seemingly clandestine 

agenda or bias to be exposed later on. 

And, most importantly, hold steadfast 

to your standards and ideals all along 

the way. 

2. If you don’t love what you do, 

quit doing it. Love what you do, and 

be surrounded by people who share 

your passion. No matter your age, 

education, or tenure in the business 

world, NOW is the time to focus on 

what you're passionate about. Don't 

wait for conditions to be perfect or for 

your life to be threatened. Don’t just go 

through the motions half-ass. Find the 

gasoline that lights your fire. Quench 

your thirst for learning and investigate 

outside of your comfort zone. Empower 

yourself to make decisions and take 

actions, and uncover the value in your 

effort even when you fail. Then try 

again. 

3. Make life better for those 

around you. I now understand that the 

quality and happiness of life directly 

impacts quality of work. Ask yourself 

‘what can I do to help’—whether in 

relation to a colleague, an employee, 

a boss, a business partner. And, don’t’ 

expect anything in return. A spirit 

of altruism is the best way to proffer 

help without any level of expectation, 

so there will be no disappointments in 

kind. If you’re an employer, discern 

how you can go over and above to help 

an employee apparently struggling 

with a personal issue, which could include 

paying for their health insurance 

premium for a period and giving them 

paid time off to deal with a difficult life 

situation. If you’re an employee, offer 

to grab coffee or lunch for your boss 

or a colleague “on your dime.” Stock 

the employee break room with pastries 

“just because.” Call a business partner 


or prospect just to say “hi” and don’t 

talk any business. Even more simply, 

greet people with positivity. Encourage 

them. Compliment them. Lend 

them a helping hand. Notice their 

progress, cheer them on and make 

them smile. The more happiness and 

success you help others find, the more 

fulfillment you will realize every single 

day of your life. If it makes the 

world a better place, even for a fleeting 

moment, you have succeeded. 

4. Do your own thing and do it 

your way. The concept of going your 

own way and doing your own thing 

is not new. The problem is, most 

people don’t do it because it bucks 

tradition and goes against the grain, 

and frankly, it scares the s#%! out of 

most people. But on the other hand, 

it can provide you with a hell of a lot 

of freedom, and provide you a lifelong 

exemption from blindly or reluctantly 

following protocol. Mavericks 

live according to their own agenda 

and goals and, even in the corporate 

world, there is more latitude to blaze 

new trails in business than you might 

think. The key is to look at each task 

be consumed with remorse for what 

“could have been.” Now is the time to 

capitalize on opportunities that present. 

Make it so. 

6. Live life like a two year old. In 

other words, fall down often, screw up 

for the opportunities they present. 

Sure, there may be a “perfectly fine” 

or traditional way of doing something 

to achieve a good result. But, when 

you have a better approach or process 

in mind that can achieve an even 

more desirable result, it may just be 

time to go rogue. In today’s cut-throat 

culture, originality is perhaps your 

greatest gift. Use it. 

5. Risk it right now. At this very 

moment you have everything you 

need. Sound impossible? It happens 

to be true, you just may not appreciate 

it. Do you have food, clothing and 

shelter? Then you have everything 

you need and, once you live by this 

simple philosophy, taking risks becomes 

far easier. The most important 

part of this notion is that most business 

opportunities don’t wait around, 

so take action now. Don’t make the 

mistake of waiting on someone or 

something to come along to make 

taking that leap of faith more viable. 

“Perfect timing” is a fallacy—there 

are few if any such moments in life. 

Don’t wait so long that you can’t take 

a risk even when you want to, only to 

repeatedly and occasionally be defiant. 

Children are extremely resilient and, 

as adults, we lose this enviable quality. 

Throughout our career we proverbially 

fall down, get bruised and even 

skin our knees. We might even literally 

shed a few tears. But, perseverance and 

tenacity, honed with hindsight-based 

perspective so as to not repeat the same 

mistakes, are key to staying the course up 

the ladder of achievement. 

7. Forecast regrets to reorganize. 

When someone is on their death bed, 

they never say “I wish I had worked 

more”. They regret not spending more 

time on the things that matter the most. 

That said, not all regrets would be related 

to your personal life. If, hypothetically, 

you had two less working hours every 

day, what would you cut out? You’d cut 

out the least important tasks and focus 

more energy on the endeavors you are 

confident would impact the bottom line 

or your career trajectory the most. Don’t 

wait for a major adverse event or unforeseen 

time crunch to reorganize your 

work life. Project your thoughts into a 

problematic “what if” scenario to prioritize, 

downsize, re-allocate, offset, delegate 

and downright omit whatever you 

can to expedite your climb up the ladder 

of success. 

They say cancer has a way of changing 

people. This is true, but there’s no need 

for an threatening medical diagnosis to 

be the catalyst for needed change. An 

emotional “reboot” can pay dividends at 

any time and in anyone’s life, to most certainly 

include business matters. The key 

is to tap into, and harness, a mindset of 

emotional vulnerability for a new-found 

perspective that can help you recalibrate 

and generally fine tune your approach to 

achievement so that you can not only get 

there faster—but in a more meaningful 

and fulfilling way. As far as I am concerned, 

that is the true measure of success. 

Scott Petinga is Chairman and CEO of The Scott 

Petinga Group. He is a pioneer in developing businesses 

with lasting impact in the fields of communications, 

sustainable real estate, business acceleration 

and philanthropy. Through his flagship company 

AKQURACY—a full-service, data-fueled communications 

agency – he earned a spot on the prestigious 

2012 Inc. magazine list of fastest-growing private 

companies. He may be reached online at www. 

ScottPetinga.com 


y amy m. armstrong 

Physician Shortfall 

in the 

Affordable Care Act 

A Problem of Supply and Demand 

As courts continue to hammer 

out whether the subsidies 

promised to low-income 

holders of health 

insurance benefits via the Affordable 

Care Act are legal and will be honored, 

the looming question of just how all of 

these new medical stakeholders will 

be serviced has yet to be answered. 

America is one year into these 

ground-breaking changes in health 

care, with a second round of enrollments 

kicking off Nov. 15, 2014 and 

scheduled to last three months. This 

first year’s enrollment and successful 

payment of premiums by approximately 

7.3 million Americans was announced 

in August. It was significantly 

lower than the 12 million enrollees/ 

payees that the Obama Administration 

hoped for a year ago. Yet, based 

on the roll-out glitches with online 

health care exchanges, administration 

officials characterized August’s 

announcement as a positive step forward. 

As of now, the American medical 

system has 7.3 million more people 

eligible for basic health services. 

If they have not found one already, 

they are currently seeking primary 


health care providers. This means that 

7.3 million more cases of the flu, the 

common cold, high blood pressure or 

things more complicated such as cancer, 

heart conditions and stroke may 

be coming through the doors of clinics 

and hospitals. 

All are eligible for basic services. 

But are there enough providers to go 

around? And will the shortfall even 

create additional cases for the legal 

system as the newly insurance-entitled 

add litigation to the experience 

when their medical expectations have 

not been met? 

Just ask the leaders in the medical 

and legal industries, and they will vehemently 

tell you there is a big problem 

looming on the horizon. 

“With the implementation of the 

ACA, the biggest challenge is that, 

while in principal we are providing 

greater access to all Americans, 

the number of health care providers 

qualified to provide this care is disproportionate 

to the number of people 

eligible,” said Suzanne Arragg, a 

certified legal nurse consultant and 

owner of SEA & Associates in Ventura, 

California. Her firm evaluates the 

merit of medical cases from the perspective 

of the nursing staff, who interact 

with patients significantly more 

often than doctors. “To make matters 

even worse,” she said, “The number of 

qualified providers is also disproportionate 

to the reimbursement offered 

under ACA for the care and services 

provider.” 

Arragg forecasts a landslide of legal 

actions as patients get fed up with lack 

of access or with the treatment errors 

that are bound to occur in an overwhelmed 

system. 

She is not alone. 

Last fall, the Association of American 

Medical Colleges warned that the 

nation’s inventory of qualified doctors 

had dropped nearly 20,000 from the 

previous year. More than half of the 

doctors still practicing are older than 

50 and headed toward retirement, according 

to the AAMC. Looking ahead, 

the AAMC indicated a shortfall of 

45,000 primary care doctors by 2020 

unless a major increase in enrollment, 

graduation and successful completion 

of internships occurs. That was 

a conservative estimate – and did not 

include an expected deficit of 46,000 

medical professionals who handle 

specialties.

Arragg also sees the nation’s already 

crowded emergency rooms being 

forced to take up the slack, as patients 

unable to get care from a primary physician 

resort to a place where they cannot 

be turned away. 

Devon M. Herrick, a senior fellow at 

the National Center for Policy Analysis 

in Dallas also forecasts that trend, especially 

for Medicare patients. According 

to the Obama Administration, more 

than six million new enrollees opted 

for Medicare and the Children’s Health 

Insurance Program – neither of which 

are tied into the ACA health care exchanges 

– during the same time period 

that Obamacare had its first enrollment 

phase. The trouble is, the government 

isn’t quite sure yet about that six million 

number. The Center for Disease 

Control and the Census Bureau both 

released varying numbers in August. 

While the numbers differ, the effect 

remains the same. Because Obamacare 

lowers the dollar amount physicians 

are reimbursed for Medicare patients, 

it is quite likely that Medicare patients 

who do have a primary care physician 

may have trouble getting an appointment, 

especially if the practice limits 

the number of patients that can be seen 

within the economic demographic. Or, 

worse yet, doctors within the community 

will simply stop accepting Medicare. 

“With limited resources, more 

Medicare patients will turn to the 

emergency room,” Herrick said. 

He sees yet another access issue 

looming. Doctors, noting the laws of 

supply and demand, may opt to not 

only limit the type of insurance they 

accept, but may also begin charging 

patients a retainer fee to remain in their 

practice. 

“There aren’t enough doctors to treat 

all the new enrollees,” he said. “The 

ones most likely to suffer are those 

whose insurers pay the lowest reimbursements.” 

The government itself admits a possible 

supply and demand problem exists. 

Its own statistics from the Health Resources 

and Services Administration 

– the federal agency whose mission is 

to improve access to health care – indicate 

that 20 percent of Americans 

currently live in geographic areas with 

an insufficient number of primary care 

doctors. This is determined via federal 

guidelines dictating that each primary 

care doctor should have no more than 

3,500 patients. Federal guidelines for 

dental and mental health professionals 

are even larger: a 5,000 patient limit for 

dentists and no more than 30,000 patients 

for mental health providers. 

According to the same agency, in addition 

to those who living in areas with 

an insufficient number of primary care 

doctors, sixteen percent live in areas 

with too few dentists and a whopping 

30 percent are in areas that are short of 

mental health providers. 

How this plays out, remains to be 

seen. 



NEWYORK’S 

GREEN REVOLUTION 

New York City has embarked on an 

aggressive plan to curb the predicted 

impacts of global warming thus setting 

an example for other major metro 

areas to follow in their own respective 

efforts to thwart the threats caused by 

warmer ocean temperatures, melting 

glaciers, rising coastal waters and 

greater inclement, dramatic changes 

in weather patterns. 


As of Sept. 2014, NYC is now the 

world’s largest city making a public 

commitment to lower its greenhouse 

gas emissions by 80 percent 

over 2005 levels by 2050. It is a 

benchmark environmentalists say 

could make a significant difference 

in the plight of the planet. It is also 

a benchmark analyst of industries 

supporting green construction and 

sustainable retrofitting consider 

possible if the powers that be put 

their money where their respective 

carbon footprint would be otherwise. 

“Climate change is an existential 

threat to New Yorkers and our 

planet. Acting now is nothing short 

of a moral imperative,” NYC Mayor 

Bill de Blasio said as he unveiled 

the program’s lofty goals on Sept. 

21 during Climate Week NYC as the 

United Nations held its annual climate 

summit at its NYC headquarters. 

“New York City must continue 

to set the pace and provide the bold 

leadership that’s needed – and becoming 

the world’s largest city to 

commit to an 80 percent reduction 

in emissions by 2050 is central to 

that commitment. By retrofitting all 

of our public buildings with significant 

energy use in the next ten years, 

we’re leading by example; and by 

partnering with the private sector, 

we’ll reduce emissions and improve 

efficiency while generating billions 

in savings and creating thousands 

of jobs for New Yorkers who need it 

most.” 

It’s dubbed “One City Built to 

Last” and even though it is de Blasio 

functioning as the talking head and 

most recently making the appearances 

at the installation of solar panels 

at the Kennedy Campus housing 

seven borough high schools – officially 

, where the carbon reduction 

is slated to hit the city’s emissions 

rates, it is NYC First Deputy Mayor 

Anthony E. Shorris, who is in charge. 

He is the city’s second-in -command 

and in charge of the day-to-day operation 

of city government and the 

provision of core services across the 

five boroughs. Yet, this new environmentally-conscious 

and possibly 

economically beneficial – at least 

for the providers of the goods and 

services required to make it reality – 

program may possibly be what puts 

the final feather in his decades-long 

career as a municipal servant. 

As protestors from every imaginable 

environmentally-oriented 

cause not only lined, but flooded 

NYC streets for the People’s Climate 

March, deBlasio joined in with 

them promoting “One City” as the 

answer to the Big Apple’s problems 

and perhaps a blueprint for other 

cities to adopt. 

According to this year’s annual 

Greenhouse Gas Inventory conducted 

by city officials, nearly 

three-quarters of NYC greenhouse 

gas emissions result from the current 

energy demand to heat, cool 

and power buildings. It is a segment 

of the city’s environmental problems 

that deBlasio says can be fixed 

by first retrofitting more than 3,000 

public-owned buildings with energy-efficient 

upgrades in the HVAC 

system and installing solar energy 

systems at more than 300 public 

buildings. One City calls for retrofitting 

to be completed by 2025. 

City officials estimate the retrofit 

project to result in a $1.4 billion 

energy cost saving by 2025 with the 

potential of the city experiencing a 

savings of $8.5 billion by 2050 – the 

One City target date for the 80 percent 

reduction in greenhouse gases. 

More importantly to the pocket 

books of New Yorkers, the retrofitting 

of privately-owned buildings 

through an expanded partnership 


etween the U.S. Department of 

Housing and Urban Development 

and the NYC Housing Authority providing 

building owners with financial 

incentives for retrofit ought to result 

in lower utility bills, deBlasio said. 

“High energy costs take a disproportionate 

toll on lower-income residents 

who typically live in less-efficient 

buildings and must pay a higher 

share of their income for energy,” de- 

Blasio said. “The City’s plan aims to 

protect New Yorkers from rising utility 

bills while reducing emissions and 

poor air quality.” 

Private building owners not retrofitting 

will eventually find themselves 

and their buildings in conflict with 

NYC city officials as retrofit mandates 

and non-compliance penalties kick in 

during One City’s later years. 

Environmentalists are expecting results 

– and with good reason. 

One City is based on the NYC Clean 

Heat program that since 2011 has 

helped the city’s then nearly 10,000 

buildings still burning heavy oil for 

heating purposes to convert to cleaner 

fuels thus dropping sulfur dioxide 

particulate levels in the air by 69 percent 

since its 2008 measuring, according 

to the NYC Clean Heat website. 

“America’s #1 city will show the way 

to the big cuts in climate pollution we 

need,” said Fred Krupp, President of 

Environmental Defense Fund. “I congratulate 

Mayor de Blasio for his leadership 

– especially the Mayor’s plan 

to upgrade buildings so they waste 

far less energy – and his plan for cutting 

costs for families and businesses, 

cleaning the air, and delivering jobs.” 

Key components of the “One City Built to Last” include: 

•Requiring owners of all buildings more than 25,000 sq. ft. to measure and disclose energy use annually, conduct 

energy assessments, and upgrade lighting. This replaces the previous city mandate limiting the energy disclosure 

requirements to owners of buildings more than 50,000 sq. ft. in size. 

•Energy upgrades in 450 schools over the next five years – including 325 comprehensive lighting upgrades and 125 

boiler replacements to improve energy efficiency and improve indoor air quality. 

•Create a green grant program for affordable housing that will fund efficiency upgrades in exchange for regulatory 

agreements to preserve affordability. Deploy with local partners in neighborhoods – particularly the poorest 

neighborhoods where utility bills take a higher percentage of resident income – and where preservation and rehab 

of affordable housing is needed and where energy efficiency can reduce the load on the electric grid. 

City officials estimate One City to 

create at least 3,500 new jobs in construction 

and require training programs 

for the more than 7,775 building 

staff that will learn new operating 

skills. The new construction, retrofit 

work and energy improvements are 

expected to pump at least $750 million 

in related spending per year in to the 

NYC economy. 

Perhaps one of the most beneficial effects 

of One City is its indirect support 

of emerging entrepreneurs and the financial 

reason for office space owners 

to expand their offerings thus giving 

the real estate market a boost. As with 

all things new, One City is bound to 

attract movers and shakers in the clean 

energy space. For some companies, 

the hook has already set. One example 

is the Urban Future Lab opening 

its downtown Brooklyn 10,000 square 

foot space in March of this year. The 

firm is already running out of room 

and seeking more space to continue 

its research in clean technology as well 

as providing exhibit space to educate 

consumers. Clean technology innovators 

tend to require larger work spaces 

than other businesses. One City plans 

to address this need in a partnership 

with the NYC Economic Development 

Corporation to build a 75,000 square 

foot “step-out space” facility providing 

temporary office space until 

firms can secure more permanent 

larger offices. 

As One City begins its work, deBlasio 

sees opportunity and potential 

and not the challenges and limits often 

associated with environmental 

challenges. 

“Realizing this vision will not be 

easy. The change will come building 

by building, block by block, and 

neighborhood by neighborhood,” 

deBlasio said. “It will require new 

technologies and innovative thinking. 

But New Yorkers are the world’s most 

skilled architects, engineers, real estate 

developers, academics, construction 

workers and building operators. The 

solutions we develop together will 

change our city, and they can change 

cities across the world.” 

Learn more about One City Built to 

Last online at www.nyc.gov/html/ 

builttolast/assets/downloads/pdf/ 

OneCity.pdf.

n 

HORMONE 

AVERTi HEALTHY BREAST PROGRAM 

OPTIMIZATION 

NUTRITION & 

DIGESTION 

OPTIMIZATION 

LYMPHATIC NUTRITION && 

VASCULAR 

DIGESTION 

CIRCULATION 

OPTIMIZATION 

INTERVENTION 

PERSONALIZED CLINICAL 

ASSESS & MEASURE 

RISK 

ENVIRONMENTAL 

NUTRITION & 

TOXIN EXPOSURE 

DIGESTION 

& RESPONSE 

PERSONALIZED OPTIMIZATION CLINICAL 

INTERVENTION 


OPTIMIZATION 

HORMONE 

RESILIENCE 

RE-MEASURE RISK 

& PROGRESS 

STRESS 


INTERVENTION 

OPTIMIZATION 


& PROGRESS 

DIGESTION 

NUTRITION & 


RISK 

RESILIENCE 

Fig. 1. AVERTI Healthy Breast Program (AHBP) ©2012 AVERTi, Inc. 

INTERVENTION ENVIRONMENTAL 

LYMPHATIC & 


VASCULAR 

& RESPONSE 

RE-MEASURE CIRCULATION RISK 

AVERTi HEALTHY BREAST 



INTERVENTION 

STRESS 

ENVIRONMENTAL 


RISK 


& RESPONSE 


RISK 


PTIMIZATION 

DIGESTION 

NUTRITION & 

& PROGRESS 


ENVIRONMENTAL 


& RESPONSE 

VERTi HEALTHY BREAST PROGRAM 

VERTi HEALTHY BREAST PROGRAM 

ITION & 

ESTION 

IMIZATION 

RITION & 

GESTION 

TIMIZATION 

NUTRITION & 

DIGESTION 

LYMPHATIC & 

VASCULAR 

CIRCULATION 

LYMPHATIC & 

ENVIRONMENTAL 

LYMPHATIC & 

ENVIRONMENTAL 

VASCULAR 


VASCULAR 


CIRCULATION 

CIRCULATION 

& RESPONSE 

& RESPONSE 


RISK 

& RESPONSE 


PERSONALIZED ASSESS & MEASURE CLINICAL 

ENVIRONMENTAL 

OPTIMIZATION 


ENVIRONMENTAL 


& RESPONSE 


RISK 


INTERVENTION 



& ASSESS PROGRESS & MEASURE 

& PROGRESS 

RISK 


NUTRITION HORMONE & 

INTERVENTION 

RISK 

PERSONALIZED RE-MEASURE CLINICAL RISK 

INTERVENTION 

& PROGRESS 


& PROGRESS 

Fig. 1. AVERTi Healthy Breast Program (AHBP) ©2012 AVERTi, Inc. 




OPTIMIZATION 

& PROGRESS 

HORMONE 

ISK 

HORMONE 

ENVIRONMENTAL 

OPTIMIZATION 


& RESPONSE 

HORMONE 


RISK 


INTERVENTION 


& PROGRESS 

TION 

D CLINICAL 

ESS & MEASURE 

RISK 


HORMONE 

OPTIMIZATION 

HORMONE 

OPTIMIZATION 

DIGESTION 

NUTRITION & 

OPTIMIZATION 

STRESS 

RESILIENCE 

CIRCULATION 

VASCULAR 

LYMPHATIC & 

RESILIENCE 

STRESS 

HORMONE 

OPTIMIZATION 

STRESS 

RESILIENCE 

STRESS 

& RESPONSE 

ERTI Hea 

IN EXPOSURE 

AVERTi 

OPTIMIZATION 

DIGESTION 

OPTIMIZATION 

HEALTHY BREAST PROGRAM 

RESILIENCE 

AV 

RISK 

TION 

D CLINICAL 

SS & MEASURE 

RISK 

& RESPONSE 


ENVIRONMENTAL 

MENTAL 

NUTRITION STRESS LYMPHATIC & HORMONE & 

DIGESTION 

RESILIENCE VASCULAR 

OPTIMIZATI 

OPTIMIZATION CIRCULATION 

Fig. 1. AVERTI Healthy Breast Program 

S 

GRAM 

LYMPHATIC & 

VASCULAR 

LYMPHATIC STRESS & 

VASCULAR 

RESILIENCE

y judy scinta magness 

reported by 

amy m. armstrong 

Functional Medicine Drives 

Breakthroughs in Breast Cancer 

Just what is functional medicine? 

Perhaps it is better explained by also 

describing conventional and alternative 

healthcare approaches. 

“Conventional or 

traditional medicine 

is what is taught in 

medical schools. It is 

as an authoritative 

approach to managing 

symptoms primarily with 

the use of scientifically 

proven assessment 

tools, medications, and 

surgeries.” explains 

Sandra Muran, PhD, 

a digestive health and 

nutrition specialist. 

Along with her husband, 

Peter Muran, MD, they 

operate AVERTi Inc., 

and Longevity Healthcare 

based in California. 

Both are also functional 

medicine practitioners.

Alternative medicine emerged as 

consumers looked for new, less invasive 

ways to manage their health, 

and for options that would help 

them recover instead of just treating symptoms. 

“But not all alternative medicine has 

a scientific basis. That’s where functional medicine fits in to 

meeting both worlds,” said Muran. 

“Functional medicine integrates the newest scientific biomedical 

discoveries to focus on resolving the underlying causes 

of individual health needs,” said Muran. “It engages the patient 

and practitioner in designing a personally tailored health 

management program. It uses pharmaceutical science, changes 

in an individual’s environment, diet, and lifestyle to support 

their full genetic potential for vitality and longevity.” She 

emphasized that individuals are empowered to manage their 

own health and points to Functional Medicine Co- Founder, 

Jeffery S. Bland, PhD and popular television medical guru, Dr. 

Mehmet Oz as using a functional approach to medicine. 

In the creation of AVERTi, an anagram for Advanced Verified 

Early Risk Technology, doctors Sandra and Peter Muran 

applied the Functional Medicine approach to the prevention 

of breast cancer. AVERTi is a comprehensive breast health 

program using a proven estrogen metabolite laboratory test to 

measure a women’s early risk for breast cancer before disease 

ever occurs. For those shown to be at risk, the AVERTi Breast 

Health Program engages women in a personalized clinical 

and life style intervention to measurably reduce her risk. A 

breakthrough, in not only letting women know if they are at 

risk; but the AVERTi approach providing a way to confidently 

reduce the risk by measuring the reduction. 

National statistics report that one out of every eight women 

will encounter breast cancer in her lifetime. The Murans were 

motivated by their female patients who were not satisfied in 

waiting around to see if they would become that “one.” They 

wanted to help women proactively reduce their risk. 

About four years ago, the husband and wife team uncovered15-year-old, 

well-documented research conducted by El- 


eanor Rogan, PhD and Ercole Cavalieri, D. Sc, collecting dust 

at the University of Nebraska. These researchers had invented 

an estrogen metabolite laboratory test to measure a woman’s 

risk for breast cancer which had only been available for 

research endeavors. This laboratory measures the metabolites 

of estrogen that represent estrogen which has “gone down an 

inflammatory pathway” becoming the precursor to damaging 

a woman’s DNA in a way that can result in breast cancer. 

AVERTi is dedicated to placing the tools for prevention 

of breast cancer in the hands of women and the physicians 

who care for them. In conjunction with Longevity Healthcare, 

they offer women comprehensive breast health analysis, teach 

breast health basics, and preform thermal imaging services 

which, according to Muran, is the most effective method of 

screening breast health in conjunction with this specific new 

estrogen laboratory for prevention of disease. They have also 

created the AVERTi Breast Health Kit to support the modification 

of estrogen’s metabolic pathways through nutrient 

support. 

The Murans funded an independent pilot study based on 

the original research in conjunction with the University of 

Nebraska researchers. Women from the community volunteered 

to have their current risk for breast cancer measured 

using the estrogen metabolite laboratory. Based on those results, 

the Murans developed a personalized functional medicine 

approach tailored to each individual. Each woman followed 

her customized program, involving both clinical and 

lifestyle factors, for 90 days and then repeated the estrogen 

metabolite laboratory to see if her risk became lower than her 

original measure. Results showed that every woman who was 

reasonably compliant with her program was able to measurably 

reduce her risk for breast disease. 

Since then, the Murans have teamed with a commercial 

laboratory to make this exciting estrogen metabolite laboratory 

test available for the first time so a woman can quantify 

her risk for breast disease. In addition, they are working with 

professional physician organizations to disseminate this new 

knowledge and findings to practitioners who can then work 

with their female patients to measurably reduce risk. 

“We’re excited about the prospects. We feel our biggest 

success is on the horizon—within six to nine months—when 

these tools are going to be available to healthcare consumers 

and not sitting in research laboratories. Imagine the human 

and economic savings if we were able to reduce the risk of 

breast cancer for women,” said Muran. “Everyone knows a 

woman who has suffered from breast cancer.” 

While Muran had always worked in healthcare, including 

serving as director of a hospice program in Orange County, 

and involved in long-term care in Los Angeles, it wasn’t until 

she became a mother that her interests turned to nutrition. 

“Twenty-eight years ago I had a son who was allergic to everything 

in the American diet,” she said, adding that there 

wasn’t a lot of guidance on the subject at that time. “There’s 

nothing like a motivated mother in terms of her infant son. I 

began to educate myself and that eventually evolved into my 

practice, and obtaining my PhD in nutrition.” 

Muran estimates that 60% of Americans have some sort of 

digestive issue. “If you own a high performance car and put 

kerosene in it, it doesn’t work very well. It’s the same way 

with our body. You have to put high-test fuel in it so it performs 

well. And, that’s the role of nutrition and digestion,” 

she explained. 

Among the general nutritional recommendations Muran 

shares with patients is to eat healthy protein-based snacks 

including nuts, nut butters, and berries, and to drink filtered 

or coconut water. “Coconut water meets your needs for trace 

minerals, it energizes you and keeps your electrolytes balanced,” 

she said. 

And, as a final suggestion, Muran offers this eye-opener: 

“When you see something that’s enriched, don’t eat it. In the 

processing it has been so depleted of nutrient value that the 

Food and Drug Administration required manufacturers to 

add back in some nutrient value. So they did, and put a spin 

on it calling it, ‘enriched.’” 

www.avert-i.com 

www.wellbelly.net 

www.longevityhealthcare.com 



Intensive Specializing for a 

Productive Business Venture 

A.J. Riviezzo is in a real tight niche. 

A 

die-hard believer in 

specialization as being 

the ticket to success 

in the business 

world, his motto is, 

“Do one thing and do 

it beyond well. Identify your one target 

and aim anything and everything 

you pull out of your quiver at that 

target only and consistently.” That is 

his philosophy and that is his business 

plan. 

It's working for him, too. And more 

importantly, it is working for his clients. 

In 2007, Riviezzo partnered with Dr. 

James Albert, a thoracic surgeon – retired 

from cracking chests, but very 

active in the treatment of varicose 

veins – to form American Physician 

Financial Solutions, located in Colorado 

Springs and serving the billing 

and consulting needs of varicose vein 

treatment clinics all across the United 

States. As a niche market, it has highly 

specific coding requirements for insurance 

processing, requiring the firm to 

remain proactive and up-to-date on its 

constantly changing, incredibly specific 

billing protocol. 

Riviezzo didn't necessarily choose 

this career path until just eight years 

ago. His earlier working years were 

spent on the medical side of the U.S. 

Army. 

“The military told me I was going 

to work in health care and so I said, 

‘okay’ – because you don’t get to say 

‘no’ when the Air Force says that to 

you,” he told The Suit with a knowing 

chuckle. 

After the military, Riviezzo earned 

both bachelor’s and master’s degrees 

while working in accounts receivable 

for a national pharmacy company. 

Then, going to work for Kaiser Permanente 

taught him a great deal about 

insurance coding and billing, but also 

left him frustrated with the corporate 

atmosphere. 

About eight years ago, Riviezzo 

was pondering whether he had what 

it takes to create his own billing firm, 

when he was seized by a sudden inspiration. 

This is how it happened. He 

and his wife were attending yet another 

dinner that her employer – that 

same Dr. Albert – also attended. Riviezzo 

had heard the doctor complaining 

about his billing service at previous 

dinners and finally decided to employ 

a little “carpe diem” by asking Dr. 

Albert how much he was paying currently. 

The doctor readily supplied the 

number and Riviezzo responded how 

– with the amount he was already pay- 


ing, plus some extra seed money 

– the two of them could start their 

own billing service. 

Riviezzo had a hunch that other 

doctors specializing in the treatment 

of varicose veins were experiencing 

similar frustrations. He 

was correct. 

Phlebology – the medical term 

for varicose vein treatment – suffers 

the same fate as chiropractic, 

massage and acupuncture therapies 

do regarding the cooperation 

of insurance companies over payment. 

Insurance companies often 

balk at presented claims by stating 

that the treatment isn’t medically 

necessary. 

That’s where Riviezzo and his 

team come in. 

“You do have to be really specialized 

about working with insurance 

companies regarding 

phlebology,” he explains. “Oftentimes, 

it is considered borderline 

cosmetic. So, in getting health 

insurance to pay for treatment 

that is in most cases medically appropriate, 

you have to be pretty 

knowledgeable about the treatment 

methodologies and services 

the physicians are providing to 

the patients.” 

As he began working with Dr. 

Albert, Riviezzo immersed himself 

in the practice and jargon of 

phlebology. Today when talking 

with prospective clients who are 

phlebology physicians, he often hears 

comments like, “Oh, I didn't realize 

that you're also a physician.” He 

chuckles, telling the prospective client, 

“No, no – if we talk about anything 

else besides varicose veins, you will 

quickly see my ignorance.” 

Yet, ask him to speak on any subject 

related to varicose veins, treatment 

and the justification necessary to secure 

payment from private insurance, 

Medicare or Medicaid, and instantly 

the billing specialist transforms into an 

expert prepared for discussion. 

Thanks to changes made by the Patient 

Protection and Affordable Care 

Act (ACA) – along with revisions to 

Medicare, Riviezzo has to really be on 

his toes when processing claims on behalf 

of his clients. That is, if he wants 

the doctors he represents to get paid. 

Oftentimes, his work involves ed- 

ucating patients regarding meeting 

what can be high deductibles under 

Obamacare prior to receiving services. 

As Riviezzo points out, the silver 

or bronze plans offered via the 

Obamacare health care exchanges include 

deductibles requirements ranging 

anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 

per year. These high deductibles force 

representatives from doctors' offices to 

financially pre-screen patients. 

“A fair number of patients are pretty 

surprised at how high their deductibles 

are,” he said. “Obamacare is 

advertised as comprehensive health 

insurance, but in reality what it is, is 

major medical.” 

On the Medicare side, a federal move 

toward greater scrutiny is prompting 

significantly more audits. Many do not 

release payment until after an audit is 

completed, leaving physicians holding 

the financial bag. 

“These audits are aimed at finding 

fault, not just at verifying factual information 

– and apparently they are 

ongoing until they get bored of it,” 

Riviezzo said. “Thus, the doctors never 

know when they are getting paid.” 

With so much compliance pressure, 

Riviezzo said that it is nearly impossible 

for workers in a doctor’s office 

– such as a secretary cross-trained to 

assist with billing – to keep pace with 

the demand and expectations, which 

is a big part of what keeps him in his 

niche billing and consulting business. 

“I have seen billing companies that 

try to be all things to all doctors,” 

Riviezzo said. “And they make money, 

but they gain and lose clients at a 

fast and furious pace because they are 

not able to bring sufficiently robust 

expertise to the table. You cannot do 

orthopedic billing one week, and then 

suddenly be shuffled off to do ObGyn 

billing the next. Our goal has been to 

be very targeted and to be very good at 

what we do. I would much rather have 

a steady set of clients and build long 

term relationships.” 

www.apfsbilling.com 


y rich monetti 

NEVER MAKE 

the Same Mistake Twice 

The Affordable Care Act being firmly entrenched, its gross over-complication of healthcare processes 

must eventually give way to something more streamlined. Possibly – but history shows that when 

government is involved, it never comes down to just one do-over. Nonetheless, Spencer Silverman of 

Rugby Medical knows the real world isn’t so forgiving, and any increase in the number of iterations 

to get it right could mean the end. “The key is to never make the same mistake twice,” says Silverman. 

He learned that lesson 

over equipment 

warranties. Getting 

started and eager to 

close deals on the medical 

equipment Rugby 

provides to doctors, hospitals and clinics, 

he left himself vulnerable by offering 

clients guarantees beyond what manufacturers 

provided. “It ended up coming 

out of my pocket,” he said, noting losses 

incurred on equipment such as CT scanners 

as well as EKG and MRI machines. 

Of course the learning curve comes at 

a price, but it can emerge from strong 

strategic partnerships. “I think if you set 

yourself up with the right people, mistakes 

can be fixed,” he explained. 

Silverman acknowledges co-owner’s 

Joe Schulman and the continuing link he 

enjoys with Ashley Herschman owner of 

Absolute Medical, his previous employer 

– all while he searches for new synergies 

in China, the Middle East and Europe. 

But circumspection begins with standards 

set at home. “We biomed-certify 

these machines before they go out to our 

customers,” Silverman emphasizes. 

Reinforcing the need for quality, Silverman’s 

vendors understand that their 

success hinges heavily on his, and they 

are ready to kick a goal for Rugby at a 

moment’s notice. “I know if I need their 

help, they will be there in a second,” he 

said confidently. 

Even so, Silverman understands the 

importance of reciprocating. “We 

don’t run our business on credit,” he 

notes. “That keeps our relationships in 

good standing.” 

The ACA has some clients backing 

away from certain medical equipment 

as no longer yielding high enough 

returns. Still, Silverman predicts that 

businesses will make the most of this 

new paradigm by eventually finding 

new angles. “It will start to pick up,” 

he asserts. 

The evolution of ultrasound machines 

could represent the kind of opportunities 

alluded to above, since 2D, 

3D and 4D technology has opened up 

business opportunities for lay people 

who are willing to learn about them. 

“Many (of these machines) offer features 

like adaptive image processing, 

which can make them much easier 

to use and more accurate for certain 

types of diagnostics,” according to 

Rugby Medical’s information. 

Nonetheless, Silverman’s main goal 

is to make a splash using the strength 

of some of the larger players in the 

pool. “We want to have as many big 

fish as we can – sort of rolling our business 

out to become that big player in 

the industry,” he concludes. 

www.rugbymedical.com 


y matt camara 

seeking to become a one-stop shop 

Ohio Medical Equipment Services Firm Launches Innovative 

“replacement-parts finance Program” 

Hospital equipment 

might be working 

a bit longer these 

days as businesses 

start feeling a 

pinch from the 

costs imposed by the Affordable Care 

Act – also known as “Obamacare.” 

And at least one medical equipment 

services firm is already shifting gears 

to put more service engineers in the 

field just to keep older equipment in 

shape. 

“If a machine breaks on a Thursday 

at noon, they need it up on Thursday 

night, not on Friday afternoon,” said 

Ric Arcadi, CEO of CapMed+, a firm 

looking to revolutionize health care 

financing by acting as an all-in-one 

bank, used equipment dealer and 

service shop. The firm recently began 

offering a new medical equipment 

parts financing program, on everything 

from new flat-panel detectors to MRI 

& CT parts. It promises to pair health 

care organizations with the capital 

needed for replacement parts and 

cutting-edge equipment, when they 

need it. 

“Hospitals and imaging centers are 

being forced to find ways to lower costs 

and preserve their working capital. 

And the launch and invention of our 

medical parts finance program was 

geared to do exactly that,” Arcadi told 

The Suit Magazine in an interview. 

“We’re giving these hospitals a choice 

… With our parts finance program, 

they can get the part they need on the 

same day. We can have up to $250,000 

approved and in their hands in four 

hours.” 

But it is more than just Obamacare 

that can cause hospitals headaches. 

“It is tight budgets, the need for quick 

financing and the need for a level of 

customer service that only firms like 

CapMed+ provide,” Arcadi said. 

In the medical finance industry 

since the mid-1990s, Arcadi cut his 

teeth working for American Express. 

Now, as CEO of CapMed+, Arcadi said 

that his firm is dedicated to providing 

quality customer service to clients who 

appreciate personalized service. His 

level of service even goes so far as to 

advise clients on products they have 

purchased from other vendors. 

The financing program is the 

lynchpin that allows the firm to offer 

such a high level of service. 

“We’re really kind of unlimited 

on the type of high value parts we 

can finance under that program,” 

Arcadi said, adding that the firm 

handles discussions with the client on 

everything related to the part – shelflife, 

warranty, financing – everything. 

“There’s a huge benefit to this 

program on kinds of parts in the 

supply chain … We’ve been on both 

sides of the table,” Arcadi related. “For 

hospitals, the benefit is obvious. They 

don’t have to pay $100,000 cash for a 

part … [For] dealers who are going to 

use this program – they don’t have to 

worry about how the hospital is going 

to pay them.” 

Dealers who would normally pay an 

original manufacturer upfront for the 


product, sell it to the hospital and wait 

up to 150 days to get paid. NOW, the 

vendor gets paid from CapMed+ on 

day eliminating the 150 day receivable. 

“Our company is poised and 

positioned to not have a million 

clients. We’d like to have 100 decentsized 

clients who can benefit from our 

level of service,” he explained. 

Based in the Cleveland suburb of 

Solon, Ohio, CapMed+ serves a region 

characterized by the prevalence of 

diagnostic imaging companies. And 

it’s not just companies serving the 

health care industry, but the city’s 

Global Center for Health Innovation 

is now hosting dozens of health care 

conventions every year. There were 

34 in 2013 alone, according to a story 

published at that time by Cleveland. 

com. 

“We have the largest concentration 

of companies in the diagnostic 

imaging industry. Nobody really 

knows it, and we’re in the process of 

creating a face for the concentration 

of imaging companies in Cleveland,” 

said Arcadi, who is a booster of the 

convention center, formerly called 

the Cleveland Medical Mart. 

Proximity to the $490 - 500 million 

convention center and innovation 

hub, positions CapMed+ to be front 

and center with potential clients, 

suppliers and vendors. And with 400 

medical companies in the Cleveland 

area, CapMed+ has no shortage 

of opportunities for sourcing 

equipment, keeping costs down for 

clients. 

CapMed+ plans to hold its own 

events in the center as well. Arcadi 

said that the firm plans to begin by 

building and launching a group 

that will discuss flat-panel detector 

technology – a class of X-ray 

machines working on principles 

similar to digital cameras – and 

more. “The goal is to remedy an 

‘educational void’ around medical 

equipment and financing that 

CapMed+ sees,” he emphasized. 

The firm also provides a look at 

the used parts it can sell clients on 

its website – 90,000 parts in total 

are listed there. Being the bank, 

supplier and service center carries 

one additional advantage as well, 

and that is lower markups. 

Arcadi noted that, while some 

dealers might put markup after 

markup on a piece of equipment 

as it moves through the supply 

chain, CapMed+ doesn’t have to do 

business like that. And they won’t. 

“I think there are a lot of dealers 

and resellers out there who continue 

to put mark up after mark up after 

mark up on a product,” he said. “I’d 

like to see greater transparency in 

the industry – and we’re trying to 

promote that.” 

www.capmedplus.com 


y rich monetti 

CYBER-CONNECTING WITH HEALTH 

Wayne Sakamoto, CEO 

Health insurance seems 

to be only a few clicks 

away for anyone who 

needs it – especially 

with the implementation of the 

Affordable Care Act (ACA). Putting 

together the proper sequence 

of strokes, however, overwhelms 

many Americans. But while the 

Obama Administration has been 

late in directing people to the insurance 

agents themselves for 

help, this is a void that the media 

has finally been addressing and 

helping to fill, according to Wayne 

Sakamoto of Health Insurance Interactive. 

This CEO offers more 

than a leg up for those who enlist 

his company to assist in the finding 

health insurance that is right 

for them. 

“I was one of the first to market 

health insurance on the Internet,” 

he asserts. 

As a health insurance marketer, 

Health Insurance Interactive is a 

holding company of insurance-related 

portals. The company provides 

personalized and online 

health insurance services to the 

local, national and international 

marketplace. Obviously, Health 

Insurance Interactive helps customers 

connect digitally. In addition, 

any inquiries made always 

rise quickly to a level where the 

questions prompting a client’s 

call can be fully answered. “That’s 

going to be my top priority, so I 

want to make sure I contact them 

right away,” Sakamoto said. 

On point, the response never 

amounts to either a runaround 

or a simple run of the 

numbers. “An intuitive agent 

not only understands the marketplace 

but is a good listener 

and has the ability to problem 

solve – because each situation 

is unique,” Sakamoto emphasized. 

Being self-employed, for 

example, could highlight a 

consumer as one who could 

INTERNATIONAL HEALTH PLANS 

A Corporate Family of Insurance Related Websites 

or should be using a health 

savings account to reap additional 

benefits. While the contributions 

are yearly, staying 

healthy could help those contributions 

accumulate nicely 

into a deferred retirement plan 

that doubles as tax deduction. 

Of course, the complexities of 

the ACA keep insurance agents 

up to their ears in compliance 

issues for the companies they 

represent. It also isn’t able to 

completely shield individuals 

from those substandard, socalled 

“skinny networks,” that 

severely limit the number of 

doctors and hospitals in a plan. 

This does not deter Sakamoto 

by any measure. As the marriage 

between technology and 

healthcare delivery evolves, he 

understands how this synergy 

has brought him into markets 

he would never have imagined 

otherwise. 

Beginning at the Department 

of Defense in 2000, Sakamoto 

was employing and associating 

with embassy workers and 

military officers from around 

the world. The need for insurance 

coverage became all 

too apparent – especially if a 

foreign national landed in a 

U.S. hospital. As the Pentagon 

picked up on Sakamoto’s International 

Health Plans website, 

this powerful collaboration 

paved the way for the success 

he now enjoys across the online 

world. His various portals 

offers connections to nautical 

and travel-related insurance as 

well. 

As for social media, Sakamoto 

not only loves sharing 

threads of knowledge on his 

Facebook page, but also welcomes 

the opportunity that a 

lack of knowledge offers. “I 

love taking on challenges, and 

if it wasn’t for the issues clients 

have, I wouldn’t have that experience,” 

Sakamoto acknowledged. 

All he hopes is that there is 

more of it to come. 

www.healthinsuranceinteractive.com 


y peter suciu 

Compliance is Key for Health Care Industry 

Affects more than just care providers 

While the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), commonly called 

the Affordable Care Act, or even “Obamacare,” has gotten much media attention 

– and no less scrutiny – it has widely overshadowed the Health Information Technology 

for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) of 2009. That law may 

not affect individuals, but for those in the health care industry, including businesses 

working with health care providers, it presents new challenges. 

Jonathan P. Tomes, president of 

EMR Legal, has a unique background 

enabling him to guide his 

clients through the complex web that 

is the HITECH Act to make certain that 

they're compliant. 

“The HITECH Act in 2009 said that 

all business associates must comply 

with the same compliance rules as covered 

entities – or face the same civil 

and criminal liabilities as do covered 

entities,” Tomes told The Suit Magazine. 

“They're subject to the same audits 

by Health and Human Services.” 

Moreover, he added that this includes 

businesses – from collection 

agencies to companies that do medical 

billing – which may not be directly involved 

in providing health care. 

Tomes would be the one to know. He 

joined the Army during the Vietnam 

War. Later, he was stationed in Europe 

during the Cold War and did military 

intelligence work before moving on to 

human intelligence, which provided 

him with a practical background. 

“It is the same principle for protecting 

health information that you would 

use for defense information,” he added. 

The Army sent Tomes to law school 

to help defend the military against 

malpractice cases and then taught law 

at the Chicago College of Law. As an 

expert in administrative law, he began 

to conduct seminars around the Health 

Insurance Portability and Accountability 

Act – and in the late1990s formed 

EMR Legal, where he now works with 

dozens of medical practices, hospitals 

and long term care facilities. “It has 

grown,” Tomes admitted. “I certainly 

didn't start out intending to be a HI- 

PAA consultant, but it has worked out 

very well.” 

He stressed that compliance is key 

for anyone even remotely involved in 

the health care industry. Clients need 

to do more than pay lip service to 

compliance, and this often involves a 

working relationship – one where the 

client is tasked with making sure that 

they do everything that is required. 

“They can't just expect me to get 

them magically compliant in a short 

period of time. It doesn't work that 

way,” Tomes stressed. “There is a lot 

of competition out there. There are 

other HIPAA consultants, but very 

few of them have the legal background 

to combine with the practical background. 

We also have a consulting 

team, which includes a great technical 

crew that can do a penetration test of 

the electronic health system of a major 

hospital.” 

The keys to compliance, however, 

still reside with the client. 

Tomes emphasized, “The single most 

important thing that I stress when I'm 

giving a HIPAA presentation or starting 

a compliance program is getting 

the risk analysis done. That is one of 

the main areas to look in preventing a 

civil or monetary settlement.” 

EMR LEGAL, INC. 

7111 West 98th Terrace, Ste 140 

Overland Park, Kansas 66212 

www.emrlegal.com 


y enid burns 

Technology Services 

TAILORED TO CLIENT NEEDS 

Core Competencies 

Fully Managed Services 

Outsourced Service and Help Desk 

Software Administration and Management 

System Audit and Appraisals 

New Network Installations 

Security Consulting 

Small and Medium Business Services 

Dynamic Strategies is proud of its membership in these organizations 

In 1997, after working together 

as consultants on 

a large-scale outsourcing 

contract, Joe Infante and 

two partners formed the endto-end 

solutions provider, Dynamic 

Strategies. Collectively, 

their experience of watching 

an outsourcing project go 

wrong helped them learn how 

to offer services that could 

help companies do outsourcing 

right. The company has 

prospered by maintaining its 

original clients – some for as 

long as 17 years – while continuing 

to build its customer 

base. 

Dynamic Strategies not only 

helps its clients implement 

new technology, but it also 

provides support for those 

technologies it helps put into 

place. While competing firms 

often go an easier route, applying 

the same services across a 

diverse client base, Joe Infante 

and his partners believe it’s 

more appropriate to create a 

custom solution for each client. 

“We have to tailor our services,” 

said Infante. “And we 

will tailor our services to what 

the client needs.” 

This custom approach 

helped the company develop 

Velocity Advantage, its flagship 

offering, which is an IT 

managed services product. 

After reviewing the information 

technology ecosystem 

and its relationship to business 

objectives, a customized 

client solution is proposed. 

“It’s really customizing these 

support models to not only 

meet the customer’s needs, 

but also their expectations 

too,” Infante told The Suit in 

an interview. 

Previous experience as consultants 

helped shape Velocity 

Advantage. “This goes out to 

being in this industry and remembering 

everything that 

we faced in developing our 

company and helping our clients,” 

said Infante. “We are 

looking at why outsourcing 

doesn’t work, or where the existing 

problems are.” 

Three Client Factors 

Three basic factors govern 

how Dynamic Strategies addresses 

client needs: trust, 

vision and outcome. Clients 

need to trust a service provider. 

Companies in regulated 

industries such as finance and 

pharmaceuticals have regulatory 

standards they must adhere 

to on a daily basis. However 

even industries, which 

aren’t restricted by such regulatory 

guidelines have genuine 

concerns about keeping IT 

systems running, up-to-date 

and secure. Trust is essential 

for the client to have confidence 

that a provider like Dynamic 

Strategies will be able 

to assess all their needs and 

address all concerns. 

Vision is necessary. Clients 

often have an idea of what 


their needs are, but still require direction 

in how to get there. “They need 

help with what’s out there, and with 

questions like ‘What have we got to 

be careful about?’ and ‘What am I not 

thinking about?’” Infante explained. 

“Trust and vision are two big things.” 

The third factor, according to Infante, 

is outcome. “A lot of managed service 

providers seem to focus simply on the 

commodity,” he said. “Here’s your service, 

here are the things it includes, and 

here’s a service level. If I do all these 

things, then I provided a great service. 

And they probably have.” 

A customized solution goes a step beyond 

by addressing the client’s needs. 

“In the end the client is looking for an 

outcome that is more than just simply a 

commodity,” Infante asserted. 

Keeping Current with Evolving Technology 

Over the past 17 years, the team at 

Dynamic Strategies has learned to 

stay a step ahead of technology – and 

helps its clients do the same. Infante 

attributes the company’s high client 

retention rate to these efforts. “I think 

this falls into why we can maintain the 

client base. It is our ability to change 

quickly and to adapt our services to 

meet the changing needs of technology,” 

Infante said. He refers to the conditions 

when the company was incorporated 

and PCs cost $4,000. “It’s not 

like that anymore. Now we have co-location 

facilities, now we have cloudbased 

services. Now we have mobile 

apps and mobile devices. So we have 

evolved along with our clients’ needs.” 

Sometimes it requires holding a client’s 

hand and walking them through 

the future, harkening back to Infante’s 

three core principals of trust, vision 

and outcome. 

“It’s those three things we focus on 

which help us move, along with our 

client base – ahead of our client base,” 

he noted. “We’re coming back to our 

clients, saying, ‘This is coming; cloud 

services are coming; here’s what you’re 

going to see in the next six months or 

year.’ That’s the other thing we’re doing 

for our clients. We’re out in front and I 

think those are two big successes for us.” 

Head in the Clouds 

While cloud services have been 

around for the past few years, some 

companies are just starting to invest in 

them. As companies are starting to think 

more and more about the cloud, Dynamic 

Strategies sees opportunities helping 

to manage the transition in the “Wild 

West” that Infante calls the cloud platform, 

where established telecoms and 

start-up companies are competing for 

new contracts. 

“There are so many different things 

coming from different types of providers,” 

said Infante. “Where does a client 

go? So I think we’re going to see ourselves 

– not building a cloud solution 

– but being the broker and managing 

once again how our clients get to the 

cloud, when they use it, and how they 

integrate the cloud along with the things 

that don’t fit in the cloud.” 

One of Infante’s big warnings regards 

things that don’t fit into the cloud. 

“That’s going to be one of the big issues. 

People think everything’s going to go 

into the cloud tomorrow – they’re going 

to pick everything up and put it in the 

cloud. That’s not going to be the case. 

It’s going to be more like, some things 

are going to be cloud-based and other 

things are going to be based on-premises. 

How do we integrate them? How do 

we manage? How do we keep control of 

these things?” 

Although managed services for Dynamic 

Strategies will continue as they 

are currently being delivered, Infante 

sees a shift toward further addressing 

cloud solutions and problems as 2014 

moves into 2015. 

Organization Affiliations 

Dynamic Strategies is a proud member 

of the following organizations 

1nService – www.1nservice.com – 1nService 

is a vertically integrated organization of high-level 

network and advanced technology providers. 

Each member is a proven, successful entity 

alone, but banded together, a more powerful and 

professional tool for your business technology 

expansion and implementation. Our integration 

of expertise brings your business together under 

one concise vision and direction. 

BioNJ– www.bionj.org – BioNJ’s mission is 

to advance the biotechnology and biotechnology-related 

industries in New Jersey for the 

benefit of the citizens, the economy and patients 

of New Jersey, the US and worldwide. 

CompTIA – www.comptia.org – CompTIA is the 

non-profit trade association advancing the global 

interests of information technology (IT) professionals 

and companies including manufacturers, 

distributors, resellers, and educational institutions. 

NJBIA – www.njbia.org – The New Jersey 

Business & Industry Association provides information, 

services and advocacy to its member 

companies in order to build a more prosperous 

New Jersey. NJBIA is the nation’s largest statewide 

employer association. Its members, as a 

group, employ more than one million people. 

259 Prospect Plains Road, 

Building K, Suite 301 

Cranbury, NJ 08512 

.ds-inc. 


y peter suciu 

OBAMACARE FUELS 

Compliance Industry Services 

Implementation of the 

Affordable Care Act 

– less affectionately 

known as Obamacare – 

has meant a boom in business 

for Sharon Bradley, 

RN, MBA, CHC, CPHQ, 

CPHRM. She is a health care compliance, 

quality, and risk management 

professional, and one who isn’t angered 

by all of the new rules, regulations and 

standards for compliance. Her firm, 

CRAQ Health Care Consulting, LLC, 

based in Daytona Beach, Florida, thrives 

on meeting government mandates. The 

Affordable Care Act contains a whole 

host of mandates for health care organizations 

and CRAQ, which stands for 

Compliance, Risk, Accreditation, and 

Quality, is prepared to assist organizations 

in meeting those requirements. As 

president of the firm, Bradley welcomes 

involvement with Obamacare. 

In fact, helping hospitals, clinics, long 

term care facilities and other medical 

organizations meet governmental compliance 

standards is nothing new for 

Bradley. As an independent health care 

compliance consultant, Obamacare’s 

requirements seem more like another 

round of government-issued mandates, 

except with a stronger compliance bite. 

“Prior to the Affordable Care Act, we 

had the Deficit Reduction Act, which 

had a compliance program but it was 

considered more of an ‘involuntaril 

mandatory’ situation,” Bradley explains. 

“You did not necessarily have to 

have a compliance program, but if you 

ran afoul of the government’s rules and 

regulations, you could end up paying 

significant fines and penalties.” 

Today, compliance programs are 

mandatory. Bradley welcomes this. In 

her opinion, having a robust compliance 

program is “the best mitigation strategy” 

for avoiding penalties. 

Starting her career as a registered 

nurse in Florida, she quickly worked 

her way up the clinical ladder into management, 

and she was put in charge of 

quality management, risk management 

and compliance. After a stint managing 

these issues for two hospitals jointly 

owned by a for-profit, multi-hospital 

health system, she took a position 

handling corporate quality management 

and compliance for Tenet, a large, 

for-profit, multi-hospital system. In 2007, 

Bradley became a senior vice president 

with Marsh, a global firm specializing in 

risk and insurance services. She was consulting 

for hospitals across the country, 

a skill set that came in handy when she 

was downsized in 2013, and it was then 

that Bradley decided to hang out her 

own shingle. 

“All of my experience developed my 

taste and approach in how I consult with 

hospitals, ambulatory care centers, provider 

practices and long-term care centers,” 

Bradley said. “My clients today 

appreciate the fact that I have been to 

hundreds of hospitals and other health 

care organizations across the nation and 

I have seen how others handle compliance. 

I have seen what works well and 

what does not work well and I bring 

those experiences to each new client 

when I consult.” 

She notes that the medical profession is 

becoming increasingly dependent on information 

technology – particularly with 

the new requirements under Obamacare 

further mandating electronic medical 

records. This dependency should not replace 

the human element, which in Bradley’s 

estimation, more easily catches errors 

in medical records, thus protecting 

patient safety more effectively. 

“I certainly understand that there are 

errors in IT – and I find them when doing 

reviews,” Bradley said. “The biggest key 

to patient safety though is for the medial 

professionals to engage the patients, 

their families and their support systems. 

Don’t approach their care as just a rote 

set of tasks – but have engaged conversations 

with them and with their families. 

That is what really keeps them safe.” 

Learn more about Bradley and her services 

via CRAQ Healthcare Consulting, 

LLC, at CRAQhealthcare.com . 


y enid burns 

HELPING SMALL 

LENDERS IN TIMES 

OF INCREASING 

REGULATION 

The economic downturn experienced at the close of the 

last decade was a transformative time for the financial 

industry's lending segment. Increased regulations – 

meant to help consumers – actually made small loans 

more expensive and more difficult to obtain. One company, 

Infusit, hopes to remedy that by supplying customer 

support services to small and medium-size lenders, 

so they can continue to provide small loans and 

lines of credit. 

Since the debacle of 2008 and 

2009, as regulation from the 

state and federal levels increased, 

many larger banks simply 

stopped providing smaller loans 

and lines of credit to customers. While 

seemingly opening the door for smaller 

lenders to provide these services, 

new regulations imposed by state and 

federal government made lending to 

consumers increasingly difficult, hurting 

both lenders and consumers. 

“Most of the evolution happening 

in the industry since the recession has 

really, I think, affected the average 

consumer more negatively than positively,” 

said Randall Wasserman, president 

of the financial customer service 

firm Infusit. “You would think that 

increased regulation would be a good 

thing, and it can be in the long run, but 

what happens in the short term is that 

the pendulum swings too far the other 

way. And, what we saw happen, is 

that instead of increasing credit, banks 

decreased the availability of credit – or 

cut it off altogether.” 

Over-Regulation Leads to Under-Funding 

Regulation has all but brought the 

small loan business to a standstill, especially 

in states with tougher regulations, 

such as California, New York, 

Connecticut and Florida, where state 

regulatory laws discourage companies 

from lending money. In New York, 

Connecticut and Florida, the state 

dropped the interest rates lenders can 

charge, making offering small loans 

less profitable. In California, Wasserman 

offers an example of how new 

regulations for lenders determine the 

maximum fees on loans. For instance, 

a loan of under $2,500 cannot accrue 

fees over a certain amount, such as 12 

percent of the loan. As a result, lenders 

simply stopped loaning in that category, 

leaving credit-strapped consumers 

high and dry. Consequently, many 

customers were forced to look in other 

states to get financial help, actually 

paying higher fees in the process. 

“So, in trying to help the consumer, 

some states over-regulated and forced 

consumers to look elsewhere,” Wasserman 

told The Suit Magazine, in 

an interview. “That drives customers 

to neighboring states, … where they 

end up paying much, much more for 

small loans and lines of credit than 

they would have if it wasn't such an 

over-regulated environment.” 

Supporting Small Loans 

Wasserman's firm, Infusit, provides 

customer service, call center support, 

software, and other services for small 

to medium-sized lenders. This, in turn, 

helps reduce operational costs for 

those lenders, allowing them access to 

more capital that they can use for loans 

to consumers. 

“I would like to see more credit and 

lower costs of capital made available 

to small lenders to drive down some 

of the borrowing rates, which will help 

them to grow,” Wasserman said. “This 

will enable them, in turn, to provide 


explained Wasserman. “From helping lenders 

obtain new customers, to helping them 

service their customers – and if the customer 

stops paying, we offer collections functions 

for them as well.” 

lower cost services to their customers, 

which will be a win/win for everyone. 

This is a goal of ours – and 

we're very happy we can be a part 

of that.” 

While outsourcing helps reduce 

costs, Infusit resists the trend to outsource 

in other countries. “We started 

this company because we can be 

competitive right here in the United 

States,” Wasserman said. “We 

are more specialized and provide 

slightly different services than overseas 

call centers, but I'd like to see 

more outsourced services come back 

here, because that's what's better for 

Randall Wasserman, 

President of Infusit 

the country.” 

To help gain a competitive advantage, 

Wasserman's company has created 

an offering, including developing 

its own software, to help small 

lenders meet their needs. 

Infusit works with client lenders 

at every stage from loan application 

to collections. Once a loan is issued, 

Infusit provides customer support 

for client lenders by dealing with 

customer issues in its call center. 

The company also handles billing 

and collections, when necessary. 

“We offer services from the very early 

stages to the very ending stages,” 

“We will treat your 

customers as if they 

were our own! 

Lending Terms 

The lending industry has gone through 

several iterations since Wasserman entered 

the business, roughly 30 years ago. After 

graduating college and working in the lending 

industry, he started his own lending 

company about 20 years ago. He identified 

some issues immediately. “There's a great 

disparity that has come to light in recent 

years with Wall Street and the 98 percent 

movement – the haves and the have nots,” 

said Wasserman. “I got into the industry because 

banks really weren't doing the public 

a good service. They only want to lend 

money to those who have it and don’t need 

it; not to those who need it and don’t have 

it. I wanted to help change that paradigm.” 

While many of the changes happened 

with increased regulation over the past few 

years, the trend actually started many years 

earlier. “Way back when, banks provided 

two services to clients. First, they were depository 

institutions for people who wanted 

to safeguard their money, and the second 

function was to lend money to people 

when they needed it.” Those kinds of loans, 

signature loans and personal loans, don't 

really exist anymore, but Wasserman hopes 

they will come back. 

Transparency Against Predatory Practices 

While Infusit targets small- and medium-size 

lenders issuing small loans, it does 

not support predatory lenders. 

“My main requirement is that lenders be 

honest and transparent,” Wasserman emphatically 

states. “My criteria for taking on 

a new client is that they fully disclose all 

their rates and terms in advance, that they 

are completely transparent, that there are 

no hidden fees whatsoever, and that the 

customer knows before signing anything 

exactly what their loan or line of credit is 

going to cost them.” 

Infusit's criteria for taking on clients aims 

to help bring honest lenders, lenders who 

intend to help customers in need of small 

loans – into the market. Without such lenders, 

customers looking for loans and lines of 

credit often have no other option but to turn 

to predatory lenders for help. 

.infusit 



Employee non-Competition Agreements: 

IMPORTANT ISSUES 

FOR EMPLOYERS 

before and after hiring. 

Fairness and Enforceability Should 

be the Benchmark Legal Target 

Phillip L. Chapman thinks that 

employers should add this question to 

the interview process: 

Have you signed a 

post-employment noncompete 

agreement with 

your previous employer? 

“Quite often, potential new employees do not remember – or think that 

perhaps they did, but they don’t have a copy – so they and the new 

employer do not know what restrictions might be at play,” Chapman said. 

“This issue has to be addressed immediately before they go any further in 

the hiring process.” 


It’s the type of legal issue on which 

Chapman, a business lawyer affiliated 

with Lum, Drasco & Positan, LLC 

in Roseland, NJ, spends a fair amount 

of his professional time. 

Chapman knows that that legal interpretation 

and enforcement of post 

employment-non-compete agreements. 

Legal interpretation and enforcement of 

post-employment non-compete agreements 

is an area whose yearly case files 

have increased more than 60 percent 

nationwide since 2002, when the Wall 

Street Journal began tracking this specific 

legal segment. Some non-compete 

experts contend even those numbers 

may be low because cases settled out 

of court are not tallied. Chapman pinpoints 

technology as a leading culprit 

for this flurry of increased activity. 

“There certainly is more litigation 

of this kind because in the computer 

age it is much easier for an employee 

to download and take with them the 

entire data set of who the company’s 

clients and customers are, as well as details 

of financial arrangements the company 

has with its clients, customers and 

vendors – and also the company’s strategic 

plans,” Chapman explains. “All of 

that is readily accessible to employees 

on their own workstations. Gaining 

that information does not require a 

midnight raid by the employee. It is 

just far too easy for an employee to 

leave with a great deal of the company’s 

confidential information.” 

In Chapman’s judgment, appropriate 

post-employment non-compete 

agreements afford protection for both 

the employer and the departing employee. 

In his many years as a business 

attorney, Chapman said that he’s seen 

both sides of this issue. 

He has concerns for employers 

when a company and a key employee 

– such as a driving force sales person 

representing 40 percent of the company’s 

revenue – part ways. 

“If that person leaves with 40 percent 

of the business, that company is 

going to be mortally wounded,” he 

noted. “On the other hand, employees 

should be able to make career changes 

without unreasonable restrictions. 

Non-compete agreements restricting 

the employment activities of a former 

worker for more than one year often 

are considered too restrictive.” 

“There are a lot of moving parts to 

non-compete agreements, but the target 

is to make them fair and reasonable 

for both the employee and the company 

based on the type of industry they 

work in and the level of competition 

within their marketplace,” Chapman 

emphasized. “No agreements should 

be the same. It is best if they are tailor-made 

for each instance.” 

Learn more about Chapman online at 

www.superlawyer-nj.com 

www.lumlaw.com 


y g. levin 

Health Agent says 

Everyone’s a Potential Client 

When Eric Wilson, president 

of I Sell Health, Inc., 

researched health insurance 

as a business he 

might want to try, he learned that most 

people had a very limited familiarity 

with the industry. 

Wilson opened his company – now 

a multi-state operation headquartered 

near Chicago – in 2004. To his surprise, 

it took longer than expected to get the 

business rolling. 

Wilson already had experience with 

insurance professionals, first working 

for an auto-replacement firm and later 

for an auto-glass company. After 

advancing through the ranks at those 

companies, however, he was intent on 

going into business for himself. 

Still intrigued by the insurance industry, 

Wilson considered property and 

casualty firms. Initially, he switched 

to the health sector because overhead 

costs were lower. In health insurance, 

an office staff managing claims wasn’t 

necessary. 

Wilson's first impressions – that the 

nature of health insurance seemed arcane 

– are still relevant today, with the 

implementation of Obamacare, or the 

Affordable Care Act (ACA). “Clients 

need someone who is knowledgeable 

– not just about the products, but also 

about ACA law, which changes constantly,” 

he noted. 

Prior to the ACA, his clientele consisted 

mostly of self-employed people 

and mom-and-pop businesses. “They 

didn’t have corporate health benefits,” 

Wilson said, “And because there was 

underwriting, they had to be healthy.” 

Plans for the self-employed tended to 

be catastrophic in nature for cost purposes, 

as opposed to products for small 

groups that had lower deductibles. 

Wilson said, “With ACA, underwriting 

disappeared and everyone qualifies 

health-wise – a good thing. But we’re 

seeing more and more large companies 

drop their insurance benefits because 

the cost of insurance got higher.” 

Compared to the more narrow scope 

of the clientele he serviced before ACA, 

Wilson said, “Now, nearly everyone is 

a potential client.” Wilson also works 

with people who have Medicare coverage. 

Prior to ACA, carriers filed their 

health plans in each state where they 

issued policies. Some states had mandates, 

requiring areas of coverage, such 

as mental health or maternity benefits. 

Companies differed from each other 

in the benefits they provided. Some 

would supplement their plans with 

add-on areas of coverage. Other companies 

specialized in specific types of 

coverage. This variety in what companies 

offered ended with ACA. Every 

ACA-compliant health plan must have 

these 10 essential benefits: (1) ambulatory 

patient services (outpatient care); 

(2) emergency services; (3) hospitalization; 

(4) maternity and newborn care; 

(5) mental health services and addiction 

treatment; (6) prescription drugs; 

(7) rehabilitation services and devices; 

(8) laboratory services; (9) preventive 


services; and (10) pediatric services. 

“Choosing a plan is a little easier,” 

Wilson said. Clients view side-by-side 

comparisons of carriers on his company’s 

website. They can look at co-pays 

– how much, for example, one carrier 

requires, as compared to another. 

“In 2011,” Wilson said, “commissions 

were cut in half.” He 

had to reduce his costs and add 

new products to sell – all part of 

changing his business model. 

With underwriting then, “if you 

wrote 100 policies, maybe 90 percent 

qualified,” he said. “Of the 

remaining 10 percent, maybe 7 

or 8 percent would qualify with 

a rate-up.” That is a policy surcharge 

to accommodate a potential 

client’s medical condition. 

If people were not going to be 

able to qualify or had limited 

resources, then agents couldn’t 

spend too much time with them. Time 

was critical when, as Wilson put it, 

“You had to write a lot more policies.” 

“As ACA emerged in 2014, commissions 

were cut again,” he said. “Though 

premiums increased, it wasn’t enough 

to offset the reduction in commissions.” 

Yet, agents no longer had to consider 

how a carrier would view a potential 

client with a pre-existing condition – 

underwriting was gone. 

“Another change affecting how 

agents conduct their business,” Wilson 

noted, “is a shrinking selling season. 

Last year, open enrollment was October 

to the end of March. This year, it’s 

November to February.” 

Wilson said that he wrote about 250 

applications during the open-enrollment 

period last year. In the first eight 

months of 2014, he has written 200 applications. 

“And, the number of carriers has 

diminished,” he said, remarking that 

they’ve gone out of business, or more 

likely, have left the health-insurance 

market. 

With its 10 essential health benefits, 

ACA has moved the industry toward 

uniform standards. “Yet, state control 

of pricing should exist,” he said. “Some 

states – like Alaska and Florida – just 

have different needs.” 

“In an ideal world, you’d make every 

carrier offer the core benefits, but 

you’d get to choose what you think you 

need.” 

When he started in the business, Wilson 

said that he’d sit down with 

as many people as he could to 

acquire clients. No-shows meant 

time wasted. On other occasions, 

he’d drive distances to see potential 

clients, sell the policy, and 

then the new client would cancel 

it almost immediately. “People 

felt compelled to buy because you 

had driven out to see them.” 

Contemporary technology like 

electronic signatures and web 

conferencing, has changed all 

that. “There’s no pressure with 

online meetings,” he said. Wilson 

also blogs to drive traffic to his 

website, writing topical essays, 

such as “Not all Cancelled Health Insurance 

Policies were ‘Junk.’ ” 

I Sell Health, Inc. 

Office: 815-372-1363 

Toll Free: 888-448-5370 

www.isellhealth.com 



Providing 

More than Just 

Health Insurance 

Last year’s federal failure in terms of 

allowing even eligible Americans 

to enroll online for Obamacare via 

the health care exchange systems, 

laid the groundwork for today's success of 

Alaska’s largest Affordable Care Act enroller. 

“We lost a lot of momentum with that,” 

admits Joshua Weinstein, president of Northrim Benefits 

Group, affiliated with Anchorage, Alaska's Northrim Bank. 

“Yet, consequently, the success that comes out of it is that 

we are the largest agency in the state of Alaska for individual 

consumers wanting to enroll in health benefits under 

the Affordable Care Act. We built a model that is lucrative 

and sustainable for our firm around what, in industry standards, 

I would consider a fairly meager commission on individual 

health insurance products.” 

Weinstein is referring to the “Enroll Alaska” division of 

Northrim. 

One year ago, as health insurers ramped up for 

Obamacare enrollment, Northrim identified more than 

100,000 individual Alaskans who would be income-eligible 

for the federal subsidy being offered. Northrim had nearly 

40 employees – including an “Enroll Alaska” division 

Chief Operating Officer – all ready and willing to process 

applications. 

When the health care exchanges opened last October – 

and technical glitch after technical glitch plagued the system 

– Weinstein and his associates at Northrim were just 

as, if not even more, frustrated than the consumers who 

could not log on. 

While the delays were admittedly discouraging, in hindsight 

Weinstein sees blessings in disguise for Northrim. It 

gave them the motivation they needed to up their game in 

terms of customer service within the health care exchange 

system. 

“Not only do we help people get tax credits and manage 

the policies that they have purchased on an individual 

basis, but we also provide care advocacy, so if there are 

claims issues or medical billing errors, we provide a full 

wrap-around solution. That has become a great success 

story, because people who are trying to navigate the insurance 

marketplace do not have to do it alone – and they do 

not have to pay more for that help when they work with 

our ‘Enroll Alaska’ division,” Weinstein explains. 

He adds that the experience taught the benefits group 

he heads how to be nimble and flexible in the ever-changing 

climate of regulatory, political and legislative priorities 

surrounding health care. 

It almost sounds like an over-used cliché, unless one 

considers the monumental changes Obamacare presented 

to the issuers of health care policies and the 

employers purchasing them on behalf of employees. 

Since its founding, 

Northrim's mainstay 

has been 

providing 

group benefits. 

The “Enroll 

Alaska” 


division, however, primarily targets individual consumers, 

representing a welcome expansion into this new area 

for the firm. 

When Weinstein came on board as a temporary summer 

hire in 2002, the Northrim Benefits Group consisted 

of three employees. He was in between teaching positions 

and took the job “not just to kill some time” in the summer 

months, but to use his time and skills wisely while school 

was out. He found himself enjoying the industry enough 

to stay. 

“I am a numbers person,” Weinstein said. “I enjoy helping 

a client establish what their need is and then putting 

together a solution to fill that need.” 

At first, his policy writing work focused on responding 

to the care needs associated with an illness or injury. Then 

the insurance policy tide turned, and Weinstein saw 

opportunities to help people stay healthy by emphasizing 

preventative care and wellness. That evolved 

into helping companies purchase group plans at 

lower than usual cost. 

“Health care spending has become such a significant 

part of the financial picture for business 

owners, that if they do not get a handle 

on the rising cost of 

their health care 

plan, they lose 

their competitive 

edge,” he stressed. 

Weinstein put 

his love of num- 

bers to work, analyzing budgets and spreadsheets for 

the firms Northrim serviced. The benefits group began to 

grow. Today, the firm employs 12 to 20, with renewal season 

requiring more staff. 

As Obamacare began to be implemented, it became clear 

to Weinstein that the firm’s clients needed plain English 

guidance as to how this would impact them. 

“The most significant consideration in the early part of 

the law back in 2010, was just getting our arms around 

this and figuring out what does it mean to us,” he noted. 

“Now, further into its implementation – as employers we 

work with are seeing the sticker shock associated with this 

expansion of health care benefits and the compliance requirements 

associated with it – a lot of concern has been 

created in our office that employers may not, or likely are 

not, doing everything they are supposed to be doing at 

the right time or getting the right information to the right 

people at the right time.” 

Hence, Northrim’s focus regarding Affordable Care Act 

education gave way to a focus on compliance and a new 

set of services began to be offered to clients: Online communication 

portals offering support for human resource 

departments, document preparation services and a primer 

on Obamacare titled “Healthcare Reform 101.” This was 

written to get clients up to speed and comfortable with the 

latest mandates they had to meet. 

“Added to Obamacare are the continual announcements 

from the Federal Department of Labor that the agency intends 

to audit every employer sponsoring health and welfare 

plans within the workplace,” Weinstein notes. This 

only provides Weinstein and his staff with more reason 

to focus on compliance in regards to health care insurance 

policies. 

“It has gotten a lot more technical – and we really have 

had to roll up our sleeves,” Weinstein emphasized. “But 

for us, being able to take all of that information and regurgitate 

it back to the client in a way that is understandable 

and meaningful to them, so that they know we are full 

partners with them in this journey, is our goal.” 

3111 C St, Suite 500 

Anchorage, Alaska 99503 

P: 907.263.1401 |TF: 888.910.6667 

Email: info@northrimbenefits.com 

www. northrimbenefits.com 


EARLY IDENTIFICATION OF LD AND ADHD IS CRITICAL 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports that 4.9 

million children, ages 3-17, were diagnosed with a learning disability in 

2012. Additionally, more than 5 million children in that same age range 

had attention deficit disorder (ADHD), with boys almost three times as 

likely as girls to be diagnosed as having it. 

Ronald Cantwell, M.D., who is board certified in neuro-developmental 

pediatrics, has made the study 

of children with Learning Disabilities and ADHD 

his life’s work. He is an innovator in diagnostic testing, as 

evidenced by the recent launch of the Children’s Diagnostic 

Learning Tests. These are two assessment 

tools created by Cantwell, 

whose goal was to design simple, 

research-based tests that preferably 

did not need to be administered by a 

psychologist. The tests are called the 

Children’s Learning Disabilities Test 

(CLDT) and the Children’s Attention 

Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Test 

(CADHDT). 

Learning Disabilities and ADHD are 

lifelong neurological disorders that 

are present from birth, according to 

Cantwell. “They don’t go away and 

early treatment is essential. They are the two most common 

causes of children failing to read and failing to progress academically, 

and of those who exhibit bad spelling and especially 

bad writing – atrocious doctor-style writing,” he 

explained. 

Cantwell has published many professional papers on 

child development, having conducted considerable research 

in Learning Disabilities and ADHD within Florida’s 

Miami-Dade County Public Schools, the fourth largest 

school district in the United States. “Within a school system, 

getting a child diagnosed with Learning Disabilities has always 

been a long, drawn-out process. 

In the meantime, the child tends to fall 

behind their peers and lose self-confidence.” 

said Cantwell. One advantage 

of the CLDT and CADHDT offered 

through the Children’s Diagnostic 

Learning Tests is avoiding the waiting 

time that can be up to a year for psychological 

testing. 

Currently, no other tests compare 

with the Cantwell online model, which 

is capable of identifying the child’s 

learning strengths and weaknesses as 

well as identifying the child’s learning 

style, whether it is visual or auditory. 

To find out more about the 

learning disabilities test visit: 

ChildrensLearningDisabilitiesTest.com.

y peter suciu 

The Business 

of Brightness 

Without the business 

of lighting, the world 

would be in a “dark 

age,” at least after sunset 

each eve¬ning. For Billy Hodges, president 

of Digital Fila¬ments LLC, the 

business of lighting is one that is equal 

parts science and art – and he sheds 

some light on why. 

“It is a consideration that really everyone 

should try to balance when 

they are dealing with lighting,” Hodges, 

who began his career as a lighting 

designer, told The Suit Mag¬azine. 

“While most people take lighting for 

granted, at the de¬sign level it involves 

creating that balance between the de¬sign 

and the visions of an architect, 

with lighting solutions that work in 

the aesthetics of a space and also fit 

within its technical requirements,” he 

said. 

For Digital Filaments, there is a 

business side of illumi¬nating which 

is involved as well. The firm, which 

serves the greater Philadelphia, southern 

New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania 

regions, is also involved in sales 

and brok¬ering roles. The company 

now supplies packages of lights from 

multiple manufacturers through local 

wholesalers to a va¬riety of end users. 

Hodges launched his firm two years 

ago, at a time that can best be described 

as the modern “enlightenment” of 

lighting, when the century-old incandescent 

began to fade, becoming replaced 

by newer, even brighter and 

energy-sav¬ing technologies. 

It is this technology – the Light Emitting 

Diode (LED) – that Hodges said 

will shine a path to the future for his 

busi¬ness and beyond. LED, when 

paired with sophisticated, in¬telligent 

lighting control systems, can be 

utilized as “the network” collecting 

& distributing intelligence in a retail 

establishment or on a municipal level. 

“Lights are everywhere and when 

mixed with wireless control, they become 

more than lighting, they become 

infrastructure.” 

“The LED is becoming more affordable, 

more practical and is being accepted 

daily for projects,” he added. 

“At the same time the technology for 

lighting controls has devel¬oped to a 

similar point.” 

“The incandescent is really just a 

decorative heater at this point,” said 

Hodges, adding that his firm now represents 

more than 50 lighting brands, 

of which the vast majority are LED or 

LED-relat¬ed. “It’s what we do. Even 

our name is a play on the old incandescent 

filament along with the new role 

of digital LED lighting.” 

225 S. Chester Road, #7, 

Swarthmore, PA 19081 

PHONE: 215.600.2024 

www.digitalfilaments.com 


y rodric j. bradford 

Commitment to Community 

A Passion With a Pupose 

Health Care financial consulting 

firms often get painted as cold, 

heartless entities that are only 

worried about profits for their hospital 

and payer clients, but not The Chappelle 

Group. They have found a way to 

combine a passion for performance and 

operational efficiency with their industry 

expertise and experience to have a 

long-lasting, positive effect on their client’s 

communities they serve. 

Comprised of seasoned Health Care 

financial professionals with diverse concentrations, 

The Chappelle Group has 

three main Health Care Finance service 

divisions: Revenue Cycle, Audit and Reimbursement, 

Physician Practice. Concurrently, 

The Chappelle Group also 

administers a non-Health Care financial 

consulting arm which concentrates on 

the incubation of small businesses and a 

501c3 corporation that develops student 

learning and exposure in grades 5-12 in 

the areas of financial literacy and associated 

careers in financial areas. 

“At the core, no matter what field I 

am servicing, I am a helper – and that is 

what our firm does,” says Jamal Chappelle, 

chief executive officer, who founded 

the Maryland-based firm in 2001. 

“Helping fuels me, and it feeds our staff. 

All the sectors we work in help people 

– and help them find the tools to be successful.” 

Providing services to government-contracted 

health plans, major health systems, 

independent community hospitals, 

skilled nursing facilities, community 

providers both hospital based and stand 

alone, The Chappelle Group commits to 

exceeding client expectations by identifying 

critical issues and implementing 

customized solutions to increase cash 

flow, efficiency, net patient revenues and 

to maintain regulatory compliance. 

“One of our greatest success stories 

was helping an urban safety-net hospital 

return to profitability for the first time in 

20 years,” says Chappelle. “We worked 

together as a team to help pay off a $28 

million loan back to the municipality in 

nine months, that was originally due 

back in two and a half years. It was a 

huge accomplishment that speaks to 

how well we can integrate with an existing 

staff to produce optimal results.” 

Chappelle always makes it a point to 

collect more cash or actually save more 

net patient revenue than it costs to hire 

the firm – no matter the client. 

“We come in with a sense of partnership, 

and industry best practice expertise 

that yields cooperative change and 

ultimately desired results”. 

In healthcare, that partnership is based 

upon the firm’s expertise in revenue cycle 

processes, reimbursement, coding, 

regulatory policy,/compliance and physician 

practice management. Depending 

on evaluations to identify issues reducing 

cash flow, the firm uses these evaluations 

and interviews in conjunction with 

their expertise on both the provider and 

payer side of the healthcare reimbursement 

spectrum to actively capture and 

recover net patient revenue. 

“One hundred percent of our frontline 

billers and collectors are certified 

revenue cycle consultants – something 

that our competitors do not offer,” says 

Chappelle. “This level of experience 

allows us to create customized solutions 

for contract management, recovery 

and collections, as well as 

audit and compliance.” 

Chappelle’s solutions go far beyond 

the corporate boardroom. 

The Chappelle Group’s 501(c)3 

nonprofit group – The Talented 

10 – helps students increase financial 

literacy, beginning in fifth 

grade and continuing throughout 

their high school careers, with a comprehensive 

reading, writing, analytical 

thinking and mathematical 

computation program designed 

to introduce students to the U.S. securities 

market. 

“We teach children to invest in what 

they like so that they can become shareholders 

or owners instead of just being 

consumers,” Chappelle related. “For a 

group of people who do not feel like they 

are part of the process, this is very liberating 

and makes them want to continue 

their education to enhance those skills. 

We have always believed that if we reach 

the children, their parents will follow – 

and they have. We are able to serve the 

needs of the greater good, along with 

serving our clients’ bottom lines.” 

Maryland Trade Center One 

7500 Greenway Center Drive, 

Suite 910 

Greenbelt, Maryland 20770 

P. 301.220.3255 

www.thechappellegroup.com 


y peter suciu 

A STRAIGHTLINE PATH 

For those planning for retirement 

today, there can be a lot of jargon 

flying around that is often 

more confusing than informative. 

For Bethany W. Mosshart, 

CEO of the Troy, Mich. firm StraightLine, 

it’s all about guiding clients based on 

what is right for them, rather 

than just following the old 

school investing models. 

“We are a true fiduciary – 

and we take that responsibility 

very seriously,” Mosshart 

told The Suit. StraightLine 

works with employers of 

all sizes, public and private, 

providing account management 

for employees regardless 

of their account size. 

The service doesn’t cost employers 

anything but a small 

bit OF time for meetings and 

it provides an essential benefit 

to their people. 

The firm’s founders and 

principals came from the 

commission-based brokerage 

industry and all saw 

the inherent problems of 

traditional financial services 

to Retirement 

firms. They began StraightLine by managing 

401K accounts for corporate clients 

and individuals. 

Mosshart has been the CEO since the 

firm’s founding in 2002. She has been 

responsible for client service and retention, 

while acting as a liaison between 

clients and their plan providers. With a 

background in education, Mosshart 

helped steer the firm toward 

working with companies 

to provide account management 

and participant 

education, 

where she saw an 

opportunity for 

the firm’s services. 

This is 

now the area of 

concentration 

for new business 

development. 

In the process, 

Straight- 

Line helps all of its clients prepare for 

retirement. Mosshart stressed that, while 

there is a wealth of information for those 

who want it, most individuals don’t even 

care how the system works. They just 

want to know that someone is helping 

them make informed decisions as they 

work their way toward a solid 

financial future. 

“We strive to make sure 

we understand the client’s 

risk profile: How close they 

are to retirement; how soon 

they expect to use their money; 

their personal attitudes 

about risk and reward, and 

the tradeoff between those 

two,” Mosshart explained. 

“We make a concerted effort 

to get the client into the risk 

model that is appropriate 

for them. If it is someone in 

their 30s, they are generally 

invested differently from 

someone in their late 50s.” 

This has also become increasingly 

important as individuals 

are living longer and 

need their money to go the 

distance for them. Mosshart 

said that StraightLine strives 

to reinforce the good habits of clients regarding 

savings – to start early and to 

save as much as they possibly can. 

“They need to get in the habit of saving 

more, because people are requiring their 

money to last longer,” she said, while 

noting that the status of social security 

remains in doubt for many younger 

people. “Having that uncertainly about 

social security makes personal investing 

and personal retirement planning all the 

more important,” Mosshart stressed. 

StraightLine 

165 Kirts Blvd., Suite 100 

Troy, MI 48084 

248.269.8366 

www.straightline.com 


y enid burns 

THE CORNERSTONES OF 

Honesty, Loyalty and Putting Information Together in One Place 

As the only female principal at 

California Financial Advisors, 

Michelle Perry Higgins doesn’t mind 

because she is one of the driving forces 

behind the success of the San Ramon-based 

firm. The firm has over 

$975 million in assets under management 

specializing in financial 

planning and money management. 

Higgins, along with her colleagues, 

continues to demonstrate a dedication 

to their clients, by investing time 

to learn their client’s employee benefit 

plans as well as the special needs of 

each and every client. 

Higgins is the author of two bestselling 

titles: “The Everything Binder: 

Financial, Estate and Personal Affairs 

Organizer” and “Stocks, Bonds & Soccer 

Moms: 7 Steps to a Balanced Life.” 

She has also pushed the boundaries 

for her practice via a strong social 

media presence. Utilizing Facebook, 

Twitter and LinkedIn, along with other 

social media platforms, she communicates 

and stays connected with 

clients and other industry advisors. 

Whether Higgins is connecting 

through social media, making direct 

contact in person or on the phone 

with clients, she does, however, expect 

honesty and loyalty from those 

clients to whom she offers her services. 

“Two absolutely essential qualities 

that I look at when I am interviewing 

a client – and I hope they are looking 

for those same things in me – are honesty 

and loyalty,” Higgins told The 

Suit in an interview. “When a client 

is upfront and honest with me I am 

able to see their complete financial 

picture. They need to disclose all their 

debt, their dreams into retirement 

and things that may absolutely terrify 

them with the stock market. None of 

that can be sugar coated or hidden.” 

“Loyalty is important because financial 

planning stretches over years 

and decades,” she added. “I want to 

be managing my client’s funds until 

the day they die.” 

“When I reference the loyalty part – 

it’s easy to be loyal during really good 

times in the stock market cycles – but 

also in the downside, when times are 

really tough, like in 2008. We want 

our clients to be loyal during those 

times also.” 

Those attributes are not just part of 

Higgins’ practice, but are practiced 

by all of the California Financial Advisors. 

“Our firm really prides itself 

on being upfront, honest and loyal 

with clients. We’ve been around for 

a long time. Our longevity and very 


low turnover ratio proves a strong 

commitment to our client base,” said 

Higgins. 

That commitment also means doing 

extra work to learn what employee 

benefits a client has or might need 

to access. In one case, Higgins spent a 

significant amount of time learning in 

depth about the benefit plans of two 

companies: AT&T and Chevron. 

When an executive or manager from 

either of those companies came in for 

an initial appointment, “They didn’t 

have to explain to me their pension 

plan, their 401(k), stock options and 

deferred compensation. I knew it. So it 

took a lot of the stress off them,” Higgins 

remarked. “I had the knowledge 

– and in exchange, what happened was 

that I received countless referrals over 

the last few decades. That was a huge 

success for my investment of time into 

the AT&T and Chevron markets, and 

I am forever thankful for the referrals 

that continue to come from these employees.” 

Whether a new client is from AT&T 

or from a smaller company not familiar 

to the firm, Higgins stresses 

the importance of safety nets that can 

help support clients through difficult 

stock market corrections such as the 

one experienced in 2008. Higgins believes 

in what she calls a “defensive 

barrier,” which is the fixed income 

portion (bonds and cash) of a portfolio 

taking on no stock market risk. This 

defensive barrier helps to reduce the 

panic or selling spree that may occur 

during steep corrections. “My clients 

know they have this cushion in place 

to weather the storm. Some clients 

prefer 7 years in their defensive barriers, 

while others want 20 years. That 

defensive barrier is a very important 

component of how I put clients’ plans 

together,” she said. 

Another way Higgins works with 

clients to help them be prepared is to 

pull all relevant information into one 

place. This is why she created “The 

Everything Binder.” It is an organizer 

Books By Michelle 

to help her clients gather all of their 

information in one safe place for their 

loved ones. 

“You could have an estate plan done 

– but where’s your jewelry and cash 

hidden in the home? How much are 

your collectibles worth? What’s the 

safe code? What’s this stuff in the cloud 

– you don’t have the password,” she 

offered by way of example. Although 

that ounce of planning and putting 

together important information about 

belongings goes well beyond financial 

planning, it helps clients get more value 

from their financial plans. It also ensures 

that surviving spouses and family 

members are not lost when it comes 

to locating and recovering assets. 

“So that – hands down – continues 

to be one of my greatest concerns in 

planning for the future,” Higgins said 

emphatically, “It’s making sure that in 

addition to estate planning, that people 

are documenting and organizing 

everything in one location for the people 

they love.” 

Stocks, Bonds & Soccer Moms: 7 Steps to a Balanced Life 

Women these days have been raised to believe they can have it all. And they can – if they 

can learn to find balance, both inner and outer. 

Michelle Perry Higgins had a fabulous marriage, a healthy child, a mega-powered career, 

and enough stress and imbalance to almost ruin everything. 

In this Amazon best-seller, Michelle reveals the seven steps she took to bring herself and 

her life back into balance. 

Each chapter in the book reveals one of the steps to balance in detail, along with practical 

tips and suggestions, and clear, heartfelt advice. The results: 

A happier, healthier, more confident you! 

The Everything Binder: Financial, Estate, and Personal Affairs Organizer 

The Everything Binder is the essential all-in-one storage system 

for all your most important information, including: 

*Pre & Post-Death Checklists 

*Medical History 

*Important Contacts 

*Insurance 

*Document Originals & Copies 

*Funeral Arrangements 

www.michelleperryhiggins.com 

*Personal Property 

*Retirement & Investments 

*Debt 

*And much more! 

*Income & Cash Equivalents 

*Pet Information 


y mary minor davis 

Offsetting the Traditional 

“Four Percent Rule” 

Mike Philbrick, CIM®, AIFP®, 

Senior Vice President 

and Portfolio Manager 

To ensure that financial planning truly 

addresses today’s retirement needs, 

some wealth managers are rethinking 

the traditional “4 percent rule” in favor of 

greater portfolio diversification to address 

how they can prepare for their clients’ longterm 

needs, given today’s challenging market 

conditions. 

Mike Philbrick, CIM®, AIFP®, is a Senior 

Vice President and Portfolio Manager at Butler, 

Philbrick, Gordillo & Associates Group, 

an affiliate within Dundee Goodman’s Private 

Wealth division. He shared some thoughts 

with The Suit Magazine on his team’s approach 

to managing the contemporary retirement 

conundrum. 

The 4 percent rule was devised in the 1990s 

by California financial planner William Bengen 

and later refined by other retirement-planning 

academics. Bengen analyzed historical 

returns of stocks and bonds, and found that 

portfolios with 60 percent of their holdings in 

large-company stocks and 40 percent in intermediate-term 

U.S. bonds could sustain withdrawal 

rates starting at 4.15 percent, adjusted 

each year for inflation, for every 30-year span 

going back to 1926. 

However, Philbrick, in quoting from a recent 

article published by Wayde Pfau, a professor 

of retirement income at the American 

College for Financial Services, said there is 

strong evidence that the rule no longer applies 

in today’s market conditions. 

For example, people with portfolios expecting 

to draw 4 percent in retirement forever 

with a high level of confidence – without 

regard for market regime – haven’t factored 

in that long-term rates are yielding historical 

low returns of between 2 1/2 to 3 percent. At 

the same time, the US stock market is near alltime 

high levels of valuation. . “When these 

two factors co-exist, a financial plan that’s 

based on the well-accepted 4 percent rule 

has about a 57 percent failure rate,” Philbrick 

quoted from Pfau’s analysis. 

“What this means is, that if people are planning 

retirement using traditional portfolio 

management techniques, they may be go 


ing into the current situation 

thinking that they have a high 

degree of certainty, when the 

fact is, they don’t,” Philbrick 

added. 

“Traditional portfolio management 

techniques are based 

on flawed assumptions and 

behavioral traps that invalidate 

widely used planning 

tools, and the lessons from 

Wade’s article highlight one 

example of how this can put 

retirement dreams in jeopardy,” 

he concluded. 

It is precisely this type of 

research and hard evidence 

tracking that, according to 

Philbrick, is what sets his team 

apart for clients, who range 

from non-pensioned professionals 

needing an income 

stream to maintain an accustomed 

lifestyle, to more 

sophisticated wealthy 

families looking for asymmetric 

returns, as well as 

small- to mid-sized endowment 

funds. The firm 

also works with advisors 

who rely on their expertise. 

Basing their assumptions 

on evidence as opposed 

to theory, as well 

as systematic investment 

programs and proprietary retirement 

planning techniques adopted 

from the pension industry, 

Philbrick said, “We tell clients the 

truth even if it’s hard to hear. I 

think this allows clients to build 

thoughtful plans based on solid 

foundations. This is one of the 

key advantages we have as both a 

group and a firm.” 

Gestalt Architecture is a process designed 

by Philbrick’s team to avoid 

behavioral traps that people fall into 

when it comes to long-term financial 

planning. The approach has four legs, 

including a long-term investment 

policy informed by true fiduciary 

standards; a disciplined investment 

process for delivering strong, stable 

returns in most markets; use of advanced 

retirement technology; and 

providing strong customer service 

that includes regular contact, transparency 

and ongoing education. 

“The key to achieving Gestalt success 

is diversification,” Philbrick explained. 

While there was a subtle 

shift away from the traditional goal 

of achieving returns higher than the 

index after the 2008 Global Financial 

Crisis, as the S&P has soared higher, 

investors have re-embraced their traditional 

performance chasing roots. 

As strong returns have boosted confidence 

in stocks, these same investors 

have move to ever more concentrated 

equity allocations. Apparently investors 

have short memories about how 

this story always ends. 

Quoting Peter Bernstein, Philbrick 

“Diversification is an explicit 

recognition of our ignorance.’ 

We don’t know what’s going 

to happen. You should own 

a number of different assets. 

Having many stocks, even 

from different countries, 

doesn’t diversify you,” he 

added. “Having a portfolio 

that includes stocks and real 

estate, US Treasuries, gold, 

commodities – that will get you 

a lot closer.” 

said, 

Philbrick said that despite the market 

volatility over the last 15 years, 

he is surprised to see people are still 

selecting managers based on recent 

performance. He noted that selecting 

managers on the basis of performance 

over the past 3 to 5 years is “ a 

near-perfect recipe for substantial longterm 

under-performance,” 

He suggested that active management 

is almost entirely explained by 

three factors: seeking value, seeking 

momentum and lowering volatility. 

“An advisor should be able to explain 

how he or she is leveraging these factors.” 

These are the realities that Philbrick 

and his team seek to bring to their clients 

when looking at long-term retirement. 

He said the most important 

concept in wealth management is that 

risk is measured as the probability that 

clients won’t meet their financial goals. 

Investing should have the exclusive objective 

of minimizing that risk. 

“Most prospective clients that we 

meet with don’t understand the sequence 

of return risk,” he said. “The 

five years right before retirement and 

the five years after retirement – how 

you do in that 10-year period is a 

strong indicator of how you will do 

over your entire retirement. It’s volatility 

risk that threatens their portfolios, 

and thus their long-term financial 

outcomes. For many people, 

it’s better to get 7% in a lower volatility 

portfolio than 9% in a higher 

volatility portfolio when you start to 

make withdrawals.” 

Philbrick added that this lack of 

understanding can undermine clients’ 

long-term goals. Once you educate 

investors on the types of issues 

that they should focus on, it's 

easier to help them recognize and 

address those risks along the way. 

“We take the management of risk 

very, very seriously.” 

1 Adelaide Street East 

Suite 2100 

Toronto, ON M5C 2V9 

Telephone: 416.350.3388 

www.dundeegoodmanprivatewealth.com 

BUTLER | PHILBRICK | GORDILLO & ASSOCIATES 


y gerald h. levin 

Shifting Markets Demand Capability 

of Taking Defensive Positions 

Lessons from the 2008 economic meltdown have 

stuck with Leo Gotleib, owner of Gotleib & Associates, 

a financial-planning firm headquartered 

in New Jersey. Industry professionals traditionally used 

a buy-and-hold strategy, believing “what goes down 

eventually comes back up,” Gotleib said. “In 2008, we 

learned that doesn’t necessarily work.” Instead, his response 

was to adopt a more proactive style of management. 

In addition to implementing quarterly reviews 

of client portfolios, his firm partnered with a technology 

company to develop its own 

Dynamic Asset Allocation system. 

This system – which steadily analyzes 

the performance of market 

sectors – allows Gotleib to take defensive 

positions in declining markets 

and quickly re-allocate client 

resources to safer investments. 

The firm operates in three niche 

markets, an approach that Gotleib 

has long favored. Its primary market 

has been in managing retirements 

of telecommunication employees 

in New Jersey, Manhattan and 

southeastern Pennsylvania. Gotleib 

conducts educational workshops 

and markets retirement-planning 

services directly to telecomm employees 

and not through a contract 

with specific companies. He recognized 

an emerging opportunity 

as telecomm companies continued 

to offer retirement incentives to its 

employees wishing to replace them 

with updated technology. 

“Telecomm retirees are typically 

in their mid-fifties, making it essential 

they stay disciplined in their investment 

strategies,” Gotleib said. 

“They can take a very reasonable 

distribution, where the probability 

is high for obtaining a return that is greater than the distribution.” 

A second niche involves working with CPAs across 

the country to provide advanced tax planning for their 

high-net-worth clients. The firm’s third niche market 

is offering comprehensive financial planning services 

through which it counsels physicians about what they 

must do for a successful retirement. Gotleib plans to increase 

activity in this sector of his business. 

A major concern for retirement professionals today, 

Gotleib noted, “Is that too many people focus on fees, 

not on the benefit of establishing a relationship with a 

financial planner.” He said that the popularity of online 

services, make it easy for people to conduct transactions 

themselves. “In an up market, they 

get a little bit of success and they 

quickly forget about when the market 

crashed in 2008.” When he was 

18, Gotleib acquired an insurance 

license at the urging of his father, 

an insurance professional. After 

graduating in 1984 from Monmouth 

University in New Jersey, 

he began a career in financial planning, 

while employed at John Hancock 

Financial Services. His manager 

was opening an independent 

financial planning firm and encouraged 

Gotleib to join him. In 1989, he 

began his own firm. 

“Financial planning was the new 

buzzword then, however it was not 

really defined,” Gotleib said. “In 

many situations, it was a fancier 

way of selling insurance.” 

In speaking of his clients now, 

Gotleib emphasized, “The goal is 

not to double their investment, the 

goal is to make sure they don’t run 

out of money.” 

1120 Route 73, Suite 305 

Mount Laurel, NJ 08054 

www.invest2retire.com 


y peter suciu 

WEALTH: 

It's More than Just Money 

While many financial advisors 

focus their investment 

strategies on stocks, 

bonds and other types of 

investment products, Dryden and Laila 

Pence have long believed there is an 

entire world of opportunities available 

to those looking beyond having the 

wealth needed to retire. 

This core understanding – that 

wealth is more than just the money 

alone – is the principal on which their 

firm is founded and serves as the basis 

of how they help guide their clients 

today. “It's Pence Wealth Management 

and not Pence Retirement Management,” 

explained co-principal Dryden 

Pence. “This is really about planning 

for your dreams.” 

Founded in 1980 in Southern California, 

the firm has grown to include 

three California branches with a fourth 

in Michigan, and was built around asking 

the fundamental question of wealth 

and making it work for their clients. 

“We define wealth as having the time 

and the resources to do what matters to 

you the most when you want to do it,” 

Dryden Pence told The Suit. “That is far 

more than just retirement.” 

“It's not the money, but what money 

provides,” added Laila Pence. She has 

been named by Barron's Magazine as 

one of the top financial advisors in the 

nation 1 . 

In fact, while the firm is headed by 

its married partners, the partnership itself 

was very much a marriage of skills 

as well. Laila already had expertise 

in financial planning, while Dryden 

brought his 20 years of experience in 

investment banking. The resulting 

creation was a successful firm built 

around those core elements that are 

key to maintaining their clients' wealth. 

Over time, Pence Wealth Management 

grew to include a service as well as a 

marketing team, and today the company 

consists of 26 team members, including 

eight advisors and even a PhD 

in economics. In 2014 the Financial 

Times has named Pence Wealth Management 

as one of the TOP 300 Registered 

Investment Advisors firm in the 

country 2 . 

“Being able to grow quickly and 

having everyone play their fastball has 

worked very well for us,” Dryden said 

proudly. “That is where we are today.” 

What the firm does today is to help 

clients prepare now for tomorrow – yet 

this isn't limited to simply planning for 

retirement. “Many times people come 

in, and they really want to be able to 

provide for their children's education, 

for their grandchildren's education. 

They want to provide a legacy,” Laila 

explained. “As they get older it is far 

more than just retirement. It becomes 

providing for the people you love, 

whether it is also helping their children 

buy a home or leaving a legacy 

that transfers not just wealth but values 

as well.” 

As a result, many of the clients of 

Pence Wealth Management are people 

who are already comfortable, but still 


the economic downturn of 2008-09. 

Dryden said that he helped guide clients 

through it by using rather than 

fearing the markets. 

“It was about taking advantage of the 

volatility,” he explained. “A portfolio 

should aim to generate cash flow, or 

‘dry powder’ to take advantage of those 

moments. Don't you hate it when something 

goes on sale but you don't have 

the money to buy it?” 

In this regard, Dryden said the fact 

that cash flows trump volatility is a 

key point that investors, including his 

clients, need to understand. This point, 

which he understood during his years 

in investment banking, is truly one of 

turning a bad situation into an opportunity. 

He added, “It has worked very well 

for us through the Great Recession of 

2008/2009 and beyond.” 

want to ensure that the money they 

have will last for the rest of their lives, 

and will also be able to help their loved 

ones. 

“This is about being comfortable with 

their wealth – and confident that their 

wealth will be there to do those things 

that matter the most,” said Dryden. “It 

is more than just the dollars you need 

for retirement but the wealth you may 

need for the rest of your life, and defining 

with people what they want to do 

with that wealth.” 

Pence Wealth Management truly 

lives by its motto of “planning for your 

dreams,” and the Pences told The Suit 

that their clients had some pretty big 

dreams that they want to see fulfilled. 

One wanted to build churches for his 

community, while others have wanted 

buildings named after them. 

“We have had many clients who 

wanted to do things for others. It truly 

is much, much more than just retirement,” 

said Laila, adding, “We each 

have a servant's heart. We are here to 

serve our clients. The goal is for the 

company to scale the business and 

continue to make a big difference in 

the lives of our clients.” 

While the Pences are there to help 

make those dreams come true, they 

said that it isn't all that uncommon 

to find clients who don't know what 

they want. This is why every potential 

new client is given a test, so that 

their investor psychology can be better 

understood. Doing this helps not 

only determine that the investors have 

realistic expectations, but also whether 

they are the right clients for Pence 

Wealth Management. 

Meeting those expectations – and 

the dreams that come with them – became 

increasingly difficult following 

Laila Pence & E. Dryden Pence III are 

Registered Principals with LPL Financial. 

Securities and Advisory Services 

offered through LPL Financial, a Registered 

Investment Advisor. Member 

FINRA/SIPC. 

1 2014 Barron’s rankings are based on 

assets under management, revenue 

generated for advisors’ firms, quality of 

practices, and other factors. 

2 2014 Financial Times list is based on 

six broad factors and calculates a numerical 

score for each adviser. Areas for 

consideration include adviser’s AUM, 

asset growth, years of experience, industry 

certification, FINRA compliance 

record and online accessibility. 

Newport Beach Location 

5000 Birch Street, Ste 8000 

Newport Beach, CA 92660 

www.pencewealthmanagement.com 


y by annise anise celano 

DJK CONSULTING, LLC 

Making a Strong Case 

An expert witness views financial disputes 

Professionals on Wall Street aren’t 

dealing with Monopoly money 

– and neither are the increasing 

numbers of Americans seeking financial 

advisement. That’s why difficult 

clashes over financial services continue 

to surface today on the playing 

field of the courtroom. Although the 

call to set a fiduciary standard in the 

entire financial services industry has 

never been higher, such standards are 

still light years away from being realized. 

When legal issues and 

disputes do emerge, it is reassuring 

to know that there 

are still watchdog resources 

available in the form of expert 

witnesses. 

“You really have to not 

have thin skin,” said David 

J. Keogh, expert witness and 

president of DJK Consulting 

LLC. 

According to Keogh, to be 

a strong expert witness, you 

must believe in your client’s 

attorney, as well as have the 

utmost confidence in your own expertise. 

Though the process of cross-examination 

can truly be trying, he assured 

The Suit that it’s a matter of trust, professionalism 

and not taking things too 

personally. 

Keogh, who is also the Director of 

Compliance for LifeMark Securities 

Corporation, has 30 years of experience 

in the securities industry that 

forms his opinion when testifying. 

Drawing from his sales supervisory 

background, Keogh said that he tries 

to weave his testimonies together with 

real-life experience, although he notes 

that securities supervision – even under 

existing rules – cannot necessarily 

be seen in just black and white. “An 

effective supervisor … needs to understand 

that where there is smoke, there 

is fire – and look for the fire,” said Keogh. 

But before he agrees to be engaged in 

a new client matter, it is Keogh’s procedure 

to honestly assess everything surrounding 

the situation. Keogh notes 

that for him, personal accountability is 

a huge factor in the potential for opening 

a new case – and not every case is 

a valid one. 

“Just because you lost money in the 

stock market doesn’t necessarily mean 

that something was done wrong,” 

Keogh insisted. “People have to look 

at the particulars and understand if 

what happened to them was as a result 

of somebody doing something that 

should have been prevented,” he said. 

On the other hand, Keogh’s advice 

to those seeking a securities expert 

witness stems from the patterns he has 

noticed in the system over the years. 

“Even if they award a case in favor 

of the client, often it’s not going to be 

a hundred cents on the dollar,” Keogh 

said, as one example. 

He advised that potential clients 

must understand the specific rules 

and regulations that apply to their 

cases before engaging his professional 

services. They should also 

be fully committed to the costs 

involved in the entire process, 

and be willing to live with a 

potentially unfavorable outcome 

afterward. 

However, Keogh recalled 

two great career successes in 

which his clients did receive 

full awards, including attorney 

fees, expert fees and costs. He 

explained that this is somewhat 

rare in the industry, and 

was a testament to his experience 

and philosophies as an 

expert witness. 

But it’s not just about money for him. 

Keogh emphasized how rewarding it 

is to see how, through his efforts, deeply 

affected lives could be restored. 

For more information on David J. 

Keogh and DJK Consulting LLC, visit 

www.djkconsult.net. 

235 Route 22 East, 1st Floor 

Green Brook, NJ, 08812 

1-732-968-8787 

www.djkconsult.net 


y dan harvey 

Thinking the UNTHINKABLE: 

envisioning “What Ifs?” 

Gary Crisci, AAMS, 

ADPA, CRPC, is 

one of the new breed 

of investment advisors: 

those who have 

moved away from 

large firms controlled 

by banks and into 

full-service independent practice. Crisci, 

who heads the Naples, Fla.-based 

Crisci Private Wealth Management, 

helps the average investor better comprehend 

the complexities of wealth 

management – such as asset growth 

and protection – and how the most appropriate 

investment strategies relate 

to their specific financial concerns and 

upcoming life passages. 

Often, this means confronting issues 

no one likes to consider. 

One of his firm’s main investment 

strategies is making sure that clients are 

as financially secure in retirement as 

they were during their working years. 

But age-related roadblocks can scuttle 

that security. People are living longer 

ever since 80 became the new 60, and 

that changed the game as far as cash 

flow, whether the client has $250,000 or 

$20 million. 

“Long-term care looms large, and 

that needs to be brought up early in the 

planning process,” says Crisci. Does the 

client have enough assets to self-insure 

for long-term care? Some do. For those 

who don’t, he explains long-term care 

insurance. “Many people think longterm 

care means a nursing home,” he 

explained. “Well, not always. Most clients 

suffering age-related illness want 

to remain at home. This means home 

care and the cost to cover a health-care 

professional coming into their home.” 

Investment advisement can become 

tricky at this point. “An advisor needs 

to communicate clearly to make the client’s 

retirement plans stay on track,” 

Crisci emphasized. 

That’s why communication – and 

full disclosure – forms a big part of his 

firm’s strategy. “When we identify clients’ 

goals, we then guide them in protecting 

and even growing their assets,” 

he said. “They need a financial advisor 

who provides ongoing communication 

and transparent services.” 

Since Crisci’s business is part of the 

Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, 

which includes more than 1,200 

independent advisors, it deploys the 

firm’s “Envision” process. This helps 

identify age-related issues involving illness 

and, yes – death. 

“With prospective clients, we use 

the planning tool even before we start 

talking about investments,” relates Crisci. 

One of “Envision’s” scenarios involves 

“what if?” 

“What if your spouse passes away 

first,” Crisci asks. “This needs to be considered, 

because typically one spouse 

handles the investments. We educate 

both spouses about investment goals. 

And what if the spouse with the pension 

passes away? That could make a 

huge difference in income. The surviving 

spouse must rely on the investment 

portfolio.” 

The Envision tool helps Crisci provide 

a higher level of service. Plus, his firm’s 

pricing is much more client friendly – a 

descriptor pointing to another important 

element of the Crisci approach: “I 

choose clients who are nice people. We 

become friends. That leads to better relationships.” 

And it’s simply good business sense. 

“It also leads to referrals, which is a key 

to building a business,” Crisci said. “Referrals 

indicate a good reputation.” 

850 Park Shore Drive, Ste. 200 

Naples,FL 34103 

1-888-224-0792 1-239-919-8901 

www.crisciprivatewealth.com 


y peter suciu 

Beyond 

Accounting 

As the largest independently 

owned and operated CPA 

firms in western Massachusetts, 

Meyers Brothers Kalicka, 

P.C. works with clients to help 

them understand which financial metrics 

need to be improved to strengthen 

their credit-worthiness. In addition, it 

also has an excellent reputation with 

the local banks, which is very beneficial 

to those clients seeking funding for various 

business needs. 

In this way, Meyers Brothers Kalicka, 

P.C. offers services that go well beyond 

accounting, auditing, taxation and financial 

planning, providing all of its clients 

with a proactive business strategy. 

The firm, with roots in the Old Colony 

state, was the result of a merger of two 

respected firms, each dating back to the 

1940s. For David A. Kalicka it is more 

than having his name on the door. He 

carries on a family tradition that began 

with his father. 

Today, the firm caters to financially 

strong family-owned businesses that 

are growing, as well as to businesses 

in the health care industry and not-forprofit 

organizations. 

“Our clients are seeking not only expertise 

in traditional accounting and tax 

services, but also an advisor who can 

think outside the box. We pride ourselves 

in bringing this business strategy 

to our clients,” Kalicka told The Suit 

Magazine. “Most new clients are in 

a position of financial strength – or at 

least stability – and are looking for advisors 

who can help them continue to 

prosper.” 

This includes dealing with the IRS, 

an agency he acknowledged that few 

Americans have ever held in high regard. 

While Kalicka said that he has 

never found any of their personnel to 

be abusive, he did agree that at the national 

level, it appears that certain personnel 

have not always acted appropriately 

– especially in issues that could be 

described as being politically motivated 

along partisan lines. 

“It is disturbing to think that politics 

could play a significant role in the administration 

of our tax system,” he said. 

The firm continues to offer services 

that can help clients deal with, and understand 

areas with excessive amounts 

of government regulatory oversight as 

well as the ever-increasing complexity 

of the tax laws. Providing guidance on 

tax and regulatory issues alone might 

not be able to truly solve those emerging 

issues plaguing many smaller businesses 

today, however.Kalicka noted, 

“There has been a significant loss of family-owned 

businesses in the retail sector 

to national chains, in the manufacturing 

sector to foreign companies and in the 

service sector to outsourcing.” 

Adding that while there were more 

negative impacts than positive impacts 

stemming from the downturn of 2008- 

09, there appeared to be at least one silver 

lining that did come out of it. 

Kalicka emphasized, “The one positive 

was that businesses did learn that 

in order to survive they needed to get 

lean and mean, and reduce excessive 

overhead.” 

330 Whitney Ave Suite 800 

Holyoke, MA 01040-2876 

Phone: (413) 536-8510 

www.mbkcpa.com 


y judy scinyamagness 

EXPERT witness use 

on The Rise 

After the storms of the recent recession, the forecast 

is bright for firms providing expert witness services 

to the legal profession. According to the “Expert 

Witness Consulting Services Market Research 

Report,” a rise in court cases requiring expert 

testimony is expected over the next five years. “The industry 

is set to benefit from an increase in per capita disposable 

income, government consumption and investment, corporate 

profit and strengthened demand from law firms,” stated the 

IBISWorld report released in July. 


Peter George, managing 

partner of Healthcare Litigation 

Support, LLC, 

based in Massachusetts, 

agrees that the recovering 

economy has led to an increase 

in the demand for expert witnesses. 

He also said that expert referral 

firms need to keep pace with new technologies 

in many industries. 

“The litigation environment has 

changed considerably over the past 

decade due to technological advancements,” 

said George. “For example, we 

rarely had a DNA-related issue 10 years 

ago; now we have frequent requests for 

experts in DNA identification and genetics.” 

From solo law practices to the nation’s 

largest legal firms, Healthcare Litigation 

Support works with both plaintiff 

and defense attorneys throughout 

the United States and in six countries 

with roots in the English legal system, 

including Singapore, Caribbean island 

nations, Canada and the United Kingdom. 

The firm provides physicians, 

dentists, nurses, pharmacists and other 

healthcare-related experts to serve as 

consultants and witnesses. 

Experts are in demand for a wide 

range of cases involving individuals 

with special needs – from litigation concerning 

workplace accommodation for 

people with disabilities to abuse cases 

at group homes or in institutional settings. 

“We also have cases at alcohol 

and drug rehabilitation facilities involving 

issues of restraint, supervision, 

or other alleged negligence on the part 

of the facility’s staff resulting in injury 

or even death,” George said. 

Healthcare Litigation Support provides 

psychiatric experts to address 

child custody issues in divorce cases. 

Autism experts are also increasingly in 

demand. 

The nature of medical malpractice 

issues has not changed too drastically 

through the years. “As always, the 

plaintiff in a malpractice case alleges 

that the doctor breached the standard of 

care by doing something negligent, or 

by failing to do something that should 

have been done,” said George. One 

thing that has changed, however, is the 

enactment of state laws that make medical 

malpractice cases more difficult for 

plaintiffs to pursue and to win. These 

include requirements that an expert’s 

Are you spending your 

valuable time looking for the 

right healthcare expert? 

www.healthcarelitigation.com 

affidavit of merit be submitted with the 

complaint and caps on damages for pain 

and suffering, George explained. 

“Our role is not that of an advocate for 

a particular party in a case, but that of 

an agent who provides highly qualified 

experts to assist attorneys in evaluating 

cases and, when needed, to serve as expert 

witnesses,” said George, adding 

that each of the firm’s case managers has 

a particular area of expertise. The firm 

does not provide experts to pro se litigants 

– including attorneys who want to 

litigate their own cases. 

In additional to healthcare experts, 

Healthcare Litigation Support provides 

non-medical experts such as biomechanical 

engineers, vocational rehabilitation 

consultants, construction safety experts, 

forensic accountants, and other types of 

experts needed for personal injury cases. 

George announced that Healthcare 

Litigation Support is in the midst of 

a re-branding program in connection 

with its plans for expansion. The firm’s 

identity is transitioning from Healthcare 

Litigation Support to HLS Experts – including 

a new domain name and website 

– which will address markets beyond 

healthcare. The goal is to grow the firm 

by 50 percent over the next two years, 

without an acquisition, by expanding 

into additional areas of the law including 

information technology, property law, 

water rights, and oil and gas. 

George not only has a professional interest 

in medical experts, but a personal 

one as well. He serves on the board of 

directors of the Greater Athol Area Association 

of Families with Special Needs, 

an organization providing services for 

families in the region who have a family 

member with a disability. George’s 

26-year-old son is developmentally delayed, 

both cognitively and physically, 

and is dependent on George and his wife 

for his daily care. “He is functional and 

independent in a very limited context,” 

explained George. 

After George had spent 15 years as a 

healthcare consultant, which required 

extensive travel, one day in 2003 his wife 

told him that things had to change, because 

she needed help caring for their 

son. It was then that George entered the 

field of expert witness services, and in 

fact, it was his son’s needs, along with 

his own personal empathy, that gave 

him the passion and the drive to start his 

own firm. 


y felix badea 

Familial Advice at Any Hour 

It is completely acceptable to Robert 

“Puma” Richards Jr CFP®, if 

a husband and wife come into his 

office – and the husband tells him 

they are just there for the “in case of” 

planning session. 

“Over the years, I’ve had a lot of 

husbands with their wives come in 

and say, ‘We are not here to use your 

services right now, but I do want to 

introduce my wife to you because if 

something happens to me, I want her 

to come here to get reliable and trustworthy 

advice from you,’” Richards 

said. “I try to work with couples and 

spouses so that if something happens 

to either one of them, they know that 

they are in good hands.” 

As the owner of PUMA Wealth Advisors, 

LLC, in Toms River, NJ, Richards 

has taken on the financial care of numerous 

widows at a time in their lives 

when they are the most economically 

vulnerable. His goal is to educate the 

remaining spouse regarding financial 

affairs, which can be as basic as balancing 

a checkbook, or as complicated as 

a mini-course on how the stock market 

works. He has even gone with a widow 

to help her lease a car. 

Puma seeks those clients who have 

a genuine interest in setting up their 

financial affairs in a manner that will 

best benefit their family members for 

the long-term and will be transferable 

to younger generations. 

“I have come across some folks who 

really were not concerned about what 

happens to the rest of the family after 

their death – and those people did not 

work out as clients for me,” Richards 

explains. “My goal is to not only be the 

financial advisor for the ‘Mom’ and 

the ‘Dad’ – but to be an advisor for the 

whole family. I want to be the advisor 

for their children and grandchildren.” 

And because of that philosophy I now 

We believe in thinking 

“out of the box” and we 

are not afraid to challenge 

conventional wisdom in 

our approach to investing 

and preserving wealth. 

All of our energy, commitment, 

and efforts are 

focused on you, the client, 

and your satisfaction. 

am working with multiple generations 

of families. 

In return, Richards makes himself 

available to his clients via cellphone at 

any time of day or night. He wants clients 

who understand that they need 

his help in managing their complex 

financial situations, so it’s okay with 

him if they need to talk at midnight. 

He wants his clients to feel as if they 

are part of his extended family. 

“With my more than 21 years of 

experience in the financial planning 

industry, I’ve seen a lot of things happen 

with people’s financial well-being 

and I have advised a lot of folks 

on what to do and what not to do,” 

Richards said. “My goal is to try to 

advise my clients as if they are family 

members and I have to sit across the 

dinner table from them six months 

after I make a recommendation for 

them that might be very good, very 

bad or simply flat line. The most important 

thing is building long-term 

relationships.” 

Learn more about PUMA Wealth 

Advisors, LLC, online at www.PumaRichards.com. 

Securities offered through Securities 

America, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. 

Advisory services offered through 

Arbor Point Advisors, LLC. 

Felix Badea, Securities America, LLC. 

And Arbor Point Advisors, LLC. are 

not affiliated with PUMA Wealth Advisors, 

LLC.. 

1108 Hooper Avenue 

Building 2 

Toms River, NJ 08753 

www.pumarichards.com 


THE FINANCIAL COCOON 

Ensuring Irreplaceable Capital Isn’t Lost 

The average career for most people 

today can be upwards of 40 years, 

but for professional athletes and 

celebrities, a career can be much shorter. 

Paradigm Financial Partners LLC works 

with these clients to develop a personalized 

holistic roadmap for building 

wealth and financial security within a 

shortened timeframe. 

Over the years the firm has developed 

a niche clientele – working entrepreneurs, 

business owners and high net 

worth individuals. A large percentage 

of the firm’s business is also with physicians 

and medical groups, but during 

the last six years Paradigm Financial 

Partners branched out and diversified 

the practice by working with 

individuals in the music, entertainment, 

professional sports, 

film and television industries. 

“The practice has become a 

lot more diverse and these clients 

really need a lot of guidance,” 

said managing partner 

Lee Rawiszer. “They come into 

money very quickly and they 

don’t have any idea about how 

to handle it.” 

“This is especially true,” 

Rawiszer said, “of professional 

athletes, where it is all too common 

for many – notably in the 

National Basketball Association 

– to file for bankruptcy within two to 

three years of their career ending.” 

With these high net worth clients, 

more money often means more responsibility, 

and Paradigm Financial Partners 

has developed what Rawiszer explained 

as a “financial cocoon” for this irreplaceable 

capital earned by individuals who, 

although they may have short careers, 

still need the money to last a lifetime. 

This financial cocoon is built by far 

more than following traditional investment 

strategies such as an alpha or beta 

approach. 

“We’re looking at life beyond sports 

or beyond your entertainment career, 

which may fade,” he told The Suit Mag- 

azine. “If this money has to last a lifetime, 

you look far beyond alpha, beta 

and standard deviation, and look at 

the whole big picture. What is the goal 

of this portfolio and what is the goal of 

the client to achieve not only in the next 

three to five years, but 10 or 20 years and 

beyond. So they have financial security 

when their career is over – and they have 

financial security, not only for themselves, 

but for their children and for the 

next generation after that.” 

by peter suciu 

Unlike his clients with 

short careers, Rawiszer 

has been in the business 

since 1979, when he started 

working with his father 

at the New York Life Insurance 

Company. In 1984 

he took the security exams 

and learned the investment 

side of the business, 

realizing quickly that 

he was more passionate 

about the money management 

side of the practice. 

As partner at Paradigm Financial Partners, 

Rawiszer said, “Financial planning 

doesn’t happen in a vacuum. To this end, 

the firm – which is not product-oriented 

or transaction-oriented – gets involved 

in every aspect of the dangers as well as 

the opportunities that might keep a client 

up at night.” 

“We become the quarterback and want 

to make their lives easier!” 

59 Wilton Road 

Westport, CT 06880 

Phone: 203-221-3085 

www.pfpartners.com 


y enid burns 

On a Mission to Create 

Affordable Housing 

While partial blame has been placed on banks for the residential credit crisis during the Great Recession there are 

many banks that have fulfilled their mission to serve the needs of the communities they serve by making affordable 

housing more available. The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) is an initiative monitored by the various Regulatory 

Agencies designed to encourage banks to meet the credit needs of the individuals within their self-defined service 

area. Investing in Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) helps satisfy the requirements under the Act. 

While large banks tend to have their own 

Community Development Corporations 

(CDC’s) which they utilize to 

make direct investments, smaller institutions 

rely on companies such as the St. Louis Equity 

Fund, or SLEFI, to manage this process on their 

behalf. To date, SLEFI has contributed to the building 

of affordable housing from south of Springfield, Illinois 

to St. Louis, throughout Missouri and the eastern 

counties of Kansas, adjoining Kansas City, Missouri. 

SLEFI began investing in LIHTC’s soon after the 

1986 Tax Act was passed which created the LIHTC. 

This addition to the Code was intended to help transfer 

some of the responsibility of providing affordable 

housing from the public sector to the private sector. 

By investing in these credits financial institutions earn 

CRA credit and earn a market rate of return on their 

investment which turns out to be a win-win proposition. 

Shortly after the passage of the Act a group of 

civic minded leaders in St. Louis came to realize that 

this newly formed program could be very beneficial 

to the entire community. 

Creating Affordable Housing 

“They thought that it would be a good idea to have a vehicle in 

St. Louis that could utilize this newly created program to promote 

affordable housing,” John Wuest, president of the St. Louis Equity 

Fund, told The Suit Magazine in an interview. “These leaders went to 

Civic Progress , the local business leadership group, and obtained a 


$75,000 grant. And that’s how the Equity 

Fund got started.” 

Raising roughly $355 million in equity 

to date, since its beginning the Equity 

Fund has produced 4,400 housing 

units throughout its service area. The 

equity raised has funded both rehabilitation 

of residential units, as well as 

new construction of residential units. 

These units include one, two and three 

bedroom apartments as well as three 

bedroom single family homes. 

The Process 

SLEFI identifies new projects that are 

in the planning phase that it would be 

interested in investing. “We know who 

is making applications to the Missouri 

Housing Development Commission 

(MHDC), who allocates the credits on 

behalf of the IRS, and who we would 

like to invest with,” said Wuest. “We’re 

tracking them – and we issue a support 

letter which is included in the application 

package that is submitted to 

MHDC. If they are successful in receiving 

an allocation SLEFI then negotiates 

a purchase of the credits from the recipient 

utilizing the funds raised from the 

Financial Institutions and Corporations 

who have agreed to invest in the Fund 

created by SLEFI. A limited partnership 

or a limited liability corporation is 

created and the current years Fund becomes 

the 99.9% limited partner in the 

developer entity which enables SLEFI 

to pass back through to its investors 

99.9% of the tax benefits of the Credits 

along with the operating losses of the 

specific project.” 

Banks represent the largest portion 

of any given Fund. The Bank investor 

group includes both larger regional 

banks along with community banks. 

“This vehicle has a particular attraction 

for the smaller community bank’s 

whose resources limit their ability to 

have in house personnel participating 

in these endeavors,” said Wuest. 

In addition to banks, SLEFI raises 

funds from corporations. Current participating 

companies include Ameren 

and The Laclede Group (local utilities),Anheuser-Busch 

and Centene 

Corporation. For the year 2014, SLEFI 

is on track to raise $30 million. Wuest 

indicated that a future goal is to raise 

an annual Fund in the $40 to $45 million 

range. The average investment per project 

is in the $6 million range. 

Special Needs Projects 

Wuest commented that in recent 

years SLEFI has placed an emphasis on 

investing in projects that serve individuals 

having special needs. These needs 

include alcohol and drug dependency, 

mental health issues, and ex-offenders. 

They have teamed with the leading institutions 

providing these services including 

The Salvation Army and the St. 

Louis Archdiocese. 

SLEFI has partnered with the Salvation 

Army on three projects, including 

a 48-unit building of furnished 

apartments strictly dedicated to both 

male and female veterans. “These are 

individuals that, for one reason or another, 

have not been able to get back 

into the mainstream of society, mostly 

because of addiction and other problems,” 

Wuest explained. To qualify for 

residency the individual is required to 

make a commitment to participate in 

the treatment program provided “with 

the goal of becoming a productive 

member of society,” he said. The individual 

is able to live in a safe environment 

while in recovery – and even after 

they gain employment if they wish to. 

Gateway Community Development Fund, Inc. 

In an effort to provide a wider range 

of products and services to serve the affordable 

housing community and its investors, 

SLEFI formed Gateway which 

is a wholly owned subsidiary of SLEFI. 

Gateway is a certified CDFI whose primary 

mission is to provide both consulting 

services and lending products 

to be used to assist groups participating 

in community development and provide 

financing for the creation and sustainability 

of affordable housing. Gateway 

has solicited participation from 

Banks to participate in the formation of 

Loan Pools, the proceeds of which will 

be used to finance affordable housing. 

To date Gateway has raised $4.5 million 

in these Pools. 

Both SLEFI and Gateway are governed 

by its investors and participants 

who serve on the boards and committees 

of both organizations. The Community 

Reinvestment Act previously 

mentioned has three basic tests: Investment, 

Lending and Service. With the 

addition of Gateway, SLEFI is able to 

offer opportunities to banks that assist 

in meeting all three tests. 


y peter suciu 

GUIDING PEOPLE 

THROUGH RETIREMENT 

Understanding the need to prepare for retirement came to Patrick A. Strubbe when he turned 16 

years old. That flash came when his grandfather offered to buy him a brand new car. For Strubbe, 

owner and founder of Preservation Specialists, it was a magical moment – that is, until his 

mother told him that his grandfather, who lived in a nursing home, simply couldn’t afford it. 

While it made for 

a disappointing 

birthday, Strubbe said 

that it was seeing the 

stress his mother faced 

worrying about her elderly 

father which set 

him on the path toward helping people 

with their finances. 

“That opened my eyes, and I understood 

those circumstances,” Strubbe told 

The Suit Magazine. “It would be nice to 

help people avoid that kind of stress in 

their lives.” 

Strubbe’s career in financial planning 

and investing began on the insurance 

side with John Hancock, which he maintains 

fit better with his personality than 

working on the Wall Street side of things. 

Founding Preservation Specialists in 

2003, since then he has primarily worked 

with people planning or close to retirement. 

“The type of clients we seem to fit with 

so well are neither rich nor poor – they’re 

that hard-working, saving type,” said 

Strubbe. “They’re either trying to figure 

out when they can retire or they already 

have retired and they’re genuinely interested 

in finding someone or something 

to help them along that path.” 

Facing retirement can be as eye-opening 

for many people today as it was for 

that 16-year-old who was just promised 

a car. 

“These people go from receiving a paycheck 

their whole lives to now living off 

a 401K or a retirement plan of some kind. 

That is a scary, daunting task for most 

people. The people we fit with well are 

those looking for guidance in that area.” 

Making matters worse still, is that today 

there are concepts which might seem 

alien to many people, especially to those 

who don’t understand the different approaches 

to investing. The jargon can 

only add to their confusion. 

Strubbe said that he helps clients overcome 

this confusion by asking whether 

it is important for them to get rich, or to 

never be poor. This is important, especially 

since people are living longer and 

inflation means constantly increasing expenses 

over 30 years or more. 

“I have never heard anyone tell me 

they want to get rich at the risk of being 

poor,” he noted, and added that it 

is about “steady returns with consistent 

income – so people can 

enjoy their retirement and not 

just worry about money.” 

Today Preservation Specialists 

has also moved away from traditional 

advertising and market 

methods to attract new clients 

and has turned to client 

appreciation events, which 

Strubbe said includes four or 

five such gatherings each year. 

“It is a community. It is about 

community. We hold wine tastings 

and golf outings. Things they find 

fun. It really is great because they get to 

know you a little better. This way you 

aren’t doing business with a business, 

you’re doing business with people.” 

www.scpreservation.com 


y peter suciu 

A BALANCE 

OF 

EMOTION AND ECONOMICS 

Helping Clients Through Financial Hardship 

While most 23- 

year old college 

graduates 

were looking for 

their first post-school 

apartments, Rhonda 

Klch was already 

purchasing her third 

property. Throughout high school she 

saved money, invested well and went 

to college on a business scholarship. 

What she learned there not only prepared 

her for a career, but it set her on 

the road toward property ownership. 

She utilized the funds she had saved 

to buy a house, and then bought two 

more. It was at that time when Klch's 

attorney introduced her to a mortgage 

professional who became her mentor. 

Now, nearly two decades later Klch 

is CEO of Equity First LLC. Rather 

than simply helping people who have 

the money to buy a home, Klch also 

helps those who are over-extended or 


who have fallen into hardship make 

the right decisions for keeping their 

homes. 

Breaking into the business wasn't 

exactly easy for a 4-foot, 11-inch woman 

– even one owning three properties. 

It was also a very different time 

in the world of mortgages. 

“I was let loose into what I call a 

man's suit and tie industry at 23 years 

old,” Klch told The Suit Magazine. 

“It was very difficult for me to be 

taken seriously. This was was before 

subprime and there were generally 

just two types of programs available 

– general mortgages and FHA mortgages.” 

Instead of giving up, Klch hit the 

pavement. She began talking to attorneys, 

realtors, CPAs and other 

professionals in the housing market, 

and started asking for their “throwaways.” 

Those were the people to 

whom others simply said, “No, you 

can't buy a house,” and those people 

became her clients. 

“My personal niche became working 

with people who needed more 

assistance and guidance. And that is 

how Equity First came to be,” Klch 

explained. “Instead of working with 

the A level borrower, I was working 

with clients who needed more help. I 

worked with them to develop strategies 

– to work on their credit, to work 

on their debt and to help readjust 

their expectations. A lot of the time, 

these so-called 'throwaways' were the 

result of the mortgage professional 

being unable to set the appropriate 

expectations.” 

“For the client – they may have 

been approved for a mortgage or had 

pre-approval the whole time, but the 

level they were able to be approved at 

was just not the level they wanted to 

be. So by working through their budget 

and expectations, I quickly devel-

Continuously 

striving to set new 

industry standards 

for businesses 

and consumers 

nationally. 

trigger that has brought them to us,” 

Klch noted.Once they become clients, 

many of them will learn a new word 

– accountability. “Our debt settlement 

program revolves around their having 

some accountability. We make them 

put their own money into a separate 

bank account. Based on the budget, we 

help them assess how much they can 

afford to put into a program,” she added, 

noting that this can be hard. “A lot 

of these people stopped learning how 

to save once they stopped paying their 

bills. We put them through a program 

so they can see how much disposable 

income they have without sacrificing 

too much of their lifestyle quality at the 

same time.” 

“It takes an emotional toll on the clients. 

We try to prepare them to move 

forward and we will help them restructure 

their debt.” 

All this can result in a payoff, if the 

client is serious. Once enough money 

has been put aside, Klch can help clients 

settle a debt, and then – and only 

then – does her firm get paid a percentage 

of the saved money. 

“If we go through the motions and 

we don't save them any money, then 

we do not collect a fee,” Klch emphasized. 

oped a pipeline and it stuck.” 

Today, Equity First LLC is built 

around catering to these clients. 

While many firms have sprung up 

since the economic debacle of 2008- 

09, this firm is not the result of the 

housing bubble, and was helping 

those in need long before the downturn. 

“A lot of new firms opened up to offer 

quick relief programs, so you saw 

a lot of loan modification agents, a 

lot of debt settlement companies that 

would – not to say take advantage of 

marketplace – but there was a shift in 

their direction,” she added. “We did 

not open our doors specifically for a 

time of crisis. We were around before 

the market collapsed.” 

Finding clients, especially since the 

downturn, hasn't been a problem for 

Equity First, even though it doesn't 

advertise. Instead, 100 percent of its 

business comes in via referrals from 

those in the industry. For Klch not 

every referral means new business 

either. 

She guides potential clients 

through determining whether they 

can qualify for industry-standard 

programs that allow clients to make 

manageable adjustments to debt. In 

other cases, Klch may refer them to a 

bankruptcy attorney. 

“When we sit with the client, generally 

there is a budget to assess 

where they are. This is a realistic 

budget. We go through their income 

and their assets – and not everybody 

is a fit for our business. I work with a 

number of alliance partners.” 

She also stressed that many clients 

aren't simply overextended. Many 

have faced some sort of crisis or disastrous 

life event, whether it is losing 

a job, dealing with the loss of a 

spouse or even a sick child at home. 

“Generally there is some sort of 

625 Middle Country Road, Suite 100 

Coram, NY 11727 

Phone: 631-521-7607 

info@equityfirstusa.com 

www.equityfirstusa.com 


y matt camara 

A Uniform Fiduciary Standard? 

It Could Work - If Done Right 

uniform fiduciary standard might 

A keep the wolves of Wall Street at 

bay, but only if regulators take great 

care in crafting the regulations. And 

is that likely to happen? Probably not, 

according to Frank Reilly, President of 

Reilly Financial Advisors. 

“If they were to do it correctly, I 

think it would be a fabulous idea. But 

I don’t think it can be done correctly,” 

said Reilly, who doubles as the firm’s 

chief compliance officer. 

The battle lines on regulatory 

change were drawn up in the aftermath 

of the 2008 financial crisis. The 

Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and 

Consumer Protection Act gave the 

Securities and Exchange Commission 

the power to regulate those brokers 

who provide retail investment advice 

into always acting in the best interests 

of their clients. The SEC, however, demurred 

for a while on whether or not 

to use that power. 

“A strong uniform standard, however, 

could really protect investors from 

retail products that later turn out to be 

poor investment options,” Reilly said. 

“Then everybody out there would 

only be doing what’s in the best interests 

of their clients. … We see every 

day where annuities are sold into an 

IRA account. That never makes sense 

…” Reilly told The Suit Magazine. 

SEC Chairman Mary Jo White said 

earlier this year, that she intended 

to push the other commissioners on 

whether or not they wanted to adopt 

a new standard. This came after a year 

of waffling that saw the SEC receive 

an earful from lobbyists. 

“The existing regulatory requirements, 

oversight and enforcement of 

rules governing registered representatives’ 

conduct, work well to protect 

investors, and have proven to be an 

efficient and effective way for middle 

and lower income market investors to 

retain access to financial products and 

services,” the National Association of 

Insurance and Financial Advisors asserted 

in a statement released in July 

of 2013. 

Real action after White’s remarks in 

2014, has yet to come, however. Still, 

even the possibility of a uniform standard 

remains a hot issue among financial 

professionals. 

“Crafting those regulations without 

watering down standards across the 

board remains an obstacle to regulatory 

change as well – and lobbying by 

broker interest groups is sure to make 


that obstacle a challenging one,” Reilly 

said, noting that, “Stronger uniform 

standards could help push aside 

some of the typical client worries that 

follow the financial industry like a 

dark cloud”. 

Regulatory change or not, ethics 

and client interest are points of 

pride for Reilly Financial Advisors. 

The company prominently displays 

a number of awards it has received 

in recent years, including Top 100 

Places to Work in San Diego for three 

years running, plus a BBB Torch 

Award Winner for Marketplace 

Ethics in 2012— and Reilly said 

firmly that he is determined to 

always keep clients first. Putting 

client’s needs ahead of the 

firm also often means taking an 

unorthodox approach to wealth 

management. 

Noting that risk tolerance 

questionnaires administered by 

most wealth managers to new 

clients fails to capture what really 

matters, Reilly emphasized, “I 

believe, and we believe, that it is 

a fundamentally flawed process. 

It really comes down to how 

much risk do you need to take. 

If you could accomplish all of 

your goals … lay them out, chart 

a path, reach those goals with an 

8 percent rate of return … Why 

would you [take on more risk]?” 

Instead, Reilly Financial Advisors 

looks at how much risk the client 

needs to take, not how much risk they 

can bear. That’s a key difference in 

mindset, allowing the firm to provide 

each client with a unique solution. 

Founded in 1999, the company 

originally served Americans living 

abroad – a demographic that still 

makes up about one third of its customer 

base. Now, the firm focuses 

primarily on those in transition, 

whether it’s the newly wealthy, career-changers 

or families looking for 

solid family transition planning. The 

firm’s approach to risk also helped 

it weather the Great Recession by 

choosing to keep clients constantly 

in the loop, instead of leaving them 

in the lurch. “We realized that our 

clients needed constant communication 

… so many advisors hid from 

their clients,” Reilly said. “We wanted 

to make sure … the talking heads 

“Wealth management is looking at everything: 

investment management, financial 

planning, tax issues, estate issues, family 

wealth transitions – all of those in one,” 

Reilly insisted. “We’re not just investment 

managers, we are truly wealth managers.” 

Reilly Financial Advisors 

7777 Alvarado Road, Suite 116 

La Mesa, California 91942 

Toll Free: 800-682-3237 

p) 619-698-0794 

www.rfadvisors.com 

weren’t scaring them.” 

Working through that crisis was 

about wealth management – not just 

investment management. It took holistic 

thinking for Reilly’s clients to 

not only weather the storm, but even, 

in many cases, to get to port in better 

shape than when they left. Now, with 

the crisis largely over, Reilly is looking 

to expand again with goals he ticks off 

like a shopping list. 

Smaller starter accounts, expanding 

the client base, more international 

agreements – the list goes on – but 

it’s that multi-pronged approach that 

makes all the difference between a 

wealth manager and a guy who merely 

helps people invest. 

“Wealth management is looking at 

everything: investment management, 

financial planning, tax issues, estate issues, 

family wealth transitions – all of 

those in one,” Reilly insisted. “We’re 

not just investment managers, we are 

truly wealth managers.” 


y peter suciu 

Paladin 

a Different Methology 

Medieval history is filled with 

the stories of “paladins,” those 

knights renowned as champions 

for their heroism and chivalry. While Paul 

Evans may not be part of any royal court, 

he does have a serious pedigree that has 

helped him truly understand the ins and 

outs of the financial world. For investors 

today, that might just be better than a 

knight in shining armor. 

Evans, who has been around the securities business for 

quite some time, could be considered a “credentialed individual.” 

He told The Suit that he cut his teeth as a British 

public accountant and trained with the Arthur Andersen & 

Co. before earning his MBA at Stanford. Evans then made 

the transition to a planning and investment firm advising 

high net worth individuals, most of whom came from Silicon 

Valley. 

“In the early 1990s, I started my own business doing the 

same sort of thing, but with a different methodology,” said 

Evans. “I started advising people to invest by diversifying 

internationally. This was a little progressive in the early 

1990s – not a lot of people were doing that then.” 

His theory was that – while much investing was being 

done in a fairly stable world – if one diversified correctly, 

the swings in markets would be compensated so that upswings 

in one market would compensate for downswings 

in another. 

“Indeed, international markets proved for extended periods 

that there were higher returns than those in the United 

States,” he added. “You got both low volatility and as a result, 

through diversification, you got higher returns.” 

As president and managing partner at Paladin Capital 

Management, Evans also insists on avoiding jargon. 

“In the first 20 years I was involved in the business, nobody 

talked about Alpha. A few people talked about Beta, 

but they were regarded as strange individuals,” Evans explained. 

“Now we have this whole lexicon of terms that 

would have been very strange to investors in, say, 1980. In 

some ways that is a disadvantage, as we've made the whole 

thing more complicated than it needs to be – and that is very 

frightening for the investor,” he observed. 

“Thirty years ago, you'd approach a stock broker and 

expect him to find six hot ideas for you. That has been replaced 

by people who take a longer term view,” Evans added. 

“They have to, given their longer term financial needs. 

This is why diversification has really taken over.” 

While there was a lot of panic following the downturns of 

2008-09, he also maintains this was just one in a long succession 

of setbacks that have occurred since World War II. 

In suggesting that the best strategy might be to step away 

from the crowd, Evans said, “Be enthusiastic, but when the 

crowd becomes enthusiastic – you need to be anxious.” 

www.paladincap.com 


y peter suciu 

GUIDING CLIENTS 

COMMUNCIATION IS KEY 

As a Certified Financial Planner, Radon Stancil of Diversified Estate Services has long 

worked by the mantra that communication is crucial to ensuring that clients feel confident 

that they’ll have money to last through their golden years. That has proven to be especially 

true following the “Great Recession,” when fear became the biggest issue for many investors. 

“What we learned is 

that, when we go 

through a 2008 scenario, 

we have to communicate 

more than you 

would ever think,” said 

Stancil, an associate with 

the Raleigh, N.C.-based 

Diversified Estate Services. 

“Even if our clients 

are not losing money, we 

communicate with them 

so that they know exactly 

what is going on.” 

Over the course of 14 

years, the firm, which 

first started to work with 

retirees and those close 

to retirement, has now 

evolved into a full financial 

planning firm. Today, 

it is still aimed primarily 

providing four core areas 

for the older investor, including 

helping clients 

with investment strategy, 

retirement income plans, 

tax mitigation and even 

estate planning. 

It is also very much built 

around the concept of 

“TEAM” – “Together Everyone 

Achieves More.” 

This also includes building 

client confidence, to 

not only help reassure investors 

following the 2008 

downturn, but also during 

subsequent scandals such 

as the Bernie Madoff 

ponzi scheme, which may 

have given some retirees a 

cause for concern. 

“We’ve partnered with 

institutions that people 

would know – such as 

Fidelity and Schwab,” 

added Stancil, who noted 

that clients are instructed 

in the fundamentals of 

working with an advisor. 

“The biggest issue is that 

you don’t write a check to 

an advisor. Make sure that 

the advisor never touches 

the money and that it is an 

arm’s length transaction.” 

Stancil also stressed 

how concerns from 2008 

have not been completely 

forgotten, and he noted 

that Diversified Estate 

Services continues to 

work with clients to help 

alleviate some of this worry. 

Part of his approach has been 

to guide clients away from the 

“Alpha” approach and toward 

a more conservative path for 

investing. 

“Financial confidence is returning, 

but people have not 

forgotten 2008. They understand 

how it was sold by a lot 

of financial advisors as a fluke 

and a once in a lifetime event, 

but the reality when you look 

at the numbers is that, we have 

a 2008-type market about every 

five years,” Stancil explained. 

“Maybe not to that extreme, 

but we have a pullback average 

of 38 percent.” 

To this end, he highlighted 

that clients can be shown a 

path to achieving a good return 

without taking on excessive 

risk to get it. 

According to Stancil, “If the 

stock market goes up 15 percent 

but they only get 12 percent, 

quite frankly they don’t 

care, because when the market 

falls 20 percent they don’t fall 

20 percent. Our focus is wealth 

preservation, so people who 

want high risk returns are not 

going to be attracted to us – 

and quite frankly, we’re not the 

right firm for them.” 

www.desllc.org 


y felix badea 

RETIREMENT 

Looks Different for Everyone 

Gone are the days of throwing a blanket investment 

policy over the retirement planning needs of every client 

The question of what would 

happen to pure financial planning 

if the requirements for quality life 

planning were added to the discussion, 

is answered day in and day out for the 

clients served by Shane Westhoelter. 

As CEO and founder of Gateway 

Financial Advisors, Westhoelter 

wanted his Walnut Creek, Calif.-based 

firm to provide “something unique” 

in the financial services industry: the 

opportunity for a client’s definition of a 

quality life to be just as important as the 

choices made among stocks, bonds and 

investment strategies. 

“Our clients are people who want 

to do holistic planning,” Westhoelter 

explains. “They want to sit down and 

do financial planning from an overall 

approach that takes the ‘what if’ out of 

their life.” 

In referring to the big “what if” 

questions – Westhoelter is talking about 

issues such as what happens to spouses, 

or the transference of accumulated 

wealth to the next generation, as well 

as the question of what happens if 

clients outlive their financial resources. 

His self-described job is to target 

their retirement investments so that 

the latter does not occur, and to 

implement strategies that mitigate tax 

consequences when the time arrives 

for the next generation to inherit any 

financial rewards being passed down. 

Success in this endeavor requires a 

combination of patience with the stock 

market along with tactical investment 

planning that can be quickly 

implemented. 

He knows his clients are living 

longer, more active lives. Based on 

that, he encourages clients to continue 

working until they are 80, 85, or even 

90 years of age if they wish. He isn’t 

convinced that age 65 is the automatic, 

golden retirement age anymore. 


“Retirement is not necessarily this set age as 

we have been taught or trained to believe,” 

Westhoelter explained. “I have clients who ask me 

why they have to retire if they have the ability to 

work at age 80 or 85. They ask, ‘Is there anything 

set in stone that says I have to quit doing what I 

love to do?’ I tell them, no. If you are doing the 

job you have a passion for and have the quality of 

life that you want to live – then by all means keep 

working.” 

America is in the midst of a paradigm shift in the 

way we view retirement. Some of it was brought 

about by massive losses experienced during the 

fulfilling retirement goals. 

For clients onboard with the idea of complete, 

unfiltered transparency between their spending 

habits and Westhoelter and his staff, there is 

software potentially linking credit card and 

checkbook statements directly to the accounts 

managed by the firm. 

“Using this technology, we can link into all of 

their spending habits, so everything is updated on 

a monthly basis, making it extremely easy to track 

how their spending habits are impacting their 

short and long-term savings goals,” he explained. 

This certainly requires a high level of trust 

Gateway Financial Advisors, Inc. was formed in January 2000, Prior we 

operated under the name of Shane Westhoelter and Associates insurance 

agency, formed in 1988. The focus of Gateway is to provide a “One Stop 

Financial Planning Shop”. Gateway has office locations across the USA. 

Look under “Our Offices” to locate an office near you. 

Great Recession. There are older Americans who 

have no choice but to continue earning wages. 

Some are simply too healthy and vigorous to 

hang up their working years. For others, it is a 

combination of both. 

Based on what clients indicates as their current 

status, Westhoelter designs individualized plans 

that include highly tactical, earnings-driven 

investments for those who are 10 to 15 years 

away from retirement, attempting to maximize 

whatever accumulation can occur. For those 

closer to retirement, he designs a much more 

conservative investment strategy, focused on 

wealth preservation. 

Having been in the financial services industry 

since 1998, Westhoelter knows the market is cyclic, 

and knows that throwing a blanket investment 

policy over all his clients will only smother them. 

“We don’t have a set philosophy that we adhere 

to necessarily, long term. We look at the trends 

and watch where they are going,” he noted. 

Another trend he’s watching is the 

implementation of social media within his 

industry. 

Westhoelter and his firm has hooked up all 

of today’s basic social media tools – Facebook, 

LinkedIn and Twitter. He and his associates use 

meeting software on a regular basis to spare clients 

a trip to the firm’s physical office. Clients owning 

iPhones have access to a specially-designed 

app providing 24/7 access to their accounts and 

portfolios, giving clients a choice between a graph 

or tubular format with a thermometer indicating 

how close current market performance comes to 

between client and advisor. But for Westhoelter, 

that type of relationship is the one he wants with 

his clients. 

“We are connecting with our clients through 

Facebook, and staying up on their activities both 

in their personal social lives and their professional 

lives,” he said. “We bring in the entire family 

– children, grandchildren and sometimes even 

great-grandchildren – for meetings, so that 

everyone is aware of what is going on.” 

He noted, “Gone are the days when only the 

oldest patriarch dictated all of the financial 

decisions for a family. That trend is quickly 

changing – not only in the direction of multiple 

decision-makers but to also embrace a multigenerational 

approach.” 

“We are no longer assuming there is only one 

decision-maker in the household. There could be 

two or three decision-makers who have to come to 

agreement – specifically when the primary bread 

winner deceases,” Westhoelter emphasized. “It is 

time for us to get our heads out of the sand, meet 

with professional financial advisors, and get our 

futures on track.” 

1646 N. California Blvd. Suite 650 

Walnut Creek, CA 94596 

Phone:925-999-8699 

www.gfainvestments.com 


y felix badea 

Keeping Clients Poised 

on the Rollercoaster 

In the past three to 

four years, the stock 

market has provided 

investors with advantageous, 

wealth-building 

returns. It’s a welcome 

relief from the 

Great Recession, as the crash and volatility 

from 2007 to 2009 is being deemed 

by historians. This Stanley Funches 

knows well. But he also knows that 

today’s conditions won’t last, and he 

wants his clients to be ready for another 

ride on the rollercoaster. 

“We’ve had several years with great 

market returns, but this is not going 

to be a constant thing,” Funches said. 

“We are going to go through a bear 

market pretty soon. So my goal for 

beyond 2014 and into 2015 is to make 

sure my clients and their portfolios 

are positioned to take advantage of 

good solid returns and are prepared 

to withstand any market downturns.” 

“That means securing appropriate 

amounts of liquid assets, such as cash, 

as well as balancing portfolio holdings 

across a wide range of asset classes,” 

he said. It also includes mentally and 

emotionally preparing clients to 

hold tight and take a long term view of 

temporary losses. 

As a partner and chief compliance 

officer for Bridgeworth, LLC, based in 

Birmingham, Ala., Funches knows the 

ups and downs of long-term financial 

planning. He encourages his clients 

to ride the highs and take advantage 

of unique opportunities presented by 

some of the market lows. 

“Investors with a long-term outlook 

are able to take advantage of good 

buying opportunities when the market 

goes down, because they also have 

cash reserves allowing them to make 

investments that have the potential 

to pay off when the market recovers,” 

Funches said. 

Making this happen requires discipline 

– not only from the investor, but 

also from the advisor. 

“You (as the advisor) have to remain 

emotionally confident enough to help 

your client – to lead your client to stick 

through the low times,” he said. “That 

isn’t easy. It is the difficult part. But 

once you 

do it, 


OUR MISSION AT BRIDGEWORTH IS TO PARTNER WITH OUR 

CLIENTS IN ACHIEVING THEIR LIFETIME FINANCIAL GOALS BY 

DRAWING ON OUR WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE. 

then clients have the confidence to do 

it, too.” 

Funches prefers clients who are 

goal-oriented and willing to not only 

accept his advice, but to take action 

based on that advice. He doesn’t think 

in terms of minimums, but instead 

gauges the passion and dedication of a 

potential client when deciding whether 

or not to partner with that person in 

reaching their financial goals. 

Instead of taking a hit during the 

Great Recession, Funches actually 

gained clients, and his practice grew. 

“When times are tough and hard, 

that is when more people seek advice,” 

Funches explained. “The people who 

think they can do it themselves during 

the good times are the ones who 

actually come looking for advice.” 

Funches welcomes 

new 

clients 

b u t 

sticks with the qualification that they 

are willing and able to act on his advice. 

When he started his career as a 

financial advisor in 1998, he wasn’t 

as selective regarding clients. In his 

words, “Early on in my career, I tried 

to help anybody and everybody.” 

He quickly learned that neither 

“anybody” nor “everybody” qualify 

as an engaged client. Funches admits 

that this was the most important lesson 

in developing his practice.“You 

learn that some people do not take 

your advice. They might be willing to 

receive it, but they cannot act on it in 

the proper way,” he said. “I learned 

that this took time away from clients 

who really do rely on my advice to 

grow and prosper. I learned to concentrate 

on those clients who are serious, 

capable of taking advice and who are 

able to grow from it.” 

His passion for financial planning 

comes from having been raised in a 

setting where financial planning needs 

were greatly under-served. While taking 

a business financial investment 

course in college, he became intrigued 

with investment strategies and financial 

planning. Looking around 

his college campus, Funches realized 

that he was attending 

classes with other students 

who themselves had a lot 

more wealth than he did, 

due mainly to the ability 

of their families to use financial 

planning tools. 

He decided to change 

his own destiny and 

that of others who 

previously did not 

have the training, experience or access 

to financial planning. 

Today, he puts a significant focus on 

educating clients regarding changes 

in retirement funding. Despite the fact 

that many employers moved away 

from traditional pension plans decades 

ago in favor of defined benefit 

plans which shift retirement planning 

responsibility back to the employee, 

Funches knows that many workers 

still do not fully understand the ramifications. 

This – coupled with the reality 

that most Americans are living 

longer – gives him great cause for concern. 

“It is going to be the biggest challenge 

in the next few generations,” 

Funches emphasized. “Helping clients 

make sure they have the right 

mix of investments in their company’s 

retirement plan is crucial, because in 

future years Social Security will only 

be a shell of its former self. So, with 

solid financial planning, increased 

focus on savings, and a sound 

investment strategy it is 

more likely for individuals 

to overcome all of these 

challenges.” 

Learn more online regarding 

Stanley T. Funches, 

CFP®, ChFC®, CRPC®, 

MBA and Bridgeworth, 

LLC at www.bridgeworthfinancial.com. 



Expert Testimony From Registered Nurses 

An Emerging Career Field making an Impact 

Nurses are quickly 

joining the ranks 

of those doctors who 

have become medical 

legal consultants and 

expert witnesses. This 

comes as litigators are 

recognizing the value 

of insights provided by medical 

professionals, who spend much more 

time on the floor in close contact with 

patients, as accurate resources for expert 

testimony. 

For one California registered nurse 

with more than 30 years of patient 

care experience, this burgeoning need 

emanating from the legal community 

has also provided her with the opportunity 

to develop a unique and rapidly 

growing practice. 

Suzanne E. Arragg is the founder 

of SEA & Associates Medical Legal 

Consulting, Inc. based in Ventura, 

California. Nearly 15 years ago, she 

was asked by an attorney to review 

the medical records of a patient in a 

skilled nursing facility. It was a different 

type of request, but not one 

that threw her a curve ball. At that 

time, she was Director of Nursing in 

a skilled nursing facility and the inquiry 

from an attorney regarding the 

case captured her attention. The attorney 

wanted a primer regarding the 

workings of a skilled nursing facility. 

“My expertise was invaluable in 

terms of educating the attorney client 

about what a skilled nursing facility 

does, what type of staff is involved, 

the workings of the entire 24 hours of 

operation of this type of facility and 

what its obligations to its patients 

are,” Arragg recalls. “That is what got 

me started in this industry, since my 

nursing skills complimented the information 

they required 

Since then, Arragg went on to 

found SEA & Associates® and build 

a network of medical legal experts – 

primarily registered nurses – with 

expertise in various segments of the 

health care industry. Her team includes 

experts in long-term care, 

acute care, dependent adult care, 

regulatory compliance, drug and 

medical device , outpatient clinics , 

and managed care, plus much more. 

Through the national network she 

has developed, Arragg is able to locate 

a medical legal consultant for almost 

every specific medical niche. 

The bulk of these medical-legal 

nursing consultants are Certified Legal 

Nurse Consultants – a distinction 

Arragg also holds. The CLNC® designation 

is earned after completing 

an intensive educational program 

designed to teach registered nurses 

how to put their specialized medical 

knowledge to work in the courtroom. 

“It isn’t that nurses will completely 

replace doctors as expert witnesses 

rather nursing experts provide nursing 

standard of care testimony ” Arragg 

noted. 

“In legal terms, litigators still need 

the evaluation and the expertise of 

physicians. They look at all of the 

documents generated during the 

course of a patient’s case to determine 

how the clinical circumstance 

affects the patient – and they provide 

the diagnosis and medical causation 

argument,” Arragg said. “Yet, unlike 

nursing staff, the doctor is not in the 

medical facility or hospital 24 hours/7 

days a week. They are not at the 

bedside in the constant fashion that 

nursing staff are. Nurses provide the 

clinical hands-on, hour-by-hour perspective 

on the continuum of care the 

patient received, as well as those who 

interfacing with interdisciplinary 

team members that may be involved 

with a specific patient . The perspective 

a nurse brings is invaluable because 

it represents what is happening 

to that patient throughout the case.” 

While her medical-legal consulting 

is available for the myriad of medical 

issues, her specialty and abiding interest 

is in elder care. She admits it is a highly 

complicated issue. There are so many 

different types of elder care available: 

skilled nursing facilities, in-home care, 

residential care in an assisted living 

home where the presence of a licensed 

nurse is not always required,– and the 

list goes on. 

“Attorneys struggle with which standards 

to apply as they attempt to assist 

frustrated family members, who also do 

not know what the legal ramifications 

are in the setting where their loved one 

lives,” Arragg explained. 

“In California, the components of the 

law and the loopholes that exist in elder 

care require litigators prove that elder 


abuse did occur,” Arragg said. “It really 

is an art that litigators have to master.” 

“In medical malpractice, lawsuits 

hinge on four elements: the duty of the 

medical professional, a breach of that 

duty, causation and damages These 

elements only provide the basis for an 

elder abuse case. To prove elder abuse, 

a plaintiff must be able to prove reckless 

neglect and abandonment of the patient,” 

Arragg said. 

That’s tough and it is also why a larger 

percentage of elder abuse claims are 

being settled in favor of the defendant. 

“The defendant can prove that they 

gave medication or provided treatment 

at the appropriate times. They can easily 

prove that 24-hour care was given 

and that the patient saw the doctor,” 

Arragg said. 

Much of the challenge surrounding 

elder abuse is represented in the unrealistic 

expectations of family members. 

Skilled nursing facilities are not required 

to provide the one-on-one care 

that is desired by family members. Yet, 

because these often become “home” for 

so many elder patients, the desire for 

more attention often conflicts with the 

financial realities governing these facilities. 

Many elderly patients come in with 

Medicaid as their only source for payment. 

In California, dependent upon 

the size of the skilled nursing facility, 

that averages $180 per day to cover 

medication, 24-hour nursing care, 

meals and a room. It represents a significant 

disconnect that Arragg sees 

reaching a crisis point, not only is our 

population living longer, but also as 

more and more baby boomers enter 

retirement and begin to experience 

the medical complications that often 

accompany aging. 

“That is pretty low reimbursement 

for a facility to employ a registered 

nurse that costs $40 an hour,” she 

said. “Can these facilities afford to 

provide one-on-one care? Absolutely 

not. It is a sad struggle, but the reality 

is that there simply is not enough 

time, not enough money, not enough 

resources.” 

This is the reason she focuses on 

her out-of-court consulting services 

aimed at helping long-term care facilities, 

assisted living homes and skilled 

nursing facilities do more with the resources 

they have and to stay ahead 

of regulatory changes. She is also a 

huge proponent of training registered 

nurses to specialize in long-term care. 

Arragg knows there is more work to 

do. Yet, in the 15 years since she consulted 

on that first case, she has consulted 

on thousands of cases across 

the nation that have had great effectiveness, 

by helping to clarify whether 

or nor elder abuse had occurred. 

“I feel as if my greatest success has 

been my ability to educate attorneys 

about the continuum of health care 

and how this impacts legal matters – 

particularly in the unique setting of 

long-term care,” Arragg emphasized. 

SEA & Associates Medical Legal 

Consulting 

P.O. Box 3222 

Ventura, CA 93006-3222 

www.sealegalnurse.com 


OPPORTUNITY IN 

DOWN MARKETS 

It is said that investing is not for the faint of heart. Adverse market conditions can send 

casual investors scurrying to close out their accounts. Yet some companies find that 

adversity in the markets – or in particular industries – can signal the right time to invest. 

That's one of the directives of value for investing firm T&T Capital Management. 

Founder and principal Tim Travis formulated his model after studying the value investing 

practices of lenders such as Warren Buffet, Benjamin Graham and Martin Whitman. 

Timothy Travis, Founder 

T&T Capital Management 


T&T Capital focuses on deep 

value investment strategies 

for institutions, families 

and individuals. While 

founder Travis has always 

believed in the value investing model, 

to gain experience, he spent time with 

larger institutions, each with different 

practices. He worked for firms such 

as Scottrade, AG Edwards & Sons and 

Vanguard Group. After gaining the 

experience he needed, Travis formed 

his own company, intending to follow 

his passion. “I realized that if I were to 

start a company offering what I believe 

to be the best product or investment 

philosophy – the value investment 

strategy offered at a reasonable price 

– that could be my competitive advantage. 

That's what I've done with T&T 

Capital Management,” Travis said. 

The Orange County, CA-based firm 

opened its doors in 2011. 

Seeking investors willing to put investments 

into companies undergoing 

a turnaround, T&T Capital Management 

typically requires a minimum 

$100,000 investment and a time horizon 

of between three and five years. 

Investments in companies can take 

the form of equity, bonds, warrants 

or other financing. “In addition, we'll 

utilize strategies such as cash-secured 

puts and covered calls to generate additional 

income, and to manufacture 

cheaper entry prices into the stocks,” 

Travis explained. “We never engage in 

speculation – and we're focused on the 

long term.” 

Client education is part of this practice. 

“I think we're a little bit unique. 

We've learned that by producing a 

lot of content, a lot of high-quality research 

and relaying that to our clients, 

we help with the education process 

and that makes them feel more comfortable.” 

The Value Model 

Value investing often targets companies 

and industries in trouble, as well 

as times when the market is on a downturn. 

This style of investing was developed 

as far back as the middle of the 

last century. “Benjamin Graham created 

the model from which I got started,”

explained Travis. “And then I read 

all the Buffet partnership letters and 

I read all of the Berkshire Hathaway 

shareholder letters. What I learned 

was that when Buffet was managing 

smaller amounts of money in the '50s 

and '60s, he posted his best results. He 

had a slightly different strategy than 

what he uses now.” 

Buffet broke his investments down 

into two major categories. The first 

type were called “generals” – generally 

undervalued securities, which are 

similar to the types of non-controlling 

investments that Buffett and Berkshire 

still make today in companies such as 

Wells Fargo (WFC) and IBM (IBM) . 

The second type of investments were 

“workouts,” which are special situations 

such as mergers, arbitrages 

and other situations where the investment 

results would be predicated 

on the outcome of a specific event, as 

opposed to a reflection of the overall 

market. “When the market was quite 

expensive, he would overweight the 

portfolios towards those workouts, 

which is something I found very interesting,” 

Travis remarked. 

Travis instilled this strategy for 

T&T Capital Management. “We utilize 

things like selling cash-secured 

puts on stocks that we want to own 

anyway, as a way to give us a little bit 

of protection when the market is expensive, 

and to manufacture cheaper 

entry prices in the stocks,” said Travis. 

“It's a kind of derivative of his 

strategy. That's a model I think which 

makes us extremely unique – and one 

that mutual funds, ETFs, and most financial 

advisors could not emulate.” 

A Down Market 

Strategies like deep value investing 

work well in situations such as the financial 

crisis experienced in 2008 and 

2009. Yet the company didn't get started 

until 2011. “I wish I had the capital 

that I'm managing now during the 

financial crisis, because I saw things 

very clearly in 2008 and 2009, in terms 

of where the opportunities were,” insisted 

Travis. “At that time,” he noted, 

“Big firms such as American Express 

and Wells Fargo saw their shares drop 

to about $10 a share, and General Electric 

at one point traded at $6 per share. 

“It was extremely, extremely attractive 

– and especially with our longterm 

orientation – it would have been 

the perfect time to get going,” Travis 

emphasized. 

As the market recovers following 

those tumultuous years, pockets still 

exist where T&T Capital Management 

can see room for investment opportunities. 

T&T Capital Management's intent 

is to serve its clients. Travis said, 

“Because the bottom line is, we're in 

the business of helping people grow 

their portfolios.” 

Cash Flow 

The companies that T&T Capital 

Management finds most attractive are 

companies that are out of favor, but 

don't require constant access to cash. 

“Smart businessmen buy businesses 

in times of recession or downturns in 

an industry,” Travis explained. 

Evaluation of prospective companies 

is key, reinforcing the company 

research that Travis and his firm supplies 

to its clients. Clients, on the other 

hand, must be comfortable with that 

research and allow time for investments 

to turn around. He said, “We 

look at things like the balance sheet, 

the cash flows and the durable competitive 

advantages of an operation. 

If we can buy that business at a deep 

discount to our estimate of intrinsic 

value, we're willing to do that and engage 

in what we believe to be a kind 

of time arbitrage.” Travis asserted, 

“If within three years we expect those 

earnings to recover and the stock is 

deeply undervalued, we're willing to 

wait out those leaner years in the business, 

because that's the time to pick it 

up prior to the stock price going up.” 

T&T Capital Management 

Registered Investment Advisor 

2211 Michelson Suite 540 Irvine, Ca 92612 

Direct Line: 949-630-0263 

www.ttcapitalonline.com 


y felix badea 

As the CEO of the Beringer 

Group based in Radnor, 

Pa., Beringer follows his 

own advice concerning business 

matters first and then 

passes the torch to his clients. 

“Everything we do for clients 

we do for ourselves,” 

Beringer said. “My son is 

our president and we have 

our own succession plan. We 

manage our own assets the 

same way we recommend 

to our clients. When we are 

helping our family clients, 

what we do for them is what 

we have already done for 

ourselves. Our client families 

find that to be very useful.” 

Beringer said this creates 

an alignment in that his clients 

know that he, as a business 

owner, experiences and 

sees the same needs they 

have. 

His experience is particularly 

relevant in that Beringer 

travelled the road of selling 

a self-made business. In 

1979, Beringer founded The 

Mid-Atlantic Companies, 

Ltd., which grew substantially 

to become a nationwide 

advisory firm with offices in 

many of the major metropolitan 

areas. In 1998, he sold to 

First Union Bank. 

Not quite ready to retire, in 

2000 he gathered some key 

members of his former team 

and formed ‘The Beringer 

Group,’ which not only enabled 

him to provide a higher 

level of service to a more targeted 

group of clients, but to 

return to the family business 

INDEPENDENT ADVICE 

BASED ON OWN EXPERIENCE 

High net worth owners of family businesses searching for quality, independent 

advice on whether to sell, keep or transfer their life’s work as they approach their 

golden years might consider seeking out a professional such as Ted Beringer. 


model that had always been 

at the core of his passion. 

Aside from making his son, 

Chris Beringer, the president 

of the new effort, perhaps the 

most dynamic change was 

bringing John Fye and Brad 

Standridge onto the team in 

a special division located in 

Tampa. The Tampa office has 

accelerated the growth of the 

company by pioneering new 

marketing initiatives and 

making TBG services available 

to a long list of new clients 

in fresh and innovative 

ways. 

The Beringer Group web 

site, which uses a golf motif 

to help visitors learn about 

their services, reflects this 

new dynamic approach, 

rooted in proven, time tested 

strategies. A full 18 rounds 

provides complete information 

regarding the firm’s 

services, including analysis 

of buy/sell options, different 

types of structured buyout 

options, employee ownership 

programs, debt restructuring, 

succession plans and 

how to set up a family office 

among many other topics. 

After a visitor plays a full 

round, they can “put down 

their golf bag”, take a break 

and get to know the staff at 

The Beringer Group and arrange 

for a meeting. 

The approach drives home 

the point that business owners 

eventually ought to be 

headed to retirement and 

Beringer said he regularly 

gets very positive feedback. 

“I don’t know how many 

people complete the full 

round, but it does spark a lot 

of conversation with potential 

clients,” he said. 

the BERINGER group 

201 King of Prussia Rd., 

Suite 340 

Radnor, PA 19087

One City Built to Last

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?