CLA awards finalists unveiled

The Invest in Others Charitable Foundation and InvestmentNews will present its second annual Community Leadership Awards, honoring financial advisers who make a difference in their communities, at the Hilton New York on September 9. Categories will include the Volunteer Team Award, the Mentoring Excellence Award, the Volunteer of the Year Award and the Community Leadership Award. The Invest in Others Charitable Foundation donate $10,000 to the charity of each category’s honoree. It will also donate $500 to each of the finalists’ charities. The Volunteer Team Award finalists are Katherine Foster, Chris Messick, Bill Stutesman, Mike Nelson and Gayle Waltman from Northwestern Mutual Financial Network in Dallas; Frank Martin, Todd Martin, Kristen Smith, Sue Massey and Aaron Kindig from Martin Capital Management LLP in Eckhart, Ind.; and Larry Rybka from ValMark Securities in Akron, Ohio. Finalists for the Mentoring Excellence Award include John R. Brant from KBD & Associates in Ventura, Calif.; Wayne Brumm in the Crown Point, Ind., office of Raymond James Financial Services Inc. of St. Petersburg, Fla.; and Marc Turner of Renaissance Advisory Group in Chester Springs, Pa. The Volunteer of the Year finalists are Richard England Jr. of Madison Wealth Management in Bethesda, Md.; Carl Bailey of Bailey & Beatty Financial Services LLC in Danbury, Conn.; and Marshall Gunn Jr. of Gunn & Co. Investment Management Inc. in Jacksonville, Fla. Finalists for the Community Leadership Award include Elizabeth Verterano in the New Wilmington, Penn., of Minneapolis-based Ameriprise Financial Services Inc.; Betty Harris Custer of Custer Financial Services in Madison, Wis.; and Gus Petsas of Petsas & Hill, Certified Public Accountants Inc. in Richmond, Calif. Proceeds from the awards dinner will go to the Boston-based Invest in Others Charitable Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3) charity that supports philanthropic and volunteer activities among financial advisers in the United States. Nearly 500 nominations were received for this year’s Community Leadership Awards. Roughly 40% of the advisers nominated have been volunteering for the same non-profit organization for more than 10 years, and more than 10% of the nominees founded or co-founded the charitable organization they serve. Education, housing, medical research, after-school programs and violence prevention are among the causes championed by the nominated advisers.