Carrie Nelson is a corporate executive-turned entrepreneur passionate about helping Financial Advisors and investors have better, more empathetic financial conversations. Carrie brings over 20 years of experience to Atlas Point, including consulting, business development, and entrepreneurship. She gained much of her expertise as a data strategy leader at Experian, Principal at EY, and Head of Firm Strategy at Edward Jones.

Through her wealth management consulting experience, Carrie identified an opportunity to connect character science and behavioral finance to empower people to express how they think and feel about money, leading to more personal and personalized financial conversations that drive real results. 

Dr. Lamar Pierce is an economist and behavioral scientist focused on improving productivity and sales performance through experimentation and data analytics.

Lamar is Professor of Organization & Strategy at Washington University in St Louis and was previously on the faculty at University of Texas and Carnegie Mellon University and a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution.

He has published over forty peer-reviewed papers in economics, psychology, and management. 

Joe Messinger, CFP®, ChFC®, CLU®, CFFC  is on a mission to end the student loan crisis one family at a time.  A proud graduate of Penn State University, Joe is Partner and Director of College Planning at Capstone Wealth Partners.  A fee only RIA based in Columbus, OH that specializes in financial planning for college bound families.  Joe created the innovative College Pre-Approval™ system to seamlessly guide families through the college funding maze and ensure that every student graduate with manageable student loan debt without robbing retirement.  

 In addition, Joe is co-founder and Director of Advisor solutions at College Aid Pro®, a groundbreaking financial aid planning software for advisors that is changing the way America shops for college and streamlining the college funding process.  

He is known as an industry thought leader in the area of college financial planning and practice management.  He regularly speaks at industry conferences for the Financial Planning Association (FPA), National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA), and the XY Planning Network (XYPN). His work has been featured in The Journal for Financial Planning, Financial Advisor Magazine, US News, and Bloomberg to name a few.

Gretchen Halpin is a strategic visionary with over 25 years of leadership and marketing experience. In her work with financial professionals and teams, Gretchen's primary focus is to accelerate and guide organizational growth in a positive, sustainable way. From successful entrepreneur to jack-of-all-trades strategic consultant, Gretchen's career path and journey to success have been guided by one true passion: to help people create the life and business they want, even when that means challenging the status quo.

Gretchen specializes in pioneering strategy and growth initiatives that drive success across every aspect of a business — from vision and objectives, to marketing and business development, to the overall client experience. Her top priority is to ensure that all decisions and initiatives are aligned with the mission and values of the firms in which she works. Gretchen has helped firms achieve success by elevating their brand identity and story to internal and external audiences, seizing new business opportunities, driving organizational change and translating strategy into action across all levels of the business.

But her ability to morph big-picture ideas into action and results goes beyond her current focus; it derives from her experience as the driving force behind several successful business ventures, including Soothe Your Senses, an organic aromatherapy product line she launched in 2001. What started as a passion for health and wellness expanded into an international spa brand — with retail distribution in 30 U.S. states and five countries — that grew 250-percent annually for eight years. 

As a co-founder of Beyond AUM, Gretchen and her team created and implemented a growth, marketing and technology plan that led an RIA firm to grow from $1 billion in assets under management (AUM) to more than $5 billion in AUM in five years. Under her leadership, Beyond AUM continues to assist firms, big and small, to reach their goals. Gretchen believes in working directly with advisors and their teams in order to cultivate a deep understanding of the importance and impact of their service and help support their client relationships. These experiences drive Beyond AUM's passion to see the RIA industry continue to thrive into the future. 

Under the direction of Gretchen and her fellow co-founder, Beyond AUM's marketing strategy was recognized by My Perfect Client and Masters in Accounting, and the team led the development of a personal finance blog that was named a Top 50 Financial Advisor Blog by Michael Kitces in 2014 and 2015. Gretchen has been a featured speaker at numerous industry events and conferences, hosted by leading organizations such as eMoney, the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) and Financial Advisor Magazine.

Mark is a long-time FPA member, leader and advocate.  He has served on the national board of directors, chaired national FPA committees, a former host for the Tax & Estate Knowledge Circle, and a regular contributor on FPA Connect.  At Inspired Financial, he is the Director of Tax Strategies and manages the tax, estate, and divorce disciplines for the firm.

Marguerita (Rita) Cheng helps educate the public, policy makers, and media about the benefits of competent, ethical financial planning. As a Certified Financial Planner® professional and chief executive officer of financial advisory firm, Blue Ocean Global Wealth, Rita helps people meet their life goals through the proper management of financial resources. She is passionate about helping them navigate some of life’s most difficult issues—divorce, death, career changes, caring for aging relatives—so they can feel confident and in control of their finances. Rita is a regular columnist for Kiplinger and MarketWatch, and a past spokesperson for the AARP Financial Freedom Campaign. Rita volunteers her time as a SoleMate, or charity runner for Girls on the Run, raising money to win scholarships for girls. She is also a coach for 261Fearless, a global supportive social running network which empowers women to connect and take control of their lives through the freedom gained by running.

Mr. Pon is a Certified Financial Planner, Certified Public Accountant, Personal Financial Specialist, and Accredited Estate Planner in Redwood Shores, CA.   

Mr. Pon has been practicing since 1986.  He provides the latest advanced tax and financial planning strategies to financial planners so they can be knowledgeable with their clients.

Mr. Pon received his BS in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley and MS in Taxation from Golden Gate University in San Francisco.

Mr. Pon is a long time member of the Financial Planning Association and speaks frequently to the San Francisco and Silicon Valley Chapters.

Bradley T. Klontz is a founder of the Financial Psychology Institute® and an associate professor of practice in financial psychology at Creighton University Heider College of Business. He is a managing principal of Your Mental Wealth Advisors, a fellow of the American Psychological Association, and a former president of the Hawaii Psychological Association. He has partnered with organizations including Capital One, JP Morgan Chase and H&R Block in efforts to help raise public awareness around issues related to financial health and financial psychology.

Dr. Charles Chaffin’s work encompasses a broad range of fields, from educational psychology to financial planning to life in the Information Age. His research and teaching focuses on learner cognition in a variety of formats, including various delivery methods and learning styles as well as the client behaviors and attitudes within financial planning. Most recently, he has written and spoke regarding one of the biggest issues of our time: information, most notably how we manage it, retain, and use it in all aspects of our lives.

Charles delivers keynotes speeches, workshops, as well as teaching in a variety of executive education programs.

Luis is the founder of Build a Better Financial Future LLC. He came to the U.S. at age 11 from the Dominican Republic. Growing up in New York City and now living in California, Luis noticed the lack of financial literacy in his community and was inspired by his parents to work hard and pursue an education.

From participating as an FPA NexGen and CFP Board ambassador, to speaking at the CFP Board Center for Financial Planning’s Diversity Summit, Luis uses his platform to help spread financial literacy via media outreach as well as encourage younger and diverse planners to join and thrive in the industry.

He is the host of the “On My Way to Wealth” podcast, co-founder of the BlatinX (BLX) Internship Program and LatinXcellence – an initiative that seeks to bring awareness to and help close the wealth gap in the LatinX community.  Luis was named one of InvestmentNews 40 Under 40 in 2019 and Financial Advisor Magazine’s 10 Young Advisors to Watch, as well as Investopedia Top 100 Financial Advisors in 2020, 2021, and 2022 and named one of 8 Hispanic Personal Finance Influencers to Follow for Money Advice by The Penny Hoarder and NerdWallet.