Board of Directors

Jeff Jones, CFP®, EA, MS

Chair

Jeff is a Partner and Director of Financial Planning at Longview Financial Advisors in Huntsville, AL. Jeff received his B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Alabama Huntsville and his M.S. in Financial Planning and Counseling from the University of Alabama. He enjoys working with families as they blend their financial and life goals. Before joining Longview, he spent 12 years working with the Department of Defense and NASA, designing, implementing and maintaining large computer systems. His passion for financial planning and the catalyst for his career change came through his volunteer work preparing tax returns for low-income families.

Jeff has long been an active member and volunteer within NAPFA, serving as symposium director, president, and chair of the South Region Board as well as ad hoc committees and mentorship opportunities. In his community, he is a member of the Leadership Greater Huntsville Connect 19, served as a volunteer for Connect 20 & 21, worked with the United Way of Madison County offering free tax prep, and coached baseball and soccer at his local municipal park.

Wendy Hartman, CFP®

Chair-Elect

Wendy is President of Buckingham Strategic Wealth where she is responsible for providing strategic leadership, in conjunction with the Board and other firm leaders, that helps achieve the firm’s strategic priorities. Her role is to drive organic growth and ensure the effective delivery of the client experience, along with the advisor experience, through a robust operational infrastructure. After decades of working as a wealth advisor, Wendy is proud to lead Buckingham Strategic Wealth as they continue to safeguard their clients’ lives.

Wendy has enduring passion for the industry and recognizes that “NAPFA’s role in the financial planning profession is to be a relentless advocate for the fee-only community through consumer awareness, education and partnerships”. She is enthusiastic about her new role as a NAPFA Board member.

Deva Panambur, CFA®, CFP®

Treasurer/Secretary

Deva is the founder of Sarsi, LLC, a fee-only financial advisor based in West New York, NJ and New York City, NY with clients all over the country and abroad. Deva has been in the investment and financial advisory profession for over 20 years. A past member of the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic Region Board, he is passionate about financial planning, education and shaping the future of students. He teaches a personal finance class and an introductory financial planning class, the first of its kind at a NJ University. He has a Bachelor of Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology, India, a Master in International Management from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, India, and an MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management, Glendale, AZ.

Deva cherishes the NAPFA community and the sense of belonging with like-minded professionals and considers it a privilege to be given the opportunity to shape the organization’s future. He keeps fit by running and practicing Iyengar yoga. He enjoys playing golf, traveling to places of historical importance, reading biographies and good food.

Karla McAvoy, CFP®

Immediate Past Chair

As a Managing Director, Wealth Management, Karla has been a long-time advocate for individual investors. She joined The Mather Group through the acquisition of HC Financial Advisors in August 2022, where she was the Chief Compliance Officer, Senior Financial Advisor, and Principal. Karla was responsible for helping to ensure that the firm remained compliant with state and federal laws and regulations and managing the day-to-day details of her clients’ finances. Before joining the HC Financial team, she was a Regional Director of Education at PeopleSoft and a Software Consultant at Must Software. In addition, Karla has served as a Board Member and Chair of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA), the NAPFA West Region Board, and the FPA NorCal Conference Committee, which she also chaired in 2014. Karla earned her MBA in Technology Management at Santa Clara University and her BA in Economics at the University of California, Davis. She also is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ practitioner, and she earned a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) certificate from NAPFA.

Joni Alt, CFP®

Joni is Senior Wealth Advisor at Evermay Wealth Management. Joni has worked for more than 30 years in the financial planning/investment management field and uses her drive as a continuous learner to find new ways to serve her clients.

Joni began her NAPFA volunteer service as a member of the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic Region Board as a way to give back to the profession. “Being part of the NAPFA Board will allow me to continue that path I began a few years back. This association has helped me connect with other liked minded planners, many of which are now friends and colleagues”.

Joni wants to “continue to give back to NAPFA community of professionals that have helped me so that I can help the next generation coming into this profession.” She is looking forward to focusing on member education, maintaining NAPFA’s reputation in the financial planning community, and remaining up to date on regulatory and public policy issues.

Dr. Kristy Archuleta, Ph.D., LMFT, CFT-I(TM)

NAPFA Consumer Representative

Kristy is an Associate Professor in one of the nation’s premier financial planning programs at the University of Georgia and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. Prior to joining the faculty at UGA in August 2018, she was an Associate Professor and Program Director of the Personal Financial Planning program at Kansas State University. Her research and teaching interests relate to financial therapy, couples and money, and effective mechanisms to improve financial and overall well-being. She is a co-founding board member and Past-President of the Financial Therapy Association, current Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Financial Therapy, and has co-edited two books: Financial Planning and Scales and Financial Therapy: Theory, Theory, Research, and Practice.

Dr. Archuleta has published numerous scholarly articles and been interviewed for national and international media outlets, including The New York Times, Investor Business Daily, Investment News, Investor Business Daily, CNBC, Glamour, CBS Money Watch, Parade, and NPR. She serves as a Hartford Funds Human Centric Insights Panelist as well as on the Editorial Boards for Financial Planning Review, Journal of Financial Planning, and Korean Financial Planning Review. Dr. Archuleta is a recipient of the Kansas State University College of Human Ecology Myers-Alford Outstanding Teaching Award and the Oklahoma State University College of Human Sciences Distinguished Alumna Award.

Feraud Calixte, J.D., CFP®

Feraud is the Founder and Lead Planner of Vantage Pointe Planning. He has worked in the financial planning profession for more than 10 years and has served on the NAPFA South Region board, 2021 Fall Conference Committee, Membership Committee, and more.

Feraud's professional background includes previously working in the broker-dealer channel and will offer a valuable perspective during his term. He hopes to make an impact on advisors leveraging technology, aligning value with fees, and professional excellence.

Cheryl Holland, CFP®, CFBA

Cheryl is the Founder of Abacus Planning Group and has been in the profession for more than 30 years. She has been involved in several NAPFA volunteer opportunities, including multiple conference committees, chairman's council, leadership summit committee, and more.

Cheryl has an intense commitment to issues relevant to larger firms and broadening the diversity of the profession. She feels that NAPFA is "often the North star and change maker and can be in this area, too".

Amy Irvine, CFP®

Amy is the Founder/Owner of Rooted Planning Group. Amy has had varied experiences in her financial career and successfully transitioned to opening her own firm, the Rooted Planning Group in 2016. She currently serves on the Finance Committee for Fund for Women of the Southern Tier, the Endowment Committee for ART's Council of the Southern Finger Lakes, and the Corning-Painted Post Historical Society and has previously served on the board for Faith-in-Action Steuben County, the and on the Human Ecology Committee for Cornell Cooperative Extension.

Amy remains dedicated to having more diversity in the profession empowered through education as evidenced by her involvement with the NAPFA Education Committee and previous tenure with the XYPN Diversity Committee. She is looking forward to becoming a member of the NAPFA Board and believes Leadership isn't about one action or one person, but “how a group of individuals can collaborate to grow.”

Ben Jacobs, M.S., CFP®, EA, AIF®

Ben is the CFO & a Partner at Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group. Ben received his undergraduate and master's degrees in financial planning and consumer economics from the University of Georgia, where he graduated summa cum laude with highest honors. He has nearly ten years of experience in NAPFA as a student member, associate, and NAPFA-Registered Financial Advisor. He served on the NAPFA Genesis Committee for five years, most recently as Chair. Additionally, he was a 2021 recipient of NAPFA's New Professional Award. Ben is also a part-time instructor in the financial planning program at UGA, teaching the Capstone in Financial Planning course.

As a member of the board, Ben hopes to build on the work the DEI Committee has done and address important DEI issues in the profession. He also hopes to address the "ongoing issue of compensation as a financial advisor." He believes "providing more education to consumers and transparency in how advisors are paid should remain a top concern". He is extremely passionate about the community that NAPFA provides for fee-only advisors and is honored to serve on the NAPFA Board. Ben lives with his husband, Cody, and their three dogs in Athens, GA.

Daphne Jordan, CFP®

Daphne is an advisor at Pioneer Wealth Management Group in Austin, Texas. In the NAPFA space, she was the Co-founder/Co-chair of NAPFA’s Diversity + Inclusion initiative and previously served as the Austin Study Group Leader.

As a previous Austin FPA President, she enjoys serving in a thought leader capacity and wishes to make financial planning an approachable experience for consumers.

Daphne was listed in Investopedia’s 100 Top Financial Advisors of 2021 and received a 2019 Rising Star Award from InvestmentNews’ "Excellence in Diversity" program. She has been featured in a Money Savage podcast on “Your Financial Road Map” and in the Negotiate Anything podcast with attorney Kwame Christian on the topic of implicit bias. She has also had an article published in the Austin Family magazine sharing tips with parents on saving for college and has been quoted in Nerd Wallet’s online magazine.

As a career-changer, this math major, former elementary teacher and business manager of a large non-denominational church cares for others. Daphne believes in, “being relational” and feels “that investing in others reap the best benefits.” It is her delight to serve you on the NAPFA Board.

Laura Barnett Lion, CFP®

Laura is Managing Director of The Mather Group and has been a NAPFA member for more than 20 years. Her most recent NAPFA service was on the 2019 Spring Conference committee. Prior to that, Laura served on the Leadership Development Committee and as a member of the South Region Board. “It was deeply gratifying to me to help facilitate friendships for others like those that have benefited me and enriched my professional life so much. Such relationships between advisors I believe is one of the things that sets NAPFA apart.”

Laura is passionate about NAPFA and believes it holds an important position in the industry. Continuing the push for stronger fiduciary standards, transparency of fees and enabling consumers to search for advice based on those guidelines is important work.

Laura is looking forward to using her perspective and experience that comes from her 30 years in the industry and 20 years as a business owner to help NAPFA move forward. She has a deep respect for all that the Association has accomplished. “It will be a privilege to serve on the Board and has been a goal of mine for a long time. This organization has been good to me. It has given me strong friendships, clients, knowledge to build my business, and I will love the opportunity to pay it forward.”

Natalie Pine, CFP®

Natalie is Managing Partner for Briaud Financial Advisors and has been in the profession for nearly 15 years. She has served on several committees throughout her time with NAPFA, including most recently chairing the NAPFA Spring 2022 National Conference Committee.

Natalie has a strong desire to help maintain NAPFA's role "as the moral, ethical leader of the profession." She hopes to help NAPFA grow and continue acting as a "guiding light" until fee only, fiduciary financial planning dominates the market.