Our Advisory Board

Nicholas L. Gregory, ChWE, CEBA, ChCCA, ChFWA — Founder and CEO

Having founded a firm called The Financial Engineering Institute back in 1996, Mr. Gregory and his colleagues utilized the Institute’s WealthEngineeringTM Platform and a plethora of other resources to engineer The Family Wealth Hub as an ecosystem for families and their businesses. They are gathering places for Families and Businesses to peruse a carefully selected and categorized portfolio of ExpertSourcing Firms. Families create their FWH Dashboards to access the expert sourcing firms and the Family Knowledge Center coupled with Regional Chapters and synchronized with discreet peer-to-peer Forums and dynamic regional and national Conferences.

Nick is dedicated to providing quality education, training coaching and advanced strategies for families of wealth and their advisors.  He is also President and Managing Director of The Charitable Capital Design Center, an organization which assists both financial professionals and charitable organizations in enhancing their planned giving capabilities by redefining “planned giving” as a unique form of financial capital. In addition, Nick and his colleagues have developed Give Back Nation, a non-profit, national community foundation to create even bigger waves of giving across the nation. He is also Founder and CEO of The Family Business Hub, a national association of family businesses. 

Over the past 40 years Mr. Gregory has consulted with attorneys, accountants, and financial services professionals in better serving their high net worth families and businesses. He also provides consulting for some of the largest financial services organizations in the world. He functions as a speaker, writer and consultant in the areas of cash management, risk management, investing, taxation, estate preservation, employee benefits, business succession and retirement planning, as well as business valuation, asset protection, and charitable giving. Mr. Gregory holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Ball State University with minors in Economics and Finance. Mr. Gregory is a member of the Financial Planners Association, The Partnership for Philanthropic Planning, The International Institute of Financial Engineering, The Charitable Capital Advisory Institute and is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Give Back Nation.

Kyle C. Gregory, ChCCA — President of Give Back Nation, a non-profit organization

Kyle and several other entrepreneurial philanthropists developed Give Back Nation as a national community foundation serving hundreds of non-profits on a concierge services basis as well as thousands of giving Americans and their causes. Kyle Gregory has held management positions with UPS, Lowes and The Bank of New York Mellon. Using his vast array of management experience and dedication to “giving back”, Kyle helps great causes expand their fight while creating a “circle of winning” within communities across the nation. Kyle received his bachelors degree in Business Management from the University of Central Florida. He is a member of The Charitable Capital Advisory Institute.

James Sekel — Senior Vice President of Private Banking at TriState Capital Bank

In this capacity, Jim works in developing deposit and loan relationships with family offices, trust companies, investment firms, financial advisors and their clients, as well as business owners and company executives. Jim has nearly 40 years of experience in the banking industry. He has expertise in Private Banking, along with retail and commercial banking. Jim is currently responsible for a $700 million loan and deposit portfolio. Jim is a graduate of Edinboro University with a B.A. in Accounting. Additionally, he earned his MBA from Robert Morris University. He also completed the Graduate School of Retail Bank Management at the University of Virginia and the Central Atlantic School of Commercial Lending at Bucknell University.

Brad West — Chief Operating Officer at Alternative Investment Exchange (AIX)

As COO of AIX, Brad arbitrates possibility and change across the alternative investments arena. His role is to help firms and advisors see the benefits of authentic data and process connectivity, understand why it matters and realize their true potential for growth. The reward is helping every AIX partner become stronger, and more vital by creating a connected ecosystem for alternatives, for the first time in history. With stints as Chief Information Officer at FS Investments and President and CEO of BankersEdge, he has made a career of leveraging technology to re-engineer and restructure businesses to enable commercial product strategies, streamline operations, and drive scale and profitability.

Jeff Bae, JD, CVA — Managing Director of Valuation Services

Jeff provides valuation consulting services for business owners, attorneys, accountants, and other professional services providers, for gift and estate tax reporting, income tax reporting, reorganizations, buy/sell agreements, marital dissolution, litigation support, IRC §409A (deferred compensation), financial reporting (i.e., ASC 805/350 and SFAS 123R), ESOPs, and financing purposes.

Jeff began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers in their National Tax Office. As an international tax associate, he advised multinational companies on the tax implications of their international operations as well as coordinating U.S. tax laws with foreign tax laws to develop optimal tax strategies. Jeff’s main expertise is in the valuation of ownership interests in operating businesses and closely-held, private entities that own real properties, marketable securities, and other income-producing assets. He is an active member of national and local professional organizations and frequently travels to Florida to manage VSI’s Miami office. Jeff has been involved in over 6,000 valuation engagements.

Robert Merl — National Business Resource Network Director at BDO USA

Rob leads the Business Resource Network practice of the BDO Alliance USA which provides consulting and business services to the Clients of BDO USA and its 260+ alliance firms across the country. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Economics Ursinus College and an MBA from the University of Maryland.