First Allied Securities

Business Owners Symposium

First Allied invites financial advisors serious about growing their businesses to exclusive, monthly symposiums to learn about business growth from some of the foremost professionals in the financial services field, and to discover why First Allied advisors are among some of the top producers in the independent channel.

At these events, our financial professionals will show you how First Allied may give advisors an edge with our:

• Exclusive, differentiated products
• Turn-key client acquisition program
• Business development platform designed to help you grow your business organically and through acquisition (ask us about Capital Source)

To schedule your attendance at one of our Business Owners Symposiums, please click here or call us at (800) 336-8842.

Featured presenters include:

• Matthew Bassuk Senior Vice President, Business Development

  As Senior Vice President of Business Development at First Allied, Matthew works to recruit new advisors to the firm. Prior to First Allied, Matthew worked for AIG Financial Advisors for several years as Vice President of Recruiting. In 1999, Matthew worked in the marketing department at the AIG Independent broker/dealers Sentra Securities Corporation, Spelman & Co., Inc and SunAmerica Securities Corporation where he held responsibilities for annuity and insurance marketing. Before this role, he worked with AIG SunAmerica wholesaling their variable annuity products in the wirehouse distribution channel. Matthew attended Pitzer College in Claremont, California where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology with an emphasis on the workplace and business organizations. He received his Certificate in Financial Planning from the Metropolitan College in Denver, Colorado.

• Adam Antoniades President

  Mr. Antoniades first joined First Allied Securities as President of the company in 1995. During his time at First Allied, he influenced three strategic acquisitions, and spearheaded the 2002 acquisition of First Allied by Wells Fargo. Mr. Antoniades also serves as President of First Allied’s parent company, Advanced Equities Financial Corp. (AEFC), and was instrumental in AEFC’s acquisition of First Allied, First Advisors, Inc., FFP Securities, Inc. and Greenbook Financial Services, Inc. Mr. Antoniades' strong business acumen has been demonstrated throughout his career. He has held senior management positions at major financial institutions around the globe.

• Karen Zamir Practice Consulting Manager

  As Practice Consulting Manager, Ms. Zamir works closely with our business owners on a full range of support services to help them manage their businesses. She directly consults with them on office management issues such as administration, operations, legal, human resources and information technology. Her most prominent focus is on training advisors and their office staff on internal applications, programs and procedures. Ms. Zamir brings robust training experience from her tenure at LPL as Manager of Training. In this capacity, she consulted with financial advisors to assist them with opening branch offices, managing their office, increasing operational efficiency, using technology, and much more. Ms. Zamir also worked as Manager of Transfers at LPL, gaining invaluable experience of issues advisors face during a transfer. Prior to LPL, Ms. Zamir worked at Pacific Life in the annuities division. She began her career as junior financial advisor with Independent Capital Group, a small boutique financial firm.

• Steph Laflamme VP, Financial Services Group

  Mr. Laflamme joined First Allied Securities, Inc. in March of 2008 to help oversee and develop private equity sales at the firm. Working several years on Wall Street servicing institutional clients and investors, his background is primarily in the marketing, origination and distribution of complex equity, fixed-income and alternative investments. Prior to joining First Allied Securities, Mr. Laflamme was the Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Centurion Counsel, Inc., an SEC-registered investment advisor. In this capacity, he was directly responsible for increasing assets under management by more than 300 percent in the firms’ separately managed accounts and hedge fund products. Prior to Centurion, Mr. Laflamme was a fixed-income trader as Goldman Sachs, where he managed the firm’s capital in investment grade bond transactions, trading more than $1 billion in securities weekly. He also provided markets to institutional investors and supported corporate clients’ securities in the fixed-income markets. As an investment banker at Salomon Smith Barney, Mr. Laflamme worked with numerous Fortune 500 clients accessing the debt and equity capital markets, helping to raise more than $8 billion. In addition, he provided strategic advisory services for merger, acquisition and divestiture transactions totaling more than $15 billion, including the $4.5 billion acquisition of Diamond Field Resources by Inco; the largest non-bank acquisition in Canadian history at the time. Mr. Laflamme graduated with honors from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada with a B.A. degree in economics and psychology. He also earned his Masters Degree in Business Administration from the Anderson School at UCLA. Mr. Laflamme is registered with FINRA and currently holds the Series 7 and 63 license designations.

• Robert S. Holcomb President, Wealth Management

  As CEO of Wealth Management at Advanced Equities, Mr. Holcomb steers the strategic direction of the wealth management division of the firm and oversees management priorities. Mr. Holcomb is responsible for the continued refinement and evolution of Advanced Equities' planning platform. Prior to joining Advanced Equities, Mr. Holcomb founded DataStream, a software development firm that created proprietary applications for the financial services industry. DataStream was acquired in early 2000 by Thomson Financial, a division of the Thomson Corporation. Post-acquisition, Mr. Holcomb served as Chief Operating Officer for Thomson's Wealth Management division where he secured several large contracts for use of the company's wealth management technology. Mr. Holcomb has also served as a lead consultant to prominent investment banks such as Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, and JP Morgan on many of the largest IPOs in Wall Street history.

• Tiy O'Neal Chief Operating Officer

  As Chief Operating Officer at First Allied Securities, Inc., Ms. O’Neal is responsible for the strategy and implementation of providing a superior service experience for our independent business owners in all back-office areas of the firm including operations and trading. Using an approach of effectively balancing people, process and technology, Ms. O’Neal focuses on our business owners’ wants and needs and how to effectively deliver them. She manages relationships with all of First Allied's clearing firms and acts as a champion for our business owners. Ms. O’Neal began her career with First Allied in 1994 and has also served as vice president of operations. Tiy also served as president of Western Securities Clearing Corp. and Tradewell Discount Investing, LLC, two former broker/dealers affiliated with First Allied. Western provided correspondent clearing to small broker/dealers while Tradewell offered online investing for retail clients and registered investment advisors. Ms. O'Neal started her career in the industry in 1987 and has held various positions in trading, operations, and administration. During her career she has been active with the California Chamber of Commerce, the Financial Planning Association, the Financial Services Institute, and the Securities Industry Association. Tiy holds the Series 7, 63, 24, and 4.

• Donna Bartlett Chief Compliance Officer

  As Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer at First Allied, Donna Lawson oversees the broker/dealer compliance program and registration responsibilities for the firm. Ms. Lawson has more than 18 years of experience in the securities industry, with 14 of those in compliance-related positions. She began her career in 1987 holding positions in the due diligence and operations areas of independent broker/dealer firms. Ms. Lawson joined First Allied in December 1994 and has been the firm's Chief Compliance Officer since 1996, where she works closely with the Supervision and Legal departments. Ms. Lawson is a current member of the New York Stock Exchange Continuing Education Content Committee. She has served on the NASD District 2 Committee and was the Chair of the Financial Planning Association's 1999 Compliance Advisory Council. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management and holds the following securities licenses: Series 7, 24, 63, 53, 65 and 4.

• Garrett Merrill Vice President, Director of Supervision

  As Vice President, Director of the Supervision department at First Allied, Mr. Merrill manages the regional supervision program, implementation of the internal surveillance process and escalated issues from advisors. Mr. Merrill began working for the firm in 2007 and was previously Vice President of the West Coast Region in the Supervision department.. He conducted practice management office visits, reviewed trading activity and conversed with financial advisors and clients about account activity and sales practice issues. Mr. Merrill began his career in the securities industry in 2001 working in the accounting and compliance departments at Howe Barnes Investments, a self-clearing firm located in Chicago, Illinois. In 2003, Mr. Merrill was hired by The Northern Trust Company. He served as Second Vice President of Compliance for their broker/dealer and was responsible for approving trades, conducting branch office compliance audits and implementing procedures to supervise the sale of alternative investments. In 2006, he accepted a position with Protiviti, Inc., a risk management consulting firm. He worked extensively with two of the firm’s largest clients, Citigroup and BBVA, a Spanish bank holding company. Mr. Merrill graduated from DePaul University where he earned his bachelor’s degree in Finance. He holds the Series 4, 7, 24, 51, 63 and 65 securities licenses.

• Cris Alvarez Vice President, Director of Supervision

  As Vice President, Director of Supervision, Mr. Alvarez helps to oversee the Supervision department, while continually working to streamline productivity by improving procedures and tools. In this role, he also helps manage First Allied’s risk exposure to certain aspects of the business, including due diligence of new advisors. In tandem, he serves as an internal liaison, ensuring effective integration of the Supervision department within the firm. Prior to this role, Mr. Alvarez served in a similar capacity as Project Manager in the Supervision department, while acting as Principal for all home office employees. Before his transition into Supervision, Mr. Alvarez was a Branch Examiner in the Compliance department where he performed on-site branch examinations for the firm. Mr. Alvarez joined First Allied in 2005 in the Securities Licensing department where he maintained security registrations for all First Allied-registered persons, as well as the firm’s registration with all states. Mr. Alvarez graduated from the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech where he earned his bachelor’s degree in Business with a double major in Finance and Management. He holds his 7, 3, 66, 24, 4 and 53 licenses.

• J. Vere Reynolds-Hale Senior Vice President, Financial Services Group

  Vere Reynolds-Hale is Senior Vice President of the Financial Services Group at First Allied. His responsibility is to create a product sales- and marketing-focused department that ultimately drives company revenue. Mr. Reynolds-Hale manages First Allied’s Partners Program and continuously seeks to increase its value to business owners, sponsors and the company. He also develops new and existing fee-based products, and educates business owners on products and services. Most recently, Mr. Reynolds-Hale served as the Executive Vice President of Product Marketing and Development at Summit Brokerage Services in Boca Raton, Florida. He was responsible for building relationships with sponsors and for developing product marketing efforts for Summit’s financial advisors. He also was responsible for building the firm’s fee-based and managed money product marketing, training and education efforts. Prior to joining Summit in 2007, he served as Vice President of Sponsor Relations at LPL Financial Services where he was responsible for the strategic planning, financial management and successful execution of LPL’s sponsor relations program. He also led sales and marketing efforts of mutual funds, retirement plans, and the investment product sales desk. Mr. Reynolds-Hale studied political science at the University of South Carolina, and marketing management at Emeritus College in South Africa. He also is currently studying to obtain his B.S. in Management from Pepperdine University. He holds Series 6 and 7 licenses, and has served on the board of directors for the Forum for Investor Advice.

• Mark Dransfield Chief Growth & Productivity Officer

  Mark Dransfield is a 23-year veteran of the securities industry. He is a pioneer in the development of fee-based advisory programs. He is an Accredited Asset Management Specialist (AAMS), a designation offered by the College for Financial Planning. He has served on the Securities Industry Association (SIA) Investment Company Committee, the SIA Marketing Committee, and the SIA Investment Advisory Roundtable, along with other industry committees. Mark Dransfield is a graduate of Brigham Young University.

• Michael A. Nichols Vice President of Marketing, Asset and Wealth Management

  Mr. Nichols serves as Vice President of Marketing for the Asset and Wealth Management divisions at Advanced Equities. He oversees the execution of the companies' integrated marketing strategies, including branding, product positioning and electronic media development. Mr. Nichols is also responsible for the development of First Allied's turn-key lead generation system designed to drive qualified prospects to participating advisors. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Nichols was Director of Product Marketing at Electronics for Imaging, a software company based in Foster City, California. Prior to this role, he served as Director of Technology Marketing at IKON Office Solutions, where he was responsible for all technology and product marketing deliverables, research and development labs, and various company Web sites. Early in his career, Mr. Nichols held a variety of editorial and publishing roles during nine years at VPI, a Phoenix, Arizona-based niche trade magazines publisher.

• Charlie Gillespie Product Consultant

  As a Product Consultant in the Marketing Department of First Allied Securities, Inc., Mr. Gillespie facilitates the introduction and usage of research tools such as eMoney, Argus, Morningstar, S&P Advisor Insight, SunGard, and the Advisor Marketing System for advisors. As a result of Mr. Gillespie's leadership in implementing the Advisor Marketing System (AMS), advisors' creation of a personalized Web site using our trademarked AMS Web Wizard tool more than doubled in recent years. By increasing the Web presence of independent business owners, Mr. Gillespie aims to dramatically enhance their credibility and bottom line. Mr. Gillespie also works to enhance awareness and increase training among advisors on the numerous services and products available through Pershing and J.P. Morgan clearing firms. Mr. Gillespie began working at First Allied in the Business Development Department in 2005 where he helped recruit more than $2 million dollars of gross production. He currently holds his Series 7 license.

• Craig E. Columbus Chief Market Strategist - Advanced Equities Asset Management

  As Chief Market Strategist and President, Mr. Columbus manages day-to-day operations of Advanced Equities Asset Management (AEAM), Advanced Equities Financial Corporation's captive money management subsidiary. Mr. Columbus is responsible for the portfolio management team efforts including portfolio selection, trading, execution, proprietary money management, and product development. Mr. Columbus is one of Wall Street's most recognizable figures as a regular guest on CNBC, where he discusses market events and trends. His diversified background equips him with a unique perspective on macro-economic issues, combining geo-political knowledge with investment expertise to deliver astute commentary on issues pertinent to investors. Prior to Advanced Equities, Mr. Columbus was the Chief Market Strategist for Thomson Financial, a leading provider of information and technology solutions to the worldwide financial community. Mr. Columbus is a graduate of Loyola University Chicago, holds an M.B.A. from Penn State University, and a law degree from Indiana University. He also was a candidate for the United States House of Representatives.

• Jeff Mindlin, CFA Managing Director/Portfolio Manager, Advanced Equities Asset Management

  Mr. Mindlin serves as Advanced Equities Asset Management's (AEAM) Managing Director and Co-Portfolio Manager. Prior to joining AEAM, he was the Director of Research and Co-Portfolio Manager of Greenbook Investment Management, Inc., where he was instrumental in the design of sophisticated, proprietary investment strategies. Mr. Mindlin has also worked as the Assistant Portfolio Manager and Senior Financial Engineer for Pinnacle Investment Advisors, LLC, which operates a hedge fund and a series of managed accounts for institutional and high-net-worth clients, and sub-advises a publicly traded mutual fund. Previously, Mr. Mindlin was the Manager of Financial Engineering at Camelback Research, leading the development of several successful institutional-grade quantitative products, including the popular MSN Money Stockscouter system.