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Deepika Sharma, CFA is the Director of Research and Associate Portfolio Manager at Astor Investment  Management, a $1.9 bn asset management firm, where she co-manages the multi- asset tactical portfolios and sits on the Investment Committee. She joined Astor in 2012 and worked on the sector rotation fund which ranks in the top percentile in its category on Morningstar. Prior to that, she has worked at Roubini Global Economics in macro strategy and at Nomura as an Analyst on the EMEA Fixed Income Prop trading desk. She started her career at Lehman Brothers specializing in European asset backed securities. Deepika is also active with the New York Society of Security Analysts (NYSSA) as Vice Chair of the Global Investing Committee. Deepika holds a Masters in International Finance and Economics from Columbia University and has been a CFA charterholder since 2014.

Ms. Katz is an Associate Professor in the Department of Personal Financial Planning at Texas Tech University, in Lubbock, Texas. She is also a founding partner of Evensky & Katz, a wealth management firm, located in Coral Gables, Florida. She is an internationally recognized financial advisor and practice management expert and the author of seven books on financial planning and practice management topic. She writes a regular column for Financial Planning magazine called, “Profitable Practice.”\nIn 2010, Ms. Katz was named as Investment Advisor’s “Thirty-Thirty,” honoring thirty people who over the past thirty years have significantly contributed to the advancement of the planning profession. She was one of the first advisors named as Financial Planning magazine’s “Movers and Shakers” for 2001and 2008, as well as one of Accounting Today’s Top Ten Names to Know in Financial Planning, in 2001 and 2002. She has consistently been on the Investment Advisor’s Most Influential People in the Industry.\nMs. Katz is a past member of the National Board of Directors of the Financial Planning Association, is past member of the Board of Trustees for the Foundation for Financial Planning, and for 2009-10 served as an advisor to the Comptroller of the State of Texas on their college funding plans. In 2009, Ms. Katz testified before the Senate Committee on Aging regarding “Boomer Bust: Securing Retirement in a Volatile Economy.”

Debra Taylor, a lifelong resident of Wyckoff and Franklin Lakes, is the principal of Taylor Financial Group, LLC, a full service wealth management firm located in Franklin Lakes, NJ. Debra's education and career has covered many fields, and thus she is able to provide a multidisciplinary approach to the needs of her clients.\n Debra graduated from Drew University in three years with a B.A. in Political Science, magna cum laude. She received several honors while there, most notably, election to Phi Beta Kappa. Three years later, Debra graduated from Cornell Law School, where she was elected Book Review Editor of the Cornell Law Review and served as a teaching assistant. While at Cornell, Debra also served as Symposium Editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy and received American Jurisprudence Awards for excellence in corporate law and trial advocacy. After graduation, Debra served as a law clerk to The Honorable John F. Gerry, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.\n Debra then began practicing as an associate at one of New Jersey’s largest law firms, Riker, Danzig, Scherer, Hyland and Perretti, located in Morristown. While there, Debra engaged in many practice areas, including corporate law, insurance law, employment law and commercial litigation, working on behalf of large companies such as IBM, Johnson & Johnson and Valley Hospital. After several years of practicing law, Debra left to join her family's tax and accounting practice, Azarian and Company, eventually becoming the sole principal. While at Azarian and Company, Debra advised clients on all types of tax matters, and successfully represented several clients on matters before the IRS. During this time, Debra also earned her CPA license and financial planning license for the State of New Jersey, and also obtained her insurance licenses. Debra has been recognized as a top financial advisor and named to the LPL Financial Chairman’s Council, which is awarded to less than two percent of the firm’s 12,027 advisors nationwide.\n Today, Debra focuses exclusively on wealth management for high net worth individuals, corporations and servicing the needs of tax exempt organizations. Debra takes a holistic approach to these areas, incorporating her legal expertise and tax background to provide integrated solutions to clients. Debra advises these clients in all areas, including investment management, insurance solutions, tax planning, retirement planning, and estate planning. Debra is also a frequent panelist at national conferences and is also a regular contributor to Horsesmouth, a trade publication for financial planners.\n Debra lives in Franklin Lakes, NJ with her husband and three children. Debra is active in the community currently or having served on several boards, including the Franklin Lakes Board of Education, Montclair Kimberly Academy Strategic Planning Committee, Community Learning Center, and Drew University Alumni Board. She enjoys time with her family, tennis, jogging, travel and reading.

Debra is a Managing Partner at Brennan Financial Services, the investment and retirement planning firm established by her dad in 1983. While she has worked at the firm most of her life, she officially joined the firm in 1998 and now manages over $160M for her clients. Debra and her sister also manage Brennan Wealth Advisors, the high net worth division of Brennan Financial Services. She specializes in developing innovative and creative solutions to meet her clients' retirement planning and estate planning objectives, utilizing the firm’s Financial Life Map to focus on the most effective strategy to achieve goals. Debra co-hosted the firm’s radio program, Dollars and Sense, on WBAP-AM with her dad through 2007, and she guest co-hosts the firm’s current radio program on KRLD-AM. She produced and co-anchored the weekly television program, Smart Money Live with the Brennans, on WFAA-TV in 2006-7.

Deborah McWhinney joined in April 2009 as head of the newly created Citi Personal Wealth Management (CPWM) organization. The CWPM business provides a broad range of investment services and has the unique ability to serve a variety of customer segments with varying levels of personal assets.Prior to joining Citi, she was president of Schwab Institutional, a division of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., where she helped independent investment advisors grow their businesses more quickly and profitably by building innovative products and services for the fastest growing segment of the financial services industry. She joined Charles Schwab in 2001, and in the following six years served on its management committee, the board of the Charles Schwab Bank, N.A., and the Charles Schwab Foundation board, and was chair of the global risk committee.Ms. McWhinney was an executive vice president at Visa International and served as group president for Engage Media Services. Earlier in her career, McWhinney spent 17 years at Bank of America, where she worked in both corporate and retail banking.Ms. McWhinney was appointed by former President George W. Bush to the board of directors of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) in 2002. She also has served on the White House Fellows regional finalist candidate interview panel for the past three years.She serves on the California Institute of Technology’s Board of Trustees and is on the Advisory Board of UCSF’s Teen and Young Adult Center.Ms. McWhinney received her bachelor's degree from the University of Montana and is a graduate of the Pacific Coast Banking School. She currently resides in New York City.

 \nDeborah Knupp has worked globally with CEOs, Managing Partners and Professionals (lawyers, accountants, wealth advisors, etc.) as a coach and business executive for 25 years. She has helped these leaders align their people and business objectives to create cultures based on the principles of accountability, integrity and authentic relationships. Her work focuses on making the work environment a place where the best employees want to work, where profitable clients want to buy, and where inspired leaders want to serve a bigger purpose in their communities.\nIn 2001, Deborah founded Akina, a national consulting, training and coaching firm that helps professionals rethink relationship building to increase sales and organizational effectiveness. Akina has spent the last decade as an industry leader in business development training and coaching for lawyers with over 150 law firm clients world-wide and having successfully trained and coached thousands of attorneys. Akina also serves insurance advisors, financial advisors, accountants and management consultants.\nPrior to founding Akina, Deborah was a front-line sales and human resources executive with Alcan Packaging, Frito-Lay and Pearle Vision. Her diverse background ranges from general management of a $75MM business unit to facilitating strategic global leadership and culture change management initiatives.\nDeborah is highly sought after international speaker in business development, relationship building, culture, and leadership having been a superior rated speaker for organizations that includes the Legal Marketing Association, Association of Accounting Marketing, National Conference of Bar Foundations, National Conference of Bar Presidents, American Bar Association, Chicago Bar Association, Association of Legal Administrators, The Coalitions for Women’s Initiatives in Law Firms, Empowering Women Network, Loyola University, IIT – Chicago Kent School of Law, Lex Mundi, Meritas, and USLaw.\nDeborah graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with Senior Fellows Honors and a Bachelor of Science in Speech\/Organizational Communication.  She regularly provides leadership and staff development on a pro bono basis for numerous non-profit organizations and is a committed thinker and partner to The Insight Labs (www.theinsightlabs.org) in Chicago.

Deborah Genovesi, APR, is a business strategist specializing in branding, marketing, communication and presentation skills, leadership presence and media training. She prepares business leaders to be media-genic so they attract publicity and then dazzle in TV and radio interviews, and know how to connect with prospective clients at speaking engagements or one-on-one consults. Deborah teaches how to communicate messages that get heard and move people to action, training her clients to SELL, as well as tell.\nFrom Hollywood’s Red Carpet to the board rooms of Fortune 500 companies, Deborah’s interviewed & media trained top celebrities & executives during a career spanning two decades as a TV reporter and a nationally-accredited public relations VP.\nHer list of celebrity interviews is extensive, including media moguls from Dick Clark to Ice Cube, as well as former presidents, politicians and hundreds of entertainers, like Clint Eastwood, Michael Douglas, Bruce Jenner, and Matthew McConaughey. She also enjoyed working with renowned authors Deepak Chopra, Neale Donald Walsch and John Gray. Corporate clients included global brands like General Electric, Sony, Nintendo, Lexus, Disney, and Target.

Deborah Fox is CEO of Fox Financial Planning Network in San Diego.