BRAGG FINANCIAL - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Relationship Manager, Wealth Planner
Job Titles:
- Member of the Investment Committee
- Portfolio Manager
Anthony is a Portfolio Manager for Bragg Financial Advisors and is an active member of the Investment Committee.
Before joining the Bragg team, he spent four years with Barings in the Global Business Development Group. Prior to Barings, he spent five years as a Portfolio Manager at Bedel Financial Consulting, Inc. Key responsibilities included investment research, asset allocation, security selection, and portfolio construction. Prior to that, Anthony spent two years at City Real Estate Advisors, Inc. as a Financial Analyst in the Credit & Underwriting Department. He focused on underwriting, financial modeling, and due diligence for Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) real estate equity investments.
Born in Ukraine, Anthony lived in Africa for several years but spent the majority of his childhood in Sweden. He came to the United States to attend college. After ten years in Indianapolis, Indiana, Anthony and his wife Inessa moved to Charlotte. They spend most of their free time with their triplet boys and their dog Lola. Anthony enjoys all forms of outdoor activities, traveling, sports, and mentoring.
Responsibilities
Portfolio Manager
Member of Investment Committee
Education & Professional Experience
BA Management & Economics, Anderson University
MBA Finance - Ball State University
CFA - Chartered Financial Analyst
Experience
13 years industry experience
Job Titles:
- Wealth Advisors - Portfolio Advisor
Job Titles:
- Senior Analyst - FPA Queens Road Funds
Job Titles:
- CEO
- Chairman of the Investment Committee
- President
Benton serves as President and CEO of Bragg Financial Advisors. He also serves as chairman of the Investment Committee and is a member of the Leadership Team. Benton worked in the consumer bank of Bank of America for three years before joining Bragg Financial Advisors in 1993. Benton was promoted to President and CEO at Bragg in 1998.
Benton graduated cum laude with a BA from Wake Forest University in 1990 and he earned his MBA from Wake Forest University in 1997. He earned the Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP®) certification in 1995 and earned the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA®) designation in 2000.
Benton and his family live on a small farm in Huntersville, North Carolina. Benton enjoys reading, traveling, being outdoors and spending time with his family. He enjoys all types of outdoor manual labor projects, particularly cutting wood with his father and chores he can do while driving his John Deere tractor.
Boy Scouts had a big influence on Benton as he grew up and earned his Eagle Scout rank at Troop 116 in Charlotte. Both of his sons and four nephews earned their Eagle Scout rank with Troop 58 in Davidson. Benton serve on the Board of Advisors for the Mecklenburg County Scout Council and has served in a variety of other leadership roles on the board for many years. He was awarded the Silver Beaver award from the Boy Scouts of America in recognition of his dedication and service to the scouting program.
Responsibilities
President & CEO - Bragg Financial Advisors
Chairman of Investment Committee
Member of Leadership Team
Client Advisor
Analyst, FPA Queens Road Funds
Brittney is a Client Service Associate for Bragg Financial Advisors.
Before joining the Bragg team, Brittney served as Director of Operations at an independent advisory firm in Belmont, North Carolina. Prior to that, she worked as an Operations Manager for a startup investment advisory firm specializing in 1042 transactions and as a Portfolio Advisor at an independent wealth advisory firm in West Virginia managing portfolios for high-net-worth clients. Brittney earned her Bachelor of Science in Accounting from West Virginia University Institute of Technology and is a Certified Financial Planner™.
Originally from Hamlin, West Virginia, Brittney and her husband James moved to Charlotte in 2018. They used to have outside interests like boating, hiking and spending time with friends before they bought a fixer-upper home during COVID. Now, they spend most of their time doing or figuring out how to do DIY projects on their "COVID house."
Responsibilities
Client Service Associate
Clint is a Client Advisor for Bragg Financial Advisors. Clint works with clients to deliver investment, tax, retirement, and financial planning.
Clint has a wide array of industry experience that includes tax compliance, investment research, portfolio management, and financial planning. He started his career at Miller, McNeish & Breedlove, a Charlotte-based CPA firm. There he focused on tax planning and preparation for businesses and high-net-worth individuals. From MMB, Clint went to work for Dixon Hughes Goodman (now Forvis) in their Private Client Services Group. Prior to joining Bragg Financial, he spent seven years with Laurel Wealth Advisors where he served as a client advisor, investment committee member, and the chief tax specialist.
Clint and his wife, Nicole, are both from Charlotte. They have a toddler daughter and and a newborn son. Clint spends most of his free time with his young family. They like to attend Panthers Games, play in the sand at Ocean Isle Beach, and explore the high-country surrounding Blowing Rock. Clint is also an avid runner. He has run three marathons and would like to one day qualify for the Boston Marathon.
Responsibilities
Client Advisor
Job Titles:
- Chief Compliance Officer
- Controller
Dawn is Chief Compliance Officer and Controller for Bragg Financial Advisors. She assists our clients in tax planning, handles our daily accounting, and works to keep us compliant with all securities laws and regulations. As part of her responsibilities at Bragg Financial Advisors, Dawn administers a college scholarship fund. Dawn is originally from Buffalo, New York, and joined Bragg Financial Advisors in 2001 as our controller.
Prior to joining Bragg Financial Advisors, Dawn was a Senior Accountant with the CPA firm of Hitchner & Whitt & Company. Dawn earned her CPA designation in 1996 and is a member of the North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
Dawn is married and has three children. She enjoys visiting her youngest daughter at NC State and her oldest daughter at East Carolina University. Dawn's son is a graduate of UNC Charlotte and works as a respiratory therapist in Charlotte to support her grand-dog Bo.
Responsibilities
Chief Compliance Officer
Controller
Tax Specialist
Job Titles:
- Client Experience Officer
Job Titles:
- Senior Tax Associate in the Private Client Service Group
Job Titles:
- Financial Planning Analyst
Job Titles:
- CFP
- CFP® Director of Advice, Client Advisor
- Director of Advice
Evan is the Director of Advice and a Client Advisor for Bragg Financial Advisors. He also serves as a member of the Leadership Team. In his role, Evan is responsible for providing informed and objective advice to guide clients towards achieving their wealth planning goals with clarity and confidence.
Evan brings more than twenty years of experience advising high-net worth individuals, closely held business owners, executives and family offices with their investment, estate, tax, business, and philanthropic planning needs. Prior to joining Bragg Financial Advisors, Evan spent over sixteen years in the Wealth Planning Group of The Wells Fargo Private Bank where he led a team of planning professionals providing financial planning services to the firm's largest and most complex relationships with an emphasis on the business owner and multi-generational family wealth client. He began his career with Deloitte Tax where he was a part of the Private Client Advisor group in the Charlotte, North Carolina office.
Evan received his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Accounting from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Financial Planner™.
Evan is married and has five children. When not attending his kids' basketball, lacrosse, cross-country or track events, he enjoys spending time outdoors, exercising, traveling, woodworking and cooking. Evan is active in his local church where he regularly volunteers in community service opportunities.
Responsibilities
Director of Advice
Member of Leadership Team
Client Advisor
George is the Director of Market Strategy and a Client Advisor for Bragg Financial Advisors. He also serves as a member of the Leadership Team.
George worked for Wachovia Bank (now Wells Fargo) for four years after college, where he served as Branch Manager of the bank's Myers Park office in Charlotte. Most recently, George spent over ten years as a Client Advisor and Senior Vice President in Private Wealth Management for SunTrust Bank.
George is married and has two daughters. George is a native Charlottean and is active in the community. George graduated from Myers Park High School and currently serves on the endowment and finance committees of the MPHS Foundation. George's father, Bill Climer, served as the director of Camp Thunderbird for many years. George has fond memories of his summers spent living at Camp Thunderbird on Lake Wylie and currently serves on its board. George and his family attend First Presbyterian Church.
Responsibilities
Director of Market Strategy
Member of Leadership Team
Client Advisor
Education & Professional Experience
BA English, Minor Business, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
MBA, Wake Forest University
CFP® - Certified Financial Planner
Experience
27 years industry experience
Job Titles:
- Chairman Emeritus
- Founder
- Firm Founder
Firm founder, Frank Bragg, Jr. grew up in the small town of Oxford, North Carolina. His father, Frank, Sr. was born in 1898 and grew up working long hard days in the tobacco fields of eastern North Carolina. Full of wisdom and stories, he taught Frank, Jr. that if you work hard and you're honest and you take care of people, you're ahead of 90% of the rest of the world. His simple philosophy is woven into our company culture.
Frank Bragg founded the firm over 50 years ago when he moved to Charlotte. While the firm has grown and evolved over time, we remain true to our core principles of providing expert advice with the highest level of personal service and care.
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer, Director of Family Office Services
Jen is the Chief Operating Officer, Director of Family Office Services, and a Client Advisor for Bragg Financial Advisors. She also serves as a member of the Leadership Team.
In her role as COO, Jen works with the Leadership Team to build and refine systems, procedures, and operational controls that ensure effective implementation of the company's strategic vision. As a Client Advisor, she is responsible for providing multi-generational family wealth planning services to clients, focusing on their goals of preserving, transferring and managing their wealth.
For over a decade, Jen worked with ultra-high-net worth families and individuals at Abbot Downing (previously Calibre, a division of Wachovia/Wells Fargo). There, she was responsible for advising the rising generation of client families and later, working with the national financial planning team for the firm's largest clients. Jen began her career at U.S. Trust Company in New York City.
Jen was born and raised in western New York and, after a few years in New York City and Long Island, now makes her home in Huntersville, North Carolina, with her husband and two dogs. She enjoys volunteering for Girls on the Run and training for half and full marathons while fundraising for various cancer support and research charities.
Responsibilities
Chief Operating Officer
Director of Family Office Services
Member of Leadership Team
Client Advisor
John serves as a Client Advisor at Bragg Financial. With over 30 years of experience, John serves as a valuable partner for clients, helping them make well-informed planning decisions coupled with disciplined investment decisions. In this role, he advises clients on charitable giving, estate planning, investment management, and retirement cash flow planning. Prior to joining Bragg Financial in 1990, John worked as an investment advisor with the Hinrichs Financial Group in Charlotte.
John is married to Catherine and they have four children, with three of them following a family tradition by attending Wake Forest University. They live on a small family farm near Davidson, North Carolina. John enjoys the outdoors and spent seven years serving as the Scoutmaster of Troop 58 in Davidson. He served an additional three years as a Crew Advisor for Venture Crew 58, the high school, co-ed high adventure scouting program. John cherishes his time in Scouting which gave him the opportunity to see young people grow up and learn how to plan, organize and lead others in the outdoors.
The Scouting program has taken John on many high-adventure trips, including a ten-day backpacking trip to Philmont Scout Reservation in the Rockies, rafting and camping along the Colorado River through Canyonlands National Park in Utah, mountaineering in the Cascade Range near Mt. Rainier, ice climbing in the Adirondacks in New York, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing in Vermont, snowmobiling and ice fishing in Michigan's upper peninsula, as well as many other camping, backpacking and rafting trips in North Carolina. In addition to his Scouting trips, John drove his family on three cross-country RV trips. Not that he's counting, but John has visited 29 of the 63 National Parks.
Responsibilities
Client Advisor
Education & Professional Experience
BA Wake Forest University
CFP® - Certified Financial Planner
Experience
35 years industry experience
Job Titles:
- Advisors - Client Advisor, Chief Tax Specialist, Investment Committee Member
Lynn is a Client Advisor at Bragg Financial Advisors. She prepares retirement and cash flow projections for clients and advises on tax and estate planning issues.
Prior to joining Bragg, Lynn worked for four years with BB&T as a Wealth Planning Analyst. She spent ten years prior to that advising clients in the Financial Planning Group with Wells Fargo and predecessor banks Wachovia and First Union. As a financial planner, she provided comprehensive financial planning to her clients, which included retirement, cash flow, tax, risk, and estate planning. She primarily advised corporate executives and specialized in helping them understand and best utilize their company benefit plans, including employee stock options, deferred compensation and retirement savings plans. She began her financial career in 1994 with First Union as an assistant branch manager in Raleigh and later served as a team manager in Charlotte.
Lynn grew up moving around quite a bit between Virginia Beach, New Jersey, Florida, and Illinois, until her family moved to Charlotte for her last year and a half of high school. She has now lived in Charlotte for over 25 years. She is married and has two teenage children. Lynn is a "First Connections" volunteer with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
Responsibilities
Client Advisor
Marc is a Client Advisor for Bragg Financial Advisors. Marc advises clients in the areas of retirement planning, investment management, estate planning, charitable gifting, and education planning.
Marc has spent his entire career providing financial planning and advice to individuals and families. Prior to joining Bragg, he was a Senior Financial Advisor with Vanguard's Personal Advisor Service. In that role, he provided portfolio management and comprehensive financial planning for high net-worth clients. Before that, he worked in TIAA's Individual Advisory Services group. Marc started his career with UBS Financial Services where he focused on retirement planning and investment management, spending eleven years in one of their Chicagoland offices before he and his wife relocated to Charlotte in 2013.
Marc was born in Chicago and raised in the nearby suburbs. He lives in south Charlotte with his wife, Gretchen, and their two young children. Marc is passionate about helping younger generations develop awareness about financial responsibility and business acumen, and has volunteered in the past for organizations such as Right Moves for Youth, JA Finance Park, JA BizTown, and DECA.
Responsibilities
Client Advisor
Job Titles:
- Financial Planning Analyst
Job Titles:
- Member of the Investment Committee
- Portfolio Manager
- Analyst for the FPA Queens Road Small Cap Value Fund
Matt is a portfolio manager and a member of the Investment Committee at Bragg Financial Advisors. Matt serves as an analyst for the FPA Queens Road Small Cap Value Fund, which is managed by Bragg Financial.
Prior to joining the Bragg team, Matt led the investment team at a large independent wealth management firm in Charlotte. He was responsible for investment research, asset allocation, and selection of client investments. Prior to that, Matt worked with an online brokerage firm, advising high-net-worth clients on complex option trades.
Matt is married to Sara and has two children. Matt was born in Iowa but spent his childhood growing up in Charlotte, where his parents still live. Matt spends most of his free time with his children and cheering on his Tar Heels. He is an active member of St. Matthew Catholic Church and is involved with Camp LUCK (supporting children affected by heart disease).
Responsibilities
Portfolio Manager
Member of Investment Committee
Analyst - FPA Queens Road Small Cap Value Fund
Meghan is a Client Advisor at Bragg Financial Advisors. In her role, she is responsible for advising clients in the areas of tax and wealth planning.
Meghan has more than 20 years of experience developing and implementing customized strategies to assist clients with multiple aspects of their financial lives including cash flow and lifestyle planning, retirement planning, concentrated stock management, benefit and equity compensation planning, gift and estate planning and charitable giving. Prior to joining Bragg Financial, Meghan was a Wealth Strategies Advisor with Bank of America Private Bank supporting clients throughout the lifecycle of their careers, helping them pursue a more secure financial future for themselves and their families. She spent over 14 years prior to that with the Wealth Planning Group of Wells Fargo Private Bank where she advised high-net-worth individuals and business owners. She began her career with PricewaterhouseCoopers in their Personal Financial Services group in Washington, DC, focusing on tax compliance and consulting.
Meghan received her Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. She holds her Certified Public Accountant license in North Carolina and Virginia and is a Certified Financial Planner™. She is a member of the North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants, AICPA, and Charlotte Estate Planning Council.
Originally from Northern Virginia, Meghan moved to Charlotte in 2006. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, playing volleyball, cycling, strength training, live music, and jigsaw puzzles. In honor of her sister who is a leukemia survivor, she has participated in the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training since 2010, raising money and awareness while training for endurance events including a half marathon, triathlon, and century bike ride. Most recently, she was a candidate for LLS's Charlotte Visionary of the Year.
Responsibilities
Client Advisor
Job Titles:
- Director of Estate & Charitable Planning
Phillips is the Director of Estate & Charitable Planning for Bragg Financial Advisors as well as a member of the Leadership Team. In his role, Phillips provides expertise in retirement cash flow planning as well as estate and gift planning. In helping clients meet their charitable objectives, Phillips advises on the myriad alternatives available, including donor advised funds, charitable trusts, private foundations, and Qualified Charitable Distributions. In addition, Phillips regularly provides strategic planning for individuals considering conservation easement planning for land they would like to preserve.
A 1993 cum laude graduate of Wake Forest University, Phillips worked as a trust officer and estate planner in the Wachovia Trust Department (now Wells Fargo) before joining Bragg Financial Advisors in May of 1996. Phillips served as the President of the Charlotte Estate Planning Council and was a board member of the Financial Planning Association.
Phillips is married to Leslie and has three sons and lives on a small family farm near Davidson, North Carolina. He enjoys trout fishing in the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee, playing golf, and working with his children on the farm. Phillips is a big fan of "how-to" videos on YouTube and has repaired numerous appliances around the house including replacing the circuit board in his refrigerator, the pump in his dishwasher, and the motor in his washing machine.
Phillips co-founded and is very active in a non-profit organization called Raising South Sudan. His interest in Sudan began when he met and "adopted" Lubo, one of the "Lost Boys," who was orphaned during the wars in Sudan. Lubo was settled in Charlotte along with a number of other Sundanese refugees in the late 1990s. Inspired by Lubo's story, Phillips worked to raise funds to build a school in Lubo's village of Naarwang. The school was completed in 2013 and now has over 500 students attending. Phillips visited South Sudan in 2014 to see the school and community. He is committed to the ongoing success of the project and continues to raise funds in support.
Responsibilities
Director of Estate & Charitable Planning
Member of Leadership Team
Client Advisor
Education & Professional Experience
BA English, Wake Forest University
CFP® - Certified Financial Planner
Job Titles:
- Capital Management - Analyst
Job Titles:
- Registered Representative
Job Titles:
- Portfolio Manager - FPA Queens Road Funds
- Portfolio Manager for the FPA Queens Road Funds
Steve has served as the portfolio manager for the FPA Queens Road Funds since inception in 2002.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Investment Committee
- Director of Portfolio Management
Ben Rose is the Director of Portfolio Management for Bragg Financial Advisors and also serves as a member of the Investment Committee and the Leadership Team. Ben also serves as an analyst for the FPA Queens Road Value Fund, which is managed by Bragg Financial.
Before joining Bragg Financial, Ben was a founding partner of Cygnus Asset Management, an affiliate of the Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network. At Cygnus, Ben chaired the Investment Committee and was lead portfolio manager. Prior to Cygnus, he spent eight years with Morgan Keegan as First Vice President. His areas of specialty included investment selection and research on mutual funds. Ben was a research analyst from 1998 to 2001 with IJL Wachovia, where his responsibilities included due diligence of institutional money managers that comprised the firm's recommended list. He started in the securities business and became a Registered Representative in 1995 with Smith Barney.
Ben grew up in eastern North Carolina in the small town of Henderson. He met the Bragg boys while attending Wake Forest University in the 1990s. Ben is an avid sports fan who enjoys being outside with his dog, playing golf, and traveling to music festivals and concerts. He has lived in Charlotte since 1995. Ben served as a tutor for three years with the ReadWriteServe Partnership for Literacy Action, an initiative between United Way and community-based resources. He currently serves as a tutor to elementary school students with Heart Math Tutoring.
Responsibilities
Director of Portfolio Management
Member of Leadership Team
Member of Investment Committee
Analyst - FPA Queens Road Value Fund