680 - Key Persons
Emily Boyd is the most recent addition to The 680 Group. You may also know her as Cosmo's youngest daughter. After 12 years working in Atlanta at Turner Broadcasting as a marketing and planning project manager, Emily is excited to apply her administrative process and communication skills to allow the team an even greater focus on what is best for our clients. Emily is a graduate of the Lovett School and Tulane University. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hiking, and hanging out with her two cats, Tofutti and Ed Earl.
Since 2007, Jana Burke has worked with Cosmo and their clients to provide hands-on care and service at the highest level. Before working in finance and after graduating from the University of Georgia, she worked as a flight attendant, where she honed her stellar customer service skills. Today Jana uses the same skills learned on the airplane: comforting, serving, and befriending. But now, she gets to do it on the ground with no turbulence!
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Jay Coulter, CFP®, CIMA® is an Investment Strategist & Business Consultant to Financial Advisors, teams and firms. He is the Executive Producer of FinancialAdvisor.TV and the Managing Partner of Resilient Wealth.
He is the host of The Resilient Advisor™ Show and is the author of The Resilient Advisory Business, The Resilient Advisor and Conquer Worry.
Jay leverages his 20+ years of experience in the investment management industry working for industry leaders such as Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers, Guggenheim and Charles Schwab to help his clients implement systems designed to improve business performance.
Jay holds an M.B.A. from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University and a B.S. in Business Management from The University of Tennessee. He has earned the Certified Investment Management Analyst® and Certified Financial Planner® designations.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
John Rhett has more than 44 years of investment banking and brokerage experience and has recently retired as the Chairman and CEO of SunTrust Investment Services. His career began at Merrill Lynch in New York as an institutional trader on the municipal bond desk. In 1980, Mr. Rhett joined the investment banking firm, Robinson-Humphrey, where he was head of Municipal Trading and Marketing for six years. After an eight-month internship as an over-the-counter and block trader, he was named manager of the firm's North Atlanta retail brokerage office, eventually operating under the Smith Barney structure. He held this position until 1999. Mr. Rhett was an Angel Investor and Advisor for private, growing businesses and enterprises.
In August 2001, Mr. Rhett launched a new brokerage firm, Alexander Key Investments, a subsidiary of SunTrust Capital Markets, to focus on corporate and corporate executive clients of the investment bank. In 2005, he merged Alexander Key Investments with SunTrust Securities to form SunTrust Investment Services with over 500 Financial Advisors overseeing $40 billion in client assets. Additionally, Mr. Rhett was responsible for SunTrust's insurance efforts through SunTrust Insurance Services. He held these positions until his retirement in 2013.
In September of 2013, Mr. Rhett joined both Red Rock Strategic Partners and Red Rock Advisory Group as their Chairman and Senior Managing Director. These businesses are dedicated to advising financial institutions and private business owners on the complex strategic decisions that confront them in these unprecedented times.
Cosmo Boyd began his life-long career in finance in 1977. Throughout the years, he has always striven to help his clients understand their financial needs and pursue their goals. He has been an advisor with a number of financial firms, including Robinson-Humphrey, Morgan Stanley, and Stephens. In 2021, he became an independent financial advisor, partnering with LPL Financial and Independent Advisor Alliance.
When working with his clients, he focuses on developing a personal relationship with each of them, for a deeper understanding of their dreams and goals, so he can craft a financial strategy and investment portfolio that best suits them. Cosmo has been a Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) since the beginning of his career and has made planning a cornerstone of his practice
Cosmo resides in Atlanta and is an active member of his community, serving on the Board of Directors for the Atlanta Opera and the Board of Trustees of the Center for the Visually Impaired. He is married to Laura, and together they have three adult children - Thiot, Bunny, and Emily - and three grandchildren.
The 680 Group is an other business name of Independent Advisor Alliance, LLC. All investment advice is offered through Independent Advisor Alliance, LLC, a registered investment advisor.
Sheila Whitten has been in the financial services industry for over 20 years, working with Cosmo and Jana for over 15 of them. Having raised four boys, Sheila understands the need to be organized and knows how to get things done in a timely manner. Her goal is to make life simpler and easier for our clients, whom she considers extended family. Sheila loves to travel, try new restaurants and foods, and spend time with her family and dogs. She has two dogs, one is a rescue Hound Dog mix named Carly, the wild child, and a rescue Newfoundland mix named Bear, the gentle giant.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Vince works with top performing Financial Advisors, Teams, and Firms on successfully streamlining and growing their businesses. He utilizes his 20+ years of leadership experience in the financial services industry to help clients focus on differentiating their practice for business development.
As a new advisor, Vince organically grew a practice into a $500,000 business in his first 4 years with Merrill Lynch. His early success evolved into leadership positions at Merrill Lynch and then Smith Barney. His growth in business and management responsibilities culminated in 5 offices, 60+ advisors and $4 Billion in client assets. In 2010 Vince and a partner conceived, developed, and launched a web-based service to connect buyers and sellers of privately held bank stock, BancList continues under new leadership today. In 2011, Vince was offered a position with Stephens Inc. to establish and build a Private Client Office in Atlanta. The office experienced tremendous growth during his 4 years as Branch Manager. On January 1, 2016 he acquired and began rebuilding RC Whatley & Company, a consulting firm.