529 Conf: Differentiating Your Plan in the Direct- and Employer-Sold Channels

Paul Curley is Director of Savings Research at ISS Market Intelligence, where he oversees data, research, consulting and events on 529 savings plans, 529 prepaid plans and ABLE accounts for institutional clients. He is also the Editor of the 529 Dash e-newsletter and 529 Insiders website for advisors, accountants and estate planners.

Brennan Hannon
Business Development Manager, CollegeInvest
Brennan Hannon has worked in financial services for over 20 years with a focus on sales, relationships, and client service. He is a seasoned professional with a background in public speaking and group facilitation/education.

Brennan entered the financial services field with Ameriprise where he worked with advisors as a liaison to the home office and studied for his financial licensing. He then worked for Wells Fargo as a Vice President and Relationship Manager where he worked with large corporate and government clients. He helped lead the largest merger in banking history as a project manager and client advocate. Brennan has also served on the Board of Directors for several nonprofit organizations and regularly volunteers his time in his community.
In his current role Brennan works to educate the financial community about the importance of saving for college through 529 plans and helps families create an educational legacy for their children and grandchildren.

Brennan received his bachelor’s degree in Organizational Leadership & Management from Concordia University in St. Paul, MN. He lives in Denver with his family and spends most of his free time enjoying Colorado’s outdoor playground.

Paul Musante is the group manager of college savings marketing in the Individual Investor Division. Previously, he was head of client and market insights in the enterprise marketing services organization. He is also a vice president of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc., and T. Rowe Price Investment Services, Inc. Before joining T. Rowe Price in 2002, he was a program officer with World Education managing economic development projects in Southeast Asia; prior to that, he was a biologist with Alza Corporation. Paul earned an A.B. in human biology from Stanford University and an M.B.A. in marketing and strategy from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Wayne Weber is CEO and Founder of GiftofCollege.com, a company that revolutionizes saving for college and paying student loans. He is passionate about providing families a simple and easy way to save for college tuition – bringing change to a complex process. Since 2008, Wayne has developed Gift of College into a social savings platform for parents, friends, family, and employers with the aim of establishing the company as the leading gifting platform for college savings plans and student loan accounts. Before founding GiftofCollege.com, Wayne led business development and sales efforts of software and hardware solutions for Fortune 500 companies including NCR Corporation and CDW. In 2007, Wayne founded Gimmepleez.com, a social savings platform that was the forerunner to his current company.

As a Vice President and Regional Director in Retirement Distribution, Todd Erskine coordinates Dimensional’s relationships with defined contribution service providers, consultants, and plan sponsors. Todd joined Dimensional from The 401(k) Company, where as a senior vice president he spent eight years helping midsize and large companies design the selection of investment managers and serviced their defined contribution retirement plans. He was previously a manager of financial planning for Farm Credit Bank of Texas and a financial analyst for Texas Commerce Bank as well as companies in the software and health care industries and for the state of Texas.Todd holds an MBA in finance and a BBA in finance and marketing from Texas State University. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst® and a Certified Public Accountant.