About Us

Get To Know Your Team

About Us

Get To Know Your Team

About Us

Get To Know Your Team

About Us

Get To Know Your Team

Jordan Flowers

Financial Advisor
Technically I am a financial advisor but what I really do is help people live a life beyond what they thought possible in retirement. There are 3 major things that separate me from other advisors out there.

  1. I am a Fiduciary – which means I have to put the clients interests ahead of anything else, but I also think helping people (even if we don’t do business ) has been a vital part of our success by the many referrals we receive.

2. I am Independent – which means I work for you the client not the big box firm that may be pushing an investment or product (since they can only recommend the company they work for or there is incentives to recommend a certain investment or product). I will give you the pros and cons of every investment or product and we will look at a variety of investments or products to accomplish your goals!

3. I am focused on you paying the least amount of taxes over your lifetime! Most tax questions you ask your financial advisor the auto response is “you need to ask your CPA or accountant” I believe good financial planning has to involve tax planning and we collaborate with our tax team to ensure you pay your fair share of taxes and not a dollar more “it’s not what you make it’s what you get to keep!

Life isn’t about the money, life is about the memories you make! I believe you should have your money work harder for you so you can work less! Financial planning doesn’t need to be complicated; all you need are clear goals and clear direction. I work with my clients to develop tax efficient strategies because it’s not how much you make but how much you keep! Tax free income is a very REAL possibility for most people, and I can show you how to achieve this. Avoiding market downfalls, and capturing the gains of the market are of great importance! Especially before Retirement!

Income is a main concern in retirement, you no longer have your salary to count on. I create custom income planning so you can live off your nest egg without ever running out of money! Deciding when to take Social Security is a vital part of your retirement plan. I show and explain the many options you have with Social Security that you probably have never heard of. Financial Planning, Retirement Planning, Income Planning, Tax Free Income, Social Security Planning, College Planning and Estate Planning are just a few of the things I do. Please allow me to enhance your life if one of these topics is of concern to you. I look forward to sharing a Memory with you in the near future!

Thomas Flowers

Financial Professional
Thomas Flowers loves to assist people with not only their taxes, but their overall finances as well. Tom is a recognized speaker who, for the past 32 years, has guided hundreds of people in solving the many retirement issues that are widespread today. Tom has many innovative strategies for planning, protecting and growing your assets. He has designed a unique team approach to retirement planning. His team creates fully integrated retirement strategies that work in all aspects of the planning process – tax, legal, financial and personal. An effective retirement plan requires much more than just getting a higher return or creating more safety. It requires a unified effort of different people who understand the client’s needs and can help meet those needs from a variety of different perspectives.

Tom is married to Gaye and is father to one son, Jordan that also works for Wealth Financial Services and Tax Advisory. Tom’s father was in the Korean war and due to some complications from the War he died early in life and Tom had to take charge of his family’s finances from an early age. This life experience motivated Tom to seek out a career in financial planning and now his mission is to help retirees and those planning to retire reach their financial goals. He lives in Lake County but loves to travel when he can find the time. Tom gets great personal satisfaction by helping the community and volunteering 30 hours a month!

Austin Larkin

Investment Advisor Representative

Austin Larkin believes that wholistic, multidisciplinary financial planning is a fundamental part of building stability and maintaining good life balance. Austin also sees that there is a growing need for good communication and individualized guidance when engaging in something as personal as financial planning – a complex subject largely underserved in the current education system. Austin is motivated by seeing his clients meet their goals and forming lasting relationships.

Austin has worked in the financial industry since 2011, spending much of that time as a Paraplanner and Case Design specialist for other advisors. Now as a Financial Advisor himself, Austin combines his years of technical education and research experience with his clients’ unique situations, which requires patience, a good listening-ear, and a strong work ethic. He is happy to be at Wealth Financial Services & Tax Advisory, working with a team of advisors, specialists, and industry-leading professionals from various fields all under one roof. From this position, he can truly provide an enhanced, cost-efficient experience for the people and families that he works with.

While Austin is native to Lake County Illinois and a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan, he spent part of his childhood in London, England and several years volunteering in Brooklyn, NY. He enjoys travel and being outdoors with his wife and family. He also spends a part of each week volunteering in his local community.

Pete Conway

Investment Advisor Representative

Peter Conway began his financial career at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in 1986. In the early 1990’s, he worked in London as an off-floor broker for Dean Witter International, where he traded in Asia, Europe, and the U.S. markets. He is currently a licensed Investment Adviser Representative and carries an insurance license with the Illinois Department of Insurance.

Peter Conway has been serving the Northwest Suburbs as an Investment Advisor Representative and a licensed insurance agent since 1999. Professional, experienced, and responsive, he understands your need for integrity and transparency. Peter uses proactive tax reduction strategies which allow you to enjoy a more tax-efficient lifestyle and to help you avoid tax problems in the transition of passing on your wealth to your heirs.

Peter’s approach to both life and business is about building lasting relationships. He believes that having a trusted advisor who gives you advice tailored to your shortand long-term financial goals, without regard to the direction of the stock market or interest rates, is of utmost importance.

He counsels his clients as they move through every phase of life and helps them to make the necessary adjustments to their financial plans as their needs change. Pete is committed to your long-term financial wellbeing whether it be by helping with investment planning, retirement and income planning, tax planning, or legacy planning. Peter has helped hundreds of people over the past twenty years; enlightening and guiding them toward making informed decisions, avoiding costly mistakes, lowering their tax liability, increasing the size of their estate, and even finding assets that may have been misplaced, redirecting those dollars to help them achieve the things that they care about.

Peter is a native Chicagoan and is a lifelong Chicago Sports Fan. He enjoys skiing and spending time with his wife and their two sons.

Jordan Flowers

Thomas Flowers

Austin Larkin

Pete Conway

Sophia Mamedova

Mark Sommerville

Andrea Smith

Client Onboarding

Evelin Montes-Barragan

Claudia Sher

Claudia Sher

Tommy Wolek

Tommy Wolek

Reshma Santhosh

Reshma Santhosh

Joey Ponce

Joey Ponce

Christopher Larkin, Client Onboarding

Christopher Larkin

Nicole Anzalone

Nicole Anzalone

Zachary Spenner

Tax Advisors

Keith Baum

Jim Oleksy

Cliff Helfer

Health Care

Ethan Dickerson

Ethan Dickerson

Legacy

To help you with your legacy plan, we partnered with a well-established estate planning law firm, Perkins & Zayed, The Estate & Trust Law Group (www.trust-lawgroup.com).  They have helped more than 2500 families across the U.S., and currently hold licenses in 22 U.S. jurisdictions. Their concentration is in advanced Estate Planning Strategies, Asset Protection, Trust & Estate Administration, Medicaid/Long-Term Care Planning, and Special Needs Planning.

Perkins & Zayed, P.C. and Wealth Financial Services & Tax Advisory are independent of each other and maintain separate offices.

Mark Perkins

Courtney Bonstrom

Jennifer Eseed

Deanna Transon

Carrie Skelton

Investment Team

To help you with Investment management, we partnered with Brookstone Capital Management (www.brookstonecm.com). Brookstone Capital Management is a well-established Investment firm which currently has 8.4 Billion of assets under management.

Brookstone Capital Management and Wealth Financial Services & Tax Advisory are independent of each other and maintain separate offices.
Alex Bobin

Alex Bobin

Darryl Ronconi

Darryl Ronconi

Dean Zayed

Dean Zayed

Donald Dee

Donald Dee

Mark DiOrio

Mark DiOrio

Matt Lovett

Matt Lovett

Get In Touch Today

Learn how we can help you minimize your stress and maximize your life.

Jordan Flowers

FINANCIAL ADVISOR
Technically I am a financial advisor but what I really do is help people live a life beyond what they thought possible in retirement. There are 3 major things that separate me from other advisors out there.

1. I am a Fiduciary – which means I have to put the clients interests ahead of anything else, but I also think helping people (even if we don’t do business ) has been a vital part of our success by the many referrals we receive.

2. I am Independent – which means I work for you the client not the big box firm that may be pushing an investment or product (since they can only recommend the company they work for or there is incentives to recommend a certain investment or product). I will give you the pros and cons of every investment or product and we will look at a variety of investments or products to accomplish your goals!

3. I am focused on you paying the least amount of taxes over your lifetime! Most tax questions you ask your financial advisor the auto response is “you need to ask your CPA or accountant” I believe good financial planning has to involve tax planning and we collaborate with our tax team to ensure you pay your fair share of taxes and not a dollar more “it’s not what you make it’s what you get to keep!

Life isn’t about the money, life is about the memories you make! I believe you should have your money work harder for you so you can work less! Financial planning doesn’t need to be complicated; all you need are clear goals and clear direction. I work with my clients to develop tax efficient strategies because it’s not how much you make but how much you keep! Tax free income is a very REAL possibility for most people, and I can show you how to achieve this. Avoiding market downfalls, and capturing the gains of the market are of great importance! Especially before Retirement!

Income is a main concern in retirement, you no longer have your salary to count on. I create custom income planning so you can live off your nest egg without ever running out of money! Deciding when to take Social Security is a vital part of your retirement plan. I show and explain the many options you have with Social Security that you probably have never heard of. Financial Planning, Retirement Planning, Income Planning, Tax Free Income, Social Security Planning, College Planning and Estate Planning are just a few of the things I do. Please allow me to enhance your life if one of these topics is of concern to you. I look forward to sharing a Memory with you in the near future!

Thomas Flowers

FINANCIAL PROFESSIONAL
Thomas Flowers loves to assist people with not only their taxes, but their overall finances as well. Tom is a recognized speaker who, for the past 32 years, has guided hundreds of people in solving the many retirement issues that are widespread today. Tom has many innovative strategies for planning, protecting and growing your assets. He has designed a unique team approach to retirement planning. His team creates fully integrated retirement strategies that work in all aspects of the planning process – tax, legal, financial and personal. An effective retirement plan requires much more than just getting a higher return or creating more safety. It requires a unified effort of different people who understand the client’s needs and can help meet those needs from a variety of different perspectives.

Tom is married to Gaye and is father to one son, Jordan that also works for Wealth Financial Services and Tax Advisory. Tom’s father was in the Korean war and due to some complications from the War he died early in life and Tom had to take charge of his family’s finances from an early age. This life experience motivated Tom to seek out a career in financial planning and now his mission is to help retirees and those planning to retire reach their financial goals. He lives in Lake County but loves to travel when he can find the time. Tom gets great personal satisfaction by helping the community and volunteering 30 hours a month!

Austin Larkin

INVESTMENT ADVISOR REPRESENTATIVE
Austin Larkin believes that wholistic, multidisciplinary financial planning is a fundamental part of building stability and maintaining good life balance. Austin also sees that there is a growing need for good communication and individualized guidance when engaging in something as personal as financial planning – a complex subject largely underserved in the current education system. Austin is motivated by seeing his clients meet their goals and forming lasting relationships.

Austin has worked in the financial industry since 2011, spending much of that time as a Paraplanner and Case Design specialist for other advisors. Now as a Financial Advisor himself, Austin combines his years of technical education and research experience with his clients’ unique situations, which requires patience, a good listening-ear, and a strong work ethic. He is happy to be at Wealth Financial Services & Tax Advisory, working with a team of advisors, specialists, and industry-leading professionals from various fields all under one roof. From this position, he can truly provide an enhanced, cost-efficient experience for the people and families that he works with.

While Austin is native to Lake County Illinois and a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan, he spent part of his childhood in London, England and several years volunteering in Brooklyn, NY. He enjoys travel and being outdoors with his wife and family. He also spends a part of each week volunteering in his local community.

Pete Conway

INVESTMENT ADVISOR REPRESENTATIVE
Peter Conway began his financial career at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in 1986. In the early 1990’s, he worked in London as an off-floor broker for Dean Witter International, where he traded in Asia, Europe, and the U.S. markets. He is currently a licensed Investment Adviser Representative and carries an insurance license with the Illinois Department of Insurance.

Peter Conway has been serving the Northwest Suburbs as an Investment Advisor Representative and a licensed insurance agent since 1999. Professional, experienced, and responsive, he understands your need for integrity and transparency. Peter uses proactive tax reduction strategies which allow you to enjoy a more tax-efficient lifestyle and to help you avoid tax problems in the transition of passing on your wealth to your heirs.

Peter’s approach to both life and business is about building lasting relationships. He believes that having a trusted advisor who gives you advice tailored to your shortand long-term financial goals, without regard to the direction of the stock market or interest rates, is of utmost importance.

He counsels his clients as they move through every phase of life and helps them to make the necessary adjustments to their financial plans as their needs change. Pete is committed to your long-term financial wellbeing whether it be by helping with investment planning, retirement and income planning, tax planning, or legacy planning. Peter has helped hundreds of people over the past twenty years; enlightening and guiding them toward making informed decisions, avoiding costly mistakes, lowering their tax liability, increasing the size of their estate, and even finding assets that may have been misplaced, redirecting those dollars to help them achieve the things that they care about.

Peter is a native Chicagoan and is a lifelong Chicago Sports Fan. He enjoys skiing and spending time with his wife and their two sons.

Sophia Mamedova

Sophia has served our firm for 18 years and takes on the role of Advisor. She helps clients by assisting them with general client service. Her responsibilities consist of ensuring efficient client relations between the firm and investment companies, overseeing client’s profiles and serving the needs of our clients.

Sophia is a proud mother of a son, and currently resides in Prospect Heights with her husband—and also with our most well-known team member: her corgi, Sophie! She commits time to being an active member of her community, enjoying long walks in nature and exercise, cooking traditional foods, and spending time with family and friends. She always finds a way to give back!

Mark Sommerville

Mark has been in financial services as an advisor since 2014. I believe in tailoring financial strategies for clients’ specific life stages and their personal goals. As someone who has played team sports their whole life, I like to think of myself and my colleagues as the coaching staff for our clients, providing them with the fundamental tools and gameplan that will help them achieve success in their endeavors.

Mark and his wife, Rachel, and their two young children, Brooke and Quentin, live in Arlington Heights. In his free time he enjoys spending time with his family and friends, working out and staying active, as well as playing golf—when the weather cooperates!

Andrea Smith

Andrea began her career in a traditional banking center before stepping into her role as a licensed Financial Advisor and has been in the banking and wealth planning/management industry for over 20 years.

Her focus has always been the same: tailoring solutions to optimize her clients’ financial health. She believes in getting to know her clients and truly understanding their needs through a goals-based lens, and developing a roadmap on how to achieve those goals. A goal without a plan is a wish—that’s why she establishes, executes and stays with her clients through each phase of their plan. As a Fiduciary, she will also always do only what is right for her clients.

When she’s not in the office, she enjoys being outdoors and volunteering in her community with her husband of over 20 years and her 4 children. She lives just a hop, skip and a jump across the border in Wisconsin—but holds true to her roots in the Chicagoland area, as she’s still a Bears fan and she appreciates a good Italian beef and Chicago style hotdog!

Evelin Montes-Barragan

Evelin is our Office Coordinator and is responsible for program maintenance, calendar coordinating and marketing event management.

Evelin was born in Mexico but grew up all over the United States spending most her time between homes in Illinois and Mexico. She enjoys spending time with her family—but her nieces and two pit bulls are her world. Evelin spends her free time attending Bears and Bulls games.
Claudia Sher

Claudia Sher

Claudia has a degree in Business Administration. She comes to WFSTA with more than 15 years of experience in credit screening, federal financial default management, and counseling. Claudia previously worked with the Peruvian Department of Housing & Urban Affairs in assisting and educating low-income families to qualify for affordable homes in Lima, Peru. She has also aided students with federal and private loans in consolidating their debt, lowering their interest rates, regaining financial aid eligibility, and progressing to a brighter future.

Claudia leads the New Business Department at WFSTA. She is responsible for accurately processing new business from the point of application entry, until the policy goes in force.

Claudia is inspired daily by her husband and two boys. She loves cooking, dancing, traveling, going to the beach, and taking long walks with her family and their dog, Lucy.
Tommy Wolek

Tommy Wolek

Tommy is one of our firm’s Paraplanners, responsible for creating initial comprehensive financial plans for new clients and assisting with the onboarding process.

Currently, Tommy is a senior at Penn State University and is working toward obtaining a Bachelor of Science in finance. In his free time, Tommy enjoys golfing, fishing, and skiing with his friends and family. He also never misses a chance to watch his favorite Chicago sports teams play.
Reshma Santhosh

Reshma Santhosh

Reshma is an intern at WFSTA. She assists in projects and meetings.

She is a full-time student at Aurora University majoring in Business Administration and Finance. In her free time, she likes to paint, spend time with her family, and travel.
Joey Ponce

Joey Ponce

“People don’t care how much you know, but they want know how much you care” is the principle Joey lives by. In fact, he invests the majority of his time in volunteer work. His role in Wealth Financial Services is to ensure clients receive the best possible service.
Christopher Larkin, Client Onboarding

Christopher Larkin

Christopher serves as the Director of Operations at our firm, responsible for management of compliance, special projects, and designing and implementing systems and procedures to ensure ever better service to our clients.

While Christopher is a native of Lake County, Illinois, he and his wife spent over a decade as residents of London, UK and Bermuda. He enjoys traveling the world with his family but also spends a part of each week volunteering in his local community. Christopher and his wife have two grown sons and are the adoring grandparents of a beautiful granddaughter.
Ethan Dickerson

Ethan Dickerson

Ethan has specialized in educating people about Medicare since he started his career. From basic situations to the most complicated, his goal is to help each Medicare Beneficiaries make educated decisions based on their specific situation. Ethan has been recognized locally and nationally as a top licensed agent in the Medicare insurance field.

Outside of the office, you can find Ethan in his community volunteering, enjoying the outdoors camping or hiking, as well as traveling abroad.
Alex Bobin

Alex Bobin

Alex is a Senior Investment Analyst at Brookstone Capital Management where he is responsible for covering the structured note universe. In this role, he searches, organizes, and evaluates multiple sources of data and information. He is instrumental in providing fundamental structured note research that includes a variety of financial derivative related analysis. Alexander also plays an active role in a number of research-related initiatives on other financial instruments such as individual stocks, mutual funds, and exchange traded funds (ETFs). He has contributed to a number of research notes on a variety of subjects. He has extensive cross-industry experience spanning financial services, technology, real estate, and insurance.

Alex received his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA®), member of the CFA® Institute and CFA® Institute of Chicago.
Darryl Ronconi

Darryl Ronconi

Darryl Ronconi joined Brookstone as Chief Operating Officer in 2015. Prior to joining Brookstone, Darryl was the COO/CIO of Genworth Financial Investment Services (GFIS) which was comprised of a FINRA registered Broker-Dealer and a SEC Registered Investment Advisor that had over 2,200 Advisors and $15B in AUM.

While at GFIS, Darryl was a member of the Senior Leadership Team, a Board of Directors member, and a voting member on the RIA Investment Committees and B-D Product Approval Committee. He participated in all facets of running the GFIS Broker-Dealer and RIA businesses while directly overseeing technology, operations, and various business teams.

He has led numerous multi-million dollar strategic initiatives throughout his career including acquisitions and organic business programs that have dramatically increased revenue and reduced costs. Darryl played an integral role in quickly growing GFIS from 300 advisors with $2B in AUM to 2,200 advisors with $15B in AUM. Darryl holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of South Florida and a Master of Science from DePaul University. Darryl held FINRA 7, 24, and 63 licenses.
Dean Zayed

Dean Zayed

Dean is the founder and CEO of Brookstone Capital Management LLC (BCM), a SEC Registered Investment Advisor. BCM has forged strategic relationships with independent investment advisors around the country who affiliate with BCM as Investment Advisor Representatives (IARs). In this capacity, the IARs are able to utilize BCM’s vast money management experience and infrastructure. This allows the IARs to provide their clients with BCM’s professionally-managed portfolios. As an independent firm, BCM is able to utilize a large array of investment options and vehicles, to create robust model portfolios that span varying levels of risk. BCM, through its network of IARs, provides comprehensive financial planning including asset allocation, retirement planning, education planning and portfolio management and is committed to offering a one-source solution for the management, growth, and preservation of its clients’ wealth.  

Dean received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics from Northwestern University. He completed the Business Institutions Program, the Undergraduate Leadership Program and was a member of Omicron Delta Epsilon Economics Honor Society. Dean received his Juris Doctor degree from Northwestern University School of Law. He received his Masters degree in Taxation (LLM) from Chicago-Kent College of Law. Dean is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) and holds the Illinois insurance license for life, health and long-term care.
Donald Dee

Donald Dee

Director of the Financial Services Division of RCNH, the noted numismatic firm recognized internationally for its unrivaled technical expertise and consumer protection practices. Don has worked exclusively in the rare coin and tangible asset markets since graduating from the University of Massachusetts. Working with financial professionals for over 25 years, RCNH Financial is approved and has been fully vetted by many broker dealers, RIA’s, portfolio management firms and estate planning attorneys.

Donald has been a frequent and popular guest speaker on numerous radio and television shows in both the United States and Canada discussing tangible asset investments. A published author, Donald has also opened markets for the placement of premium quality rare coin and precious metals investment portfolios throughout the United States, Canada and Saudi Arabia as well. Don is a frequent invited guest speaker at numerous financial educational forums.
Mark DiOrio

Mark W. DiOrio

Chief Investment Officer
Mark W. DiOrio, CFA, is the Chief Investment Officer of Brookstone Capital Management. In his role, he leads the firm’s investment committee and drives the firm’s investment policy framework and portfolio construction methodology. He oversees the portfolio strategy group that provides recommendations on strategic and tactical portfolio design. Mark directs research on external managers and develops internal strategies. He produces and presents content for advisor training, a weekly Market Watch update, and the firm’s quarterly market reports. Prior to joining Brookstone, he was responsible for launching and managing a boutique investment management subsidiary of a publicly traded regional bank holding company. Mark has been featured in the ETF Report, interviewed by Investor’s Business Daily, and quoted in the Wall Street Journal.
Matt Lovett

Matt Lovett

Matt has over twenty years of comprehensive compliance experience having served in several positions including CCO for both broker- dealers and Registered Investment Advisors. He was responsible for overseeing all aspects of compliance for over 500 associated persons, including providing guidance on complex broker-dealer and investment advisor issues; FINRA, SEC, MSRB and state securities rules and regulations; and developing and implementing compliance policies and procedures. He has guided firms through several FINRA, SEC and state regulatory audits and implements practical solutions to meet regulatory requirements.

Matt started in the financial services industry as a bank affiliated registered financial specialist and has held multiple FINRA licenses including the Series 6, 7, 24, 53, 63, 66, 79, 87 and 99. He received a B.A. in Economics from the University of Maryland.