LEGAL & FINANCE

INVESTMENT ADVISORY FIRMS, RANKED BY ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT

Top 10 SAGEPOINT FINANCIAL 2800 N. Central Ave., Suite 2100, Phoenix, 85004// 602-744-3278 // sagepoint financial.com ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT $36 billion AZ EMPLOYEES 250 PRINCIPAL Jefff Auld, president and CEO, SagePoint Financial HIGHESTRANKING WOMAN Erica McGinnis, president and CEO, advisor group MADISON SCOTTSDALE 8777 N. Gainey Center Drive, Suite 220, Scottsdale, 85258// 480-596-3338 // madisonscottsdale.com ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT $5.7 billion AZ EMPLOYEES 7 PRINCIPAL Don Miller, managing director, portfolio manager HIGHEST-RANKING WOMAN Anjanette Fowler, managing director, portfolio manager UNITED PLANNERS 7333 E. Doubletree Ranch Road, Suite 120, Scottsdale, 85258// 800-966-8737 // unitedplanners.com ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT $3.9 billion AZ EMPLOYEES 169 PRINCIPAL David Shindel, president HIGHEST-RANKING WOMAN Sheila Cuffari-Agasi, vice president, partner development

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SHARON ZEIDLER MANAGING DIRECTOR AND SENIOR INVESTMENT CONSULTANT BY HAL MATTERN

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Sharon Zeidler grew up around stockbrokers and investment advisors at her father’s Scottsdale business, meeting his clients and getting to know about the industry. “At a young age I spent time in my dad’s office, and I really kind of got the bug early,” Zeidler says. “But I didn’t know if I wanted to do it out of the chute.” So instead of following in her father’s footsteps after graduating from college, she started an invitation and calligraphy business with her sister. “We sold lines of invitations for weddings and bar mitzvahs,” she says. “We did business cards and letterheads, and I did the calligraphy.” The business was successful, but after two years Zeidler got married and moved to California, so she and her sister closed the business. When Zeidler returned to Scottsdale in 1991, her father, Edward Yalowitz, asked her to join his business on the administrative side. “I learned about the back office and the ins and outs of the business,” Zeidler says. “It was a shortterm thing that ended up being 24plus years.” When she decided in 1997 that she wanted to be a financial adviser, her father offered to gradually make her a full partner over the next five years. During that time she earned her Series 7 securities license and completed a rigorous brokerage

program, which she finished at the top of her class. “I also got a lot of mentoring from my father, which was indispensable,” Zeidler says. In 2003, she and her father moved their business to Robert W. Baird & Co. in Scottsdale, where she is now managing director and senior investment consultant in the company’s private wealth-management division. Her father, now 81, still works beside her. “We enjoy working together,” Zeidler says. “We collaborate with a lot of our clients and we feel they are in a good situation because they have many layers watching over their finances.” Zeidler says the investment industry has changed since she started, and is now customized. “What’s right for a 70-year-old widow is not right for a 40-year-old couple with kids,” she says. “They have different mindsets about their short-term and long-term goals and about the level of risk they are comfortable with.” And it’s not just about buying and selling stocks anymore. “We take a more comprehensive approach to investing now, a helicopter view of our clients’ financial situation in terms of their goals,” she says. “We’re working with attorneys and CPAs. If a client is remodeling his house, we get him names of interior designers. We have tentacles in a lot of areas.”

FIRST FINANCIAL EQUITY CORPORATION 7373 N. Scottsdale Road, Suite D120, Scottsdale, 85253// 480-9510079 // www.ffec.com ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT $2.8 billion AZ EMPLOYEES 80 PRINCIPAL George Fischer, president and sole director HIGHEST-RANKING WOMAN no designee MILLER RUSSELL ASSOCIATES 3200 E. Camelback Road, Suite 300, Phoenix, 85018// 602-468-1232 // miller-russell.com ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT $2.3 billion AZ EMPLOYEES 41 PRINCIPAL Mark Feldman, managing partner and CEO HIGHEST-RANKING WOMEN Maureen Rzeppa, managing partner and chief administrative officer; Christina Burroughs, managing partner ROBERT W. BAIRD & CO. INC. 14648 N. Scottsdale Road, Suite 175, Scottsdale, 85254// 480-624-2300 // rwbaird.com ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT $2.3 billion AZ EMPLOYEES 44 PRINCIPAL Mark A. Peterson, director, Arizona market HIGHEST-RANKING WOMAN Sharon Zeidler, managing director, senior investment consultant AXA ADVISORS LLC 14851 N. Scottsdale Road, Suite 103, Scottsdale, 85254// 480-444-3700 // axaadvisorssouthwest.com ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT $2 billion AZ EMPLOYEES 100 PRINCIPAL Dillan Micus, executive vice president HIGHEST-RANKING WOMEN Kristina Coyle, marketing and recruiting director; Karen Most, branch compliance manager TCI WEALTH ADVISORS INC. 6929 E. Greenway Parkway, Suite 150, Scottsdale, 85254// 480-991-0401 // tciwealth. com ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT $1.8 billion AZ EMPLOYEES 38 PRINCIPAL AND HIGHEST-RANKING WOMAN Trisa Summers, partner and CEO TFO PHOENIX 2400 E. Arizona Biltmore Circle, Suite 1400, Phoenix, 85016// 602-466-2611 // tfophoenix. com ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT $1.3 billion AZ EMPLOYEES 26 PRINCIPAL ScottHorn, president HIGHEST-RANKING WOMEN Laura Jansen, senior wealth advisor; Kim Llumquinga, senior wealth manager STOKER OSTLER WEALTH ADVISORS INC. 4900 N. Scottsdale Road, Suite 2600, Scottsdale, 85251// 480-8908088 // stokerostler.com ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT $1 billion AZ EMPLOYEES 18 PRINCIPAL Mike Bolar, managing director HIGHEST-RANKING WOMAN Michelle Decker, managing director; April Ward, managing director

WHO’S WHO IN BUSINESS // 2016

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5/17/16 5:43 PM