Our Team

We invite you to get to know our team and learn more about the passions that drive us.

Chip Kispert

CHIP KISPERT

​Founder & Managing Partner

Malcolm Gladwell writes that, to be an expert in one’s field, one needs to spend a minimum of 10,000 hours on their craft. Chip Kispert has dedicated over 50,000 hours towards absorbing the nuances of the financial institution marketplace.

Having founded Beacon Strategies, LLC in 2006, Chip established the firm to be an independent thought-leadership vessel providing research, consulting, and forums for its clients.


Marshal Levin

MARSHALL LEVIN

Head of Curriculum

Marshall has more than 30 years of strategy & product development experience across the financial services spectrum. He has successfully exploited technology to create significant business opportunities for customers in consumer credit, institutional trading, retail brokerage, securities clearing, and both life and health insurance.


Ron Fiske

RONALD FISKE

Head of Consulting

Ron currently is a Managing Director with Beacon Strategies, focusing on overall strategy, technology reviews, and digital transformation for larger enterprise clients.  Previously, Ron served as Head of Business Development at Apex Clearing, where he oversaw digital advice and wealth management transformations for larger prospective clients.  Prior to joining Apex, Ron was Managing Director at Envestnet where he managed strategic third-party relationships including custodians, asset managers, and other strategic partners.  In addition, he was responsible for starting and running the Envestnet Advisor Summit, which has become one of the largest events of its kind in the industry.  He also started and ran the Envestnet Institute, which is a continuing education portal for advisors, and the Envestnet Institute On Campus, which focuses on the next generation of advisor talent on college campuses throughout the US.  Ron also had senior product management and development roles at Fidelity Investments where he was responsible for investment products at both National Financial and Institutional Wealth Services, and at Pershing, where he also started and ran Pershing INSITE, one of the largest conferences of its type in the industry. Ron earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Columbia University and a Master of Business Administration degree in Finance and Accounting from Cornell University.  He holds FINRA licenses 4, 7, 8, 24, 53, and 63.


Jerry Wackerhagen

JERRY WACKERHAGEN

​Head of Vendor Management

With over 40 years of experience in change management, Jerry has over 20 of those years in the financial services industry. He has led integrations of strategic plans using technology in support of a firm’s business needs.  His teams created the “Single Pane of Glass” for Advisors to have one digital place to view client information and to initiate brokerage transactions, bank account openings, insurance applications, and then create and deliver financial plans for Registered Reps, the Broker Dealer groups, Banks and Insurance Agencies. Jerry managed all back-office operations and technology at First Command Financial Services. He adds value in managing change and mitigating risks by effectively harmonizing people, processes, and technology and transforming firms into client obsessive cultures. Jerry holds a Chartered Leadership Fellow (CLF®) designation from the American College of Financial Services.


Sheri Facinelli

SHERI FACINELLI

Consultant

Sheri has 15 years of financial services software development and implementation experience, backed by 15 years of brokerage operations.  She has successfully led the implementation of compensation, surveillance, and ad-hoc reporting tools for 30+ broker dealers, ranging in size from 50 advisors to over 1000 advisors.  A key to successful implementations stems from her ability to bridge the gap between vendor and broker dealer, leveraging her combined operational and technology backgrounds, during all phases of an implementation; from needs analysis and documenting requirements, through system configuration, system testing, and validation, and deployment planning.

Sheri is the former vice president of account management and sales for Quadron Data Solutions and product owner for EarningsQ compensation system.