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2026 Connect Money Next Generation Wealth Management Awards
Winners
- Cristina Wiebelt-Smith: Redefining Wealth Advice Through Education, Community Impact
- Jack Reifsnider: Linking Capital, Community, and Client Outcomes
- Ximena Silva-Avila: Pairing Values-Based Planning with Community Advocacy
- Scott Frazin: Blending Personal Engagement with Next Gen Advisory Approach
- Ken Vendley: Driving Growth Through Mentorship and Holistic Planning
- Michael Bueti: Scaling Growth, Innovation and Next Gen Client Engagement
- Abhishek Vakil: Aligning Personal Performance with Firmwide Growth
- John B. Petrick: Advancing Next Gen RIA Framework
- Alan Simeon: Transformation Through Growth, Innovation and Mentorship
- Julian Locke: Expanding Industry Access Through Mentorship
- Dana Hall: Redefining Wealth Creation Through Community Equity Innovation
- Alex Pape: Bringing AI, Unified Portfolios to the Advisor Desktop
- Nicholas Petrelli: Powering Growth Through Client Acquisition and Team Leadership
- Kelly Ann Winget: Challenges PE Norms With Access and Innovation
- Ashton Lawrence: Building $200M Practice Around Trust, Planning and Education
- Jacob Gurock: From Messaging to Mentorship
- Robert Howland: Modernizing a Legacy Firm While Deepening Client-Centered Advice
- Mamadou-Abou Sarr: Building $1.4B Quant Platform With High-Touch Innovation
- Collin Lyon: Rewiring Tech, Talent, and Team-Based Planning
- Lucas Mijares: Putting Values at the Center of Wealth Planning
- Danielle White: Building a One-Stop Operations Platform for Independent Advisors
- Susy Thomas: Bringing Athlete’s Discipline to Client-Centered Planning
- Rebecca Trethewey: Strengthening Platform With Retirement, Benefits Expertise
- Gautam Muthusamy: Accelerating Growth Through Personalized Advisory and Strategic Leadership
- Joseph Spina: Bridging Institutional Research and Private Wealth Advice
- Lowell Lyon: Prioritizing Simplicity in Wealth Management
- Greg Giardino: Turning Personal Experience Into Client-Focused Advisory Approach
- Hannah Forney: Guiding Families and Athletes Through Wealth Decisions
- Zach Schear: Fueling Record Growth and Transformation
- Megan Higgins: Driving Operational Innovation, Next Gen Talent Development
Ken Vendley: Driving Growth Through Mentorship and Holistic Planning
Regional director builds talent, retools operations, and applies entrepreneurial experience to next-gen advice
As regional director at Falcon Wealth Planning, Ken Vendley, CFP, has made a tangible impact by pairing people development with operational excellence. His leadership is anchored in two priorities: cultivating talent and building scalable systems. Ken launched a structured mentorship program for junior CFP professionals, deepening the team’s technical capabilities and enhancing the firm’s capacity to handle increasingly complex planning cases with confidence.
At the same time, he reengineered Falcon Wealth’s end-to-end sales and onboarding process, streamlining workflows, reducing administrative friction, and improving close rates. He leads by example, setting high ethical standards and uncompromising client service benchmarks that now underpin the firm’s culture and growth trajectory.
Outside the office, mentorship remains central to Ken’s identity. He dedicates meaningful time to coaching aspiring CFP professionals, sharing both technical insights and the practical lessons he’s learned as an entrepreneur and advisor. By raising the bar for professionalism and holistic planning, he is helping strengthen the next generation of financial planners and ensuring families continue to receive thoughtful, advice-first guidance.
Ken embodies the next generation of wealth management by moving beyond a narrow, investment-only focus. Drawing on his background as a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, insurance specialist, and real estate investor, he treats wealth as an interconnected ecosystem rather than a standalone portfolio. He integrates real estate syndication planning, advanced insurance design, and sophisticated business succession strategies into a cohesive framework that meets clients where their financial lives unfold—across businesses, properties, and multigenerational objectives.
His results place him among the industry’s top performers. After transitioning to the RIA channel, Ken onboarded $35 million in new assets under management in his first full year and generated more than $200,000 in planning fees, underscoring client demand for his advice-centric model.
Earlier in his career, he helped scale a Silicon Valley startup into one of the Bay Area’s fastest-growing private companies and later founded and successfully exited his own insurance and planning practice—experience that now informs the founder-level perspective he brings to business-owner clients at Falcon Wealth.