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John D Williams, CFP®, CIMA, AAMS, CRPC
John is founder, President and a client of Williams Financial Group, Inc.
He advises many of the area’s retirees, families, businesses and non-profit organizations on ways to effectively manage their financial resources. He has several areas of expertise including investment portfolio design and management and retirement planning. He conducts educational seminars regularly, has authored financial articles and appeared in local and national media.
John is a member of the Financial Planning Association and the Investment Management Consultants Association and has earned the Certified Financial PlannerTM practitioner (CFP®) designation. To become a CFP®, John took courses and passed five exams proving his expertise in investments, retirement planning, taxes and estate planning and then passed a rigorous two day comprehensive exam. He has also earned the Chartered Retirement Planning CounselorSM (CRPC®) designation from the National Endowment for Financial Education. John was also awarded the Accredited Asset Management SpecialistSM (AAMS®) professional designation following coursework and examination from the College of Financial Planning located in Denver, Colorado. Additionally, John is among a small group of investment professionals who’ve earned the Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA®) designation. He earned it through the Investment Management Consultants Association following coursework and examination at the Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania. John has also earned two college degrees.
John started his career at a national investment firm in Charleston, WV where through hard work and determination he quickly rose to the position of Vice President-Investments.
Continuing Education Requirements
Mr Williams regularly engages in continuing education in order to maintain numerous professional designations and licenses as well as to remain abreast of developments in the fields of financial planning and investment management. These continuing education endeavors include requirements and standards averaging nearly 100 hours every other year by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Investment Management Consultants Association, National Association of Securities Dealers and the WV Insurance Commissioner.
 Christopher E Ashworth, CFP®
Chris is an Associate Wealth Advisor with our firm. He joined Williams Financial Group following a successful career with Fidelity Investments. During his nearly ten years with Fidelity he worked in the 401(k) services area. During the last several years Chris served as a Senior Retirement Specialist within their High Net Worth team. In this position Chris worked with Fidelity's higher net worth clients and developed comprehensive knowledge of a number of financial and investment planning areas including asset allocation, pre-retirement planning and post retirement planning distributions.
Chris grew up in the area and after graduating from Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia with a Bachelors Degree in Economics and a minor in Accounting, he relocated to Cincinnati, Ohio to work for Fidelity Investments. While working for Fidelity, Chris earned an MBA (Masters in Business Administration degree) from Xavier University. Chris has also completed the rigorous requirements to earn the CFP® certification (Certified Financial PlannerTM).
Mary Anna Bird
Mary Anna serves as Director of Office Operations & Client Services for our firm. She is responsible for keeping our office running smoothly from day to day administratively.
Prior to joining our company, she held positions at a national brokerage firm for a number of years where she was responsible for providing administrative services to numerous clients. She was also previously in charge of an administrative staff of seven at a local bank which was responsible for cash receipts, disbursements and general cashiering. Mary Anna is also commissioned as a Notary Public for the state of West Virginia.
Tami S Williams
Tami is part of the firm’s part-time client service staff and assists with the firm’s regularly held educational seminars. She has an administrative background and served as Secretary Treasurer for Standard Food Service in Hurricane, WV. Her responsibilities included managing payroll and benefits for 100 employees and overseeing a fifteen-member team.
She and husband John, enjoy working together occasionally and spends her free time with their children.
In addition to the aforementioned Professionals and Staff of Williams Financial Group, Inc., the following serve as "Of Counsel" to the Firm:
Randy E Taylor, EA
Randy is an accountant with the State of West Virginia in Charleston. As an IRS Enrolled Agent, he has been preparing tax returns for individuals and businesses for over 20 years. Enrolled Agents are licensed by the Federal Government and are authorized to appear in place of a tax payer at the IRS.
According to the Sarasota Herald Tribune, "Make sure your CPA is or has access to an Enrolled Agent. An Enrolled Agent has taken special courses and achieved a minimum score of 90 on each part of a tough four-part test accepted by the IRS (only 34% pass), and is usually the more knowledgeable person on current federal tax laws. Enrolled Agents have almost 'instant credibility' with the IRS should you be unlucky enough to have an audit thrown your way."
Due to his experience and qualifications, he assists in the tax return preparation of many of Williams Financial Group's clients.
Kelly M Young, Esq.
Kelly is an attorney in the Lane Law Firm in Charleston, WV. Her legal practice emphasizes estate planning (Wills, Trusts, etc.). Because of this specialty, she has handled the estate plan document preparation of many of Williams Financial Group's clients.
She has been practicing law for ten years and received her BA degree from Marshall University and her JD from University of Dayton in Dayton, OH
Admitted to practice before all the courts in the state of West Virginia, Kelly is also admitted to the Ohio Bar and District of Columbia Bar as well as the United States Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. |