2025 Conference Speakers
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2025 Conference Speakers |
Margo Steinlage Kreider, J.D.
President and co-owner of Steinlage Insurance Agency
With over 15 years of health insurance industry experience, complemented with a law degree, Margo Steinlage Kreider has become a nationally recognized Medicare expert. Margo's team is a trusted resource for thousands of clients and works with wealth managers, CPAs, and HR Leaders across the country to integrate medicare planning into their retirement discussions. Margo's mission is to maximize the Medicare experience and minimize the complexity.
Frank R. Acuña
Founding Partner of Acuña Regli, LLP
Frank R. Acuña is a founding partner of Acuña Regli, LLP, located in Pleasant Hill, California, with satellite offices in Berkeley and Fairfield, California. Mr. Acuña is certified by the State Bar of California as an estate planning, probate, and trust law specialist. His practice is built around the needs of tax and financial professionals and includes estate planning, probate and trust law, business succession planning, and inheritance litigation.
Lawrence K.Y. Pon, CPA/PFS, CFP®, EA, USTCP, AEP
Pon & Associates
Mr. Pon is a Certified Public Accountant, Personal Financial Specialist, Certified Financial Planner, Enrolled Agent, United States Tax Court Practitioner, and Accredited Estate Planner in Redwood Shores, CA.
Mr. Pon has been in practice since 1986 and speaks regularly nationwide on tax planning and financial planning topics to tax professionals and financial advisors. Mr. Pon teaches Income Tax at the College of San Mateo.
Mr. Pon is a longtime member of FPA and hosts a monthly show on onefpa.org – Tax Talk with Larry
Mr. Pon received his BS in Business Administration with emphases in Accounting and Finance from the University of California, Berkeley and MS in Taxation from Golden Gate University in San Francisco.
Daniel Prince, CFA
BlackRock
Daniel Prince, CFA, Managing Director, is the U.S. Head of iShares Product Consulting and U.S Head of iShares Core, Style-box, and Sustainable ETFs within BlackRock’s Global Product Solutions business. Within his role in product consulting, he is responsible for overseeing a team of product strategists delivering product insights and investment solutions for U.S. institutions and financial advisors. As the lead of product segments, he is responsible for driving strategy, thought leadership, sales enablement and client engagement.
Daniel's service with the firm dates back to 2007, including his years with Barclays Global Investors (BGI), which merged with BlackRock in 2009. Prior to his current role, Daniel was a member of the iShares ETF Due Diligence team where he worked with home office ETF platforms to get iShares ETFs approved, promoted, and included in home office models.
Prior to this role, he was a senior researcher within the iShares sales strategy team. Daniel started his career in pension consulting as an analyst at Wilshire Associates. Daniel is passionate about mentorship and financial education. As an advocate for financial inclusion he currently co-leads the SF Financial Inclusion Team (FIT) network which aims to improve financial outcomes in underserved communities.
Daniel holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of the CFA society of San Francisco. Daniel earned a BS degree in business administration from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. Outside of life at BlackRock, Daniel enjoys time with his family chasing after his two kids and is active in his community coaching soccer and baseball.
Ellen Cookman, JD, LL.M.
Cookman Law
Ellen Cookman, JD, LL.M., is the principal of Cookman Law in Palo Alto, where she focuses exclusively on estate planning, trust administration, probate, and special needs planning. A certified specialist and recognized Super Lawyer, Ellen combines deep legal expertise with a passion for helping families plan for the future with clarity and compassion. She holds a JD from UC Berkeley and an LL.M. in Estate Planning from Golden Gate University, and is known for her practical, client-centered approach to complex family needs.
Emily Bouchard, MSSW, CMC, CAP
Emily Bouchard, MSSW, CMC, CAP, is a seasoned family dynamics coach and consultant with over 20 years of experience supporting families in navigating wealth, relationships, and leadership transitions. As a fractional Chief Learning Officer and expert in multi-generational family systems and family businesses, she helps clients build competencies across financial, emotional, and relational dimensions. Drawing on deep professional and personal experience—including senior roles in finance and a lifelong passion for education—Emily empowers families to foster trust, clarity, and connection across generations.
Heather C. Liston, CFP®, EA
Principal of Clarity Financial
Heather C. Liston is a CFP®, and the Principal of Clarity Financial, an advice-only, fiduciary planning firm based in San Francisco. She holds the IRS's Enrolled Agent certification as evidence of her expertise in income tax planning. She has taught income tax, retirement planning, and other subjects at UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, and Golden Gate University.
Matt J. Goren, Ph.D. CFP®
Matt J. Goren, PhD CFP® designs and delivers industry-leading financial planning education - at scale. His approach combines lessons from his own teaching experience with best practices in online education, artificial intelligence, and organizational psychology. He is an Investment News “40 under 40” and his courses and programs have won national awards from ThinkAdvisor, Investopedia, Yahoo! Finance, and the AFCPE.
Matt is the Chief Strategy Officer for the Brett Danko Education Center, which helps thousands of current and future financial planners pass the CFP exam. Collectively, those folks go on to provide financial advice and planning to millions of people.
Matt co-founded the Global Financial Planning Institute to promote competency in the cross-border financial planning space. In addition, he is a FinServ mentor and serves with the FPA and the AFS to advance financial planning education in higher education and to career changers around the world.
Previously, Matt ran Dalton Education as VP of Financial Planning Education at CeriFi from 2023 to 2025. From 2022 to 2023, Matt worked at CFP Board as Director of Knowledge for Practice. From 2018 to 2022, he worked in a series of roles at The American College of Financial Services, culminating as the director of their CFP® and ChFC programs. From 2016 to 2018, he was a professor of personal finance at the University of Georgia. And, from 2016 to 2020, he created and produced the lighthearted personal finance show Nothing Funny About Money on NPR. Before switching careers to financial planning, Matt ran the psychology research consulting firm Beyond Berkeley and taught psychology and statistics courses at UC Berkeley and the University of Georgia.
Matt has a Ph.D. in social psychology from UC Berkeley, an MS in social psychology from the University of Georgia, and a BS in psychology with minors in statistics and history from the University of Florida.
Brian Trouette
Trouette Insurance Agency
Brian is the founder of the Trouette Insurance Agency. In 1998 he established the firm with a mission of providing a disciplined, analytical approach to insurance for high-net-worth individuals and families. He works collaboratively with financial advisors, CPAs and attorneys to protect clients and their wealth. Brian also provides risk management services to financial advisors at the business level.
With over 27 years of experience, Brian also dedicates his time educating advisors on how careful insurance analysis can help mitigate risk for clients. He is a highly-rated speaker and has presented at conferences for the FPA as well as the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors groups.
Brian and his wife Angela recently celebrated 26 years of marriage and live in Scottsdale, AZ with 2 surly teens and 4 rescue dogs.
Don McCrea, PhD
Your Business Legacy
Don McCrea, PhD, is President of Your Business Legacy, where he coaches family and small business owners on planning successful business exits. With over 30 years of experience spanning Fortune 100 companies, global consultancies, and academic institutions, Don has developed tailored solutions across diverse industries and roles—from systems design to executive education. He holds a Ph.D. in Executive Management from the Peter F. Drucker Graduate School and advanced degrees in mathematics from the University of Michigan and Humboldt State.