Deb Weiss, CFA
Okabena Advisors, Managing Director

It’s no surprise that Deb Weiss, CFA, so skillfully helps her clients navigate the world of monitoring and tailoring investment plans. After all, she sits in the navigator’s seat of a single-engine plane built from scratch by her husband with some assistance from her.

Deb, the managing director of Okabena Advisors in Minneapolis, learned to rivet as the couple spent five years building a Van’s RV-7 two-seater and another three years constructing an RV-9.

“It came as a ‘kit,’ which means the entire outside skin of the plane only, absent wiring, instrumentation, propeller and engine,” Deb says. “All of that was custom designed or purchased separately. There is a whole community of lovely people around the world who’ve built planes and share this interest.”

Deb loves her husband’s hobby and where it (and he) can take her, but she gets just as excited by the opportunities to support the missions of her tax-exempt clients and the generosity of her taxable clients who strive to make the world a better place. Her role has her serving as her clients’ primary investment contact, communicating Okabena Investment Services’ strategy while helping them create investment policies and allocations that will meet their risk appetites and return expectations. She loves the total portfolio management aspects, risk management and asset allocation functions of her work and enjoys the variety of people and strategies across different asset classes. She’s also always on the lookout for other, like-minded potential clients whose interests are aligned.

Deb began her career in the controllers organization of the automotive industry before transitioning to corporate treasury, issuing bonds and commercial paper. She expanded into corporate venture investing before taking on responsibilities for manager research across all the broad asset classes, evaluating and selecting investments and managers for corporate pension plans and other employee benefit plans.

Deb took and passed the first two levels of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA®) exam in the mid 1990s before assuming corporate treasurer roles that left her little time for further study. When she decided to pursue completion of her certification, she called and learned that the seven-year limit between exam levels had been lifted. She passed Level III on her second try and is thankful she was persistent and focused to achieve the designation.

“You have to be an optimist to stay in this industry,” she says, “believing that over the long run, markets grow and diversified portfolios can produce positive returns.” The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has provided both some challenges and benefits. Working from home has eliminated her commuting time, and Deb loves interacting with her clients. “I miss seeing my colleagues and clients in person, but generally people are more available and flexible about meeting,” Deb says. “And technology has made the transition considerably easier.”

In her words:

What do you want people who work with you professionally to know about you?

I hold myself to very high standards and hope always to meet and exceed clients’ and colleagues’ expectations.

How do you engage with your community?

I volunteer my time on several not-for-profit community-based boards and investment committees.

How do you spend your free time?

These days, I love hanging out with my “pod”, enjoying my family, my home, my neighborhood and the beauty of the Mississippi River and nature generally in Minnesota. When it’s too cold or dark to go out, I knit. I can’t wait to be able to take to the skies again with a destination and far-flung family and friends in mind.

Any predictions for the year ahead?

Who would have thought 2020 would look as it did? I’m not about to attempt to predict 2021. I’ll predict rates and dates, but not both!

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Deb holds a B.A. in multidisciplinary social sciences from Michigan State University (Summa cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa) and an MBA from the Owen School at Vanderbilt University. She and her husband have two adult sons (both happily married and gainfully employed) and two amazing grandchildren (so far).

Craig Popp, CFA, CRPS
Financial Advisor
Raymond James Financial Services

Craig Popp, CFA, CRPS, has a gift for cultivating relationships, and that skill is critical in his work serving clients’ financial and investment needs. As a financial advisor specializing in asset allocation and portfolio construction, Craig works with clients to design investment portfolios that meet their needs.

When a 20-year-old Craig answered an advertisement in the local newspaper (back when want ads were still a thing), he was simply looking for a better job. He had no idea he would be meeting his future business partner.

Craig at that time was working part-time at a warehouse in Willmar, Minnesota, where he made the financial decision to attend Willmar Community College for his first two years of post-secondary schooling. He carefully read the advertisement calling for an office assistant at a financial services firm and soon met Eric Weiberg, CFP, and his wife, Alice. Craig said working alongside Eric and Alice helped solidify his desire to work in the financial services industry.

“I saw how they had such strong relationships with their clients,” he said.

Craig continued on his educational journey and graduated from Saint Cloud State University’s G.R. Herberger Business School, where he was active in the Investment Club and helped manage the Husky Growth Fund, a university-owned portfolio managed by students.

An early yearning

Craig, a Rice, Minnesota native, knew he wanted to pursue a career in finance from his first high-school business classes and a special two-week stock market segment. After graduating in 2000, Craig began his career at a time when “things were interesting.”

“It was easy to buy a stock and make money,” he says.

After completing his undergraduate degree, Craig began a 15-year career at RBC Wealth Management in Minneapolis, starting in operations and rising to the position of Senior Global Manager Research Analyst.

Path to becoming a CFA^® charterholder

At the time, “the CFA wasn’t then what it is now in terms of popularity,” but Craig knew the credential was important for where he was headed in his career. He took Level 1 while working in operations. He continued his quest while advancing at RBC, joining the firm’s manager research team between Level 1 and Level 2 and earning his charter in 2007. Craig also served as a voting member of RBC Wealth Management’s Discretionary Investment Committee, which manages the firm’s discretionary mutual fund portfolios.

Craig continued his professional advancement and was fortunate to work for an organization that supported his pursuit of an MBA, which he earned at the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management.

“I found with in-person classes, the connections you make, many of us are still connected,” he says. “Many of us had aspirations of having our own businesses.”

The opportunity

Just as he stayed in touch with many in his MBA cohort, Craig continued to stay in contact with his first supervisor in the financial services industry, Eric Weiberg. The two men had a connection in the industry and would regularly visit a few times a year.

“We were actually golfing and he casually said, ‘Would you ever think about getting in my side of the industry? I’m going to retire someday, and I think you are someone who is going to be good at this.’”

That invitation was issued nearly ten years ago, and Craig was thoughtful and deeply intentional about the possibility. 

At first, moving out of the metro was a concern, but after some conversations with Eric, Craig began to realize that, “most of what is there that you think you need, you don’t always utilize.”

Craig saw that Eric and Alice “knew I had experience in the industry, and felt I would be a good fit for the client base,” he says. “They knew in me they had someone they could trust, someone who understands doing things the right way.”

Craig joined the business with the intent to purchase it and he loves his new community of Willmar.

“Day-to-day life is very easy,” Craig says. “We live five minutes from the office. I go home for lunch once or twice a week.”

The adjustments to the COVID-19 pandemic have been surprisingly minimal.

“We are such a small office that from a work perspective we haven’t changed much,” Craig says. “We have a few more virtual meetings with clients.”

The biggest COVID-19 effect was its delay in making a new hire. Craig had posted a position and reviewed résumés in mid-March, and just now concluded the search. “In fact, we just got an acceptance today,” he says of a new associate financial advisor who will develop into a planner in the future.

When Craig and Eric formally welcome their new hire for that person’s first day of work, they will have come full circle. After all, this is a team that maximizes relationships for today — and tomorrow.

In Craig’s own words

If you weren’t a CFA^® charterholder, what would you be and/or do?

I’d be a professional poker player. I enjoy the intellectual side of poker. It’s kind of like investing. You are working with incomplete information and you have to make clear decisions based on a probability. I don’t like slots; I like playing cards because you have to think.

What is one thing people who know you would be surprised to learn about you?

I grew up on a dairy farm. I’ve definitely adapted to being a city person, so this surprises people.

How do you spend your free time?

My wife and I enjoy dining in a nice restaurant, or a weekend getaway to Minneapolis/Saint Paul, where we will try out a new restaurant. We have two dogs (Cooper, a Shih Tzu Poodle, age 2, and Laylah, a 4.5 pound Shih Tzu Maltese Yorkie mix, age 9).

Craig Popp earned his MBA in entrepreneurship from the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management and he holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from St. Cloud State University. Craig currently holds FINRA licenses: Series 7, Series 63 and Series 9/10. Learn more about Craig and his insights on his blog, The Cognitive Bias, at https://cognitivebiasblog.com/

Nathan Erickson, CFA, CAIA
Senior Vice President/ Client Portfolio Manager
Bell Institutional Investment Management

For a client-facing portfolio manager who enjoys serving his Bell Institutional Investment Management clients through both relationships and analysis, Nathan Erickson, CFA, CAIA, has a remarkably good setup to socially distance during a pandemic. After a quick, ten-minute commute to his office at Bell Bank in downtown Fargo, North Dakota, Nathan can take a back stairwell up to his office and only encounter two to three other people. On other days, he can work from home depending on what’s on his schedule.

As Senior Vice President/Client Portfolio Manager, Nathan meets with the boards and investment committees of endowments, foundations and retirement plans to properly understand their goals, effectively manage their investment portfolios and consult on their Investment Policy Statements. Nathan also chairs Bell’s Fund Committee, which selects investments and monitors capabilities for institutional clients and directs investment recommendations for wealth management clients. Additionally, he oversees the research for alternative investments and ESG portfolios.

Impact of COVID-19

COVID-19 has forced a number of adaptations in all aspects of life and work for people across the globe. Yet it hasn’t slowed the speed of business, especially in the investment industry.

Nathan remembers the third week in March when “everything became real” and Bell Bank sent home everyone who had the ability to work remotely.

“I went home immediately and worked only from home for three months solid,” he said.

In June, Bell Bank began a return-to-work approach based on personal choice.

“Lately, client meetings have been a mix of videoconference and in-person, depending on the preference of the organization I am meeting with,” he says. “In-person meetings are still different, however, with bigger rooms for social distancing and masks in some cases.”

A big move

A native of Fergus Falls, Minnesota, Nathan made very big decisions after high school. He pursued his education, becoming the first member of his immediate family to receive a bachelor’s degree or higher. He fell in love and married his wife, Jeanette, just ahead of their senior year in college. Together, they chose to move “somewhere warm” and selected Arizona after his wife was offered a teaching position in downtown Phoenix.

Nathan and Jeanette had no friends or family in Phoenix, but they fearlessly packed everything up and made a big move that lasted eight years.

Shortly after arriving in Arizona, Nathan started as a financial advisor at a comprehensive financial planning firm focusing on medical professionals. Later he had the opportunity to move over to Vanguard as a relationship manager in the firm’s High Net Worth department. 

Path to becoming a CFA charterholder

Nathan originally planned to pursue the CFP credential because he hadn’t been as exposed to the CFA. Once he learned about the CFA, he knew “it was the track I wanted to go down.” He enrolled in the CFA program and transitioned within Vanguard to become an investment strategist for retirement plans.

After signing up for his first test, Nathan found out his wife was pregnant with their first child. He embraced his new role of helping to take care of a baby while soldiering forward with his studies, partnering with other professionals in a Vanguard CFA study group and networking with others studying at CFA Society Phoenix events.

As Nathan’s first child continued to grow and the Ericksons were blessed with two more children, they decided to “raise their kids in four seasons” and gift them with proximity to cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles in the Upper Midwest.

CFA Society Minnesota to the rescue

Nathan credits Tom Crandall, CFA, CAIA, now a member of CFA Society Minnesota Board of Directors, as an essential colleague in helping him network and plug in to the region.

“Tom was tremendous in getting me connected,” Nathan says. “I was amazed at how many members who didn’t know me at all were willing to spend an hour with me.”

Nathan is always thankful for connections, but he soon realized that CFA Society Minnesota offers so much more through its amazing members.

“It’s nice being part of a community and meeting with people who have the same dedication to advancing their knowledge in the investment industry, share ideas and have similar career aspirations,” he says. “We are all numbers people and we tend to get along.”

Nathan explains his joy of work: “Some people who really love data are analysts. Others are relational and enjoy talking with people and getting to know them. And then there are people who are in the middle — that’s me.”

In Nathan’s own words

How did you get engaged in the industry?

I would say I didn’t truly “engage” in the industry until I found the CFA Society Minnesota. My first few years in the industry I was focused on surviving. It wasn’t until I had a few years of experience that I started to look outward. When I found out more about the CFA Institute and local societies, it was exciting to know that I could be a part of a community of professionals. 

How do you engage with your community?

I am an executive mentor at the Minnesota State University Moorhead Business School. Each semester, I mentor seniors and help them understand the financial industry, types of jobs available, career tracks and designations. I also review résumés and help the students advance their writing and interviewing skills. 

How do you spend your free time?

Free time, what’s that? We have three kids 6 years old and under, and for some reason, we recently added a puppy to the mix. Free time is hard to come by, but I do enjoy golfing, hunting, and going to the lake on weekends.

Nathan Erickson holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Minnesota State University Moorhead and an MBA from the University of Mary.

Connect with Nathan on LinkedIn.