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Biography

J. Michael Martin is President and Chief Investment Officer of Financial Advantage, Inc.. Martin and the firm have been rated among the best financial advisors in America by Worth Magazine, Medical Economics, Mutual Fund Magazine and Bloomberg Wealth Manager.

A member of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors since 1989, Michael served for three years on NAPFA’s Board of Directors.

The first 14 years of his career were spent on Wall Street, where Mike held positions as Analyst, Research Director and Vice President for Standard & Poors and New York Stock Exchange Member Firms. Moving his family from New York to Baltimore in 1978, Mike joined T. Rowe Price, one of the country's largest mutual fund complexes. There he served as Vice President and as Director of Research, responsible for the research activities supporting all of Price’s equity investments.

Martin has been published and quoted extensively in financial media including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, Money Magazine, Worth Magazine, Smart Money, Mutual Fund Magazine, Financial Planner Magazine, Modern Maturity, the Chicago Tribune, Washington Post and International Herald Tribune. His fixed-income investment book, Life after CDs, was published by Dearborn Financial Publishing in Chicago. He was a columnist and Contributing Editor for Financial Advisor Magazine from 2000 to 2003.

Mike's academic degrees are in Economics (Assumption College) and Law (Fordham University School of Law). A firm believer in continuing education, he has completed Financial Management programs at Stanford and Princeton Universities and earned the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ designation in 1989. He is a Registered Investment Advisor and admitted to the New York Bar.

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Lyn Dippel, Vice President and Principal, has been a member of the Financial Advantage team since August of 2004. In addition to her 25 years of professional experience, she holds a law degree from George Mason University School of Law, a BA from the University of Richmond and is a current member of the Virginia State Bar. Lyn also holds the Certified Financial Planner ™ designation.

Lyn serves as the senior investment advisor to 85+ client families and is responsible for approx $110 million in assets. She also is a primary member of the Investment Committee responsible for formulating the current investment strategy. During her time at Financial Advantage, Lyn has been interviewed and quoted by various national publications including Kiplinger’s, Smart Money Magazine and Business Week. Lyn also authored a series of financial articles published monthly in FAMILIES magazine.

Before joining Financial Advantage, Lyn served as Principal and Advisor for Symphony Financial, an independent, comprehensive financial planning firm in Herndon, VA. As co-founder of Symphony, Lyn managed portfolios and provided financial planning advice for client families. She also had regular speaking engagements including public conferences as well as private corporate audiences such as Exxon Mobil.

Prior to founding Symphony Financial, Lyn worked as a Financial Advisor for the financial planning branch of MillerMusmar, a mid-sized CPA firm in Reston, VA. There she worked with individuals and small business owners to develop and implement long-term, tax-efficient financial strategies.

Lyn and her family live in Fulton, Maryland.

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Biography

Chad J. Norfolk has been a member of the Financial Advantage team since 2006.  He joined the firms management team in 2008 and became a principal in 2010. Chad is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER (CFP®) practitioner and a member of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA). He received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from Towson University.

Chad has been quoted in several publications including Financial Planning Magazine and the Baltimore Business Journal. He has also been interviewed on the national radio program "It's Your Money".  He has also been featured by Jefferson National in its monthly advisor focus.  Chad has completed advanced training with Rutgers University on a variety of portfolio management strategies.

Prior to joining Financial Advantage, Chad spent ten years serving as Vice President and Principal of a local investment firm specializing in working with retirees, high net worth individuals and professional athletes.

Chad serves as a lead advisor at Financial Advantage working with clients to develop and implement successful strategies to help them reach their investment, retirement, and estate planning goals. The clients he serves have assets in excess of $100 million. 

As a member of the firm's management committee, Chad serves as Chief Technology Officer and his responsibilities include overseeing a variety of key operational functions. He also serves on the firm's investment committee.

Chad resides in Finksburg, MD with his wife and three sons. His family is active in the community where he serves as a youth soccer and lacrosse coach.

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Biography

Dennis Suckstorf is the Senior Financial Planner for Financial Advantage, Inc., in Columbia MD. He is a member of the Financial Planners Association, the Society of Financial Services Professionals, the Association of Financial Counselors and Planners Education, and the Maryland Society of Accountants.

Dennis has been in the financial services industry for over 16 years. He started his career as a financial planner in Europe where he worked with the US Government to provide financial planning services to military and civilian personnel and ex-patriots in the European theater.

Upon his return to the states, Dennis worked as a contractor with the Institute for Personal Finance at the University of Maryland developing financial counseling certification courses and tests. He then moved from his contracting job to spend two years with a local tax firm as a tax preparer and researcher.

In 1998, Dennis moved to a financial planning firm where he became the senior financial planner. As senior planner, he provided financial planning support to five advisors and their clients. He developed comprehensive financial plans, modular plans, tax research, etc. He also developed various spreadsheets used by the firm for building investment policy statements, investment tracking, and other financial planning activities.

Dennis is in his second career. Prior to becoming a financial planner, Dennis spent over 20 years in the US Air Force as an airborne cryptologic linguist where he flew on various airborne intelligence collection platforms. He spent much of his career in the western Pacific and Southeast Asia.

Dennis completed his degree through the State University of New York where he received a Bachelor of Science in Human Resource Management.

Dennis and his wife Kowena currently reside in Eldersburg, MD. They have three children and eight grandchildren.

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Biography

Beth has been a valuable member of the Financial Advantage team since May 2005. She has been responsible for the day to day management of the Financial Advantage office and bookkeeping and planning the annual client appreciation event. In addition, Beth is now the chief liaison between Financial Advantage and our current custodian. She assists clients with the opening and transferring of accounts as well as cash management requests. Prior to joining FAI, Beth gained office operations and accounting experience working for several Columbia area firms. She has completed advanced course work in accounting and plans to enroll in the Foundations in Financial Planning Program to earn a Registered ParaplannerSM designation through the College of Financial Planning.

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Mary Thompson joined the Financial Advantage Team in November of 2008 as a member of the Client Service Team. She is responsible for assisting new clients with opening and transferring of accounts with our custodian. Mary brings over 15 years of financial IT experience to FAI.

Prior to joining our team, Mary worked for Putnam Investments where she was responsible for the management of IT operations of the main headquarters in Boston and two international offices. She was the key client service liaison between the Investment Management group and the IT division responsible for managing business partners' expectations for the implementation and delivery of new IT initiatives. Mary has her B.S in Mathematics with minors in Business and Computer Science from the State University of New York at Albany. Mary lives in Ellicott City, MD with her husband and two children. Mary's family enjoys spending time outdoors skiing, hiking, biking and swimming.

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Biography

Drew Smith joined Financial Advantage in February 2008. Mr. Smith holds an Economics degree from the University of Maryland Baltimore County and has earned the Accredited Asset Management SpecialistSM designation from the College for Financial Planning.

Mr. Smith has over ten years experience in finance. Prior to joining Financial Advantage, he worked in corporate finance as a financial analyst for two large publicly traded companies. Mr. Smith also worked for a personal finance/planning firm as a portfolio manager.

Drew was added to the Financial Advantage team to support the client advisors by maintaining the portfolio database, performing the trading and portfolio reporting functions. Drew will also be responsible for managing new technology projects to make the firm more effective.

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Biography

Ingrid Nuss, Office Assistant, joined Financial Advantage in the beginning of 2008. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in History with a concentration in Fine Art from Lenior-Rhyne College in Hickory, NC. In her new role with Financial Advantage, she will be assisting in the day to day management of the office, providing support to all members of the staff, handling client service issues, and planning the annual client appreciation event. Before joining Financial Advantage Inc, Ingrid was the Marketing & Program Coordinator for two arts-based non-profits in the Washington Metropolitan area. Ingrid and her husband Tim live with their son in Columbia, MD.

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Biography

Jonathan J. Crooks, CFA joined Financial Advantage in September 2009 as a Portfolio Manager. He earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 2006. He received his Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Randolph-Macon College and is currently pursuing a Masters in Finance degree at Loyola College.

Jon has 10 years of experience in the investment industry. Prior to joining Financial Advantage, he worked on both the equity and fixed income trading desks at T. Rowe Price, as well as serving as Director of Investments at a local investment firm.

At Financial Advantage Jon is responsible for managing portfolios for our Sterling clients as well as working with our growing outsourcing platform. In addition to his client responsibilities, Jon will work with our investment team to help with research, trading, and maintaining our model portfolios. Jon, an avid golfer, lives in Towson, Maryland with his wife Carrie, daughters Grace & Charlotte and 2 springer spaniels.

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Biography

Curtis R. Gross, CFA® joined Financial Advantage in September 2009 as Director of Investment Research. Curt earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1997. He graduated from Cornell University in 1988 and received his MBA degree from University of Pittsburgh’s Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business in 1993.

Immediately prior to joining Financial Advantage, Curtis was Sr. Vice President at Federated Investors, the large mutual fund complex based in Pittsburgh, where he served for five years as a Securities Analyst, Director of Global Equity Research and Portfolio Manager for a large-cap growth fund. Earlier assignments included securities research and portfolio management at Northern Capital Management in Madison Wisconsin where he co-managed a healthcare hedge fund, and earlier as a Trust Investment Officer at National City Bank in Cleveland.

At FAI, Curt will work closely with our Chief Investment Officer to keep our research efforts attuned to the broad structural changes we see in the global economy. His multi-industry experience in securities analysis will broaden our ability to analyze the investment merits of individual companies. And his front-line portfolio management experience will help sharpen our strategic thinking.