September 21, 2021
In addition to the seven new hires and role changes announced last month, Greenleaf Trust is pleased to share six new hires. Please join us in celebrating the following additions: Valerie Martin joins Greenleaf Trust as a team service coordinator on the client centric team. She is responsible for providing administrative support, day-to-day servicing of […]
Read MoreSeptember 28, 2021
Greenleaf Trust named National Best and Brightest in Wellness by the National Association for Business Resources September 28, 2021, Kalamazoo, MI – Greenleaf Trust, a Michigan-chartered wealth management firm with $15 billion in assets under advisement, announced that it has been recognized as a National Best and Brightest in Wellness. The 2021 winning companies were […]
Read MoreOctober 7, 2021
Greenleaf Trust adds to the Birmingham and Kalamazoo teams: Emily Wedes joins Greenleaf Trust as a team service coordinator on the client centric team. She is responsible for providing comprehensive administrative support, day-to-day servicing of account needs, and driving the efforts of the client centric team. Emily ensures clear, concise communication by coordinating the team’s […]
Read MoreJuly 8, 2021
We are marching incrementally towards the benchmarks that are necessary to reach an immunity level that will restore a good deal of a “new normality” to our daily lives. I intentionally used the term “new normality” as the evidence seems clear that while we are all done with COVID-19, it is also clear that COVID-19 […]
Read MoreAugust 9, 2021
In the summer of 2019, we intended to create an annual series of Perspectives articles updating our audience on the outlook for the Michigan economy. But, as the poet Robert Burns said, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. In 2020, tracking the economic and market impact of COVID consumed our […]
Read MoreAugust 9, 2021
For the past twenty-four months and twenty-four newsletter articles, I have led with COVID-19 related data. The reasoning was that our economic recovery would depend upon our progress at defeating the pandemic created by the COVID-19 virus. This month, while the impact of the virus remains with us, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has replaced the […]
Read MoreJune 8, 2021
Happy New Year to all! I hope that you were able to celebrate the new year with reflective gratitude and the grace of optimism as we look forward to the promise and challenges of 2022. This column is written and published each month just as it has been for the past thirty years. Wow, how […]
Read MoreJuly 1, 2021
Senior Wealth Management Associate Brian Farrell receives CFP® Certification Senior Wealth Management Associate Brian Farrell, CFP® has been authorized by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards (CFP Board) to use the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and CFP® certification marks in accordance with CFP Board certification and renewal requirements. Brian has worked at Greenleaf Trust since […]
Read MoreApril 21, 2021
Greenleaf Trust, a Michigan-chartered wealth management firm with nearly $15 billion in assets under advisement, announced that it has been recognized as one of West Michigan’s Best and Brightest Companies to Work For®. Best and Brightest Companies to Work For® evaluates employee feedback based on key measures such as engagement, compensation, benefits and employee solutions, […]
Read MoreMay 7, 2021
Greenleaf Trust is proud to announce the addition of a new team member: Sarah Pease joins the Greenleaf Trust finance team as a financial accounting analyst. She is responsible for day-to-day accounting and related analysis. Sarah also helps ensure compliance with regulatory and governing reporting requirements, manages accounts payable, and supports vendor-related processes. She has […]
Read MoreFebruary 5, 2021
The popular culture media would have us believe that we are losing the COVID-19 battle, have lost all momentum in vaccinations, and are falling on economic hard times. It seems that we should test these themes with an examination of facts and raw data. As the sage mechanic might say, “Let’s lift the hood and […]
Read MoreFebruary 17, 2021
Greenleaf Trust is proud to announce the addition of a new team member: Ebenezer Musookho joins the Greenleaf Trust team as a junior research associate. He is responsible for supporting the research team by leveraging systems and data to facilitate portfolio analysis. He maintains portfolio performance reporting models and drives continuous improvement initiatives focused on […]
Read MoreMarch 3, 2021
The Delta variant of COVID-19 has now been joined by Omicron, the latest variant that was first observed in South Africa in recent weeks. As with previous variants of the original virus, Omicron is thought to more easily spread particularly among the unvaccinated populations. As of this writing, the current initial as well as booster […]
Read MoreJanuary 4, 2021
Greenleaf Trust is proud to announce the promotions of the following teammates: Salena Al-Saadi has been promoted to Senior CRM Engineer. Anne Bohl has been promoted to Wealth Management Coordinator II Chris Burns has been promoted to Vice President, Investment Strategist and Senior Fixed Income Analyst Hanna Channell has been promoted to Senior CCT Specialist […]
Read MoreJanuary 8, 2021
This time of year retirement plan providers are gearing up to complete the annual Actual Deferral Percentage (ADP) tests for qualified retirement plans. This test in particular can be very impactful to certain plan participants. This is a non-discrimination test for 401(k) plans mandated by the IRS to ensure that a plan does not unduly […]
Read MoreJanuary 8, 2021
Continuous improvement is one of Greenleaf Trust’s core values – it is a pillar of our culture and has become part of our DNA. Every tangible improvement we have made on behalf of our clients stems from a disciplined review of our practices. As we look for opportunities to serve our clients better, we begin […]
Read MoreJanuary 8, 2021
The news has been dominated lately with the topic of raising the United States’ debt ceiling. It is hard to call the process of doing so, new. In fact, 90 different times in our country’s history Congress has agreed to raise the debt ceiling, which Congress previously established so that the United States doesn’t default […]
Read MoreDecember 8, 2020
The very nature of our business requires that we have a thirst for research and a constant desire to understand whatever is impacting our economic, domestic and geopolitical systems. We always approach that discovery from our clients’ side of the desk. What might our clients be reading or listening to? As a result of their […]
Read MoreOctober 6, 2020
It is now clear that at the current daily average of vaccinations against COVID-19 in the United States, the country will not meet the 70% threshold until early August. The July goal was ambitious and assumed that the early two million per day vaccination rate would hold. The evidence is clear that it did not, […]
Read MoreOctober 7, 2020
Greenleaf Trust is proud to announce the addition of four new team members: Steve McKiddy joins Greenleaf Trust as chief financial officer. Steve provides financial guidance and broad counsel to the Executive Leadership Team at Greenleaf Trust. He leads the finance and accounting organization and directs the company’s fiscal functions in accordance with regulatory and […]
Read MoreOctober 26, 2020
Ondrea Brussee joins Greenleaf Trust as participant services coordinator. Ondrea provides education and communication to participants of various retirement plans serviced by Greenleaf Trust. She also conducts retirement plan enrollment meetings, meets with plan participants, develops education and informational materials, and supports the participant call center. Ondrea has 18 years of internal and external customer […]
Read MoreNovember 6, 2020
The recent surge in the Delta variant of COVID-19 informs us that while we might wish that the pandemic is over, it is not. Let’s set aside the headlines and examine some data to help us determine the state of our current condition. In March of 2020, our research team at Greenleaf Trust adopted the […]
Read MoreAugust 18, 2020
Quinn McCormick has been promoted to compliance specialist. Quinn is responsible for assisting with Greenleaf Trust’s compliance and risk management processes through policy and procedure development, regulatory research and implementation, and process improvement initiatives. She has been in financial services with Greenleaf Trust for over five years, and her organizational experience along with her problem […]
Read MoreAugust 31, 2020
Greenleaf Trust announced a number of midyear promotions, including Kim Van Duine’s promotion to Vice President, Assistant Director of Business Information Services, and Andrea Stidmon’s promotion to Senior Trust Operations Analyst, Senior Team Lead. Published in: Corp! Magazine Read the full list of promotions here.
Read MoreSeptember 3, 2020
Progress has slowed in our country’s COVID-19 vaccination rate as of late. Data through June 1st reveals that our seven-day average vaccination rate has slipped to 1.6 million, a decline of more than 50% from our previous high of 4.2 million. Unlike early in the vaccination roll-out, the struggle to get our population vaccinated is […]
Read MoreSeptember 14, 2020
September 14, 2020, Birmingham and Kalamazoo, MI – Greenleaf Trust announces new hires Greenleaf Trust is proud to announce the additions of three new team members: Vasantha joins as estate settlement associate in Birmingham, MI. She is responsible for providing comprehensive administrative support, day to day servicing of account needs, and driving the efforts of […]
Read MoreJuly 6, 2020
Resilience has always been an important part of our country’s history. The pathway to our current condition has not been simple or easy, but rather gut-wrenching and somewhat terrifying from time to time. A close examination of our country’s history reveals just how much we have overcome and endured during the past 245 years. Global […]
Read MoreAugust 5, 2020
Progress continues to be made in multiple areas in the battle against COVID-19. Through February 28, over seventy five million Americans have received at least one dose of vaccination against the virus, which is about 23% of the current population. The rate of vaccination currently stands at 1.74 million per day; although it is not […]
Read MoreMay 1, 2020
2020 will certainly be reflected on as a very unusual year in modern history. Everyone in the United States was aware that we would be in a presidential election year; however, prior to February of 2020 relatively few knew that the COVID-19 Pandemic would insert itself into the lives of nearly everyone in the world, […]
Read MoreJune 2, 2020
Happy New Year to each of you; we hope 2021 is a fantastic year for you and your family. The year has gotten off to somewhat of a mixed bag. While the much-anticipated vaccine is being manufactured and shipped, the number of those who have actually been vaccinated is far below the initial target and […]
Read MoreApril 2, 2020
We attempted to defer our publishing deadline until the outcome of the 2020 presidential election was determined, but, as you can surmise, as of November 6th the outcome was not known. At this writing, President Trump has won 214 electoral college votes and must be declared the winner in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina and […]
Read MoreFebruary 25, 2020
February 2020, Kalamazoo, MI – Greenleaf Trust announces new hires Greenleaf Trust is proud to announce the addition of two new team members: Kristin Bennett, CFP, CPWA joins Greenleaf Trust as vice president, assistant director of wealth management. She is helps lead the Wealth Management team, and specializes in the development of comprehensive wealth management […]
Read MoreFebruary 28, 2020
February 2020, Kalamazoo, MI – Greenleaf Trust announces two new hires Greenleaf Trust is proud to announce the addition of new team members: Alexandria Solis-Mullen, J.D. joins Greenleaf Trust as estate settlement officer. She is responsible for executing estate settlement for the personal trust team. Alexandria earned her J.D. from Western Michigan University Thomas M. […]
Read MoreMarch 13, 2020
As we have done for the past seven months, we will begin by checking in with the New York Federal Reserve Weekly Economic Indicator (WEI) index that attempts to measure data focused on labor, production and consumption. As much as is humanly possible, the data is real time and designed to measure GDP relative to […]
Read MoreJanuary 13, 2020
We now have endured five months of battling the COVID-19 virus and our experience has revealed much about our country and our collective as well as divided political wills. What is our present condition as we approach the sixth month of our battle to defeat the virus? Our economic condition is perhaps the easiest to […]
Read MoreJanuary 28, 2020
January 2020, Kalamazoo, MI – Greenleaf Trust announces new hire Greenleaf Trust is proud to announce the addition of a new team member: Perry Wolfe joins Greenleaf Trust as senior vice president, executive director of development. He is responsible for overseeing the development, implementation and execution of the overall strategy and growth efforts of our […]
Read MoreFebruary 20, 2020
As we enter our seventh month of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, our current condition appears to be more of the same with conditions changing marginally in some areas. Cases spiked in July and early August and have been trending downward in some regions while remaining stubbornly unchanged in others. As we put […]
Read MoreDecember 16, 2019
Awareness is sometimes a self-inflicted burden. Those of us that research information for a living are bombarded with data that, while informative, can lead to anxiety and increased senses of urgency. The greater experience that you have researching information, the more likely you will discover that the majority of people are living their lives in […]
Read MoreDecember 20, 2019
Greenleaf Trust is proud to announce the addition of a new team member: Alysha Ridderman joins the team as a project manager. Alysha is responsible for executing projects supporting all areas of Greenleaf Trust. She has over ten years of process improvement experience in a fast-paced and rapidly changing industry. Alysha earned her bachelor’s degree […]
Read MoreDecember 23, 2019
December 2019, Bay Harbor, MI – Greenleaf Trust announces CFP® Certification Wealth Management Advisor Corbin M. Donaldson receives CFP® Certification Wealth Management Advisor Corbin Donaldson, CFP®, MBA at Greenleaf Trust in Bay Harbor has been authorized by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards (CFP Board) to use the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and CFP® certification […]
Read MoreJanuary 2, 2020
Greenleaf Trust is proud to announce the following promotions: Peggy Anderson has been promoted to senior vice president, director of operations. Daniel Baker has been promoted to senior vice president, director of business development and trust relationship officer. Karen Baldwin has been promoted to senior vice president, director of human resources. Jacob Barker has been […]
Read MoreJanuary 2, 2020
With the 2020 Presidential election less than 12 months away, many of our clients have been asking how we think about investments during an election year. As human beings, each person on our team has their own set of political preferences, but as research analysts, we try to approach polarizing topics (like politics) in the most objective […]
Read MoreJanuary 13, 2020
Continuous improvement is one of Greenleaf Trust’s core values – it is a pillar of our culture and has become part of our DNA. Every tangible improvement we have made on behalf of our clients stems from a disciplined review of our practices. As we look for opportunities to serve our clients better, we begin […]
Read MoreNovember 14, 2019
“Opening the economy” is the phrase that seems to be taking up much of the oxygen lately, so let’s spend some time digging into exactly what that phrase means and how we might observe progress in the future growth of our economy. In essence, we want to put some data and facts into the equation […]
Read MoreNovember 25, 2019
Greenleaf Trust is proud to announce the addition of a new team member: Doug P. Bajor joins Greenleaf Trust as a senior wealth management advisor. Doug specializes in the development of comprehensive wealth management plans, execution of goal-based planning strategies, and management of client investment portfolios. He has over 38 years of experience in the […]
Read MoreApril 2, 2019
I think we can all agree that the crisis we find ourselves in does not come with a step-by-step instruction book of solutions. The way out is complicated, includes self-sacrifice, social order of the highest degree, individual and societal self-discipline and the abandonment of political self-interests. You may observe this list of requirements and say, […]
Read MoreJuly 17, 2019
July 2019, Kalamazoo, MI – Greenleaf Trust announces new hire Greenleaf Trust is proud to announce the addition of a new team member: Marisol Quiroz joins Greenleaf Trust as a Wealth Management Assistant in Kalamazoo. She is responsible for supporting the wealth management team in the development of comprehensive wealth management plans, the execution of […]
Read MoreAugust 17, 2019
Internal Promotion August 2019, Kalamazoo, MI – Greenleaf Trust announces promotion Greenleaf Trust is proud to announce the promotion of Asa M. Davis to Senior Business Process Analyst. After five years of service as Business Process Analyst, Asa Davis has been promoted to Senior Business Process Analyst. He is responsible for identifying business improvements and […]
Read MoreAugust 17, 2019
August 2019, Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids, MI – Greenleaf Trust announces new hires Greenleaf Trust is proud to announce the addition of three new team members: Tracy Gauthier joins Greenleaf Trust as Assistant Director of Compliance. Tracy is responsible for leading Greenleaf Trust’s compliance and risk management processes through policy and procedure development, regulatory implementation […]
Read MoreOctober 17, 2019
October 2019, Kalamazoo, MI – Greenleaf Trust announces new hire Greenleaf Trust is proud to announce the addition of a new team member: T’Ausia Bronson joins Greenleaf Trust as a human resources coordinator. T’Ausia is primarily responsible for a variety of administrative, compliance, legal and recruiting tasks. In addition to providing support during the interview […]
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