For over 40 years, Paul has been serving as a consultant in the institutional retirement plan sector. He has served as the lead consultant for several state retirement funds including Nevada, Arkansas, Texas, Vermont, and Utah. In this capacity, Paul was responsible for custodial selection, asset liability modeling, fund manager selection, fiduciary education, performance monitoring and reporting, and handled special projects requested by clients. He has extensive experience with 529 College Savings Plans, Defined Contribution, and Deferred Compensation Programs. His extensive experience in serving the institutional marketing sector makes him an invaluable member of the AmRET team.

Paul is Executive Vice President and Senior Institutional Consultant at AmRET. He served in key leadership positions with Callan Associates for over 25 years prior to joining AmRET in Callan’s Independent Adviser Group. Additionally, Paul was a member of the Callan Associates Manager Search Committee for over a decade. Prior to working at Callan, he was a Principal at Mercer Asset Planning for eight years. He also worked as an investment consultant with the Funds Evaluation Group at A. G. Becker. Paul earned his MS in industrial management from the University of Tennessee, his MS in chemistry from Emory University, and his BS in chemistry from Purdue University.

Neal has spent most of his career as a securities analyst, economist, and investment advisor for noted Wall Street firms such as Sanford C. Bernstein, Interstate Securities, Scott & Stringfellow, and Morgan Stanley. Neal serves as Chief Investment Officer for AmRET and leads the firm’s investment analysis and research efforts for its clients.

Over the nearly forty years he has been in the financial services industry, Neal has honed his analytical skills and is proficient in solving complex problems and running sophisticated financial software programs that facilitate trustee research requests and reporting. He has conducted numerous studies of funds and portfolios and presented the results of such studies to plan sponsor boards and committees in clearly understandable form.

He has also performed manager searches and implemented manager changes, when appropriate. In his role as an investment consultant he has worked with a broad range of local/state governmental and private sector entities. He has years of experience consulting on LGIPs, 529 College Savings Plans, Defined Contribution, Deferred Compensation and Defined Benefit Pension Plans. Neal prides himself on his ability to respond quickly and intelligently to situations that arise unexpectedly and to develop communications and ad hoc reports to address such extenuating circumstances as they may arise for clients.

Mr. Kaplan is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). He earned a B.A. degree in History and Political Science from the University of Rochester and a M.S. in Management from the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He has served on the Board of Directors for Criterion Biosciences and as CFO of Excision Bio Therapeutics. We are very proud to have Neal on our team.

As Director of Operations Administration, Cindy Hearn oversees the day-to-day Operations, Administration, and Marketing Management. She is responsible for all operational and administrative duties, project management, systems maintenance, sales support, client services, and ongoing client support.

Cindy has over 30 years of experience in management, sales and marketing, and project management. Her previous roles included Sales & Marketing Representative, Senior Project Manager, Senior Marketing Manager, Director of Marketing, and Director of Planning & Development.

In addition, early in her career, she acquired the prestigious CMP (Certified Meeting Professional) designation. Her years of business management experience, client support, and diverse skill set are valuable assets to the team and our clients.