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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™ certification in 1989. He is a Registered Investment Advisor and admitted to the New York Bar.

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Biography

Lyn Dippel has been a key member of Financial Advantage, Inc. since 2004. Lyn serves FAI in many critical roles including those of Vice President, Lead Advisor, Chief Compliance Officer and is a member of our Management Committee. As Lead Advisor, Lyn specializes in pre-retiree, divorce, widow and sudden wealth scenarios. Lyn is advisor to 90+ client families and is responsible for approx $130 million in assets. She is also a primary member of our Investment Committee responsible for formulating our ongoing investment strategies.

Lyn’s background is rich and diverse. Lyn 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. Additionally, Lyn holds the prestigious CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER ™ certification. Lyn is also an active member of the Financial Planning Association (FPA) of Maryland and an active member of the Baltimore Estate Planning Council. During her time with FAI, Lyn has been interviewed and quoted by various national publications including Kiplinger’s, Smart Money Magazine and Business Week.

Lyn’s 25 years of professional experience include Co- founder, Principal and Advisor for Symphony Financial, an independent, comprehensive financial planning firm in Herndon, VA and Financial Advisor at Miller Musmar, a mid-sized CPA firm in Reston, VA. During this professional season in Lyn’s life, she was invited to conduct regular speaking engagements including public conferences as well as private corporate audiences such as Exxon Mobil and Under Armour.

When not working, Lyn enjoys kayaking and hiking with her family. They currently reside in Silver Spring, Maryland.

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Biography

Chad J. Norfolk has been a member of the Financial Advantage team since 2006. Chad serves FAI as Principal and Lead Advisor. He is also a valued member of our Investment Committee.

Chad is advisor to 90+ client families and is responsible for oversight of $135 million in assets. He specializes in working with clients to develop and implement strategies to help them reach their investment, retirement and estate planning goals.

Chad holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from Towson University. Chad has a strong belief in continuing education and has since completed advanced training with Rutgers University on a variety of portfolio management strategies. He holds the prestigious CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER ™ certification and is a member of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA).

During his time with FAI, Chad’s expertise and opinions have been sought by several publications including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Investor's Business Daily, Marketwatch.com, Financial Planning Magazine and the Baltimore Business Journal where he has been quoted in each. He has been invited as a featured panelist for Financial Advisor Magazine and the ProFunds Group. He has been interviewed on the national radio program "It's Your Money" and has also been featured by Jefferson National in its monthly advisor focus.

Prior to joining FAI, 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 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 Director of 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 Paraplanner SM designation through the College of Financial Planning.

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Biography

Mary Thompson joined the Financial Advantage (FAI) team in November of 2008. Mary works with the Director of Financial Planning to provide financial planning support to FAI advisors and their clients. She has experience in all areas of financial planning, including portfolio allocation, long-term cash flow planning, goal planning, risk assessment, tax planning, and estate planning. She is also a member of the FAI Compliance team working directly with the Chief Compliance Officer to implement and monitor compliance policies. Mary holds the prestigious CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER ™ certification and is an active member of the Financial Planning Association of Maryland.

Financial planning is Mary’s second career. Prior to coming to Financial Advantage, Mary took a leave of absence from the work force for 8 years to stay at home with her children. Mary’s first career was in the technology field where she worked for 15 years helping companies implement their Information Technology (IT) solutions. Prior to moving to Maryland with her family, Mary worked at Putnam Investments where she was an Assistant Vice President responsible from the management of IT operations at the main headquarters in Boston and two international offices. She was the 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 received a 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 enjoys participating in marathons and triathlons as well as traveling, skiing, hiking, and biking with her family. Mary is active in her community where she volunteers regularly with the PTA and neighborhood association. She is also the leader of her daughter’s Girl Scout troop.

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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 Pyne, Office Manager, 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 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 enjoys painting and currently lives with her husband Tim, and their children Holden and Zahra in Columbia, Maryland.

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Biography

Jonathan J. Crooks, CFA joined Financial Advantage in September 2009 as the Head Trader on our Investment Management Team. He earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 2006. Jon 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 12 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 the trading of all client portfolios as well as working as the lead contact for our institutional clients. In addition to his trading and client responsibilities, Jon works with our investment team to help with research and portfolio construction. Jon, an avid golfer, lives in Towson, Maryland with his wife Carrie, daughters Grace & Charlotte and their 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.

Phone:

E-Mail:

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™ certification in 1989. He is a Registered Investment Advisor and admitted to the New York Bar.

Phone:

E-Mail:

Biography

Lyn Dippel has been a key member of Financial Advantage, Inc. since 2004. Lyn serves FAI in many critical roles including those of Vice President, Lead Advisor, Chief Compliance Officer and is a member of our Management Committee. As Lead Advisor, Lyn specializes in pre-retiree, divorce, widow and sudden wealth scenarios. Lyn is advisor to 90+ client families and is responsible for approx $130 million in assets. She is also a primary member of our Investment Committee responsible for formulating our ongoing investment strategies.

Lyn’s background is rich and diverse. Lyn 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. Additionally, Lyn holds the prestigious CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certification. Lyn is also an active member of the Financial Planning Association (FPA) of Maryland and an active member of the Baltimore Estate Planning Council. During her time with FAI, Lyn has been interviewed and quoted by various national publications including Kiplinger’s, Smart Money Magazine and Business Week.

Lyn’s 25 years of professional experience include Co- founder, Principal and Advisor for Symphony Financial, an independent, comprehensive financial planning firm in Herndon, VA and Financial Advisor at Miller Musmar, a mid-sized CPA firm in Reston, VA. During this professional season in Lyn’s life, she was invited to conduct regular speaking engagements including public conferences as well as private corporate audiences such as Exxon Mobil and Under Armour.

When not working, Lyn enjoys kayaking and hiking with her family. They currently reside in Silver Spring, Maryland.

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E-Mail:

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™ 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" and 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 is an active member of 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 Director of Financial Planning 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.

Phone:

E-Mail:

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.

Phone:

E-Mail:

Biography

Mary Thompson joined the Financial Advantage (FAI) team in November of 2008. Mary works with the Director of Financial Planning to provide financial planning support to FAI advisors and their clients. She has experience in all areas of financial planning, including portfolio allocation, long-term cash flow planning, goal planning, risk assessment, tax planning, and estate planning. She is also a member of the FAI Compliance team working directly with the Chief Compliance Officer to implement and monitor compliance policies. Mary holds the prestigious CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and is an active member of the Financial Planning Association of Maryland.

Financial planning is Mary’s second career. Prior to coming to Financial Advantage, Mary took a leave of absence from the work force for 8 years to stay at home with her children. Mary’s first career was in the technology field where she worked for 15 years helping companies implement their Information Technology (IT) solutions. Prior to moving to Maryland with her family, Mary worked at Putnam Investments where she was an Assistant Vice President responsible from the management of IT operations at the main headquarters in Boston and two international offices. She was the 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 received a 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 enjoys participating in marathons and triathlons as well as traveling, skiing, hiking, and biking with her family. Mary is active in her community where she volunteers regularly with the PTA and neighborhood association. She is also the leader of her daughter’s Girl Scout troop.

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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.

Phone:

E-Mail:

Biography

Ingrid Pyne, Office Manager, 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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E-Mail:

Biography

Jonathan J. Crooks, CFA joined Financial Advantage in September 2009 as the Head Trader on our Investment Management Team. He earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 2006. Jon 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 12 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 the trading of all client portfolios as well as working as the lead contact for our institutional clients. In addition to his trading and client responsibilities, Jon works with our investment team to help with research and portfolio construction. Jon, an avid golfer, lives in Towson, Maryland with his wife Carrie, daughters Grace & Charlotte and their 2 Springer Spaniels.

Phone:

E-Mail:

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.

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Biography

Marie joins the FAI team as our Client Development Administrator. She brings over 7 years experience with an Independent Financial Investment Firm where she served as Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer. She will bring these skills to FAI to serve in many facets of Compliance. Marie’s experience in sales, management and customer service while in finance and with an International Health & Wellness company, lend itself to FAI as Marie will also be assisting our Prospective and New Client Service Team. Marie holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Lynchburg College in Lynchburg, Virginia. She volunteers extensively, including serving as an Ambassador to new families and event planning at her children’s schools. She is a member of the Development Committee for Allview Foundation for Family Enrichment in Columbia, MD. She also teaches kindergarten Sunday School at her parish. She is proud to bring to FAI the experiences she has gained while managing a home and nurturing a family, which includes her husband of 21 years and their 6 children.

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Biography

As the newest member of Financial Advantage, Diana Schneider joined our team as a Client Services Representative in May 2011. She assists in opening new accounts, processing account transfers, deposits, withdrawals, and journals. Diana is also responsible for editing material for the FAI Web site, The Blue Sheets, brochures, and other company pieces.

Diana holds a degree in journalism with a minor in business from the University of Maryland. Prior to joining FAI, Diana served as an executive assistant, circulation manager, and office manager at a money management firm based in Bethesda.

Diana and her family live in Olney, Maryland.