June 23-24, 2026 | Austin, TX
A two-day, in-person and online experience designed for serious financial advisors who want to deepen the impact of their advice.
Elevate the
impact
of your advice
Elevate focuses on strengthening the core of your advisory firm, not on adding more services. This is where investment philosophy, tax planning, and estate strategy come together to create advice that clients truly value. You’ll learn how to design and deliver transformational advice and strategies that your clients believe in and commit to through uncertainty.
Countdown
Master the Pillars of Lasting Impact
As fees compress and investment management becomes the baseline expectation, advisors must differentiate through judgment and perspective. Elevate helps you integrate planning disciplines into a unified advisory experience that increases trust, expands your role, and drives long-term loyalty.
Build investment frameworks that clients understand, believe in, and remain committed to through market cycles.
Deliver proactive, year-round tax planning that creates measurable value and reinforces your advisory role.
Lead estate and legacy conversations that deepen trust, expand relationships across generations, and elevate your stewardship.
Our Supporters



Two Days of Depth, Dialogue,
and
Action
Elevate is a two-day, immersive, in-person experience for serious financial advisors ready to elevate the impact of their advice — with a virtual option available for those who can’t attend live.
Sessions balance technical rigor with real-world application, giving advisors time to think, refine, and integrate ideas. Expect depth, not distraction.
DAY ONE
8:30 am - 5 pm, 7 pm - 9 pm
Tax at the Speed of Now | Hazel, the AI That Ends Reactive Tax Planning
Advice to Impact: The 4S Framework That Transforms Client Conversations
The $30 Trillion Opportunity Hidden In Qualified Money and How Advisors Unlock It For Legacy Planning
Alternative Investments Panel
Investment and Estate Planning Sessions
Dinner Reception
DAY TWO
8:30 am - 5 pm
Your Clients’ Tax Returns Are Full of Planning Opportunities — If You Know Where to Look
When the Big Check Comes: The Tax Playbook for $10M+ Liquidity Events
Advanced Tax Strategies Sessions
More Investment and Estate Planning Frameworks
Meet the Speakers
You won’t leave Elevate with just more information. You’ll leave with stronger frameworks, clearer philosophy, and the confidence to deliver advice clients trust, understand, and rely on.
A clear investment philosophy clients understand and can commit to long term
Practical tax planning strategies that create measurable, distinctive value
A stronger framework for leading estate and legacy conversations
A unified approach to advice across investments, tax, and estate planning
Greater confidence in your role as a trusted steward, not just a manager
Language and frameworks that make your advice irreplaceable
Who Should Attend?
Experienced advisors seeking to deepen client impact
Firm owners and lead planners focused on differentiation through excellence
Advisors ready to move beyond competent execution
Professionals who believe scale should be earned through better advice
Plan Your Trip
Join us for the event of the year!
Only 100 In-Person Seats Available
When the in-person experience sells out, the only way to join us will be online.
June 23 - 24, 2026
Dimensional Place, 6300 Bee Caves Rd Building One, Austin, TX 78746
9721 Arboretum Boulevard,
Austin, TX USA, 78759
Austin Bergstrom International,
Austin, TX USA, 78759
BUILD ADVICE WORTH SCALING
The question is not whether you can scale.
The question is how far you want your impact to go.
Eric Negron
Prior to starting Forefront, I was the President of a billion-dollar bank’s wealth management group. In 2016, we launched Forefront with a passion to provide exceptional and personalized advice to our family members (most folks refer to them as “Clients”). It was paramount to build an environment where every team member was a good human being first and foremost and they just so happen to also be brilliant and passionate professionals.
Joel Hefner
Joel H. Hefner spearheads the firm’s global financial advisor virtual initiative by coordinating live video webcast content and other virtual programs designed to expand Dimensional’s offering to advisors. A former senior manager of a Big Four accounting firm, Joel was also the chief portfolio manager for a large fee-only advisory firm, managing more than $1 billion in client accounts.
Joel graduated magna cum laude with a BA in economics and political science from California State University, Chico, and an MA in economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is also a CFA® Charterholder.
Kacie Walsh
Kacie Walsh is a Regional Director and Vice President at Dimensional Fund Advisors, where she is a seasoned expert in investment solutions tailored for high-net worth clients. She leads client engagement for Dimensional’s separately managed account (SMA) and unified managed account (UMA) offerings, along with the exchange fund. Prior to her current role, Kacie provided exceptional support to newly established financial advisors nationwide, helping them navigate investments, messaging, and business strategy to foster growth.
Michael Niemann
Michael F. Niemann is the founder and managing member of The Niemann Group LLC, a boutique advisory firm serving ultra-affluent families, closely held business owners, and senior executives nationwide. With more than 35 years of experience in advanced income tax planning, estate and succession strategy, and sophisticated life insurance advisory, Michael specializes in solving complex planning challenges for high-net-worth and multigenerational clients.
Prior to founding The Niemann Group, Michael held senior leadership roles at Ernst & Young LLP, where he served in the Private Client Services practice and as the National Life Insurance Advisory Leader. He also served in leadership positions at Arthur Andersen and as Regional Managing Partner of an M Financial firm, advising many of the country’s most successful entrepreneurs and family enterprises.
Michael is a frequent national speaker on advanced tax, succession planning, and life insurance strategies. He is an active member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and currently serves as Chapter Chair of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) St. Louis.”
Steven Jarvis
“Steven Jarvis is proudly the “least boring” CPA you’ll ever meet.
He proudly has NOT committed the entire tax code to memory and instead focuses on teaching financial advisors how they can actually work with their clients to help them not get killed on taxes. Everything Steven does is focused on how to take action. Google can recite the law, Steven gives the roadmap for taking relevant tax planning strategies from an idea on a whiteboard to real clients saving real money and creating real impact over the lifetime of their wealth. Steven is a licensed CPA, has an MBA, has taught as an adjunct professor and has given tax planning presentations to audiences large and small across the country. Steven is also a sought after author having published a book on tax planning and contributing articles to renowned publications throughout the industry.
When he’s not talking taxes Steven is always in search of a new adventure and is currently focused on obstacle course racing and other endurance events and even gets the whole family involved as his wife and two kids are often along for the journey.”
Christine Travis
Christine Travis is an award-winning Executive Sales Leader with over 22 years of success in the insurance and financial services industry. Known for building trusted relationships and delivering exceptional customer experiences, she has a proven track record of generating multi-million-dollar revenue and driving long-term business growth through innovative marketing strategies and compelling storytelling. Christine is highly effective at developing talent, leading high-performance teams, and consulting with top-tier clients across multiple territories. Her career spans leadership roles at top insurance companies including Nationwide Financial, New York Life, and Prudential. As Regional Vice President at Nationwide Financial (2011-2025), she tripled business in the Philadelphia region, led the NY/NJ territory to $25M in overall insurance premiums, and was a seven-time President’s Council honoree. She is widely recognized for her expertise in complex case design, strategic partnerships, joint marketing initiatives, and her ability to consistently exceed performance goals. A frequent industry panelist and go-to specialist in Long-Term Care, Christine continues to advance organizational growth and drive revenue all while championing excellence in client engagement and team leadership.
Fernando San Martin
Seasoned tech veteran.
Co-founder Campfire.ai (YCombinator S23)
Co-founder Thyme (YCombinator S24) — acquired by Altruist.
Now Product Manager on the Hazel.ai team.
Lou Mandia
Lou Mandia, Head of RIA Strategy & Distribution, delivers the firms “Integrated Morgan Stanley’’ initiative to RIAs and Family Office, helping clients curate bespoke portfolio solutions to achieve targeted outcomes. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Lou spent three years at UBS spearheading RIA and Broker Dealer distribution within the Global Equity Division, and five years at Goldman Sachs & Co, focused on structured investments and cross-asset distribution.
About the Morgan Stanley’s Advisor Solutions Team:
The Morgan Stanley Advisor Solutions Team (MSAS) within the Institutional Equity Division (IED) provides best in class service that reflects the Firm’s commitment to thought leadership, innovative solutions, and cutting-edge strategies while offering Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) the flexibility to hold collateral at third-party custodians. MSAS specializes in Hedging & monetization strategies for client’s with concentrated stock positions, Structured Products, Thematic Investment Strategies.
Patrick Anderson
Patrick Anderson is responsible for the origination and trading of Structured Products as well as Rates trading which includes Treasuries, Agencies and CDs. In addition, Patrick is responsible for Structured Product issuer relationship management and business development within Independent Broker/Dealer and RIA channel. Prior to joining AAM, Patrick had a 17-year career at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, where he served as a Director-Head Trader of Rate, FX, Commodities and Hybrid-Linked Structured Products Trading in the Americas. Patrick started his career at Citigroup in Institutional Equities Trading.
About the Morgan Stanley’s Advisor Solutions Team:
The Morgan Stanley Advisor Solutions Team (MSAS) within the Institutional Equity Division (IED) provides best in class service that reflects the Firm’s commitment to thought leadership, innovative solutions, and cutting-edge strategies while offering Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) the flexibility to hold collateral at third-party custodians. MSAS specializes in Hedging & monetization strategies for client’s with concentrated stock positions, Structured Products, Thematic Investment Strategies.
Marla Landa
Marla is a financial and estate planning professional with a mission to help people protect what matters most. She brings a rare combination of lived experience and professional expertise to this work. Having lost both parents in her twenties, she experienced firsthand the profound gift of having estate plans in place — not as a transfer of wealth, but as a transfer of clarity during the hardest moments of her life.
She is passionate about making estate planning accessible to everyone, because it isn’t just for the wealthy. It’s for anyone who wants to ease the burden on the people they love.
Chris Quandt
Chris Quandt is a Success Enablement Manager at Nitrogen. Over the last 10 years, he has served on the Marketing and Advisor Success teams, helping financial advisors see how Nitrogen’s suite of advisor products can help them demonstrate the value of their advice and give every client a deeper, more personalized experience. On his best days, he helps turn a good advisor into a great one. On his second-best days, he is available to weigh in on the pineapple on pizza debate. The answer is no. It has always been no. He will not be taking questions on that matter.