Kelli Cruz brings more than 20 years of experience to her role as the founder of Cruz Consulting Group, working closely with advisory firm owners and executives of financial services institutions. With a specialized focus and expertise in working with RIA and broker-dealer affiliated advisory firms, she leads consulting engagements in strategic planning and human capital, including organizational design, compensation planning, performance management, and business succession. She is a frequent speaker at national industry conferences and a regular columnist for InvestmentNews on practice management related topics.

Prior to founding Cruz Consulting Group, Kelli was a Managing Director at Pepin Consulting, where she led human capital consulting engagements.  Before Pepin Consulting, Kelli oversaw the InvestmentNews/Moss Adams research studies and advisor consulting engagements.  She was responsible for creating and implementing the industry’s first study dedicated to succession readiness and planning.

Previous to joining InvestmentNews, Kelli was a director in Advisor Services at Charles Schwab where she pioneered the industry’s first human capital practice management program covering issues from organizational strategy and design, recruiting, compensation design, talent management, and succession planning for RIA advisory firms.

Before Schwab, Kelli also held a variety of management positions at Wells Fargo, including managing human resources for the Private Client Services Group.  In this role she served as the chair of the Sales Incentive Compensation Committee spearheading efforts to create a comprehensive sales incentive compensation plan for investment professionals.  She also directed the development of several investment products for the Institutional Investment Group.

Kelli is a native Californian earning her bachelor’s degree in psychology from San Francisco State University.  In her free time you can catch Kelli trail running on Mt. Tamalpais in her hometown of Mill Valley, or you will find her providing support to her husband during his triathlon and cycling events.

Kelli can be reached at kelli@cruzconsultinggroup.com.

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Jennifer Specter is a 15 year financial services industry professional with specific expertise in the RIA sector.  Jennifer focuses on managing client engagements and overseeing the operations of the firm.

Prior to joining Cruz Consulting Group, Jennifer was with InvestmentNews where she supported the business management consulting engagements for financial advisory firms and facilitated the InvestmentNews/Moss Adams industry research and related educational events on compensation and staffing, financial performance, succession planning and technology. Before InvestmentNews, Jennifer spent over a decade with Charles Schwab Advisor Services in a variety of roles including sales and as a senior program manager for Schwab’s Business Consulting Services group managing their Human Capital, Compliance Resources and Transition Planning offers.

Jennifer holds a bachelor’s degree from U.C. San Diego and a master’s degree from Northern Arizona University. She lives in the Reno-Lake Tahoe area with her husband and golden retriever and is an avid world traveler.

Jennifer can be reached at jennifer@cruzconsultinggroup.com.

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