Our Team
Leadership Team:
David Callanan
Chief Executive Officer
David Callanan
David Callanan is a co-founder of AE Wealth Management and Advisors Excel — one of the nation’s fastest growing Registered Investment Advisory firms and the nation's leading independent marketing organization assisting independent financial advisors around the country. David is a native of Benton, Kansas, a small town just northeast of Wichita. He earned a BA in Management and Marketing from Washburn University in 1998, entering the financial services industry the following year.
David served as Director of Annuity Sales for a large, corporately owned insurance marketing organization. Under his guidance, the company's annuity volume skyrocketed from roughly $400 million to just under $1 billion in 2004. Convinced that there was simply more possible, David joined college friends Derek Thompson and Cody Foster in 2005 and formed Advisors Excel where today, through their various companies, they provide holistic business support to roughly 700 of the nation’s top advisors, supporting their clients through a combination of wealth management, broker-dealer divisions, annuity, life insurance, and Medicare insurance.
While Advisors Excel & AE Wealth Management’s tremendous results with such a small handful of elite advisors are impressive, the company’s real accomplishments are found in the impact it has been able to make through its charitable efforts. Last year alone, AE gave more than $925,000 and offered over 5,500 hours of employee volunteer time to reducing hunger, fighting poverty, enhancing education and improving financial literacy throughout their community.
David and his wife, Karlun, were married in September of 2003 and have been blessed with two beautiful little girls, Chloe and Jolie. A die-hard University of Kansas fan, you can find David courtside rooting for his Kansas Jayhawks when he is not soaking up time with family or friends.
Chris Radford
President
Chris Radford
Chris Radford has an extensive financial services background, with over 30 years of industry experience.
Since taking the helm in 2018, Chris has led the charge for AE Wealth Management to become the go-to resource for advisors and RIAs looking to reach new levels of growth and efficiency. Under his leadership, the firm has seen record growth and has been named one of the fastest-growing RIAs in the U.S.
During his career, Chris has worked in many well-respected and globally owned companies, including PNC, WaMu and AIG, as well as in and with midsized broker-dealers and registered investment advisory (RIAs) firms. Starting his career as a financial advisor with GNA Securities and HomeFed Bank in San Diego, Chris quickly realized that his strengths lie in leadership and supporting financial advisors serving the investing public. He served in leadership roles with Union Bank and PNC Investments before entering the independent financial advisor world at AIG SunAmerica Securities as their National Sales Manager. Chris also served as President and CEO of VSR Financial, Palomar Financial Services and SVP, Sales and Marketing at Calton & Associates.
Chris is a graduate of National University with a BBA and an MBA. Today, he currently holds Series 4, 7, 63, 66, 79, 99 and 24 licenses. Chris and Julie, his wife of more than 30 years, are proud parents of Parker and Natalie. They enjoyed many years of watching them from the sidelines of many soccer and softball fields. Today, their adult children live and work in San Diego.
Tom Siomades, CFA®
Chief Investment Officer
Tom Siomades, CFA®
With more than 30 years of industry experience, Tom Siomades joined AE Wealth Management in 2019 as their chief investment officer, where he works with his team to provide independent financial advisors solutions to help their clients meet their financial goals.
Graduating from the United States Military Academy at West Point, Tom served as an infantry officer for four years. During this time, he developed the discipline and leadership skills he’d later bring to his career in finance. After his military service, Tom earned a master’s degree from Webster University and spent the next 20 years honing his financial knowledge and learning the importance of investments.
Now, as chief investment officer at AE Wealth Management, Tom brings a rare mix of portfolio management, financial markets knowledge, marketing savvy and empathetic leadership to his team and clients.
Tom’s specialties include asset allocation modeling, manager selection, due diligence, portfolio management, media spokesman and client relationship management.
Tom and his wife, Lorianne, have a daughter, Sunday, and a son, Alexander.
Shawn Scholz
Chief Compliance Officer
Shawn Scholz
Shawn Scholz joined Advisors Excel in early fall 2021. He is responsible for the leadership of AE Wealth Management compliance program and functions. Shawn is involved at a senior level in the interpretation and application of regulatory statutes and rules on a federal and state level and the impact those rules have on AEWM and our advisors.
Before joining Advisors Excel, Shawn was with Waddell & Reed, Inc. & LPL Financial as Vice President, Compliance for 2 ½ years. Before that, he spent 20 years at Ameriprise Financial, where he was vice president, Compliance. His responsibilities at those prior firms included leading various compliance functions such as policy development, advisor recruiting reviews, licensing & registration, customer complaints, supervisory controls & testing, compliance training, branch/OSJ exams, etc.
Shawn has a B.S. in Business Management and Project Management. He has been active in various industry groups, including SIFMA, FSI, Regulatory Roundtable, etc. He has spoken at various industry events as well on topics including senior investor protection, social media, DOL regulations, etc. Shawn is passionate about working with advisors to understand how compliance policies and regulatory rules impact advisors’ business and being an advocate to implement those policies and rules as efficiently and simply as possible.
Kevin Thornton, CFP®
Head of Sales
Kevin Thornton, CFP®
Before joining AEWM, Kevin worked as a financial advisor and then as an internal wholesaler and a hybrid wholesaler on the 401(k) team at Ivy Investments. As a team leader, he applies the knowledge he gained in those roles to consult with advisors about their overall practice; provide insights regarding appropriate business structures; and give suggestions about sales, marketing and branding strategies.
Kevin is a graduate of the University of Kansas, where he earned his Bachelor of Science in accounting and finance. He holds a life and health insurance license and has passed the Series 6, 7, 63 and 65 exams. He has earned his Certified 401(k) Professional (C(k)P®) designation, which recognizes a combination of practical plan management experience and the completion of a highly specialized educational program.
Kevin and his wife, Ashley, have two sons, Parker and Carson. Kevin is an avid KU Jayhawks fan and enjoys trap/skeet shooting, going on wine-tasting tours and volunteering in his church.
Dan Colclasure
Vice President Operations
Dan Colclasure
With more than a decade of experience in the financial services industry, Dan Colclasure has helped shape the operational organization of AE Wealth Management (AEWM) with the goal of helping independent financial advisors and RIAs drive their businesses to new heights of growth and efficiency.
Before joining AEWM, Dan was with Waddell & Reed, Inc., holding multiple titles within their brokerage operations umbrella, ranging from phone support to managing day-to-day operations. This experience allowed him to touch many aspects of advisor interactions with home and back office. Dan quickly realized that his strengths lie in leadership and supporting advisors and their clients through a commonsense approach to operational efficiency and analysis.
Dan joined Advisors Excel in late summer 2016 as the transition manager. His primary focus at that time was to help build a world-class transition experience for advisors joining AEWM. Experiencing record growth, AEWM was named one of the fastest-growing and top RIAs in the country in 2017. In 2018, Dan was promoted to the role of Vice President of Operations, making him responsible for the leadership of AE Wealth Management’s operational organization and functions. Dan is passionate about working with advisors to help them understand how to structure a scalable and efficient practice for years to come.
Dan has lived in the Kansas City area for most of his life. He currently resides north of the city in Atchison, Kansas, with his wife, Alexis, and four children: Gage, Riley, Kaeden and Barrett. When he’s not helping advisors grow their businesses, he’s managing a busy kids’ schedule of soccer, wrestling, football, etc. In the unlikely event he has spare time, Dan enjoys reading, golf and any opportunity to experience the outdoors.
Brie Parks
Senior Director of Marketing
Brie Parks
Brie Parks is the director of marketing for AE Wealth Management, where she works to build tools and programs to support independent financial advisors across the country to grow and scale their wealth management business and better serve their clients. Joining the firm in 2018, Brie previously worked with Advisors Excel’s Creative team, and prior to that, worked in account service at a regional advertising agency serving clients in the advisor space, insurance, banking, and tourism industries.
Brie is actively engaged in the Topeka community, serving as the President of the Junior League of Topeka and previously holding board positions with the Race Against Breast Cancer and the American Advertising Federation of Topeka. She has lent her time volunteering with the Kansas Children’s Discovery Center, Let’s Help, Project Topeka and Harvesters. Brie has been honored as one of Greater Topeka’s Top 20 Under 40, the 2020 YWCA Woman of the Excellence for the Large Business Category, has received the Carolyn Terhune Volunteer of the Year Award and Junior League of Topeka’s Active Member of the Year award. She’s a proud alumna of Kansas State University, and more recently, Leadership Greater Topeka’s greatest class ever – the Class of 2012.
Brie lives in Topeka with her husband, Matthew, and their two daughters, Audra and Ryann. When she’s not working or volunteering, she enjoys reading, keeping up with the latest binge-worthy shows, attending musicals or live theater, and spending time with family.
Marketing Teams:
Team Sullivan
Team Vande
Team Ignite
Team Brinker
Team Imming
Team Thornton
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