Our Team
At APO Financial, we’re not just advisors, we’re advocates. Our qualified professionals don’t just point you down a path to retirement, we walk alongside you to help you reach your full retirement stride.
Meet The APO Financial Team
John Goodhue
CEO
John Goodhue
CEO
John focuses on helping clients work toward their retirement dreams through a well-thought-out financial strategy for retirement.
With more than 12 years of experience in the financial services industry, John is a nationally recognized financial educator, speaker and author passionate about helping people think about their wealth from a new perspective. He specializes in helping people realize how they may leave a legacy not just with their money but of their values and influence in their community.
John is a financial professional who can offer investment and insurance products and services. He graduated summa cum laude from Eastern Kentucky University and the University of Kentucky College of Law.
John has been a guest on many financial shows, including CNBC’s Squawk Box and Power Lunch and KHOW’s 630AM’s daily show, The Troubleshooter with Tom Martino. He has published articles in Fortune, Forbes and CNNMoney, among others, and authored two books.
Brian Gray
President
Brian Gray
President
Brian is passionate about educating people on financial planning by sharing his financial wisdom and insights.
Co-author of “Smiling Through Retirement” and “Giving Transforms You,” Brian is a nationally recognized author, financial educator and financial planner. He strongly believes everyone should achieve their dreams within their bucket list window and strives to help clients realize their financial goals.
Brian has been featured on NBC, ABC, CBS and FOX network affiliates and in Fortune, Money, Bloomberg Business, Kiplinger, Wall Street Select, Market Watch, Denver Business Journal, Denver Post, Yahoo Finance, and others. He served as the premier financial guest on KHOW 630AM’s daily show, The Troubleshooter with Tom Marino.
In his free time, Brian enjoys spending time with his wife, Ashley, as they travel, learn about different cultures, play golf and scuba dive together.
Ray Stein
Advisor
Ray Stein
Advisor
A nationally recognized author and advisor, Ray is passionate about helping people enjoy their hard-earned wealth more fully. As an advisor for APO, Ray works to help business owners, professionals and executives preserve, protect and pass on their wealth. He is co-author of “Smiling Through Retirement” and the co-creator of the Smiling Through Retirement Process™.
Ray attended the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado Boulder and graduated with a degree in finance. A native of Colorado, he is an avid musician, skier and proud father. Ray enjoys spending time with his wife, Arisa, and their two children in the beautiful Colorado outdoors.
Christopher Tourscher
Advisor
Christopher Tourscher
Advisor
Being part of a large family, Chris understands empathy, integrity, dependability and supporting others. He uses these inherent traits to ensure his clients receive the best service for all of their retirement and financial needs.
In his free time, Chris enjoys spending time with his two grown children and five grandchildren.
David Piatt
Advisor
David Piatt
Advisor
David Piatt is a seasoned pension specialist, a former national Top 10 life insurance producer for the world's 6th largest insurance group and a standout professional that has dedicated himself to teaching the unparalleled benefits of indexed universal life to thousands of financial professionals and consumers alike for more than 14 years. David has also led nationwide agent/agency development initiatives to recruit, train and coach hundreds of like-minded insurance and financial professionals across the country for one of the insurance industry’s most respected and accomplished individual life insurance experts and trainers.
David is considered a gifted specialist in the areas of personal financial literacy and wealth mastery and has authored several papers on the distinct and proven merits of indexed insurance products as predictable and safe alternatives to the more conventional strategies for achieving long-term financial peace of mind. He is also recognized as one of the foremost authorities on the powerful “personal banking system” concept.
As a seasoned and respected financial coach, David strives to show people from virtually any walk of life how to dramatically transform their financial mindset and outlook for the better by creating positive expectations paired with the long-term peace of mind that comes from understanding and employing alternative, time-tested and proven-predictable asset accumulation strategies and tools.
Today David continues to share innovative and proven real-world strategies for countering individuals’ toughest money challenges. He applies a practical and engaging style to teaching battle-tested techniques that are shown to predictably produce consistent “safer-money” results even in tough economic conditions. By applying a sincere focus to enhancing the financial well-being of his student clients, David works tirelessly to help households become more highly literate and proficient at controlling their financial destiny.
David is a long-time resident of Colorado and graduated with honors and a Bachelor of Science in business management from the top-rated College of Business at Colorado State University. For more than 20 years, he has held sales and management positions and delivered guidance and results to hundreds of companies around the U.S., from the small startup to the Fortune 50. He has also helped design, build and manage the sales and operational infrastructure of several different enterprises.
- National speaker and financial literacy educator
- Former Top 10 life agent for all of U.S. for sixth largest insurance group in the world
- Former chapter president/cofounder of the Mile High Chapter of the Society for Financial Awareness (SOFA - 501(c) 3 nonprofit speakers bureau, San Diego)
- Endorsed affiliate resource of Cambridge Credit Counseling - a national nonprofit credit counseling organization (http://www.cambridge-credit.org/)
- Denver-area volunteer for Junior Achievement
Eric Butler
Advisor
Eric Butler
Advisor
Eric grew up in Southern California, attended Mater Dei Catholic High School and was a standout athlete in multiple sports. Eric was awarded a scholarship to play college soccer and moved to Colorado in August 1999, where he met his wife, Courtney. Eric and Courtney have two daughters, Olivia, 15, and Charlotte, 11. For the last handful of years, he has coached both of his daughters’ travel softball teams, leading them to several of the nation’s most prestigious tournaments.
He began his career as a licensed financial advisor directly out of college and gained a wealth of industry knowledge in a very short period of time. For the last six years, Eric has focused his expertise on the retirement plan industry, helping employees navigate the complexities of their corporate retirement plan, showcasing the importance of financial education and helping them to improve their financial literacy.
Eric joined the APO team in late 2021 and is tasked with managing retirement plans for APO clients. In addition, Eric has helped to develop a dedicated service for business owners which focuses on all aspects of their personal and professional legacies.
Scott Mallernee
Advisor
Scott Mallernee
Advisor
Scott grew up in the Ozarks in Missouri on his family farm, which was homesteaded in the late 1800s. Understanding hard work and long hours, he had a strong desire to build a life for his own family that gleaned from his family’s dedication and tenacity to survive and thrive off their land. The first in his family to earn a degree from college, Scott always felt the need to make the most of his opportunities. He came to APO with a wealth of experience in the private business world. He has owned and operated his own business for over 10 years, committing daily to bootstrapping and developing a successful business. From sales and operations to finance, Scott has experienced business planning at every level. He can relate to the rigor of building from the ground up and the diligence it takes to protect what you have worked for. He now leverages his experience to help others plan out their retirement and financial legacy.
An avid sports fan, Scott especially loves baseball. For nearly 15 years he played and/or coached college baseball. From 2005-2008, he also scouted professionally for the Atlanta Braves. He spent time on the field with and coached several notable Major League baseball players like World Series MVP Freddie Freeman, Gerrit Cole, Mike Moustakas and Nolan Arenado.
Scott is also a connoisseur of fine spirits with an affinity for single malt scotch. He has led a whisky club with members all over the country and has been the host and keynote speaker for whisky tasting events in California. If you want to chat about whisky, you may not be able to get him to stop talking.
Scott is married to his beautiful wife of 10-plus years, Jessica. She is a concierge hair stylist. Scott is opening up APO’s new Florida office in Palm Beach Gardens.
Melissa Humphrey
Chief Operating Officer
Melissa Humphrey
Operations Manager
With more than 20 years of operations experience, Melissa oversees the day-to-day operations of APO Financial and enjoys fostering a culture that promotes customer focus and service, ethical practices, and encourages individual integrity.
Outside of the office, Melissa enjoys camping and spending time with her family and friends. Melissa and her husband, Nick, have two grown children, Brandon and Brooke, two grandchildren, and a chocolate lab, “Bad” Jack.
Ashley Gray
Marketing
Ashley Gray
Marketing
Leading the marketing department, Ashley’s primary focus is planning and managing all the company’s retirement, tax and Social Security workshops and special events. She also oversees all social media marketing and book campaigns.
Ashley and her husband, Brian, have two cats, Captain Fancy Pants and Kitten Little, and two dogs, Sasha and Winston. She loves to golf, travel, scuba dive, cook, garden and play in her art studio in her spare time.
Caitlin Stockham
Paraplanner
Caitlin Stockham
Paraplanner
Caitlin joined APO Financial in August 2014. A driven individual, she worked her way from serving as the firm’s receptionist and appointment scheduler to her current position as the firm’s primary financial paraplanner, helping the firm’s financial advisors design retirement plans for all the firm’s clients. She is on the path to becoming a financial advisor.
In her free time, Caitlin enjoys spending time with her husband, Matt, their daughter, Kya, their 1-year-old twins, and their two dogs, Boomer and Moose. Originally from Kentucky, she is an avid University of Kentucky basketball fan. She also enjoys snowboarding, camping and four-wheeling.
Heather Knodel
Office Manager
Heather Knodel
Office Manager
Heather is a native to Colorado. She joined the APO Team in Late 2021 bringing 25 years of experience in customer service. She has extensive training in leadership and management Heather is married and has 2 children and house full of pets. Her teenager keeps her very busy with year-round competitive cheer.
In her spare time, she enjoys traveling and spending time with friends and family making memories.
Rita Krans
Chief Strategy Implementation Officer
Rita Krans
Chief Strategy Implementation Officer
Rita Krans is a solutions-driven administrative support specialist with an extensive track record in creative problem-solving. She is well-versed in supporting company leaders with critical functions, including masterfully managing busy schedules, meticulously organizing projects, and providing outstanding administrative support to executive teams. Rita is goal-orientated, with an ability to analyze, prioritize, and complete tasks with exceptional judgment backed by experience and in-depth insight. Leveraging the vast skill set she acquired while running various child development facilities and her own marketing business, she brings strong leadership and administrative background to her role at APO Financial.
Rita’s advanced expertise has seen her build a notable career in both the early childhood and business arenas over the past two decades. Early in her career in the mortgage industry, an adverse childcare experience prompted her to switch degree focus from psychology to early childhood education and open her own child development center. She was motivated by a passion for providing a caring and attentive learning environment where parents would feel safe leaving their children and children were free to learn and be loved in. This led to nearly twenty years of advancement in the field, with Rita studying early childhood education, special education and administration.
Within a year, she had successfully opened one large center in Colorado and soon expanded to open another center in an elementary school in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (UP). Most recently, she assumed the role of Director at an accredited center on MTU’s campus and served as the Assistant Director of Virtual Programs at the Public Schools of CLK. During this time, she also established a small business offering clients website development, search engine optimization (SEO), and lead generation services.
Rita’s passion for contributing to her community extends into the outreach space, having served as the Board President for RCL, Inc. since 2019. She continues to help organize their annual Bootjack Fun Run 9.06k, donating all proceeds to a local charity and supporting First Responders.
Following her childhood education administration experience, Rita has returned to the finance sector with a focus on financial advisory and retirement services. She brings her experience in managing staff, financials, and key performance indicators, as well as solving top-level, high-priority issues with professional administrative discretion to her role at APO Financial.
Rita is looking forward to completing her degree in Psychology this year and is also planning on qualifying as an accredited financial advisor so that she can help a wide range of individuals gain financial freedom and achieve their most ambitious goals and aspirations.
Matt Vertin
Relationship Development Specialist
Matt Vertin
Relationship Development Specialist
An Upper Peninsula of Michigan native, Matthew joined the APO team in September of 2022 where his focus is on building and supporting relationships along the retirement journey.
Matthew has years of business experience that includes sales, marketing and management in radio broadcasting, healthcare, and education. His focus has always been on helping others grow into their goals. From volunteer coaching youth baseball, softball, and ice hockey, to working closely with adolescence navigating their educational journey, to helping entrepreneurs plan, grow and succeed in their business, he has always had their interests at heart.
In his spare time, he enjoys playing golf, watching football, hockey, and softball, and staying connected to his grown children, Tyler and Taylor, and the great things they are achieving.
Sasha DeJaynes
Relationship Development Specialist
Sasha DeJaynes
Relationship Development Specialist
Sasha graduated summa cum laude from Northwestern University with a degree in Communications, focusing on theater and dance. She spent 10 years in Chicago’s magnificent theatre scene, working with many prestigious theater companies and winning a Jeff Award for her performance in Red Light Winter at Mary-Arrchie Theatre. In 2014 she moved to California with her studly husband Derrick and pursued a new passion – wine! Immersing herself in all aspects of the business – running a wine shop, becoming a Certified Sommelier, and teaching consumer wine classes – she eventually decided to create her own wine education business Vinolust which offered online wine classes, in person tastings and wine focused travel planning.
After giving birth to a micro preemie miracle baby on January 1, 2022, she is delighted to join the APO Financial Team with a goal of helping people and families find financial well-being and long-term security.
Sasha, Derrick, and their gorgeous son Tygo currently reside in Huntington Beach, California, where they take full advantage of the beautiful landscape to go hiking, beaching, exploring and, of course, wine tasting.
Leah Trietiak
Administrative Assistant
Leah Trietiak
Administrative Assistant
Leah joined our Palm Beach Garden team with the goal of bringing APO’s vision of comprehensive retirement guidance to the growing Florida area. Having spent over a decade at companies such as UBS and Morgan Stanley, Leah brings a wealth of experience in financial services. In her most recent role as Wealth Strategy Associate, she worked with clients and advisors on financial and estate planning. She enjoys providing a holistic client relationship experience and strives to assist her team in delivering clients the peace of mind they are looking for.
In her spare time, you will find Leah at football practice with her two boys, Jack, and Wurth. She’s an avid beach volleyballer and her boxer dog, Butkus, has his own Instagram.
Arisa Stein
Administrative Assistant
Arisa Stein
Administrative Assistant
Arisa Stein has a passion for helping others. For over 10 years now, she has grown and lead a team of more than 25 women to grow their small businesses. Earlier in her career, she supported a large and fast-paced legal department where she gained the understanding of how to support clients through very difficult situations. This experience creates a natural fit as a liaison between our advisors and providing exceptional service to our clients. In her free time, Arisa loves spending time with her husband and two children. She is a dedicated and loving parent who values the importance of family and relationships. She also loves to travel, hike, & cook.
