Barton W. Weisenfluh, CFP®
CEO & Founder – Starboard Advisors
Bart Weisenfluh has worked with families for over 20 years in the investment management and financial planning business. He began his career in the executive training program at Tucker Anthony, Inc. In 1998 he joined the New York based money management firm W.P. Stewart as Vice President and assisted with the opening of their Portland office. He co-founded Plimsoll Mark Capital in 2008 where he served as a fiduciary for families in North America. Mr. Weisenfluh holds a B.A. in Political Science with a minor in Japanese from Union College and an M.B.A. from the Whittemore School of Business at the University of New Hampshire. He also is a Certified Financial Planner™ professional. Mr. Weisenfluh has served on the board of directors for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southern Maine, Portland Yacht Club, Add Verb Productions and the Falmouth Youth Lacrosse Association. In addition, he serves on private advisory boards for numerous families.
Michael Ouellette
President Starboard Advisors
Michael Ouellette joined Starboard Advisors in January of 2022 and serves as the company’s President. Prior to Starboard Advisors, Mr. Ouellette was a family office executive for 24 years and representing family assets of over $4 billion. Mr. Ouellette began his career with a four-generation family office based in Portland, Maine, serving as Executive Vice President and Treasurer of Dexter Enterprises, Inc. from 1997 to 2014. From 2014 to 2021, Mr. Ouellette served as CEO for Ten Mountain Capital, a two-generation family office based in Boston, Massachusetts.
Mr. Ouellette continues to serve as an independent director and trustee for multiple families and also serves on the board of directors for both publicly-traded and privately-held companies.
Through his work, Mr. Ouellette has helped families implement best practices for family governance, next-gen education, investment management, cash management, estate and tax planning, and charitable initiatives. Mr. Ouellette’s direct work experience includes: establishing family office governance structures; managing daily operations and staff; investment committee work including implementing investment mandates, manager/consultant selection, and investment performance monitoring; trustee and trust administration for hundreds of trusts; due diligence and oversight for private companies and real estate holdings; estate administration and ongoing estate planning and wealth transfer strategies; periodic tax planning for individuals, LLCs, and trusts; private foundation management and charitable giving; and developing and implementing family education curriculum for next generations.
Neil Cataldi
Managing Director
Neil Cataldi previously served as Chief Investment Officer for the Viking Group, a single family office in Cherry Hill, NJ where he led the investment process for $250 million in assets under management. Mr. Cataldi has over 20 years of Wall Street industry experience across equities, options, alternatives, and Family Office governance. He began his career on the floor of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange where he worked for both TFM Investment Group and Goldman Sachs. He then worked as a derivatives strategist at Susquehanna International Group, generating stock and option trading ideas, mainly within the Consumer sector. Neil has also consulted for multiple private Family Offices managing a range of investments, including actively managed equity and fixed income portfolios, as well as the oversight and management of a large portfolio of hedge funds.
Rita M. Newland
Principal
Rita Newland began her career in the financial planning industry in 2005 when she joined W.P Stewart. Working alongside Bart Weisenfluh she assisted in opening Plimsoll Mark Capital’s offices in late 2008. Rita is head of client services and specializes in portfolio administration, performance reporting and database management. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Media Studies from the University of Southern Maine.
Pam Lessard
Principal
Pam Lessard joined Starboard Advisors in September 2022. Before joining the Starboard crew, Pam worked at Simon Pearce in Quechee, VT for over 9 years as Executive Assistant to the Founder and his family. Prior to that Pam was the Accountant & Grants Manager for the Woodstock, VT School District and a Sales Assistant with Goldman Sachs on their Institutional Corporate Bond desk in Boston. Pam holds a B.A. in Business and Fine Arts from Skidmore College. She and her husband Kevin have two sons, Taylor and Curtis. She enjoys skiing and spending time with her family in Bozeman, Montana.
Advisory Board & Investment Committee
Joan Benoit Samuelson
Professional Athlete & Spokesperson
Joan Benoit Samuelson’s name is synonymous with women’s running. She began running track in high school in the town of Cape Elizabeth, Maine. Samuelson continued on to Bowdoin College, where her career soared. She received All-American honors in cross-country and track, and won the Boston Marathon in 1979, setting an American and course record, all before she graduated. Samuelson won the Boston Marathon again in 1983, this time breaking the world record. One year later, at the age of 27, she won the gold medal in the first women’s marathon at the Los Angeles Olympics. In 1985, Samuelson won the Chicago Marathon with an American record time of 2:21:21.
Currently, she is a Nike athlete and a clinician, conducting numerous running, health, and fitness clinics throughout the United States and the world. Samuelson is also an experienced motivational speaker, giving regular addresses to corporations, civic groups, schools, and athletes. She has authored two books, her autobiography Running Tide (Knopf, 1987), and Joan Samuelson’s Running for Women (Rodale Press, 1995).
She was inducted into the National Distance Running Hall of Fame in 1998, the Maine Women’s Hall of Fame in 2000, the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2004 and the USATF Masters Hall of Fame in 2014. In 2017, a plaque honoring her was unveiled in the L.A. Memorial Coliseum’s Court of Honor.
Arthur L. Goetchius
Chief Executive Officer – Kelleher Financial Advisors
Mr. Goetchius is also the CEO of Wall Street Access. Mr. Goetchius served as the parent company’s Chief Financial Officer from 1986 to 1993 and rejoined Wall Street Access as COO in 2005. In between his time at WSA, Mr. Goetchius served as the CFO for a hedge fund manager and COO for an asset management firm. He has over 35 years of experience in the financial services industry and is responsible for finance, compliance and human resources for the firms. Mr. Goetchius is a member of the Investment Committee. He graduated Cum Laude from Seton Hall University and was a certified public accountant with the firm of Touche Ross & Co. Mr. Goetchius has securities licenses based on the following securities examinations: Series 7, 63, 8, 14, 24, 27, 53 and 65. Mr. Goetchius plays the guitar in his spare time and is an avid, if not very good golfer. Art is a member of the Investment Committee.
Sean M. Kelleher
President Kelleher Financial Advisors
Sean is also the President of Wall Street Access, and has helped guide the firm through successful ventures in online brokerage, institutional research, equity trading, listed derivatives trading, fixed income trading and wealth management. Sean manages a team of traders and salespeople at Wall Street Access and is responsible for providing leadership and awareness for the WSA and KFA brands. In addition, Sean runs the firms’ business development efforts and is responsible for the growth of Wall Street Access’s Global Execution Services platform. Sean is a member of the Investment Committee.
Sean is a graduate of Wagner College and sat on the Wagner College Finance Committee. Sean also serves on the board of the St Patrick’s Day Parade- the oldest parade in the country. He also serves on the board of New World Prep, a charter school in Staten Island that the Kelleher Family helped launch and continues to support. Sean has securities licenses based on the following securities examinations: Series 7,63,4,9,10 and 55. Sean and his wife Wendy have three children, Maggie, Jack and Denis.
Luke Labbe
President – PeoplesChoice Credit Union
Luke grew up skiing Lonesome Pine Trails, a community owned ski mountain in Fort Kent Maine. After graduating from the University of Maine in 1987 Luke has been involved with financial non-profit cooperatives ever since. Luke has worked for Maine’s Credit Unions for 30 years with the most recent 15 as President of PeoplesChoice Credit Union, a leading Southern Maine credit union serving 18,000 member owners. When he isn’t skiing, fishing, biking, hiking, golfing, atving in the Rangeley area he lives in Falmouth Maine with his wife Ellen and three boys Caleb, Aiden and Sawyer.
Bart Haag
CPA, Principal – Albin, Randall, and Bennett
Barton Haag joined ARB in 1996 and has been a principal with the firm since 2005. His career focus is primarily in providing financial accounting, income tax planning, and business advisory services for clients in the automotive and motorcycle dealership industries, and for closely held businesses, many of which are family owned. Bart has published several articles in various periodicals and has presented tax, estate planning, and automotive industry-specific seminars at national and state industry meetings. He is the Practice Leader for ARB’s Automotive Services Group. Community Involvement include: Past Chairman, AutoCPA Group; Board of Directors and Past President, hear ME now!; Treasurer and Board of Directors, Princess Point Improvement Association; Board of Directors, SailMaine. Bart and his wife, Ilse, reside in Yarmouth, Maine, with their two children. He enjoys golfing, skiing, boating, and traveling with family and friends.
Hugh O’Donnell
Founder – True Equity
Hugh O’Donnell is the founder and managing partner of True Equity, a Venture Capital Fund which is actively investing in high growth companies with outstanding venture backers. Before founding True Equity, Hugh was Chief Investment Officer and Associate Vice President at Colby College where he was responsible for the management and oversight of Colby’s endowment investment portfolio. The roughly $750 million portfolio is invested globally with external managers across public equity, private equity and hedge fund strategies. Prior to joining Colby, Mr. O’Donnell served in investment leadership positions at the Kamehameha School in Hawaii, Crescent Private Capital and TA Associates.
Colleen Kelleher Sorrentino
CFA, Managing Director – Kelleher Financial Advisors
Colleen launched Kelleher Financial Advisors in 1995 and works with high net worth individuals, families, foundations and corporations to build diversified, multi-asset class portfolios of cash, bonds, stocks, mutual funds, ETFs and REITs for their liquid assets. In addition to building appropriate portfolios, Colleen provides advice and a wide range of services in: alternative investments, cash management, concentrated stock, income needs, estate planning, insurance and annuities, lending, mortgages, retirement planning, 401Ks and IRAs, solutions for business, trusts, college planning and 529 plans. Colleen is a graduate of the University of Rochester with an MBA in Finance from the Stern School of Business at New York University. In 2008, Colleen was selected as one of the “50 Most Influential Women” by the Irish Voice magazine. She was awarded “The Wealth Manager of the Year” award in 2011 by Manhattan Magazine and has been featured in ProActive Advisor Magazine. Additionally, Colleen is a member of the Executive Women’s Council of the SIEDC. She is also the former Treasurer of Staten Island Academy and currently is a Board member of St. John’s Bread of Life and is the Treasurer of the Friends of New World Prep. She was awarded the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation in 2000.
Dana Kerr
Associate Professor of Risk Management and Insurance – USM
Professor Kerr began teaching at USM in Fall 2008 as the first professor in the newly created Risk Management and Insurance (RMI) track in the School of Business. “This innovative program, developed in collaboration with Maine’s insurance industry, gives students exposure to a field that is increasingly important, as our population ages and new risks evolve.” Prof. Kerr currently teaches all three of the RMI courses offered by USM. He has previously taught corporate finance, insurance, and personal financial planning courses at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, TX and at Ball State University in Muncie, IN.
Before academia, Prof. Kerr spent nearly 10 years in the risk management and insurance industry as a claims specialist and corporate risk analyst. His professional experience has naturally encouraged his interest in researching aspects of the insurance claims and litigation process, insurance contracts, risk financing issues, and corporate risk management topics in general. He has published articles in The Journal of Risk & Insurance, The Journal of Legal Studies, Risk Management and Insurance Review, Compensation & Benefits Review, Risk Management, and The Journal of Financial Service Professionals and the Journal of Insurance Issues. He co-authored a paper that won the Donald Hardigree Memorial Award for outstanding article of 2011 for the Journal of Insurance Issues and is sole author of a paper that won the award again in 2012.
Prof. Kerr works closely with his students, advising them during their internship experiences and helping them to navigate the many possible insurance career options. He has a very good relationship with the risk management and insurance industry throughout New England and especially in Maine.
Tom Burnett
Vice Chairman and Director of Research – Kelleher Financial Advisors
Mr. Burnett provides market insights based on 30 years of experience in domestic and international equity trading, risk arbitrage and equity research. Prior to Wall Street Access, Mr. Burnett held several positions at Merrill Lynch including managing director in charge of the international equity department, director of research, and manager of the risk arbitrage department. Mr. Burnett is a graduate of Williams College and the Graduate School of Business of Stanford University. Mr. Burnett holds the Supervisory Analyst designation and the following licenses: Series 7, 63, 4, 16, 65, 86 and 87. Tom is a member of the Investment Committee.
Ann Marie Liotta
CPA, AEP®U.S. Wealth Strategist Cohn Financial Group
Ann Marie is an engaging specialist in domestic wealth planning and a results-driven wealth and tax strategist. Her significant and sophisticated hands-on experience and technical knowledge were gained over her 26-year professional career working within large New York-based financial services businesses as well as regional Philadelphia accounting firms.
Marie joined Cohn Financial Group as a Wealth Strategist and Producer. Ann Marie specializes in complex life insurance planning and specialized in Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI). She works with high net worth families, individuals, RIA’s and family offices throughout the United States. Prior to joining CFG, she worked at Lombard International for three years as their Head of Product Development and Wealth Structuring Services for the U.S. In her role at Lombard, she assisted internal and external partners with understanding private placement solutions and incorporating the solutions in existing and new wealth plans.
Prior to joining Lombard International, Ann Marie provided a full range of tax compliance and consulting services for individuals and families, where she headed up the Private Clients Services practice of Ernst & Young (EY) in Philadelphia. She practiced as a Certified Public Accountant for 23 years before joining the insurance industry five years ago. Ann Marie graduated Magna Cum Laude from Rutgers College School of Business. In addition to holding her insurance license, Ann Marie holds her CPA license in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania and is designated as an Accredited Estate Planner® . Ann Marie is a New Jersey State elected official and just completed her tenure on the Board of Education in Moorestown, New Jersey.