Meet Our 2023 Keynote Speakers!

Lazetta Braxton

Image of Lazetta Braxton, AFCPE Keynote Speaker for the 2023 Symposium.

For Lazetta Rainey Braxton, MBA, CFP®, it’s all about doing the work. A sought-after financial strategist, Lazetta provides guidance with care and urgency that invites individuals and firms to nurture and advance human capital.

She is passionate about amplifying culture, talent, life, and money, and does so through financial planning, public speaking, writing, consulting, and coaching in her role as founder of Lazetta & Associates, a Business Strategy Firm and as a co-CEO of 2050 Wealth Partners, a 100% virtual fee-only financial planning and wealth management firm.

In all her endeavors, she is on a mission to create wealth for the common good.

Financial empowerment has far-reaching implications for a thriving society and economy. No one should be left out of this opportunity.

— Lazetta Rainey Braxton

Dr. Preston D. Cherry

Dr. Cherry is the Founder & President of Concurrent Financial Planning, Head of the Financial Planning Program, and Director of the Charles Schwab Center for Personal Financial Planning at the UW – Green Bay. Preston specializes in empowering individuals to share stories that inform their financial resources and life’s design to achieve financial wellness and freedom that cultivates life wholeness. Preston has over 15 years of financial services and academic experience, including financial planning and investment management, published research in top journals, such as Personality and Individual Differences and Journal of Personal Finance, and extensive leadership in the planning profession. His current research surrounds personality traits and financial uncertainty risks, and specializes in financial psychology.

Preston has been cited by the New York Times, Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, CNBC, and Yahoo Finance. He is an Investopedia 100 Top Financial Advisor, 2022 ThinkAdvisor LUMINARY Finalist, WealthManagement.com Ten to Watch in 2023, President of the Financial Therapy Association, practitioner editor of the award-winning Journal of Financial Planning, and Board Member of the FinServ Foundation. Preston is currently engaged, a cool Uncle who writes poetry, and has a vinyl record collection.

Let your life lead your money, not your money lead your life

—Dr. Preston Cherry, CFP® 

Matthew Desmond

MacArthur “Genius” Matthew Desmond and Princeton sociologist was launched onto the national stage as an expert on contemporary American poverty with the publication of his Pulitzer Prize winning bestseller Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City. Combining years of embedded fieldwork with painstakingly gathered data, Evicted transformed our understanding of inequity and economic exploitation in America. 

Desmond’s latest book, the instant #1 New York Times bestseller Poverty, by America investigates why the United States, the richest country on earth, has more poverty than any other advanced democracy. Why does this land of plenty allow one in every eight of its children to go without basic necessities, permit scores of its citizens to live and die on the streets, and authorize its corporations to pay poverty wages?

“Tens of millions of Americans do not end up poor by a mistake of history or personal conduct. Poverty persists because some wish and will it to.”

—Matthew Desmond

Stick around after the Friday Closing Keynote to meet Dr. Desmond and get your copy of his book(s) signed! 

Preorder by November 1st to have it available at the New Orleans Marriott after the keynote!

Please order directly through the links below: 

Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond: https://bluecypressbooks.indielite.org/book/9780593239919

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in an American City by Matthew Desmond: https://bluecypressbooks.indielite.org/book/9780553447453 

*Please select “Store Pick up” and enter “AFCPE – 12/1” in the notes of the order.

A limited number of copies will be available onsite for purchase.

John McNamara

John McNamara is the Principal Assistant Director of Markets and the Assistant Director for Consumer Credit, Payments, and Deposits Markets in the Research, Markets and Regulations division of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He leads a team of subject matter experts and analysts covering the credit card, payments, deposits,  student, auto, small-dollar, marketplace, and installment lending markets, as well as credit reporting, debt collection, debt relief, fintech and the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning in consumer financial services. He also manages budgeting, staffing,  and administration of the Bureau’s Markets Office.  

John is a frequent speaker/panelist/consultant and author, addressing key issues and trends in the financial services industry. In 2012, John chaired both the National  Collections and Credit Risk conference and the Financial Services Collections and Credit  Risk symposium. In 2011 John was named an ACA International Scholar and Fellow.  He also is the 2009 winner of the ACA Kurt Swersky award for leadership. In 2007,  John was appointed Vice President and Board Member of the Georgia Collectors Association. John was named to Collection Advisor magazine’s list of the Top 50 Most  Influential Collection Professionals for 2006 and 2019.  

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