We’ve added an incredible new team member, and you may recognize his last name. Michael Kafoglis joins our Client Service team as an advisor and CFP based out of our Houston Office. Michael will work closely with John Reagan, servicing our Hill and Hilltop clients. Michael comes to Hill Investment Group with seven years of experience at one of the largest investment institutions in the country, where he served as an advisor to high-net-worth families.

As the son of a consultant turned teacher turned financial planner, he has a unique view of investing. Although he was taught concepts of compounding, diversification, and patience at a young age, when he became an advisor, he discovered his financial education was not the norm but the exception. Michael has made it his goal to educate clients and simplify their financial lives so they can focus on what they care about. Needless to say, he will fit right in at Hill Investment Group.

If his name sounds familiar, Michael is following in the footsteps of his dad, Charles Kafoglis, as he joins our team out of Houston. We are referring to them as the Kafogli and are already enjoying the camaraderie and banter they bring to the team. Stay tuned, as his complete bio will hit our site later next month.

Welcome, Michael!

My daughter attended Incarnate Word Academy, a private high school with an exceptional leadership program, led by an inspiring teacher – Charles Kafoglis. The Young Leaders Program has an innovative curriculum and is one just a few high schools to offer students a concentration in leadership studies. I’ve witnessed the positive impact Charles and his program had on my daughter. I told the HIG team about the courses offered at the school and the personal finance module caught the attention of our fearless leader – Matt Hall. An introduction to Charles was inevitable and followed with an invitation for Matt to speak at the school’s “Leadership Live!” speaker series.

The students, Charles and Matt worked together to come up with a fun, student-led Q & A with the goal of energizing and inspiring these young women to change the way they think and feel about money. Matt took the stage in early November and engaged a packed auditorium with thought-provoking concepts around money, leadership, and entrepreneurship.

Matt encouraged the 9th through 12th graders to take control of their financial futures by saving early, understanding the value of compounding and using money wisely. When the 3:25 PM dismissal bell rang, signaling the end of Matt’s interview and the end of the school day, many students didn’t run out the door, but instead swarmed Matt to ask questions and receive copies of Matt’s book, Odds On. If Matt had hoped to reach only a few students that day, I’d say he more than accomplished the goal.

Here at Hill Investment Group, we’ve intentionally set up our infrastructure to offer seamless client care from Houston, St. Louis, or anywhere else we may roam. As such, if we didn’t tell you, you’d probably never know that our Chief Operating Officer Nell Swanson Schiffer has relocated from Houston to St. Louis, at least for a while.

By happy coincidence, her husband was recently accepted into the Internal Medicine Residency program at Washington University in St. Louis. (Congrats, Walter!) With Nell already an integral member of our HIG team, it was even easier for the couple to pick up roots and head to St. Louis.

Never one to miss an opportunity, Nell mentioned the move when she was speaking with the St. Louis Business Journal about our related, 2019 Best Places to Work announcement. In the same issue, she shared her journey with Business Journal readers. It’s an adventure that has taken her from wearing a flame-retardant jumpsuit as a Houston-based petroleum engineer, to her role as HIG’s COO.

Click here to read all about it. 

The common denominator between Nell’s past and current careers? A passion for pursuing ingenious and disruptive best practices across all of life’s pursuits.

We welcome Nell to our St. Louis office, where we’re confident she’ll continue to be valued firm-wide.