Rhoades Presented at Conference in Washington, DC

Dr. Ron A. Rhoades, CFP, assistant professor in the financial planning program, recently presented at the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc.'s registered programs conference in Washington, DC, in August.

In his presentation, Rhoades addressed how faculty and students can better integrate with financial planner organizations and practitioners. Rhoades covered connecting with practitioners through online discussion forums, attending conferences, and inviting practitioners to participate in lectures to students.

Rhoades, who began his duties at Alfred State this semester, has sailed across the Atlantic and back on a tall ship, performed in road shows in Europe and America as a Disney character, rowed on a crew team, marched in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, marched in competition as a member of a state-champion rifle drill team, escorted numerous celebrities around Central Florida, performed as a “Tin Man” at a mountaintop theme park called “The Land of Oz,” and served as a stage manager and talent scheduling coordinator for entertainment productions at Walt Disney World.

And then he graduated college.

Since then, Rhoades earned a Juris Doctor degree, with honors, from the University of Florida College of Law, which was preceded by bachelor of science degree in business administration from Florida Southern College. Rhoades has over 25 years of experience as an attorney, with nearly all of those years substantially devoted to estate planning, tax planning, and retirement plan distribution planning. Rhoades also has over a decade of experience as a personal financial adviser, and he was a principal with an investment advisory firm, where he served as chair of its Investment Committee. He is involved with several financial planning organizations, writes the “One Man Think Tank” column for one industry publication, and he is the author of numerous articles published in financial industry publications. He is the author of two books and is a frequent speaker at national conferences in the financial planning and investment advisory professions.

Rhoades is the recipient of The Tamar Frankel Fiduciary of the Year Award for 2011, from The Committee for the Fiduciary Standard, as he has “altered the course of the fiduciary discussion in Washington.” He was also named as one of the Top 25 Most Influential persons associated with the investment advisory profession in 2011 by Investment Advisor magazine.

The Chapel Hill, NC, native is the son of Helen Vassar, Ocala, FL. He is married to the former Catherine Christian; they are the parents of two adult children.