Our advisors utilize their experience and expertise and that of their colleagues to develop the best solutions for your complex personal and professional financial situations.
Actionable planning strategies to inform and guide your decision-making.
Partner
Cleveland
Client Advisory
Mark is a Partner in the Cleveland office and has more than thirty years of experience advising corporate executives, international professional tennis players and golfers, major league baseball and football players, entertainers, and a prominent high-net-worth family.
Prior to joining Cerity Partners, Mark was the Managing Director of Tax for MAI Wealth Advisors, LLC, formerly an affiliate of IMG in Cleveland, Ohio. He was a member of the firm’s Senior Management Team and responsible for the delivery of all facets of the firm’s comprehensive tax advisory services. Before MAI Wealth Advisors, Mark was a tax accountant at Coopers & Lybrand responsible for the delivery of tax services to corporate executives and small businesses. Earlier in his career, he was a staff accountant with James Hirschauer & Co. and provided tax and accounting services to business owners and entrepreneurs.
Q:
What made you want to pursue a career path that focused on athletes?
I came out of public accounting when I was at International Management Group where I ran a tax practice. I became involved in all the financial aspects of a client, particularly people in the sports world. Most of my clients are very good people. But with athletes, there’s more of an educational process. They’re more appreciative of what you do because they don’t understand any of it. I like the teaching and building trust over time. Most professional athletes have a hard time trusting people because everyone wants something from them. With our firm, we’re providing something, but we’re not necessarily asking anything of them.
What makes working with athletes unique?
You’re handling things you may not normally handle for other clients. One of those things is getting them disability insurance. You also need to get them commercial liability insurance to some degree. And you need to establish a budgeting process. For example, team sports players mostly work on the gross instead of the net. They may not have filed a tax return in their life. While you and I file one state return, they may file multiple state returns wherever they earn money. I also have international clients, so I must know how which countries establish filings, for example. So, there can be complicating elements to representing them.
In a way, you’re not just their wealth advisor, you’re also an educator.
And they appreciate it. A lot of them come from a situation where mom and dad are doing everything. And they just want mom and dad to be mom and dad and not their business manager. They never had anything explained to them before. They never understood income tax. They don’t understand insurance or have a retirement plan. They also need to save at a certain level. So, I’ll go through areas with them. I recently had a conversation with another partner who asked me how I sell our services. I said, “I don’t.” I said I just get to know them a little bit and to try to understand their level of sophistication involving their finances. Based on that, I can talk about what we can do for them.
Many of your clients tend to be very young because they’re at the start of their careers. Why is talking about retirement now so important for a sports player?
Because now is the point in time they have an income to set aside for their future. The careers are so short in team sports and the pensions aren’t great. Since they have a higher income stream in their earlier age, they can put some of it aside and let it grow for 40-some years.
What makes Cerity Partners stand out?
Experience. We’ve done the work so many times that we know what needs to be addressed, in what order, and we can explain to the client why and get their approval to go forward. Cerity Partners has an architecture that appeals to me. I feel more comfortable presenting to my clients now than I did at my old firm. We’re not saying “we can do that” when we have no experience in that area. We have a team that can provide all the services a client needs whenever they’re needed.
Mark Castell
Tax Strategies
Affecting Change Through Charitable Giving is a niche piece for athletes looking to take their advocacy to the next level.
David Aaron
Partner & Market Leader
Louis P. Abel, CFA, CAIA
Rozeta Abovian, CTFA
Lloyd Abramowitz
Partner & Practice Leader
Larry Adams, CPFA, AIF®
Aimee M. Adler, CFP®
Associate
Samuel Afari-Aikins, CFP®, CKA
Maria Aguirre
Karim Ahamed, CFA
Chris Akamine, CFP®
Mark Andersen
Helen Anderson
Principal
Sean Angelis, CFP®
Karen Angrisano
Lynne Anicete
Gary Arakawa, CFA, CFP®
Christopher Arotin, AIF®, CFP®
Cheryl Athas
Senior Associate
Barbara Attardo, AEP®, CFP®
Richard Azarloza, CFA, CFP®
Shelby Babcock
Chris Bagileo
Ian Bai, CFP®
Samuel Bain, Jr.
Mary Grace Balrup
Julie Banda
Chelle Barberena
Carrie Barlow
Tony Basalla
John Basford
David Beatty, CFP®
Frederic Behrens, CFP®
Laurie Belew, CFP®
Abigail Bell
Joshua Berdet, CFP®
Jonathan Berrios
Yasmin Bichara-Jakovljevic
John F. Blair, CFP®
Jeffrey Blanchard, CFA
Andrew Blumenthal, CFP®
Tim Bodmer
Doug Bonaquist
Hugues Le Bras
Florence Bray
Amanda Brummel, JD
Katie Buchanan
Kevin Buckley, CFP®
Brenda Bujanauskaite
Erica Bunnell, CFP®
Craig Burger, CFA
Matthew Burns
Christopher Burrows
Azaian Cagalingan
Megan Caldarelli
Erica Cameron, CFP®
Matthew Canner
Jeffrey L. Caples, CFA
Jessica Carbajal
Dawn M. Carpenter
Vonny Carrington
Andrea Casas
Brian Casey
Ricardo Castro
Onari Tariah, CFP®
Eric Chang, CFA
Cecilia Chen, CFA
Paul Chmielewski
Hannah Reimer Christopher, CFP®
Andrew T. Chudy
Jake Clemens, CFA, CFP®
Justin Coletto
Marie Conner
David P. Corcoran
JD Costello
Meghan Cottrell
Ralph Coutant, CFA, CMT
Jodi Credit
Brendan Cunningham
William T. Curran, CIMA®
Paul D’Elia, CFP®
Darlene Dahl, AEP®, CDFA®, CPA, PFS
Robert Davis, CAIA, CFA
Elizabeth Dawson, CFA, CFP®
Fiona Dean
Brett Dearing
Thomas Decker, CFP®
Elizabeth Delude, CFA
Joel DeMaria, CFP®
Lauren Desforge, AEP®, CDFA®, CFP®, CPA/PFS
Michael Disharoon, CFA
Cheryl Donaldson
Kevin Dorwin
Katrin Doyle
Mimi Drake
Sarah Dudack
Justin DuMouchelle, CFA, CFP®
Pierre duPont
Rebecca Dutka, CFA
Jennifer Ellison, CFA
Megan Endersby
Alex L. Faber, CFA, CFP®
Adrian R. Fadrhonc
Cecilia Fajardo
Jessica Farrell
Kimberly Fields
Kellye Fields
Patrick Fischbach
Michael B. Fischer, CFP®
Andrew Fisher, CFA, CPA
Stacy L. Fisher
Steve Florance, CFA
Victoria Flores-Manrique, CTFA
Jessica Foley
Mariella Foley, CFP®, ADPA®, CDFA®
Justine Fonseca, CFP®
Kent Forkner
Candice Frank
Kathy Freed, CFP®
Richard B. Freeman, CFP®
Shadrack Frempong
Virginia Frisch
Alison J. Gamble
Sam Garcia, CFP®
John Garris
Doug Garrison, CFP®
James P. Gauthier, CFA
Stephanie Gervacio
Justin M. Giacona, CPA
Steven J. Giacona, CPA
Thomas Giddings
David Gifford
Garrett Gillett
Jeffrey Glassman
Richard Golinski, CFA
Caroline Good
Bridget Goodbody, CFP®
Lauren G. Gooding, CTFA
John Goott, AIF®, CFP®
Daniel Goott, CFP®, CIMA®
Judith Gordon
Dajion Grant
Shelia Gray
Cameron Grimm
Alexander Gross, CFP®, AEP®, CPA/PFS
Ashley J. Guerra
JG Guidera
Theresa Guinto
Colby Hackerman, CFA, CPA
Hunter Haley, CFP®, CPA
Shane Hall, CFP®, CAIA
Jill Hardesty
Kayleigh Harris
Rick Harris
Lissa Harris
Susan Hartley-Moss, CTFA
Erica Hartog, CPA
Gregory G. Heard
Matthew Heath, CFP®
Andrew Helfont, CFA
Delia Hernandez
Elizabeth Hicks
Rebecca Hilchey
Ann Marie Hindley
Caren Holzhauer
Lyman Howard, CFA, CFP®
George Hubbard
Partner & Director of Private Direct Investments
Connor Hufer
Bruce A. Hyde, CPA
John Hyman, CIMA®
Partner & Director of Investment Management
James Izard II, CFP®
Jack H. Scaff III
Frederick A. Allner, III
Samuel R. Segundo III
Henry “Sandy” Harris III, CFA
Rhonda Inskeep
Chris Jameson, CRPC®
Alex Jimenez
Kathryn Jodon
Peter A. Johnson
Blake Johnson, CFP®
Anne Johnston, CFP®
Nicole Joko
Thomas (TJ) F. Jones
Thomas S. Jones
André De Jong, FPQP
Wickliffe Lyne, Jr.
David Jumper, CFA
Evan Kaplan, CFP®, CFA
Tom Karsten
Alexey Kassabov, CPA
Carl Kaufman
Mickey Keating, CFP®
Kathryn Kennedy, CFP®, CPA, JD
Hannah Kim
Kate Kittinger, AEP®
Ekaterina Klimentova, CPA, CDFA®
Stephen Klingler, CFP®
Jeffrey Knight
Jessica Kobaly
Allen Kozel, CFP®
Kati Krause
Geoffrey Kuli, CFA
Steve Kurosko, CSRIC®
Kyle Kursim, CFP®
Eunmi Kwon, CPA, CFP®
Patrick Labriola
Jeffrey Lancaster, CFP®
Adam B. Landau, CAIA
Amy Lange, CFA, CFP®
Gerry Larr
Greg Larson, CSRIC®
Kristen LaSasso
Dawn M. Lasek
James Lebenthal, CFA
Partner & Chief Equity Strategist
Christine Lee, CFP®
Rita Lee, CPA, CDFA®, CGMA®, PFS
Cameron Lehrmann, CPA
Yola Lerch
Edward Liberman
Andy Lin
Austin Little, CFP®
Richard Long, CFA
Christina Lum
Phong Luu, CFA
Anne Lyons
Lyle Maasdorp, CFP®
Andy Machenheimer
Jory Makin
Steve Malbasa
Julia Malin
Jacqualyn Malloy
Lindsay Marcus
Jessica Marshall, FPQP
Samuel Martin, AIF®, CRPS®
Peter Martin, CPA
Joseph Matus, CFA
Demi Maya
Ray McCarthy, CPA
Doug McCrea
Paul McGloin
Timothy McNally, CPA, CIMA®
Kelly McNerney, CFP®
Charles McRae, CFP®, CEPA®
Sarah Meiser
Ruby Mendoza
Patricia Mercer
Donna Metrou
Cooper Miller
Eric Minnick
Kristen Mitchel
Olive W. Mitchell, CFP®
Greg Mitseas
Christine Monyak
Sean Moore
Darin A. Morgan, CFA, CFP®
Jonathan Morris
Owen Morrow
Constantine Mulligan, CFA
Melanie Murphy, CPA
Patrick Murray, CFP®, CFA
Elizabeth Musarra, CPA, PFS
Lindsey Nadel
Douglas Nardi, CFA
Matt Nardi
Alan Ness, CFP®, AIF®
Lesa Newell
Steve Nielander, CFA
Eda Niño
Reed Nothwang, CFP®
Jenna O’Brien
JoAnne O’Connell
Emily O’Connor
Resmena O’Meally, CPA
Rebecca Occhiline
Melissa Oduaran
Brooklyn Ogburn
Stephen Oliver, CFP®, CFA
Matt Olver, CFP®, AEP®
Sarah Gregg Orum
Jeffrey Paladini, CFP®
Carlie Palmer
Daniel Parillo
Daniel Park, CFP®
Ty Parrish, CIMA®
Nicholas Pasichuke
Cristina Paul, CFP®
Yelena Pelimskaya, CFA
Natalie Perez
Blake Perkins
Jeffrey J. Peters
Nicholas N. Petrelli, CFP®
Katie Pfeifer, CFP®
Carman Phillips
Walker Phillips, CFP®, CIMA®
Scott R. Phillips
Bettie Pickett
Kinga Pietrzycki
Nina Pilgrim
Chris Pleshek, CPA
Quinn Portfolio, CFP®
Matthew Powell
Jacqueline Price
Hugh Quinn
Steven L. Ramirez, CFP®, CFA
Gerianne Raymundo
Thomas Richardson, CPA
Timothy Ringelstein, CFA
Jeremy Robbins, CFP®, CPA
Rhonda Robinett
Marianne S. Rodriguez, CFP®
Tristan Romo
Anthony Rosetti, CFA, CFP®
Melanie Ross, CFP®
Spencer Roule
Meg Rowley
Veronica Rubio, CFP®
Jeff Rup
Salvatore Russo
Devon Ruttenberg
Sherrell Sabree
Alex Saikali
Sherman S. Salangad
Jorge Salazar, CFP®
Jonathan Salvato, CFP®
Minnie Yao Sanford, CFP®
Steven P. Saunders, CAIA, CFA
Becky Scaletta
Isabel Scharmer, CFA
Leonard Schlangel, CPA, JD
Theodore D. Schneider, CFA
John Schnur
Steve Schoneman, CFA
Aram Schotts, CFP®, CRPS®
Matthew Serkes, CFP®
Marshall Serwitz
Mary Shahian, CFP®, CDFA®, ChFC®, CKA
Deborah Shaug
LeAnn Shea
Timothy Sheridon
Charmaine Sherlock
Andrew Shestek
Bob Shier, JD
William Shier
Samuel Short
Gary Silverman, CFA
AJ Simoncelli
Emily Sims
Marcella Skenderis
Dee Slavutin, ChFC®
Lyric Smith
Marie C. Smith, CFP®
Robert C. Smith
Neal Smith
Meghan Smith
Javier Solis, CFP®
Paul Sommerstad, AIF®, QPFC®
Michelle Soto, CDFA®, CFP®
Robert L. Souza, CFA
William Speciale, AEP®, JD
Judith Spencer
Shelby Stahr, CFP®
Marisa Stancroff
John Stanovich, CFP®
Philip Steele, AIF®
Caraline Stenslik, CFP®
Kyler Stephens
Elizabeth W. Stone
Jennifer Stott
Marisela Suarez
Robert J. Sullivan, CFP®
Alketa Sundquist
Colleen Supran, CFA
Amy Suri
Howard Sussman, CFP®, JD
Bonnie Suveerachaimontian, ChFC®
Scott Swanson, CFA
Brendan P. Sweeney, CFA
Pam Swenson
Michael Syer, CFP®
Claudia Sykora, CPA
Ayisha Tahir, JD
Sue Takano
Emily Taken-Vertz, CFP®
Jacob Talley
Matthew Taylor
Jonathan Taylor, CFA
Natalia Tchetchoulina
Shaadi Tehran
Andres Terronez
Eric Thompson, CFP®
Christian Thwaites
Dan Timotic, CFA
Patrick Tobin, CFP®
Jonatán Toledo
Scott Toomasson, FPQP
Justin Topping, CFA
Eric Towell, CFP®
William Tricarico
Brian Tu
Christopher Turso, CFP®
Brandon Tutak
Tinetta Tutt
Byron Udell, JD, CFP®, ChFC®, CLU®
Partner & Head of Risk Management
Amanda Ulczynski
Karina Valles
Myles VanderWeele, CFP®
Christine Vandrey
Juan Vasquez
Tania Vasquez
Cynthia Venturelli, FPQP
Andrew Verdeyen, CFP®
Peter L. Viehl, CFA
Daniel Vignola
Linda Wagner
Steve Walker
Thayer Walker
Todd Walklett, CFA, CFP®
Angella Wallace
Eric Warbrick, CPA
Jason Waters, CFP®
Jennifer Watson, CPA
Aaron Waxman, CFP®, CPA
Gail Weiss
Larry Weissman, CFA
Craig Wells
Kim Wilkinson
EmJay Williams
Katherine Willis, CFA
Matt Wojtowicz, CPA
Susan Wolf
Tracey Wood-Sanford, CPA
Zach Woodward, CFP®, AWMA®
Charles Wright
Jon Yankee, CFP®
Peter Yoon, CFA
Brendan Yospa
Dustan Zavatsky
Felix Zavisubin
Jeff Zych
By clicking “Submit”, you acknowledge that we collect your name, email address and phone number to respond to your inquiries and provide you information about our products and services in accordance with our Privacy Policy. If you are a California resident, please see our CCPA Notice to California Residents.
Curious about learning more? Let’s talk.
Tell us about yourself and your current financial situation without cost or obligation. Receive an introduction to a wealth management colleague, have a personal conversation, and get your questions answered.
