New Partners Boast 27 Years Collectively at Growing Wealth Management Firm With More Than $1 Billion AUM and an Award-Winning Staff

Stonebridge Financial Group, LLC, recently named a Best Wealth Management Firm winner in the 2021 Central Penn Business Journal Reader Rankings[1] with over $1 billion assets under management (AUM), has elevated four employees to partner, effective at the close of business on December 31.

In a highly competitive industry navigating unparalleled market conditions, Jeffrey Kline, C(k)P®, CRPS®, AIF®; Brad Sanders, CFP®, CRPC®; Kristopher Korzi, CFP®, AIF®; and Cody Gehman, CPA, have made valuable contributions to the firm while helping clients achieve their short- and long-term goals.

“Our four new partners, who have a collective tenure of 27 years with us, bring great value to our organization and clients on a daily basis,” said Director Brian McCarver, CFP®, CIMA®. “We’re fortunate to employ such experienced and community-focused team members, and we welcome them to partner status.”

All four new partners proved instrumental in Stonebridge’s recognition by CPBJ as the Best Wealth Management Firm and a more recent honor as one of the top 10 Best Places to Work in Central PA in 2021[2]. They have also aided the firm in reaching the notable milestone of having at least $1 billion AUM for three straight years.

Stonebridge has grown at an impressive pace over that time. Last spring, the firm opened a second office, this one in Lancaster.

“This is an exciting step for Stonebridge as we continue to expand,” said Director Jonathan Freeman, CFP®, CFA, CIMA®. “These four new partners believe firmly in our mission to build a solid financial future that lasts for our clients. They have all demonstrated outstanding leadership and made tangible contributions to our clients’ ability to realize and secure financial goals spanning multiple generations.”

Kline is a Senior Financial Advisor heading the 401K practice at Stonebridge, where he has worked since 2007. Twice, Kline has earned notice as one of the Financial Times 401 Top Retirement Advisers in the United States, an honor bestowed on an elite cohort of advisors who specialize in serving defined contribution (DC) retirement. This year, Kline also played a key role in opening the Lancaster office, where he is one of three advisors.

“Jeff is essential to our firm. He sees the value in relationships and creating new connections,” Freeman said. “He is responsible for bringing in a significant amount of new business over the years, currently managing over 120 corporate retirement plans with more than 6,000 participants.”

Korzi heads the Portfolio Management Team as a Senior Portfolio Analyst, creating investment strategies emphasizing cost and tax efficiency. His team handles portfolio management for nearly 775 households and helps lead the Stonebridge investment committee. He has been with Stonebridge since 2015, and he assists financial advisors with the entire client management process while also providing investment analysis for retirement plan and institutional consulting clients.

“Kris built the models for our portfolio management system, which has matured our portfolio management process into a proprietary organization-wide tool,” said McCarver. “He is extremely firm-centric and attuned to growth opportunities for Stonebridge.”

Sanders is a Senior Financial Advisor who joined Stonebridge in 2018. He has more than a decade of experience in the financial services industry and focuses on developing multi-generational planning strategies that help people reach their financial objectives. A 2020 graduate of the Leadership Harrisburg Area program, Sanders manages over 175 households, surpassing $100 million in assets under management.

“Brad is a gifted communicator who does amazing work with clients. He has been a model advisor for us,” Freeman said. “He’s also very active in the nonprofit world, where he currently serves on the board at Open Stage of Harrisburg and on the marketing committee with Hospice of Central PA.”

Gehman joined Stonebridge in 2017 as Practice Manager, overseeing firm operations including accounting, human resources, technology, marketing, workflows and client operations staff. He heads the Client Operations Team and spearheaded the adoption of advanced technology that helped the firm make a seamless transition to temporary virtual working when the pandemic hit in 2020. That same year, Gehman was selected one of Harrisburg Young Professionals’ “20 in their 20s,” honoring his workplace and community contributions to the Harrisburg area.

“Cody has taken on new responsibilities with every passing year,” McCarver said. “He actively searches out ways he can help support our work with clients, making our firm more effective for those clients. He enters each meeting and each interaction at Stonebridge prepared not just to participate but to lead.”

Stonebridge’s tremendous growth over the past 18 months has resulted in five new hires, including one at the newly opened Lancaster office. Stonebridge earned a spot in PLANADVISER Magazine’s 2020 national top 100 Retirement Plan Advisors[3].

[1] Disclosure-Eligibility Criteria for CPBJ Reader Rankings Award: Third-party rankings and recognitions are no guarantee of future investment success and do not ensure that a client or prospective client will experience a higher level of performance or results. These ratings should not be construed as an endorsement of the advisor by any client nor are they representative of any one client’s evaluation. This award is not indicative of future investment performance and may not be representative of individual clients’ experience.

[2] Disclosure-Eligibility Criteria for CPBJ Best Places to Work Award: Third-party rankings and recognitions are no guarantee of future investment success and do not ensure that a client or prospective client will experience a higher level of performance or results. These ratings should not be construed as an endorsement of the advisor by any client nor are they representative of any one client’s evaluation. This award is not indicative of future investment performance and may not be representative of individual clients’ experience.

[3] Disclosure-Eligibility Criteria for PLANADVISER Magazine’s 2020 national top 100 Retirement Plan Advisors list: The “PLANADVISER Top 100 Retirement Plan Advisers” list is compiled from responses to the PLANADVISER Retirement Plan Adviser Survey. The list is drawn solely from a set of quantitative variables and information in the survey supplied by the advisers themselves. For an adviser to be eligible for recognition in the 2019 Top 100, he had to submit a completed entry to our 2018 Retirement Plan Adviser Survey. A sub-segment of the questions was used to determine eligibility for the Top 100.