Invest in Others, InvestmentNews announce Community Leadership Awards finalists

The Invest in Others Charitable Foundation and InvestmentNews have announced the finalists for the sixth annual Community Leadership Awards.
The awards, which will be presented Sept. 13, honor financial advisers who make a difference in their communities.
Awards will be presented in four individual categories and one group category.
The individual awards are the Mentoring Excellence Award, the Volunteer of the Year Award, the Community Service Award and the Global Community Impact Award. The group award is the Volunteer Team Award.
The Invest in Others Charitable Foundation and InvestmentNews received more than 250 nominations for this year’s awards.
In the Community Service category, the adviser finalists are Karen C. Altfest of Altfest Personal Wealth Management in New York, for Yorkville Common Pantry; Matthew J. Barbis of Creative Wealth Management LLC in Islandia, N.Y., for Rose Brucia Educational Foundation; and David Steadly of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC in New York, for Hyde Leadership Charter School.
In the Mentoring Excellence category, the adviser finalists are Roger Carlson of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Chicago, for Working In The Schools; David Plyler of Gleneagles Group LLC in Atlanta, for Atlanta Youth Academy; and Chad Tischer of DiMeo Schneider & Associates LLC in Chicago, for Midtown Educational Foundation.
In the Volunteer of the Year category, the adviser finalists are David L. Blaydes of Retirement Planners International Inc. in Naperville, Ill., for the Wellness House; William M. Hull of the Capital Group LLC in Overland Park, Kan., for Heartstrings Community Foundation; and James E. Pearman Jr. of Partners in Financial Planning LLC in Salem, Va., for Mountain Valley Charitable Foundation.
For the Volunteer Team Award, the adviser finalists are Nathan J Bachrach and Edward J Finke of the Financial Network Group Ltd. in Cincinnati, for Honor Flight Tri-State; Erica Coogan and Kathryn Garrison of Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC in Seattle, for Boys and Girls Clubs of King County InfluenceHer Program; and Roger P. Theis of Merrill Lynch in Oak Brook, Ill., for Children’s Home + Aid.
In the Global Community Impact category, the adviser finalists are Carl F Bailey Jr of Bailey & Beatty Financial Services LLC in Danbury, Conn., for Connecticut Quest for Peace; Scott Sweat of Alpha Omega Group Wealth Management Inc. in Alexandria, Va., for David’s Hope International; and Mark Wise of Northwestern Mutual Investment Services in Indianapolis, for Timmy Global Health.
The Invest in Others Charitable Foundation will donate $20,000 to the charity designated by each category’s honoree. It will also donate $5,000 to each of the finalists’ charities.
The awards ceremony will be held at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York.
Proceeds from the awards dinner will go to the Boston-based Invest in Others Charitable Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3) charity that supports philanthropic and volunteer activities among advisers in the United States.
This year’s keynote speaker will be Charles Best, who established DonorsChoose.org, an online charity that pairs willing donors with meaningful causes of their choice. Since its inception 12 years ago, DonorsChoose.org has helped to provide books, technology, classroom supplies, field trips and educational resources to more than 6.7 million schoolchildren across the nation.