Finalists announced for 2011 Community Leadership Awards

The Invest in Others Charitable Foundation and InvestmentNews today announced the finalists for the fifth annual Community Leadership Awards. The awards, which will be presented Sept. 14, 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 the Mentoring Excellence Award, the Volunteer of the Year Award, the Community Service Award and the Global Community Impact Award. The group award is Volunteer Team Award,
Nearly 300 nominations were received for this year’s Community Leadership Awards.
In the Community Service category, the adviser finalists are Richard S. Brown of JNBA Financial Advisors in Minneapolis (primary custodian: TD Ameritrade) for Special Olympics Minnesota; Michael Curran of CAPTRUST Financial Advisors in Raleigh, N.C. (broker-dealer: CapFinancial Partners LLC) for Triangle Aquatic Center; and Dennis Stearns of Stearns Financial Services Group in Greensboro, N.C. (primary custodians: Schwab and TD Ameritrade) for the YMCA of Greensboro.
In the Mentoring Excellence category, the adviser finalists are David Benning of Ameriprise Financial Services in Minneapolis for Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Twin Cities; Grant Blindbury of FMB Wealth Management in Westlake Village, Calif. (broker-dealer: Independent Financial Group) for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ventura County; and Gerald Ray of Gerald L. Ray and Associates in Dallas (primary custodian: Schwab) for Aggies on Wall Street.
In the Volunteer of the Year category, the adviser finalists are Mary Bersot of Bersot Capital Management LLC in Mill Valley, Calif. (primary custodian: Fidelity Investments) for MedShare; Germaine Broussard of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC in McLean, Va., for TroopTreats.com; and Andy Seth of LotusGroup Advisors LLC in Denver (primary custodian: TD Ameritrade) for Minds Matter of Denver Inc.
In the group category — for the Volunteer Team Award — the adviser finalists are Randy Carver of Carver Financial Services in Mentor, Ohio, (broker-dealer: Raymond James Financial Inc.) for Rotary Club of Mentor bone marrow project; Barry Engelman of Ameriprise Financial Services in Los Angeles for National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Southern California & Nevada chapter; and E.J. Rabell of Defender Capital in Charlotte, N.C., (broker-dealer: LPL Financial LLC) for National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Mid-Atlantic chapter.
In the Global Community Impact category, the adviser finalists are Bruce Kusmin of Mariner Wealth Advisors in Leawood, Kan. (primary custodian: Fidelity) for the Global Orphan Project; Dave Polstra of Brightworth in Atlanta (primary custodian: Schwab) for Medical Missions Ministries; and R. Stephen Werner of Exemplar Financial Network in Walworth, Wis. (broker-dealer: Financial Network Investment Corp.) for Health Education Africa Resource Team (HEART).
As in all the years past, the Invest in Others Charitable Foundation will make generous donations to the charity designated by each category’s honoree. Furthermore, Invest in Others will make a donation to each of the finalists’ charities.
Proceeds from the awards dinner will go to the Invest in Others Charitable Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3) charity that supports philanthropic and volunteer activities among financial advisers in the United States.
Since 2010, these 15 adviser finalists have personally donated $578,000 and raised nearly $2.3 million for their charities, which serve causes such as needy and at-risk children, disease research and awareness campaigns, people with disabilities, community poverty and aid to impoverished countries.
The awards ceremony will be held at Cipriani 42nd Street in Manhattan, beginning at 6 p.m. The keynote speaker will be chef Jeff Henderson, host of Food Network’s The Chef Jeff Project.
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