About us

MEMPHIS AREA TEAM MEMBERS

	Lonnie Epperson President \| Estate Planning Advisor For more than 14 years, Lonnie Epperson has been helping the self-employed and senior market by providing in-depth advice with their family’s healthcare needs, safe-strategy retirement solutions, and making sure they are protected to the best of their abilities. He has made it his goal to work directly with consumers who want to protect the nest eggs they’ve worked hard their whole lives to accumulate, and educate them so they understand the steps they are taking to protect their assets and interests. It’s this personal experience of having dinner table conversations with consumers that has driven Lonnie to always be on the lookout for what clients need that the financial industry might not be offering. While spending a majority of his time meeting with seniors approaching the Medicare market, he recognized a deep divide between people who had a plan to protect and enjoy their wealth in retirement and those who were not only at risk of outliving their retirement savings, but also at risk for having their legacy mishandled by unprepared heirs. This led him to seek out the best minds in the industry, financial planners, and software engineers who had been perfecting a solution to solve this very important problem. Lonnie and his team at The Advisor Group devote themselves to connecting consumers with the financial professionals and the education they need to make informed financial solutions on the future of their estates. This revolutionary solution, known as eStatePlan™, lets people bypass the expense and intimidation of consulting a high-priced attorney to prepare an estate plan the old-fashioned way. But Lonnie and his team are not stopping there. Answering the call to serve others through philanthropy, The Advisor Group is helping non-profits across America raise funds for their causes by offering eStatePlan™ to their donors. This cutting-edge approach solves several fundraising issues for the charity, including generating both short-term and long-term contributions. It also solves donors’ desire for a cost-efficient, streamlined estate planning solution. Lonnie pledges to continue his quest for finding ways to help Americans protect their futures, fund their favorite causes and leave lasting legacies.
	Kelley Nelson Marketing \| Estate Planning Advisor For the past 6 years Kelley has been focused on saving people money while providing quality healthcare coverage. Her passion for helping people made joining the estate planning team at The Advisor Group a natural choice. Kelley has seen firsthand through her many years in the real estate business both the positive and negative impacts of having or not having an estate plan in place. This experience allows her to personally relate to her clients while she shares her knowledge in an effort to give people a plan that they can count on when they need it the most. Kelley leads our marketing efforts as she wants to let everyone know about the importance of estate planning and the services offered at The Advisor Group! Kelley’s parents influenced her mindset for helping people. Her mother, Martha, volunteered for 25 years at St. Jude. Her father, Richard, had a huge heart for helping people and was her mentor. He taught her an immense amount about the details and importance of estate planning. Kelley raised two amazing sons, Don Nelson and Ryan Nelson and has three beautiful granddaughters Martha, Caroline and Sunny. Kelley has had her Arkansas real estate license for 37 years. She is proud that her sons are active in the family real estate business, Williford Realty Company, in their hometown of Marion, Arkansas. She loves everything about living in downtown Memphis, especially the food, live music, sunsets and the people! Kelley served on the Marion Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. She assisted in founding the Downtown Memphis BNI Chapter (Business Networking International), and served as Secretary/Treasurer for the group. Kelley enjoys volunteering with Streetdog Foundation, scuba diving and travel when possible.
	Michael Stephens Estate Planning Advisor Although a native of Louisiana, Michael has lived in Memphis for the past 20 years and has truly embraced the 901. A career in paper manufacturing initially brought him to Memphis with job assignments in marketing, product development, and supply chain operations. In 2018, he found a new calling – helping small business owners, the self-employed, and early retirees find healthcare plans that met their needs and budget. One question Michael was consistently asked is how to plan and fund long term care. This is quickly becoming the most important question for estate planning, as almost 80% of those over 65 will need some type of long term care. Knowing this, Michael sought out a solution, which landed him at The Advisor Group. Through the Advisor Group’s team of legal, financial, and tax mitigation specialists, the estate plan you put in place can address those long care needs and protect your assets, your income and your legacy for generations. Michael is an alumnus of Louisiana Tech University and enjoys following the Bulldogs’ sports teams and especially tailgating with his family and friends for home football games. His love for sports also extends to the New Orleans Saints, the Memphis Grizzlies, and the St. Louis Cardinals. With the recent addition of professional soccer to the Memphis landscape, he also holds season tickets for Memphis 901 FC. Cooking on game days led him and his family into competitive cooking on the BBQ and steak circuits although most of the success has been in the chicken wing category as well as gumbo and jambalaya.
	Valerie Carpenter Estate Planning Advisor For Valerie, estate planning is personal. Her family has been involved in real estate for as long as she can remember and have seen many families devastated by the probate process.

NATIONAL TEAM MEMBERS

	Andrew Victor Vice President \| Director of Planning Strategies Andrew Auchincloss Victor has more than 24 years of experience in financial services. He specializes in strategies for Tax-efficient Income Planning, Wealth Transfer, Estate Planning, Business Succession and Insurance Planning. Victor supports advisors by presenting to their clients (and clients’ attorneys and accountants) complex and comprehensive solutions through succinct yet actionable guidance. Harvard graduate 24 years of experience in financial services Consults on risk and tax mitigation strategies with a focus on lifetime income
	Jennifer Surmacz Chief Counsel In her role, Jennifer uses her experience in Estate Planning, Probate, Contracts, and other legal disciplines to review each eStatePlan™ file and collaborate with the eStatePlan™ team to ensure compliance with the client’s goals, objectives, and wishes. She works with client’s to review finished documents for approving their efficacy, suitability, and accuracy.
	Stacy Pearson Universal Guardian Trust Stacy brings an incredible background where she has legislated and advocates for individuals who have no voice. She has also spoken multiple times at the United Nations which brings a very unique perspective to our team approach. Stacy wears many hats at any given time and works directly with our Advisor Partners on training and mentoring them with amazing success to grow their business. Her personal style and professionalism stand apart from what most Advisors have experienced in this competitive industry.
	Veronica Hill Financial Planning & Tax Mitigation In 1999 Veronica began her career in the financial sector on the securities side of the industry where she was Series 7 and Series 65 licensed. She moved to the life insurance side of the industry in 2005, working for a brokerage agency. Her journey on the life insurance side began in underwriting, assisting agents and their clients with obtaining the best possible offers by working hand in hand with the underwriters throughout the underwriting process. She then moved to the marketing side of the business, where she has been assisting agents by helping them to determine what is best suited for their clients based on both financial and medical information on hand.
	Noell Holmberg Director of Life Insurance Noell’s experience as a medical surgery nurse, specializing in cardiology and neurology, gives her invaluable credibility when working with underwriters. Her persuasive advocacy results in insurers green-lighting client cases they may have otherwise denied. And her experience in handling jumbo life cases, whether $65 million or $450 million, adds even greater value to advisors and their high-net-worth clients.
	Ciara Lister, Esq. Network Attorney As a network attorney for eStatePlan™ Ciara Lister believes in three key pillars: planning, preparation, and prevention. A full-scholarship graduate of Ave Maria School of Law in Naples, Fla., Lister began her law career as a Commercial Insurance Litigator in Boca Raton. She began seeing clients and her close friends struggle with the negative effects of probate proceedings, from dwindling inheritances to families destroyed by battles over money. This motivated her to change her focus to Estate Planning so she could help people avoid these issues before it was too late, rather than perform legal triage when the damage to families and their legacies had already been done.