Level Up Experts

Kathleen graduated from St. Louis University with degrees in Accounting and Theatre. She received her law degree and LL.M. in Taxation from the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis. She is the recipient of the Gary I. Boren Memorial Award for attaining the highest overall grade point average in the LL.M. program.

Kathleen specializes in estate, business and executive benefits planning and estate and executive compensation planning with life insurance. Formerly, she was a member of the Advanced Markets Group of MetLife, where she provided training and advanced underwriting support for the top producers of MetLife and its subsidiaries. Prior to joining GenAmerica Financial (a MetLife company) in 1996, she was in private practice.

She is a member of the Missouri, Illinois and Pennsylvania bars. She is a nationally recognized speaker and author and former adjunct professor in the LLM program at Washington University’s School of Law. She is a founding member of Affinity Law Group, LLC, a firm dedicated to providing legal services to businesses, their owners and executives at every stage of their life cycles. She is a member of the Business Insurance & Estate Planning Committee of the Association of Advanced Life Underwriting (AALU), and was selected as a Registered Player Financial Advisor for the National Football League Players Association. She was formerly on the Board of Directors of the St. Louis Chapter of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA) and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the St. Louis Children’s Hospital Legacy Advisors. She is a National Director of the Society of Financial Service Professionals. She was named one of Missouri Lawyers Weekly’s Up and Coming Lawyers and received the Accredited Estate Planner designation from the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils. She has presented at AALU and the Top of the Table Meeting for the Million Dollar Roundtable. Kathleen was selected for inclusion in Missouri and Kansas Super Lawyers in 2012-2019.

Kevin W. Cox is an advanced sales consultant for Lincoln Financial Distributors in Vienna, Virginia. Kevin's responsibilities include supporting the distribution of life insurance and annuities to the affluent and emerging affluent through financial planners. Kevin has worked extensively for 40 years with professional advisors and their clients at the intersection of products and concepts.

Kevin is past President of the Greater Washington DC Chapter of the Society of Financial Services Professionals. Kevin earned his B.A. in Business Administration from Montclair State University, Upper Montclair, New Jersey and a Master's Degree from the American College, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.

Kevin is a member of the Association for Advanced Life Underwriting, the Washington DC Estate Planning Council as well as the National Capital Chapter of the Financial Planning Association. Among his many speaking engagements, Kevin has been a featured speaker at the Maryland Life Underwriters convention addressing the pros and cons of Variable Universal Life and has addressed the Chicago Financial Planning Association on the merits of life insurance in a financial planning practice. He has also been a presenter for the Society for Financial Professionals Clinic for Advanced Planning. 

Keith M Gillies, CFP®, is the Managing Principal of Wealth Solutions, LLC and The Pension Center, LLC, and co-founder of United Wealth Advisors Group, LLC, where he serves as Chief Executive Officer. He began his career as a financial advisor in 1981 with a commitment to providing advice and strategies to individuals, professionals and business owners to help them achieve their personal, business and charitable goals.  

 Keith is an honor graduate of Tulane University’s A. B. Freeman School of Business with a M.B.A. and of the University of New Orleans with a B.A. in Political Science. He is a Certified Financial Planner, Chartered Life Underwriter, and Chartered Financial Consultant.

 Keith is a Registered Representative and Investment Advisor Representative with Ameritas Investment Corp., a member of FINRA/SIPC.  He is a leading representative of the Ameritas group of companies. Keith served many years in field including chairing the Broker-Dealer Task Force and as Chair of the prestigious Ameritas Field Advisory Cabinet, an elected team of advisors who work directly with the Ameritas senior leadership to shape strategies and product development. In 2013, Keith was named the Lester A. Rosen Humanitarian Award recipient for his service to his community, profession, and to the greater Ameritas family. In 2016, Keith was inducted into the Ameritas Hall of Fame.

Professionally, Keith currently serves as the Immediate Past-President of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, NAIFA. Prior to joining the NAIFA National Executive Committee, Keith was elected to two consecutive two-year terms to the National Board of Trustees. He is past-president of both greater NAIFA-Greater New Orleans and NAIFA-Louisiana. His honors include NAIFA-Greater New Orleans Member of the Year in 1997; NAIFA-Louisiana’s President’s Award in 2004; and NAIFA-Louisiana’s Arthur Abramson Member of the Year Award in 2007. He is also a life and qualifying member of the most prestigious financial services organization in the world, the Million Dollar Round Table with status as a Top of the Table member.

A lifelong resident of the greater New Orleans area, Keith currently resides in New Orleans, Louisiana with his wife, Cindy. They have five children. He enjoys reading, golf, cycling, traveling with his friends and family.

Ron earned an undergraduate degree in political science at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and received his law degree from Creighton University School of Law.  Ron received his CLU and ChFC designations from The American College, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.

Prior to joining Mutual of Omaha, he was in private practice in Omaha, Nebraska.  His practice was primarily focused on the general practice of law.

Ron’s current responsibilities include management of Advanced Markets support of all distribution channels.  His chief focus is on business and tax planning and he is also involved in the preparation and presentation of training seminars.

Additionally, Ron heads the Brokerage Field relations team.  This team acts as a liaison between the home office and field partners in contracting and producer performance issues.

Ron is a member of the Society of Financial Service Professionals, The Omaha Estate Planning Council, The Association for Advanced Life Underwriting, and is the former Chair of LIMRA’s Advanced Sales Committee.

Stacey joined Pacific Life's Advanced Designs Unit in 2008. Previously she worked in private practice, focusing on professional liability defense. Stacey received her Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in Chemistry Education from The Ohio State University, and her Juris Doctorate (J.D.) degree from Pepperdine University School of Law, where she was honored with the Dean's Award and Dean's List.

While at Pepperdine, Stacey studied abroad in London, United Kingdom, interned with a British barrister, and was a member of the top London Moot Court team. She also holds the Chartered Life Underwriter and Chartered Financial Consultant designations, and is a member of the State Bar of California and the United States District Court (Central District of California).

Outside of work, Stacey enjoys traveling, running, cheering on the Ohio State Buckeyes, and spending time with her family.

As the Second Vice President of Advanced Markets at Ameritas, Andrew leads a group of credentialed individuals that specializes in placing estate, business and retirement planning cases. His own expertise includes wealth preservation, estate planning, business planning, and executive benefits. He consults with insurance professionals and client’s tax advisors when appropriate to facilitate sales opportunities.

Andrew is a frequent speaker and has authored articles in Life Insurance Selling, Senior Market Advisor, National Underwriter, AALU and Journal of Financial Service Professionals. His speaking experience includes Forum 400, Clinic for Advanced Professionals, AALU and LIMRA Advanced Sales Forum. He is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Financial Service Professionals

Prior to joining Ameritas, Andrew was the Director of the Advanced Sales Center at MetLife and previously held roles at Principal Financial Group and Mutual of Omaha where he specialized in business and estate planning.

Andrew obtained his B.S. from Midland University and received honors as an Academic and Athletic All-American. He was inducted into the NAIA Athletic Hall of Fame in May of 2007.

Mark A. Teitelbaum joined AXA Equitable in June 2006 to manage the Advanced Markets and Marketing efforts of AXA Distributors — Life Division. Additionally, he is one of the attorneys responsible for handling field calls in the areas of business, estate and retirement planning. Mark’s primary focus, however, is in developing sales tools and marketing campaigns to position AXA’s life insurance.

Prior to joining AXA, Mark was Vice President, Advanced Sales, at MetLife Investors and Second Vice President of Advanced Marketing at Travelers Life & Annuity. In those roles, he primarily focused on developing sales tools to help integrate client-based approaches with proprietary life insurance illustration systems.

Mark was also Second Vice President of Advanced Marketing at Phoenix Life Insurance Company and managed the Advanced Sales group at National Life of Vermont. He also worked at Connecticut Mutual in both their Advanced Marketing area and their small business initiatives group. Mark has also done tax and business planning work for a Boston area firm that specialized in executive stock option planning and a CPA firm that specialized in estate planning for business owners.

Mark is currently an Assistant Editor of the Journal of the American Society of Financial Service Professionals and was previously the editor of the American Society’s Business & Compensation Planning Section Newsletter.

Mark also actively participates with the Association for Advanced Life Underwriting (AALU). He is currently the chairman of their Wealth Transfer subcommittee and on the selection committee for their 2017-18 Board of Directors. He previously served on the selection committee for the 2016 meeting workshops.

He has published articles in several professional journals. These include a March 2005 in the Journal of the Society of Financial Service Professionals which discussed issues related to Trust-Owned Life Insurance. He is a regular contributor to the National Underwriter as well as the American Society’s Business & Compensation Planning Section Newsletter. In 2010, Mark co-authored an article for Estate Planning titled,
“Validity of Shark-Fin CLATs Remains in Doubt Despite IRS Guidance.” More recently he published an article in the April 2013 issue of Trusts & Estates, Using Life Insurance Policy Design to Maximize Death Benefit. He also was published in the fall 2014 issue of The Wealth Channel, Smooth Sailing on Uncertain Waters, focusing on using life insurance to steady retirement portfolio fluctuations.

Mark is a graduate of Kenyon College and obtained his law degree and LL.M. (Master of Law) at both Ohio Northern University and Boston University. He also holds a CLU and ChFC.