Our Team
The relationships we have with our clients are the perfect blend of professional and personal. We strive to create a client experience that is responsive and reliable. Look to our team to create personalized, dynamic financial plans by listening and understanding our clients’ needs.
Daniel W. Gould , CLU®, ChFC®, CFP®
Founder and Private Wealth Advisor
Daniel W. Gould , CLU®, ChFC®, CFP®
Founder and Private Wealth Advisor
Work & Education
Daniel Gould works with successful businesses, professionals, and high net worth individuals and families with complex financial pictures. What he values most is developing and building personal relationships with our clients. Daniel can provide you with risk protection and investment solutions that can help make your financial goals a reality. He helps clients, throughout their lifetime, to understand what situations they need to prepare for and which assets they need to protect. Daniel will help you qualify your goals and objectives, identify your assets and liabilities and compare what you have to what you want.
Daniel graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History. He has been with Northwestern Mutual since 1991 and has earned the Chartered Life Underwriter(CLU) and Chartered Financial Consultant(ChFC) designations as well as the Certified Financial Planner(CFP) certification.
Personal
Daniel lives in Northbrook with his wife, Amy and their children, Hannah and Sophie. In his free time Dan enjoys visiting his cabin in northern Wisconsin where he swims, boats and camps with his family and friends. He also enjoys playing golf and cards and has become quite a bourbon connoisseur.
Our Team
Work and Education
Raj Desai graduated from the University of Illinois-Champaign in 2004, with a degree in Finance and Marketing. Raj has over ten years of experience with Northwestern Mutual and teamed up with Dan in 2011. He specializes in helping physicians and other high-income, high net worth professionals. Raj works with clients all across the country, helping them create and maintain long-term financial game plans.
Personal
Raj has been married to his wife, Veronica, since 2014. Their daughter, Jasmine, decided to surprise them in December 2016 by arriving two months early. They currently reside in Lincoln Square. In his free time, Raj loves playing and watching sports; he is a die-hard Cubs, Bears, Bulls, Blackhawks, and Illini fan.
Work and Education
Zakry Levitt graduated from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University Bloomington in 2020 with a degree in Finance. Upon graduation, he teamed up with Dan, Raj and Nancy.
Zakry is a passionate person driven to work with his clients for the long term. He values developing relationships to best understand his client's unique needs, desires, and goals. Doing so gives him the ability to work alongside his clients to meet both short and longterm objectives.
Personal
Having grown up in Winter Park, Florida, Zakry now lives in Chicago. In his free time, he loves visiting his family in Utah where he enjoys Skiing, Rock Climbing, and all things Outdoors, along with spending time with his friends.
Work and Education
Nancy Kreis graduated from Lewis University in 2018, with a degree in Business Administration & Finance. Nancy was previously a recruiter with Northwestern Mutual before she decided to transition into a Financial Representative role on Dan Gould’s team in August of 2020. With a passion for helping women, power couples, and business owners, Nancy helps create strategic plans for her clients so they can live financially free and reach their long-term financial goals.
Personal
Nancy lives in Channahon with her husband, Trent, and their puppy, Finley. Nancy and Trent own two boutique gyms in the Chicagoland area, which is where Nancy’s passion for helping business owners began. In her free time, she enjoys running, traveling, and boating with her friends and family.
Work and Education
Kathy joined Northwestern Mutual in June of 1986 working at the Granum Agency now Northwestern Mutual- Chicago until she joined forces with Dan in June of 2004. Her experience includes application processing, client relation services and training & support for new associates in the New Business, underwriting and client service areas.
Kathy works behind the scenes at GFG and focuses her attention on the operational efficiencies of our team to ensure that the day to day operations run smoothly.
Personal
Kathy lives in Lindenhurst with her husband, Dave. In her free time Kathy enjoys spending as much time as possible with their enormous family and friends. She also enjoys to read, bake and live music, especially if it’s her husband Dave playing drums.
Work and Education
Chuck is our Director of Wealth Management Services, and head of our investment department. He has been with Northwestern since 2000, and joined Dan’s team in 2002. In that time he has been actively involved with all aspects of Dan’s work with his clients, from tax planning and investment management, to insurance and estate planning. Because of his years of experience, and familiarity with all aspects of Dan’s work with his clients, he should be your main point of contact after Dan, for anything you need regarding your overall financial planning. Chuck and his investment team can also help you with making deposits, getting copies of statements, or understanding your investment portfolio.
Personal
Chuck lives in Chicago with his wife Kate, and their two cats and two dogs. When he’s not helping you with your financial planning, he has a multitude of hobbies that include running, bicycling, working on old cars, designing and building custom lamps, or rehabbing a room of his old Chicago two-flat.
Work and Education
Alison joined Gould Financial Group in 2015 and manages all correspondence, communication and scheduling for Dan’s clients as well as any insurance related inquiries and processes. Her responsibilities also include managing the workflow of a lot of behind the scenes work to ensure the satisfaction of each of our clients.
Personal
Alison enjoys spending time with her husband and two children, along with other family and friends. In her free time, she enjoys concerts, festivals, traveling and is a sucker for reality TV.
Work and Education
Heather joined Gould Financial Group in the beginning of 2013. Heather is the main point of contact for Raj’s clients and is responsible for all client correspondence, communication and scheduling. Her day to day activities include helping with any client inquiries, scheduling, prospecting, monitoring current policies, setting up presentations for residency and fellowship programs, and organizing client events. Heather is here to manage the workflow of Raj's practice to ensure all clients' needs are met.
Personal
Outside of the office, Heather enjoys spending time with her husband, 2 daughters and boxer pup. In the little free time she has, she enjoys taking her dog on runs and tries to get outside as much as possible. Once warm weather hits, she loves barbeques and summer festivals.
Work and Education
Jessica has been a member of the Gould Financial Group since January 2016. She holds a Life and Health Insurance license in Illinois.
Jessica works behind the scenes preparing materials for each client meeting. This includes binding review packets, updating personal planning analyses and running new illustrations. In addition, she is responsible for making sure client insurance and investment summaries are accurate and up to date.
Personal
In her free time, Jessica enjoys watching & attending sporting events (Go Bears! Go Cubs! Go Blackhawks!) She also loves spending time with her friends, her husband Nickolas and her pets.
Work and Education
Sarah has been working for Northwestern Mutual since 2007 and with the Gould Financial Group since 2018. She holds her Illinois Life and Health License as well as Long Term Care.
Sarah handles the life and disability submission and underwriting processes, client service requests as well as all meeting preparation for Raj.
Personal
Sarah lives in Libertyville with her husband, Jeff and their two kids, Mason and Riley. In her free time Sarah enjoys traveling to warmer weather, exploring the great outdoors, cooking and spending time with her friends and family.
Work and Education
Amela graduated from Roosevelt University with an MBA in Finance. She joined Northwestern Mutual in 2017 as an Investment Assistant. Amela currently holds her Series 7 and Illinois Life and Health license.
She is responsible for day to day management of our clients’ investment accounts and portfolio research and design.
Personal
In her free time, Amela enjoys travelling, spending time with her family and friends and exploring new restaurants.
Work and Education
Lisa has been working for Northwestern Mutual since 2015. She holds her Series 6 and 63 and Illinois Life and Health licenses.
Lisa handles onboarding and servicing of new and existing investment accounts.
Personal
Lisa lives in the suburbs with her family. In her free time she enjoys boating and being outdoors with her family and friends.
Work and Education
Debbie has been with Dan for almost 15 years. She performs various office administrative duties such as: license renewals, income and expense tracking, database maintenance and makes sure our client files are kept organized and compliant.
Personal
Debbie lives in Buffalo Grove with her husband, Dave and their children, Brittany and Zach. In her free time she enjoys long walks, playing mah jongg, watching and playing sports and hanging out with friends and family.
Work and Education
Before joining Gould Financial Group, she studied at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN. She graduated in May of 2020 with a degree in Applied Health Science. This past summer, she became a certified yoga teacher upon completing a 200 hour training course.
Personal
When she is not working, she loves to travel, practice yoga, play with her puppy and spend time in the kitchen.
Work and Education
Sara attended school in New York City, at Baruch. She graduated with a Bachelor’s in Corporate Communication and a minor in Law and Policy. She started working in the fitness industry as a trainer out of school and then moved to the corporate sector a few years ago.
Personal
In her free time she is an avid cycler and loves spending time with her new niece.