Our Team
Every member of our team brings a unique set of skills to the table, allowing us to serve you in a truly comprehensive way. We strive to build relationships that are the perfect blend of professional and personal, and we pride ourselves on being highly responsive and providing exceptional service every time.
Our clients deserve the best, and that’s why we’re very particular with who joins the Gould Financial Group family. We look for relationship-centric people who are exceptional at what they do and are passionate about serving others, and we believe our team is one of our greatest strategic advantages.
Our Team
Daniel W. Gould CLU®, ChFC®, CFP®
Founder and Private Wealth Advisor
WORK & EDUCATION
Daniel Gould works with thriving 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 PLANNERTM certification.
PERSONAL
Daniel resides in Northbrook, IL. In his free time, Dan enjoys visiting his cabin in northern Wisconsin, where he swims, boats, and camps with his daughters and friends. He enjoys playing golf and cards and has become quite a bourbon connoisseur.
WORK & EDUCATION
Raj Desai graduated from the University of Illinois-Champaign in 2004 with a finance and marketing degree. Raj has over ten years of experience with Northwestern Mutual and joined GFG in 2011. He specializes in helping physicians and other 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. They reside in Naperville, IL with their two daughters, Jasmine and Brianna. Raj loves playing and watching sports; he is a die-hard Cubs, Bears, Bulls, Blackhawks, and Illini fan.
WORK & EDUCATION
Zakry graduated from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University Bloomington in 2020 with a degree in Finance. Upon graduation, he joined Gould Financial Group.
Zakry is a passionate person driven to work with his clients for the long term. He values developing relationships to understand best his client's unique needs, desires, and goals. Doing so allows him to work alongside his clients to meet short- and long-term 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 & 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 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 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.
About Me
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Joel Brodsky became a client of GFG over twenty years ago when he was a young lawyer, and his wife, Amy, was a dermatology resident at the University of Chicago. Joel graduated from Indiana University in 1992 and the University of Illinois College of Law in 1995. He litigated from 1995 to 2006 and spent most of his legal career at Quarles & Brady LLP. After that, Joel recruited lawyers from 2006 through 2015 while also helping his wife, Amy, run her dermatology practice, The Derm. In 2015, Joel took over running The Derm full-time as President and helped build it to three offices with over 50 employees. Joel and Amy partnered with Forefront Dermatology in April 2021, a private equity-backed dermatology platform. Joel enjoys building client relationships and providing strategic advice to help promote company growth and objectives. Joel is excited about his new position as the Director of Business Development of GFG. He looks forward to using his experience to provide strategic advice to Dan and the team on executing growth objectives while focusing on superior client service as a core value of GFG. He also looks forward to building new relationships and bringing new clients to GFG.
Joel lives in Deerfield with his wife, Amy, and their children, Nicole and Jake. Joel enjoys playing golfing and playing Cubs games in his free time. He also enjoys traveling with his family.
WORK & EDUCATION
Kathy joined Northwestern Mutual in June of 1986, working at the Granum Agency, now Northwestern Mutual - Chicago, until she joined Gould Financial Group in June 2004. Her experience includes application processing, client relation services, and training and support for new associates, 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. Kathy enjoys spending as much time as possible with their enormous family and friends in her free time. She also enjoys reading, baking, and live music, especially if it’s her husband, Dave playing drums.
WORK & EDUCATION
Shane Quinlan graduated from the Quinlan School of Business at Loyola University Chicago in 2016 with a degree in Finance. Prior to joining Gould Financial Group as a Portfolio Manager, Shane was a financial planner focused on delivering holistic solutions to clients.
Shane now handles the trading and management of the portfolios at Gould Financial Group and can be a point of contact for anything investment related.
PERSONAL
Shane currently lives in the northwest suburbs of Chicago with his wife Melanie and his dog. Shane is an active member of the Dean’s Board of Advisors at the Quinlan School of Business. In his free time loves to play golf, cheer for the Bears, and spend time with his family.
WORK & EDUCATION
Alison joined Gould Financial Group in 2015 and manages all correspondence, communication, and scheduling for Dan’s clients and any insurance-related inquiries and processes. Her responsibilities also include managing the workflow of a lot of behind-the-scenes work to ensure our clients' satisfaction.
PERSONAL
Alison enjoys spending time with her husband, two children, and other family and friends. She enjoys concerts, festivals, and traveling in her free time and is a sucker for reality TV.
WORK & EDUCATION
Heather joined Gould Financial Group at 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 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
Heather enjoys spending time outside the office with her husband, three children, and a boxer pup. In her little free time, 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 & 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 ensuring 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 & EDUCATION
Sarah has worked for Northwestern Mutual since 2007 and with the Gould Financial Group since 2018. She holds her Illinois Life and Health License and Long Term Care.
Sarah handles the life and disability submission and underwriting processes, client service requests, and 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 & 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 the onboarding and servicing of new and existing investment accounts.
PERSONAL
Lisa lives in the suburbs with her family. She enjoys boating and being outdoors with her family and friends in her free time.
WORK & EDUCATION
Debbie has worked at Gould Financial Group for 15 years. She performs various office administrative duties such as license renewals, income, expense tracking, and database maintenance and ensures our client materials are 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 & EDUCATION
Hannah studied at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN. She graduated in May 2020 with a degree in Applied Health Science. Upon graduation, Hannah became a certified yoga teacher before joining Gould Financial Group.
PERSONAL
Hannah loves to spend time with her husband, Alex, friends, and her dog, Jackson. She loves to travel, cook and bake, and practice yoga.
WORK AND EDUCATION
Eric recently graduated from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities and holds a Life and Health Insurance license in Illinois.
Eric handles the onboarding of new investment accounts and servicing of existing accounts.
PERSONAL
Eric currently lives in the suburbs and enjoys spending free time with friends and family, playing and watching sports, and loves to travel.
WORK & EDUCATION
Katie transitioned into finance after working in healthcare for several years. She earned a Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Boston University in 2015. Katie always had a passion for helping people meet their wellness goals and now uses this philosophy to assist clients in obtaining their financial objectives. Katie was intimately involved in NorthShore Health System’s rehabilitation department operations. At Gould Financial Group, she oversees the coordination between the investment, insurance, and advisory teams.
PERSONAL
Katie lives in Highland Park with her husband and son. She enjoys teaching pilates, going for walks with her Bernedoodle, Enzo, and traveling to new and familiar places.
WORK & EDUCATION
Nicole transitioned to the investment team at Gould Financial Group after a career as a licensed healthcare professional in Wisconsin and Illinois. She obtained two degrees and certifications in Nuclear Medicine and Mortuary Science in Chicago and passionately used that to serve people during their time of need. Nicole carries her passion for serving clients to GFG, where she handles new and servicing existing investment accounts.
PERSONAL
Nicole lives in Buffalo Grove with her husband and dog, and in her free time, she enjoys cooking, traveling, fishing, boating, a day at Wrigley and other parks, or hanging out with family and friends.
WORK & EDUCATION
Becky transitioned into finance after working in healthcare for several years. She earned a Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Midwestern University in 2015. She continues to use her passion to assist people in meeting their financial needs. At Gould Financial Group, Becky works with the investment and insurance teams to ensure coordination and efficiency of services.
PERSONAL
Becky enjoys spending time with her family, walking her dog Mac, golfing and baking.
WORK AND EDUCATION
Michelle is a criminal justice graduate who holds her life and health license. Before joining Gould Financial Group, She worked as an independent Insurance advisor and investment assistant within a boutique firm. Michelle has taken her extensive knowledge, license, and commitment to GFG to fuel her passion for client support and engagement.
Michelle handles life and disability submissions, underwriting processes, and client relations for Dan and Zak’s clients. She will also be assisting with new and servicing insurance accounts.
PERSONAL
Michelle lives in Grayslake with her daughter and puppy Biscuit, while her significant other is in Seattle for work. She loves to travel, spend time with family and eat in her free time. Her love of food has her on a constant quest for the best gluten-free pastries in town.
About Me
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