Laura Varas is founder and CEO at Hearts & Wallets where she applies her experiences in participating in markets worldwide to create stronger connections between financial solutions and consumer needs. Laura is a thought leader who combines an in-depth knowledge of financial services with a proven ability to predict future trends. 

Laura has over 25 years of experience in retail finance, consumer packaged goods and strategy consulting. Prior to founding Hearts & Wallets, she held senior positions at Fidelity and Citibank, with earlier roles at Colgate-Palmolive, Grey Advertising and Mercer Management Consulting strategy practice.

Her line experience in financial services provided the insight to create Hearts & Wallets’ must-have databases that answer the questions leaders need to succeed. At Fidelity, Laura led product management, new product development and marketing for Fidelity's equity funds in the retail channel with responsibility for over 100 funds and $150 billion in assets across distribution channels. She drove over $4B in sales with an integrated marketing campaign, and was responsible for a loyalty program that resulted in at least $900MM of net flows. At Citibank, Laura spearheaded new branch openings and an advice software launch in South America.

Laura holds a B.A. in economics from Yale University and an MBA in marketing, strategy and decision sciences from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. She speaks Spanish, French and German. Laura is a competitive sailor, trained professional flutist and proud mother of three. She enjoys helping clients to achieve their best performances.

Jon guides Hearts & Wallets innovative interactive software products and the technology team. He has 25 years of experience in technology development, bringing together the skills of both a hardware and software engineer. Jon holds a U.S. patent for scan testing a digital system using scan chains in integrated circuits.

Prior to joining Hearts & Wallets, he held leadership positions at YLighting.com, Sun Microsystems, Bitmo, Inc., Crystal Dynamics, HeadGames, Inc., and Control Technology Corporate. Jon holds a B.S. in computer science and electrical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In his spare time Jon buys, builds, crashes, and then loses or rebuilds an assortment of remote controlled helicopters, airplanes, cars, trucks, blimps, hovercraft and robotic pets.

Liz Dow serves as vice president and relationship manager at Hearts & Wallets. In this role, she is the main contact for her clients, helping them make the most of Hearts & Wallets' resources to meet their business objectives. Liz is passionate in understanding the unique needs of each person she works with to identify solutions that support their success. She brings over 10 years of field experience to her role in advising Hearts & Wallets clients. Prior to joining Hearts & Wallets, Liz was a financial advisor at Wells Fargo and Merrill Lynch.

Liz holds a B.A. in political science with a minor in Russian from Hobart and William Smith College. She speaks Norwegian and some Russian. Liz hasn't met a sport she doesn't like and shares this passion with her three children. A voracious reader who keeps us all informed, Liz is also a nature lover who is at home in the woods or sailing on the water.

Anne Sapp is a relationship manager at Hearts & Wallets where she serves as a primary contact for clients. Anne brings 20-plus years of financial services experience, in particular in asset management, to shape client solutions. Prior to joining Hearts & Wallets, Anne was a financial advisor with Morgan Stanley, following a long career as a buy-side passive equity manager.  Anne led the equity index team at TIAA where she managed over $80 billion in indexed and socially responsible investing products. She also served as a co-team lead for equity index funds at Mellon Capital Management and as a fixed income portfolio manager at both Wells Capital and Bankers Trust Company.

Anne, CFA, holds a B.A. in Economics and French from Middlebury College and an MBA from Georgetown University. Anne lives in Marin County with her husband and two sons and enjoys reading as well as swimming in the Bay whenever possible.

Patrick oversees the design and management of DevOps for the Hearts & Wallets software products. He supports the company’s rapidly growing subscriber data and insights software solutions, drawing from his 20 years of experience in software development.

Patrick has a track record of delivering results in positions of increasing responsibility at YDG, Themis, Jopari, Cobalt and Qantel. He holds a B.S. in computer science from California State University, East Bay. Raised in the heart of Silicon Valley, Patrick is thrilled by the endless possibilities offered by the high-tech industry.

Betsy is a subject matter expert who oversees the Inside Advice^® personal finance advice benchmarking at Hearts & Wallets. She is responsible for both publicly available calculator assessments and confidential, supportive assessments working with clients.

Betsy brings over 25 years of customer-focused financial services experience to clients. Prior to joining Hearts & Wallets, her background included developing and executing innovative operating strategies to build advice and guidance delivery operations at TIAA and Voya Retirement. Her prior senior leadership roles also included Citicorp Diners Club and athenahealth, where she led strategies to improve Net Promoter Score, distinctiveness and client satisfaction scores. In addition, she built scalable and profitable process and technology platforms. Betsy received her B.A. in literature from Middlebury College and her MBA from Harvard University. She is an avid runner and cross-country skier and the proud mom of two adult daughters.

Lynn guides public relations and marketing at Hearts & Wallets. She works closely with journalists, providing Hearts & Wallets data and insights to fuel their stories. Lynn also oversees marketing communications and branding for the company.

Lynn is a seasoned professional with over 25 years of experience as a communications consultant and former journalist with The Boston Globe. Prior to joining Hearts & Wallets, she worked closely with many financial services and communications leaders, including Bank of America (Fleet), Comcast and Cox Communications. Lynn led public relations as Vice President of Leonard/Monahan, a recognized creative leader within the advertising industry. Earlier in her career, she managed the editorial team at FM Global, the world's largest business property insurer. She holds a B.A. in communications from Wake Forest University and an M.S. in journalism from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Ask her about her extensive fossil collection.

Stephanie Keating is a subject matter expert with Hearts & Wallets focusing on Inside Advice^® advice and guidance benchmarking.

Stephanie is responsible for publicly available calculator assessments and confidential, supportive assessments, working with Hearts & Wallets clients.

She brings over 30 years of financial services experience with expertise in financial planning, retirement, wealth management, sales, employee benefits, and learning and development. Most recently, Stephanie served in various leadership capacities for TIAA and has held leadership and line positions at leading financial institutions, including CIGNA Retirement & Investment Services (now Prudential) and Fleet Bank (now Bank of America).

She holds a B.A. in history from Lake Forest University and an M.A. in history from the University of New Hampshire. Her favorite activities are enjoying a good book on the beach, giving lectures on Tudor-Stuart England and checking out the local music scene.

Katherine is a subject matter expert with Hearts & Wallets, focusing on Explore Qualitative™.

Katherine has over 20 years of marketing experience in consumer and financial services. In her career, Katherine was head of International Marketing for TransUnion. She also held roles at Citibank and American Airlines. Katherine holds a B.A. in Spanish from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MBA in international business from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. She speaks Spanish. Katherine has an extreme case of wanderlust and has been to over 60 countries for both work and pleasure. She volunteers regularly in her community and has a little boy who dreams of playing for the Yankees.