"I founded Impact Financial after working as a Senior Financial Advisor at some of the largest Registered Investment Advisory firms in the country. I held various investment, tax, & planning leadership roles which contributes to the comprehensive approach that I maintain today.
During this time, I worked with many unique individuals & families and quickly saw the need for tailored services.
Templated plans, generic calculators and cookie cutter model portfolios don’t cut it and don’t address unique financial complexities & needs.
You are unique and your financial advice should be too.
It’s with this focus that I founded Impact Financial, offering comprehensive tailored advice to better help you meet your goals."
Founder & Lead Advisor
Brett Spencer, CFP®, CEPA, GFP
Education:
Professional
Designations:
Organizations:
Education:
Professional
Designations:
Organizations:
University of Illinois - Undergraduate degree in personal financial planning
Texas Tech University - Master's degree in personal financial planning
- CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER (CFP®)
- Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA)
- Global Financial Planner (GFP)
TM
- Currently on the 100 Fund board, which is a group focused on helping people achieve their "bucket list" goals.
Planning Associate
Ellie Heneman
Our Team & Partnerships
Tax Advisor
Kayla Vandegoede, CPA, EA
Investment Research
Nicolas Rabener, CAIA
Planning Associate
Ellie Heneman
As a Planning Associate, Ellie works closely with our advisory team and clients to support everything from plan design and analysis to day‑to‑day follow through.
Ellie brings valuable experience from her previous roles as an Investment Consultant at Charles Schwab and as an Associate Financial Planner at a boutique private wealth RIA.
Ellie holds the Series 65, Series 7, and Series 63 licenses and a bachelor's degree in personal financial planning.
She has a passion for wealth management as it allows her to leverage her analytical skills to create meaningful, tangible outcomes for clients.
Outside of work, Ellie serves her community as a volunteer with Do It For Daron, a nonprofit that promotes youth mental health awareness. She is also an avid reader who enjoys cooking, spending time with family, and practicing Pilates.
Tax Service Partner
Andrew Balderson, CPA, MT
Andrew helps with tax filing and planning for clients. Andrew also helps Impact Financial stay on top of any tax law changes and tax planning opportunities for clients.
Andrew began his career in Columbus, Ohio with Coopers & Lybrand, the predecessor to PricewaterhouseCoopers where he focused on working with closely held and family-owned businesses. While at PwC, he spent a year with the transaction services group helping clients buy and sell their businesses. He left PwC in 2005 and continued working with individuals and business owners as a CPA, ultimately starting his own accounting practice in November 2012.
Andrew graduated cum laude from California State University, Long Beach in 1991 with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and completed his master’s in taxation at Capital University Law School in Columbus, Ohio.
Investment Research
Nicolas Rabener, CAIA
Nicolas and his team specialize in providing a deep level of investment research to institutional firms like Impact Financial.
Nicolas leverages prior roles at global institutions including Credit Suisse (equity derivatives), Merrill Lynch (equity research), Citigroup (investment banking), GIC (private equity and real estate), and Jackdaw Capital (hedge funds and venture capital) to support his investment research process.
Nicolas holds a Chartered Alternative Investment Advisor (CAIA) designation as well as a master's degree in finance & accounting.
Insurance Planning Partner
Leigh Harter, CFP®, ChFC, TEP
Leigh has over 20 years of experience and a distinctive track record of wealth transfer and insurance expertise that includes all aspects of high-net-worth life insurance ranging from advanced underwriting and life settlement negotiation to portfolio analysis and case design.
As a renowned expert in her field, Leigh has been published in Trusts and Estates magazine and the Journal of Practical Estate Planning on topics such as “Holistic Estate Planning” and “Succession Planning.” She helped develop and teach a national program to educate law firms, trust companies, and family offices on changes in the insurance industry, as well as the opportunities and risks of holding life insurance capital. Leigh's contributions and experience in writing and speaking about life insurance have made her a frequent, in-demand presenter at industry events.
Leigh graduated from DePaul University with a B.S. in Business Administration and Economics, magna cum laude. She is a Certified Financial Planner™ and Registered Investment Advisor. She also holds the NASD Series 7 and 66 certifications. She is a member of the Chicago Finance Exchange, the Society of Trust and Estate Planners (STEP), and serves on the Finance and Investment Committees of the Chicago Foundation for Women as well as the Networking Committee of the Chicago Estate Planning Council.
Tax Advisor
Kayla Vandegoede, CPA, EA
Kayla is a tax advisor with unique expertise in cross-border tax planning for US citizens.
Kayla has over 15 years of experience in public practice accounting, with management roles at major accounting firms, such as KPMG, prior to joining Impact Financial.
Kayla's professional journey has taken her across three different countries, providing her with extensive experience helping U.S. clients mitigate taxes in various jurisdictions.
Kayla is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA), licensed in Canada and is an Enrolled Agent (EA) licensed in the US.
We will give you steps to strengthen your financial plan and will provide an analysis of your investments.
This will show how we can help you manage and coordinate your finances to meet your goals.
Free Assessment
We will review your information, help quantify your goals and organize everything into a financial portal.
You will then have access to this portal where you can monitor and track your finances over time.
Review & Organize
Start with an introductory call to explain what you’re looking for and to learn more about us.
We can start with a free assessment to give you a "health check" on your finances.
