Todd Eklund is the Director of Portfolio Management at Klaas Financial Asset Advisors (KFAA), a registered investment adviser (RIA) with offices in Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin. He has over a decade of high impact experience working within and across RIAs of varying shapes and sizes. Before joining KFAA in 2019, he was an Executive Director at HighTower.

Prior to this, Todd was a Vice President at United Capital Financial Advisers (UCFA), where he worked in various roles and locations from 2009 to 2017. During this period, UCFA expanded from 20 to 90+ offices and $10B to $20B+ in client assets. He began as an analyst in the home office investment department and shifted toward cross-functional leadership as the company built out a national presence and unified brand.

At the time, UCFA was an early and leading acquirer of independent RIAs. As a transformational acquirer, the objective for new acquisitions centered on bringing together synergistic combinations as partners to realize their full potential. UCFA built processes, tools, and technologies to help clients and advisers discover what they truly value – redirecting their focus toward navigating the complexity of life choices and outcomes, rather than the complexity of investment products.

Throughout the years at UCFA, Todd worked alongside colleagues across the organization to design and implement initiatives driving new technology adoption, process improvements, people development, training, and firmwide growth. He was a core member of a team that launched the FinLife Partners

Wealthtech platform and worked closely on both new partnership onboarding and post-merger integration for 60+ acquisitions aligning into a consistent technology stack and client experience. He currently serves on the Board of Directors at CFA Society Madison and is a member of the programming committee. The programming committee plans and executes delivery of high-quality professional education by recruiting thought leaders and relevant professionals as participants, speakers, and teachers. Todd is a past Co-Chair of the Alternative Investments Group at CFA Society New York – the largest member group at CFANY – and co-led CFANY’s Toastmasters chapter as VP Education. Toastmasters International is a non-profit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of clubs.

During his tenure in New York, he was actively involved with the creation of educational programming on behalf of the Business Management and Private Wealth groups, and was recognized among CFANY’s community of professional peers as a 2019 Volunteer of the Year.

Before diving into the Wealth Management industry, he began his financial services career in 2008 at Pacific Life in Newport Beach, CA. Todd is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BA in Economics, and subsequently earned the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation in 2012. He is currently an incoming candidate pursuing a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.