Director of Development · New York Life · New Orleans
Whether you're planning your family's future or considering a career in financial services, you get the same thing: an industry expert with over three decades of real-world experience — and straight answers in plain English.
How I Can Help
Will your money last as long as you do? What happens to your family if something happens to you? We look at your whole picture — income, protection, retirement, long-term care, legacy — and build a plan you actually understand, in plain English.
A business, a home, a family — you've worked for decades to build it, and one bad event shouldn't be able to undo it. From life insurance to long-term care to succession planning, you get protection designed by someone who understands the fine print.
Most people entering financial services are gone within three years — usually because nobody trained them properly. Training is literally my job. If you're considering this career in the New Orleans area, talk to me before you decide.
What to Expect
We start with twenty minutes about where you are and where you want to go. No products, no pitch, no obligation — just an honest conversation.
You get clear recommendations built around your goals — and you'll understand every piece of them before you decide anything. If you don't understand it, I haven't done my job.
Life changes — careers, families, businesses. The plan adapts, and my team stays at the table. You'll never be a file in a drawer.
Credentials
Tap a card to see what each one actually does for the person across the table.
The whole financial picture — income, investments, insurance, taxes, retirement, and estate — treated as one plan instead of six separate problems. When we talk about your money, nothing gets looked at in isolation.
The American College of Financial ServicesThe gold standard in life insurance planning — risk management, business succession, and wealth transfer. It means the protection built around your family or business is designed by someone who understands the fine print.
The American College of Financial ServicesSaving for retirement is one skill; turning those savings into a paycheck that lasts the rest of your life is another. This designation is entirely about the second one — so your money doesn't retire before you do.
The American College of Financial ServicesAdvanced training in building and leading teams of financial professionals. For you, it means the agents I develop aren't just licensed — they're coached by someone trained specifically in how to make advisors great.
The American College of Financial ServicesSpecialized planning for extended care — one of the few events that can undo a lifetime of careful saving. This training is about making sure a health event never becomes a financial one for the people you love.
Certification for Long Term CareGrounded in ethical, client-first advice and clear communication. It's the foundation of how I work: plain language, honest answers, and recommendations built around your goals — not a product quota.
The American College of Financial ServicesWhatever money question keeps you up at night, odds are I've faced it myself — from both sides of the table.
I've been a Marine helicopter mechanic, a stockbroker, a commodities trader, a real estate managing partner, and a business owner who rebuilt after Katrina. I've made payroll, ridden out volatile markets, started over in a new country, and turned a failing operation profitable. When you tell me about your business, your risk, or your worry about what comes next, it isn't theoretical to me.
Today I'm the Director of Development for New York Life's New Orleans General Office — the person responsible for training every agent in the office. Before that, I was an agent, financial planner, and registered investment adviser myself. My designations cover the full arc of a financial life: comprehensive planning, life insurance, retirement income, long-term care, and leadership. If your question touches money, family, or a business, it almost certainly lands inside work I do every day.
And you'll always get it straight. I teach plain-English, client-first advice for a living — no jargon, no pressure. I also keep a close eye on how AI and decentralized systems are reshaping finance, because the advice business is changing, and staying ahead of that curve is part of the job.
Served as a helicopter mechanic and AH-1W plane captain. Gulf War veteran. The discipline, accountability, and training-first mindset forged here still drive everything that follows.
Started in the financial industry as a licensed Series 7 stockbroker — the beginning of more than three decades of markets, trading, and client-focused financial work.
Traded commodities as a Series 3 licensed professional, building deep first-hand experience in futures markets, risk, and the discipline it takes to navigate volatility.
Led a successful real estate portfolio company as Managing Partner — adding property, asset management, and partnership operations to a growing base of hands-on business experience.
Founded True South Yacht Services in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Helped clients salvage boats from New Orleans marinas, then built the company into the second-largest yacht brokerage in Louisiana by sales volume.
Covered the Global Financial Crisis as it unfolded, helping readers make sense of the chaos and navigate what it meant for their money — along with the Greek debt crisis, the future of the Euro, and an exposé on the Madoff scandal — for Carnet Atlantique, a Franco-American quarterly. Simultaneously managed finance and IT for the US Embassy Association, reversing over a decade of annual losses and reaching net profitability within two years.
Ran the finance and technology departments for KRW International, a global consulting firm built around leadership Character — the research behind the Harvard Business Review Press study Return on Character®. Started in Paris and brought the role home to New Orleans. Led a cloud migration that cut costs and strengthened data security, and introduced the CRM that transformed sales operations.
Coached MBA candidates in LEAN startup methodology, working with fellow business leaders and subject matter experts to commercialize proprietary technologies provided by NASA program partners.
Served on the advisory board of Gilded, an open-finance platform for business built on blockchain infrastructure, through the company's acquisition by Bitwave, the enterprise digital-asset finance platform. An early front-row seat to the intersection of decentralized finance and enterprise operations.
Began as an agent in the Greater New Orleans area, then moved through roles as a registered representative and financial planner before stepping into leadership as Development Manager and, today, Director of Development.
Thinking Out Loud
"You don't rise to the occasion, you fall to the level of your training. Whether in combat or in business, this is an objective truth. Be a student of whatever game you're playing."Mar 2024
"I work in a field with a roughly 85% failure rate after 3 years. When I ask my people why they do it, many don't know. Intrinsic motivation is exceedingly rare, but the people who have it are unstoppable."Aug 2024
"Most people are on the 40-40-40 Plan — work 40 hours a week for 40 years to retire on 40% of what they already can't afford to live on. You can break the cycle. I know, because I did."Aug 2024
"The future of AI isn't in the hands of a few tech giants. Decentralized AI networks democratize intelligence, letting anyone contribute compute power and earn rewards. We're witnessing the birth of truly distributed machine learning. Glad I get to see it."Aug 2025
"The intersection of crypto incentives + AI capabilities = unstoppable innovation. When you align economic rewards with technological progress, magic happens. We are still SO early."Aug 2025
"Replace the areas where human frailty and avarice are the point of failure with hardened, transparent, open source machine solutions."Jul 2024
"Strategy for this week: Individual phone calls to my team to go over what's most important to them. Bring my absolute A-game to every client-facing interaction. Run interference for my staff so they can focus on execution."Oct 2023
"If you can't get comfortable with insecurity, you get pulled in a lot of different directions by people who don't have your best interests in mind. Craving certainty where it doesn't exist is human nature, but you must overcome that urge."Nov 2024
"Earn your scars. No matter how painful, you'll be glad you did it."Jan 2024
Ready when you are.
Book twenty minutes on my calendar and we'll talk over Zoom about where you are and where you want to go — your future, your family's security, or a career in this business. Plain English, no obligation.
Book a Call with Dave