Who We Are
At Ftacek Financial Services, we provide customized solutions that allow our corporate and individual clients to achieve their financial goals. We help our clients outline their goals, develop a plan to achieve them, and provide ongoing support every step of the way.
We are an independent firm, which means we are not subject to corporate interests or limited to a selection of proprietary products. We are objective in the advice we give and hold ourselves to a fiduciary standard – always working in the client’s best interest.
Because our independence is paramount, we have chosen to align with Cambridge Investment Research, Inc. as our broker/dealer. Cambridge gives us the freedom we need to structure our business in a way that best benefits our clients, while providing critical services such as compliance, due diligence, technology support, and one of the widest investment selections in the industry.
Jeremy Ftacek, Founder
Jeremy has served the needs of his clients for almost two decades. He started his financial services career in 1997 at a bank and trust company prior to founding Ftacek Financial Services. His roots are in investment advisory services, delivering customized solutions in all aspects of his clients’ lives, including saving for retirement, estate planning, and wealth accumulation. Jeremy’s hard-working nature and candid attitude about investing stems from his upbringing in central Illinois. He treats his clients’ financial concerns as if they were his own and simplifies complex financial strategies with easy to understand terminology. When he is away from the office, Jeremy loves spending time with his family. He enjoys golfing, fishing, and is active in youth sports programs as both a sponsor and coach. Being family-oriented and active in the community, Jeremy values a work-life balance.
Deanna Russell, Admin
Deanna Russell joined Ftacek Financial Services in 2008 and is a valued asset to the company, overseeing all of the back office support for client accounts. She has been in the financial industry for over 10 years and her prior experience in the financial industry makes her a perfect fit for our organization. She has a passion for helping other financial service professionals leverage technology to meet and exceed their goals. Deanna holds FINRA Series 7 and 63 licenses.
Deanna was born and raised in Tampa, Florida. In her personal time, Deanna enjoys volunteering, the Florida sunshine, yoga, and family vacations. Above all, she cherishes spending time with her family and friends.
Raymond Gettins, Director of Business Development
Ray’s interest in investments and finance started early as he began “investing” with his uncle’s help at age 13. In addition to being a graduate of Miami University with degrees in Diplomacy & Foreign Affairs, Political Science, History & Economics, he has 25 years of experience in the Financial Service Industry working with Individuals as well as businesses and foundations. Ray has earned the Certified Retirement Counselor Designation and he has the following licenses: Life & Health and Series 6, 63, & 65 securities registrations.
Ray spends his free time working out, gardening, reading, and attending concerts. He lives with his wife Kristen and his 2 daughters, Marisa & Lauren.
Paul Ganim, Director of Compliance and Education
Paul has held multiple financial planning roles working directly with individuals and their families to craft smart and successful financial strategies, then most recently worked with non-profits including hospitals, universities, government agencies, and business clients looking to improve their retirement benefits offering for employees. Over the years, Paul held a variety of supervisory positions where he supported the development of rep-advisors and associated compliance monitoring solutions for sales and investments departments.
Paul earned his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a minor in Economics from the University of Cincinnati in the mid 90s. His professional securities registrations include the FINRA series 7, 63, 66, and supervisory registrations of the Series 9, 10, and 24.
His wife, Hetal has happily kept Paul around for 18 years of marriage since 2001, although their story started as high school sweethearts after sharing a few classes at Walnut Hills. They have two fantastic daughters – Maya (12) and Sara (8), and when he’s not working or brewing his favorite craft beer, Paul tries to spend time every day learning or experiencing something new with his daughters. They’re all quite busy with a variety of other family activities including basketball, soccer, volleyball, piano, singing, hiking, bicycling, skiing, and more.
Steven Loveless, MBA, CPA®, Portfolio Manager
Steven grew up in northern Indiana, the heart of the rustbelt in a small, factory town. He credits his work ethic to watching his parents work overtime or multiple jobs for most of his life. Focused on athletics, he received a full-ride basketball scholarship until he had a knee injury that forced him to shift his efforts towards academics.
Outside of work, he admittedly still thinks about his work. He enjoys reading about investing as much as possible and loves pouring through economic data. He still retains his athletic side, though – in his free time, he enjoys exercising and following professional football.
His desire is to support and leave an impact in supporting the STEM discipline. His grandfather was an engineer for GM, his mother is a math teacher, and his sister working on obtaining her PHd in Nuclear Physics – it runs in his family and he sees the tremendous value in supporting STEM in public education.
