Leading The Way For Decades

James M. Delaplane, Jr. (“Jamey”) is a seasoned financial services executive, advisor, and board member with deep experience spanning asset management, public policy, corporate governance, and communications.

Jamey spent the majority of his career at Vanguard, the world’s second-largest asset manager, where he served in multiple senior leadership roles before retiring in 2024. His positions included Head of the High-Net-Worth Business, Global Chief Communications Officer, Deputy General Counsel, Head of Washington, DC Government Affairs, and Head of Relationship Management & Sales. Across these roles, Jamey drove record business growth, led enterprise-wide transformations, stewarded Vanguard’s reputation during periods of heightened market and regulatory scrutiny, and successfully shaped public policy and regulatory outcomes at the federal level.

Earlier in his career, Jamey practiced law and public policy in Washington, DC, including roles at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, as counsel to U.S. Representative Earl Pomeroy, and as a senior executive at the American Benefits Council. He later spent a decade as a partner at Davis & Harman LLP, advising asset managers, banks, brokerages, and insurers on fiduciary, retirement, tax, and financial services matters before Congress and executive agencies.

Jamey currently serves on the board of the Philadelphia Zoo and is Board Chair of Protect Our Winters Action Fund. He is also a Fellow and Advisory Board member at the Scriptorium Initiative and has previously served on the boards of Vanilla and Teach for America of Greater Philadelphia.

He holds undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard University, is NACD Director Certified, and is a graduate of the Stanford Directors College. Jamey lives in Philadelphia with his husband, Mark, their two college-age daughters, and their dogs, Bodie and Willow.

Molly Bennard is a seasoned executive and transformation leader with more than two decades of experience building, scaling, and integrating financial services businesses across the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom.

Most recently, Molly served as President of International Operations at Focus Financial Partners and as Chief Executive Officer of Connectus Wealth Advisers. In these roles, she led international expansion, cross-border integration, and the development of Focus’s global advisor partnership model. As one of the original architects of Connectus, Molly helped create a modern, values-driven platform designed to empower advisors through shared services, technology enablement, and operational excellence.

Earlier in her career, Molly was a Managing Director at Focus Financial Partners, where she led U.S. business development and M&A and played a key role in the firm’s expansion into international markets. Prior to Focus, she served as Head of the Strategic Initiatives Group at AXA US, overseeing corporate strategy and business development initiatives. She began her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers in accounting and transaction advisory before joining Morgan Stanley’s Investment Banking Division, where she executed M&A and capital markets transactions for leading financial institutions and private equity sponsors.

Today, Molly advises entrepreneurial firms, investors, and leadership teams on strategic growth, enterprise transformation, and leadership alignment. She is widely recognized for her ability to integrate complex organizations and unlock value through clarity of purpose, disciplined execution, and strong cultural cohesion.

Molly is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and a Certified Public Accountant (CPA, inactive). She holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BS in Economics from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Outside of work, she enjoys travel, scuba diving, dancing, running, and photography.

Andrea Pfenning is a former BNY Mellon banking executive with more than 35 years of global banking experience across U.S. government securities, institutional client management, and market infrastructure.

Andrea most recently served as President and Chief Operating Officer of BNY Government Securities Services Corp. (GSS Corp), a wholly owned subsidiary of BNY Mellon providing U.S. government securities clearing and U.S. tri-party settlement services. In this role, she oversaw mission-critical market operations and governance and also served on the BNY GSS Corp Board of Directors.

Previously, Andrea was a Client Executive in Global Client Management’s Financial Institutions Group, where she managed some of BNY Mellon’s largest broker-dealer relationships. Fluent in German, she gained international experience while based in the firm’s Frankfurt office, supporting financial institutions across Austria and Switzerland.

Andrea has been a highly active industry leader, serving on the DTCC Board and contributing to key industry and regulatory groups, including the Treasury Market Practices Group (TMPG), SIFMA Government Operations and Rates/Funding Committees, and the Federal Reserve’s Wholesale Securities Advisory Group.

She holds the NACD Directorship Certification and currently serves as a board director of South Street Securities and as a board advisor to BioTone™ and IFI Network. Andrea is also a Managing Director at Golden Seeds LLC.

Andrea earned an MBA in Finance from New York University and a BA in Marketing from Baruch College.