Experience: Has worked in the RIA space since 1998 

Education: MBA from The Graziadio Business School at Pepperdine University; B.A. Economics from the Eller School of Business at the University of Arizona 

Shad Besikof is a managing director of the partnership development team and an accomplished wealth management executive with a diverse background in leadership, mergers and acquisitions, business strategy, and sales management. Shad spent two decades in executive leadership roles creating strategic RIA relationships at the nation’s largest custodians such as Schwab, Fidelity, and Pershing BNY Mellon.   
 
Shad was most recently head of corporate development at a prominent $5 billion wealth management-focused RIA, where he led their M&A business initiative and simultaneously ran a large team of advisors, creating double digit organic growth. 
 
Shad is a graduate of The Graziadio Business School at Pepperdine University, where he earned his MBA and his undergraduate degree in economics from the Eller School of Business at the University of Arizona. 

Nicole Bittner is the head of growth operations at Modern Wealth Management, where she is responsible for managing organic growth channels and delivering qualified prospects to the firm’s advisory teams.

Before joining the Modern Wealth team, Bittner served as the vice president of strategic partnerships and commercial engagement at Goldman Sachs, where she facilitated successful lead generation, client conversion, and pipeline management by overseeing ongoing partnerships for financial advisors.

Bittner earned her MBA from the Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business. She earned her bachelor’s degree in marketing and management from Northeastern University.

Mike Capelle is a co-founder and co-CEO at Modern Wealth Management. From his decades-long career in wealth management, Capelle has experience building advisor-client wealth management platforms to drive continuous growth. Prior to co-founding Modern Wealth, Capelle was a managing director at Goldman Sachs Personal Financial Management, where he was the Head of High-Net-Worth Product.

In addition, Capelle was part of the team that co-founded, scaled, and sold United Capital, a $25 billion RIA with 90 locations, to Goldman Sachs for $750 million, where he served as Chief Platform Officer. Capelle was responsible for the company’s operating platform and technology and for driving enterprise innovation. He was also a member of the firm’s Investment Committee.

Early in his career, Capelle worked on microprocessor design and manufacturing at Intel Corporation. Capelle earned a master’s degree in management from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a master’s degree in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Experience: Wealth Management since 1998

Education: Bachelor’s Degree from Bard College

Jason joined the Modern Wealth executive team in April 2024 after serving as a managing director at Goldman Sachs. He brings a great deal of leadership experience to Modern Wealth while focusing on the firm’s advisory services platform and growth strategy.

Jason previously worked with Jason Gordo, Mike Capelle, and Gary Roth at Goldman Sachs/United Capital, so he understood their vision for Modern Wealth from the get-go. He was also the head of advisory services at United Capital.

Part of Jason’s role includes managing the Growth Hub at Modern Wealth’s Lenexa office. The Growth Hub is designed to facilitate strategies for lead management, distribution, and bringing on clients.

Gary Roth is a co-founder and co-CEO at Modern Wealth Management, which he helped to start with the goal of delivering high-quality and comprehensive financial advice to clients by building a next-generation national RIA. 

 Prior to being a part of the founding team at Modern Wealth, Roth was a managing director at Goldman Sachs Personal Financial Management. Between 2005 and 2019, he also served as Chief Business Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer at United Capital, where he was part of the team that built, scaled, and sold United Capital—a $25 billion RIA with 90 locations—to Goldman Sachs for $750 million.

 Roth was also a co-founder at AssureNet, one of the cloud computing pioneers in financial services that created sales force automation solutions for financial consultants and insurance brokers.

 Roth holds MBAs from Columbia Business School and the University of California at Berkeley, Haas School of Business. He received his undergraduate degree from Columbia University. He lives in Laguna Beach, Calif., and loves music, food (cooking and eating), sports (playing and watching), and spending time with family and friends.

Experience: Chartered Financial Analyst since 2006 

Education: Master of Science in Finance 

Stephen Tuckwood (Tuck) joins Modern Wealth Management as the firm’s Director of Investments. Tuck and his team will be responsible for the design, construction, management, and oversight of the firm’s investment platform. He’ll be leveraging almost two decades of industry experience and an extensive investment manager network to bring innovative investment solutions to the Modern Wealth advisor base.

Prior to joining Modern Wealth, he worked within Goldman Sachs’ Alternative Investments & Manager Selection (AIMS) Group, which is responsible for identifying, researching, and selecting leading third-party investment managers. There, he helped provide investors with investment and advisory solutions across multiple asset classes by engaging, diligencing, and collaborating with leading investment managers from around the world. With over 350 professionals across 11 offices globally, the AIMS Group helps institutional and individual investors with their program design, manager diligence, portfolio construction, and risk management.

Previously, Tuck was the Head of Research at United Capital, where he led a team of investment professionals responsible for the firm’s $15 billion centralized investment platform. In addition to running the Research Team, Tuck was the portfolio manager for their Core Portfolio Solutions as well as the specialized Active Equity strategies. He also served as a content leader for the design of client literature about the investment platform and oversaw the development and evolution of new mediums for delivering messaging from Investment Management to the advisor base, clients, and prospects.

Tuck has a bachelor’s and master’s degree in finance and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation. He was born and raised in the United Kingdom and moved to the United States after earning a scholarship to play Division I soccer (real football) for a university in Georgia. Tuck resides in Atlanta with his wife and two children.