Experience: Human Resources since 2014

Education: Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies from Fontbonne University; Master’s degree Human Resources Management from Webster University.

Sadie’s core areas of responsibility are organizational development, change management, employee engagement, development and training, HR operations and compliance, and talent acquisition and retention. She joined the Modern Wealth team in March 2024—just under a year after the firm was founded. Sadie loves the process of designing, building, and integrating people programs, so the idea of joining the firm during its building phase was very appealing to her.

She has worked in human resources—supporting startup and growth stage companies—since 2014. After attaining her master’s, Sadie joined an outsourced HR firm and functioned as a fractional HR director for various small companies in the Kansas City area. She then moved to lead the HR department as one of her clients grew and was with them through their sale in 2020.

Following their successful transition, Sadie joined TVH Parts to lead the Americas Team on a three-year project. She helped to align their global HR processes and implement a new HRIS tool. Sadie worked with teams in EMEA and APAC to create a consistent employee experience across the company and modernize their People Practice. Following this project, Sadie joined Modern Wealth Management. She loves being back on a fast-paced and growth-oriented team.

Sadie’s family is the most important thing to her, especially her three sons. Her favorite hobbies include baking and spending time outdoors. She loves camping, fishing, going to the zoo, and traveling.

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.

Experience: Bachelor’s degree from Missouri State University; MBA and Master’s in Finance from Webster University

Education: Finance since 1998

Wayne joined the Modern Wealth team in January 2025 to oversee the firm’s financial operations, reporting, and governance and support high-level strategic planning. He provides regulatory oversight for financial reporting and accounting to help ensure operations are compliant and responsive to operational or regulatory changes.

Based out of our Lenexa, Kansas office, Wayne collaborates with senior leaders to understand business needs, develop strategies, and align financial goals with business objectives. He reviews and approves budgets and forecasts to ensure resources and efforts align with the organization’s mission.

Wayne also evaluates and improves financial modeling and analytical tools to measure and forecast the impact of various economic scenarios, risks, and business changes. He identifies and oversees funding through debt, equity, and various financial instruments to support business operations, optimize cash flow, and manage risk.

The entirety of Wayne’s career has been in the financial services industry. He has previously served as the VP of Finance at Mariner Wealth Advisors, SS&C (formerly DST Systems), and JPMorgan Chase and as a financial analyst at American Century Investments.

Wayne married his college sweetheart, Amy, and they have two children, Austin and Brooke. They enjoy spending time at the lake, the beach in Grand Cayman, and in the mountains of Breckenridge, Colorado. Wayne’s favorite hobbies include spending time on his boat at the lake, playing golf, attending/watching sporting events (football, soccer, baseball, and volleyball), and listening to country music, especially Kenny Chesney.

Along with having a passion for finance, Wayne excelled on the football field. He was an All-American placekicker at Missouri State University and went on to be elected to the Missouri State Hall of Fame and play for the San Diego Chargers.

Derek Bruton is the Head of Mergers & Acquisitions at Modern Wealth Management, where he leads the firm’s national M&A and Partnership Development strategy. In this role, he oversees Modern’s national inorganic growth initiatives while mentoring and leading the firm’s Partnership Development Team.  

A 35-year veteran of the financial services industry, Derek brings a rare combination of M&A expertise, RIA operating experience, and leadership across custodial and broker-dealer platforms. Before joining Modern, he served as Senior Managing Director at Gladstone Associates, where he led more than a dozen RIA and broker-dealer transactions and guided several large institutions through strategic growth and business optimization initiatives. Derek also played an active role in industry thought leadership, appearing frequently in wealth management media and authoring several white papers on M&A trends, valuation, and sustainable growth strategies. 

Earlier in his career, Derek held executive positions with Charles Schwab, TD Ameritrade, and LPL Financial. He helped recruit more than 10,000 financial advisors and advised over 20,000 firms and institutions on growth, succession, and transition strategies. His broad understanding of business models, compensation structures, and advisor ecosystems has made him an experienced advisor and respected industry voice. 

Derek graduated from Stanford University and completed executive business management coursework at Harvard University. He played collegiate basketball for Stanford and professional basketball in Japan. 

On the personal side, Derek lives in San Diego, California, with his wife and two grown children. He is an avid sports fan and enjoys playing tennis and gardening in his spare time. 

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: Advisor since 2015

Education: B.S. Accounting from Baker University

Logan has spent his whole career with Modern Wealth, starting as an intern in 2012 and eventually becoming an advisor in 2015.  Helping other Modern Wealth advisors become as successful as possible with winning and keeping business is one of Logan’s main goals.

He enjoys helping clients accomplish financial goals/dreams they didn’t think were possible. Logan is thankful for all the other Modern Wealth team members that serve as “pillar experts” in their specific roles to help him serve our clients.

The most important thing to Logan is his family. Logan and his wife, Alex, have a daughter, Olivia; French bulldog, Gus; and golden retriever, Mac.

He also loves golfing, watching sports, traveling, working out, and finding new places to eat/drink with Alex.

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.

Jason Gordo is a co-founder and president at Modern Wealth Management. Gordo is an accomplished wealth management executive with a diverse background in business strategy, execution, and mergers and acquisitions. Prior to joining the founding team at Modern Wealth, Gordo was a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs Personal Financial Management where he was Head of Advisor Growth.

Gordo was part of the team that scaled and sold United Capital, a $25B RIA with 90 locations, to Goldman Sachs for $750M. While at United Capital he held various positions, including Head of Office and Head of FinLife Partners. Gordo was also a member of the United Capital executive team where he worked to help drive the firm’s growth and success.

Before joining United Capital, Gordo co-founded Valley Wealth, Inc., a wealth management firm that served high-net-worth clients, endowments, foundations, and corporate retirement plans. Under his leadership, the firm was named to Forbes Magazine’s list of fastest-growing RIAs.

Gordo graduated from Gonzaga University, earning a master’s degree in organizational leadership. He also holds industry credentials from the College for Financial Planning and the Center for Fiduciary Studies.

Experience: Financial Services since 2012

Education: Bachelor of Arts degree in politics and government from Ripon College

As the manager of partner development and onboarding, Casey works with firms joining the Modern Wealth Management family. Her role is to help guide these individuals throughout the discovery and onboarding process, ensuring the transition from candidate to new team members is as smooth as possible.

Prior to joining Modern Wealth, Casey worked in similar roles at Goldman Sachs and United Capital. Throughout her tenure, she has assisted over 50 wealth management teams and numerous advisors through the messy-but-completely-worth-it process of joining a new firm.

Casey is originally from Minnesota and is proud of it! She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in politics and government from Ripon College, and now resides in Downers Grove, Illinois, with her husband, their three rambunctious children, and cat Jasper. Casey loves the cold and snow seasons … even when her co-workers are describing their 72-degree, sunny weather.

Experience: Started career in 1999

Education: Bachelor’s degree in political science with a minor in business administration from Marquette University

Danielle joined the Modern Wealth team in May 2024 following an 18-month stint with SageView Advisory as the Vice President of Business Operations. She also spent 15 years consulting in the wealth management industry for Actifi in Plymouth, Minnesota, working with firms on transitions, practice management, and process improvement. Prior to working for Actifi, Danielle spent eight years at Piper Jaffray in various roles but largely as a relationship manager between the home office and Piper’s 100 wealth management offices.

The most important thing in Danielle’s life is her family, especially her husband and two sons, Ben and Alex. Danielle lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and enjoys spending time at the family cabin, watching her kids play sports, and traveling.

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.