Meet Our Team

Carol M. Lippman, CFA

Managing Director

Carol manages Dearborn Partners' Core Rising Dividend Portfolio and High & Rising Dividend Portfolio strategies. For nearly three decades, Carol has managed investments according to her Rising Dividend philosophy, first for A.G. Edwards and its successor firms. She joined Dearborn as a partner from Wells Fargo Advisors in 2011 and has 30+ years of investment experience. She is a past president and a member of the Board of Governors of the St. Louis Society of Financial Analysts and a member of the CFA Institute.

Michael B. Andelman

Managing Director

Mike serves as the co-portfolio manager for the Rising Dividend strategies. He conducts equity research in the Healthcare and Technology sectors of the market with a specific focus on companies with a growing dividend stream. Prior to joining Dearborn in 2004 he worked in various capacities at MPI Investment Management as well as First Trust Advisors, LP. In 2010 he was named partner in the Firm.

Richard R. Seitz

Managing Director

Rick is in charge of marketing and sales of the firm's investment products to financial advisors and other intermediaries, focusing now on the Rising Dividend Strategy. Prior to joining Dearborn Partners, he was a Managing Director and National Sales Manager for Legg Mason Global Asset Management and its predecessor, Citigroup Asset Management, with $700 billion of assets under management.

Rick is a thirty year veteran of the financial services industry with significant experience in separately managed accounts, open and closed end mutual funds as well as many structured products. He has also held senior marketing positions with E.F. Hutton and American National Security.

Peter J. Deakos, CFA

Director

Peter serves as a Portfolio Manager for the Rising Dividend strategies. He has more than 18 years of investment experience. Prior to joining Dearborn in 2017, Deakos co-managed a portfolio at Wells Fargo Advisors that grew to more than $3 billion in assets under management in three years. Peter’s experience at Wells Fargo and A.G. Edwards included wealth and trust portfolio management and extensive equity analysis. He earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation in 2005.

Brian A. Payne, CFP^®

Director

Brian is responsible for marketing and sales of the firm's investment products to financial advisors and other intermediaries, focusing specifically on the Rising Dividend Strategy. Prior to joining Dearborn Partners, Brian was a CFP® at Bernstein Global Wealth Management and then head of business development for a golf technology company he co-founded. Following his graduation from Northwestern University, Brian pursued a professional golf career on various tours around the world.

James D. Lathrop, AIF^®

Director

Jim is responsible for marketing and sales of the firm's investment products to financial advisors and other intermediaries, focusing specifically on the Rising Dividend Strategy. Prior to joining Dearborn Partners, Jim was a regional director at Russell Investments for 13 years. He was also a regional manager for Alliance Bernstein and a senior marketing director for Putnam Investments, where he was responsible for driving sales of mutual funds, variable annuities, retirement planning, and education funding vehicles.

Roger Diaz, CIMA^®

Director

Roger is responsible for marketing and sales of Dearborn Partners investment strategies in the Western US to investment advisors and other intermediaries.  Prior to joining Dearborn Partners he was a Western Divisional Manager at Macquarie Investment Management, he was also a Managing Director at TCW.  Roger has over 20 years of experience working with institutions and investment advisors.

George P. Jameson, Founder

Founding Managing Director

George is responsible for overseeing the firm's operations. Prior to founding Dearborn Partners, he was a Managing Director of the Fixed Income Division of Nesbitt Burns Securities, Inc., a subsidiary of the Bank of Montreal. He began his career at Goldman, Sachs & Co., where he served 16 years in various capacities, including Fixed Income Product Manager, Midwest Regional Manager, and Vice President.Jameson also served as Senior Managing Director and Head of Fixed Income Sales and Marketing at First Chicago Capital Markets.

John V. Celentani, CFP^®, CPWA^®

Managing Director

John oversees Dearborn’s Private Wealth Management practice. In this role, he is responsible for delivering exceptional service and advice to the firm’s clients. John is a Certified Private Wealth Advisor, an advanced certification for advisors who advise clients with a net worth of $5 million or more. John served as Vice President in the Wealth Strategies group of Northern Trust for eight years prior to joining Dearborn Partners in 2015.

Bradley C. Smith

Portfolio Manager

Brad is responsible for providing personalized Portfolio Management investment advice to private wealth clients and their families. Areas of focus include developing comprehensive asset allocation strategies, as well as customized investment and financial goal plans. Prior to joining Dearborn Partners, he served as Senior Vice President and Portfolio Manager for 26 years at MPI Investment Management, Inc. Brad began his financial industry career at Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith in their Business Merger & Acquisition Division.

Luke Knecht, CFA

Director

Luke manages the firm’s institutional fixed income products. These include laddered portfolios, targeted maturity portfolios, immunized portfolios and absolute return fixed income portfolios. Luke’s prior experience includes various portfolio and business management responsibilities at Harris Investment Management, Dresdner RCM Global Investors and Deerfield Capital Management. Luke is a CFA charter holder and most recently earned the CFA UK Level 4 Certificate in ESG investing. Luke also holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Colorado.

Donald G. McKinnon

Chief Compliance Officer

Don is responsible for overseeing and developing the firm’s compliance department. Prior to joining Dearborn Partners, he was a Due Diligence Specialist at Balyasny Asset Management LP. Don began his career as a Compliance Officer at Deephaven Capital Management LLC, and later joined Stark Investments LP as a Senior Compliance Officer.

Matthew T. Guttosch, CFA

Equity Analyst

Matt is an Equity Analyst for Dearborn’s Rising Dividend Portfolios. He focuses on Consumer and Financial companies. He has been with Dearborn since 2010, has 10+ years of investment experience and is a CFA^® charterholder.

Jonathan Woo, CFA

Equity Analyst

Jon is an Equity Analyst for Dearborn’s Rising Dividend Portfolios. Prior to joining Dearborn he spent 10 years at Edward Jones in various manager research roles. Jon has over 10 years experience and is a CFA® charterholder.

Meredith A. West

Director

Meredith oversees all aspects of technology at the firm. She is also responsible for client reporting, performance analysis, composite management and GIPS compliance. Meredith has more than 25 years of experience in various aspects of the financial services industry. She joined Dearborn Partners in 2004, and prior to that she worked at Deloitte, Harris Associates and JP Morgan in technology and performance analysis and reporting.

Samira Laskic

Director

Sam oversees the firm's trading and operations areas. She is accomplished in all of the wealth management support functions necessary to provide Dearborn clients with an outstanding experience. She began her career with UBS Financial Services in 2010.

Amber C. Delperdang

Operations & Trading

Amber joined Dearborn Partners in 2019 in our operations department. She began her career in 2014 with Northwestern Mutual in Los Angeles, CA as their Operations Associate, eventually becoming an Investment Analyst.

Evan J. Bindas

Internal Analyst

Evan is responsible for assisting with the marketing and sales of Dearborn Partners investment strategies, supporting all Directors. Prior to joining Dearborn, he was a private wealth intern at Robert W. Baird as well as a marketing intern at ESPN-Madison. Evan joined the team in 2020 after graduating that same year from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Personal Finance.

Annie L. Berni

Relationship Manager

Annie serves as a Relationship Manager providing support to a team of Financial Advisors for Dearborn Partner’s Private Wealth Management practice.Annie has over 10 years of experience in the financial services industry serving in various roles at The Northern Trust Company and Bernstein Global Wealth Management. Prior to joining Dearborn Partners in September of 2021, Annie briefly stepped away from her career to spend time at home with her three children. Annie received a Bachelor of Science degree in Agribusiness, Farm and Financial Management from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Eddie Trapp

Associate Wealth Advisor

Eddie serves as an Associate Wealth Advisor supporting all facets of the Private Client team. Prior to joining Dearborn, he worked nearly two years as a credit analyst for Wintrust Financial Corporation in the commercial lending and capital markets groups. Eddie graduated from Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado in May 2020 majoring in Finance, with an area of emphasis in Personal Financial Planning.

Elio Reyes

Office Manager

Elio serves as our Office Manager / Receptionist. He joins us from Swiss Post Solutions, where he handled a variety of administrative duties. Elio received his BA in Television Editing and Post-Production from Columbia College Chicago.