Our Staff
Vern C. Hayden CFP
CEO
Vern has been a CFP (Certified Financial Planner) since 1978. Active in financial planning circles for 39 years he has been a board member of the CFP Board of Standards and has chaired the National Endowment for Financial Education, former parent organization of the College for Financial Planning, which created the CFP™ (Certified Financial Planner) designation. He was president of the North Bay California Chapter of the International Association of Financial Planners (IAFP) in 1975 and Founding President of the Westchester/Rockland Chapter IAFP in 1987.
He also conducts financial education programs on behalf of many companies and charities. He has spoken at several financial and industry conventions. Hayden regularly appears on leading national news and financial television programs such as CNBC, NBC, Fox News and Bloomberg. CNBC branded Vern as “Mr. Mutual Fund”. He has been a regular contributor to the financial press, including CNBC.com and TheStreet.com, where he has about 100 columns. He is also a contributing writer for the Journal of Financial Planning and the American Association of Individual Investors Journal. His latest book is entitled “Getting An Investing Game Plan…Creating It…Working It…Winning It” published by John Wiley and Sons. He is working on a new book, tentatively entitled, “Free Markets and Funny Marketing”. Vern has been active in training financial planners in South Africa and Japan. The President of the Japanese Association of Financial Planners labeled him as the “Father of the Independent Financial Planner in Japan”.
Vern has a B.A. in Philosophy from Wheaton College with extensive graduate work from University of Southern California, American University, University of Oregon and New York University. He was also a Major in the U.S. Air Force. VHayden@HaydenFinancial.com
Richard J. Drew, CFP
Director of Financial Planning
Dick is a seasoned financial professional with 25+ years of experience in the finance industry, with expertise in personal financial planning, risk evaluation, and portfolio management. In addition to a wealth of real-life experience, he is a certified financial planner, he has an MBA in Finance and has taught financial planning at PACE University.
Dick has also served as past President and Chairman of the 300-member Greater Hudson Valley Chapter of the Financial Planning Association. Dick provides comprehensive financial planning, encompassing retirement, education, estate planning, risk management, investment and tax planning. He is a Certified Financial Planner, and is registered as a general securities representative (Series 7 and 66).
Prior to joining Hayden Financial Group, Dick worked in corporate finance with GE Capital, Xerox, Met Life Capital, and most recently with Hitachi Capital where he was SVP and Chief Credit Officer. Perhaps the most unique aspect of his background is that Dick has experienced first-hand many of the planning issues our clients are dealing with. DDrew@HaydenFinancial.com
Gerard Gruber, CFP
Chief Investment Officer
Gerard joined Hayden Financial Group in 1997 and serves currently as Chief Investment Officer and Senior Executive Vice President. Gerard has significant experience with investment management and securities industry practices for clients and has held management positions in a wide variety of disciplines, including sales, operations, technology and finance.
He has relied on his unique long-term conservative investment philosophy and comprehensive retirement planning process to enable clients to increase their net worth, reduce their taxes, plan their estates more efficiently, and gain financial peace-of-mind.
Gerard received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Western Connecticut State University. He is registered as a general securities representative (Series 7) and as a general securities principal (Series 24). He holds the Certified Financial Planner designation GGruber@HaydenFinancial.com
Joan A. Kokoruda
Chief of Administration
Joan has been Vern’s personal secretary since 1997. In addition, she provides a full range of office support. Joan is responsible for many administrative functions including: regulatory compliance, audit preparation, scheduling, licensing, client seminars, account services, operational procedures and clerical supervision.
JKokoruda@HaydenFinancial.com
GUSTAVO A. SOTO
Senior Reporting Analyst
Gustavo has an extensive experience in investment, money market operations and treasury management in Latin-American markets. He obtained a Bachelors Degree in Economics with a specialization in Finance from La Universidad del Pacífico, Lima Perú.
He has a substantial background in individual tax returns working for Jackson Hewitt Tax Services.
Gustavo joined Hayden Financial Group in November 2005 and serves as Senior Reporting Analyst GSoto@HaydenFinancial.com
Oksana Makarenko
In addition to speaking Ukrainian, Polish, Russian and English, Oksana has a B.A. degree in Mechanical Engineering and an M.S. in Timber Technology from the Institute of Forestry in Moscow, Russia. She also taught descriptive geometry in the Polytechnical University in Lviv, Ukraine. She authored several research articles in professional/scientific journals in the former Soviet Union on 18 different topics.
Living in the United States for thirteen years, Oksana became a U.S. citizen in 2001. She has work experience in AutoCad, management and client relations with Simplex Corporation, Honeywell Corporation, Nordstroms and Saks Fifth Avenue.
At Hayden Financial Group, she performs a number or duties, including client service, portfolio tracking and reporting. OMakarenko@HaydenFinancial.com
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