About Our Team
Ryan A. Smith: Practicing Investment Adviser Representative (IAR) Founding Partner/Owner Operator, Chief Financial Officer
Ryan has been in the Financial Service industry since graduating from Bowling Green State University in 2001. He began his career as a Financial Adviser. In 2009, Ryan teamed up with a group of associates to form their own independent Financial Planning Firm. Ryan currently acts as Chief Financial Officer for Parallel Equity Advisors Ltd..
Ryan resides in Bexley Ohio with his wife Elizabeth and their two children, Alec and Parker. Ryan is a member of Christ Lutheran Church and is extremely active in the community.
Cameron P. Ladd: Partner
Cameron has been in the financial services industry since 2010. He attended The Ohio State University where he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Family Financial Management. His focus is to help each of his clients with their individual financial needs and develop financial choices suited to their specific goals and needs.
In his spare time, Cameron enjoys working out, golfing, and Ohio State sports. He resides in Plain City and can be found spending time with his wife Alyson and his son, Grayson.
Chris A. Gardner: Founding Partner/Owner Operator, Chief Compliance Officer
Chris started his business career working on a short term contract consulting project at Ashland Chemical with McKinsey & Company. Upon completion, he pursued a corporate banking career with Huntington Bancshares, Inc., Columbus, Oh. Later, Joining Lutheran Brotherhood a Christian affiliated financial firm headquartered in Minneapolis, MN.
Within six years at the age of 28 he founded (with two partners), Gardner Stoneburner Ltd., a privately held financial advisement group in Dublin, OH. While at Gardner Stoneburner Ltd. his family grew by three lovely triplet daughters. His girls, were born very premature and medically fragile. Chris left the firm to be with his family and worked, when possible with TFSN, a small closely held advisement firm in Dublin, OH.
While at TFSN, Chris continued to hone his mentoring and entrepreneurial skills. Soon after his stay at TFSN, Chris built another private held financial firm with the help of several previous coworkers and close associates. Parallel Equity Advisors, Ltd., is where Chris currently spends most of his professional time. Chris enjoys conversing about business/community advancement, competitive shooting, fishing, and family activities.
Vance Bennett, CFP®
Associate Partner
Vance has been married 30 years to his wonderful wife Amy. Amy is an avid scrapbooker with a love for graphic design and Vance enjoys cycling as much as possible. They have four adult children and five grandchildren. When his children were younger they were very involved in soccer, basketball, and football and the family loved to vacation at beaches. And, the Bennetts have the fortunate problem of trying to keep up with five grandbabies. They enjoy cookouts, OSU football, the CREW, and getting together with family and friends.
Vance is in the financial services industry to create wealth for clients. Vance believes an individual has tangible and intangible wealth. Tangible wealth takes different forms such as money, real estate, precious metals, stocks, and bonds, whereas, intangible wealth is health, quality of life, investing in families and others, sharing life lessons and spiritual insights, and volunteering. It is not just about having money but what the money can provide. Your wealth is a tool to make the world a better place, first at home and then beyond.
Vance is a magna cum laude alumni of The Ohio State University with a degree in Financial Services with a minor in business. A licensed Insurance agent and a licensed registered representative with the FINRA. He has been in the financial services industry since 1996. In the community he has held several non-profit board positions, has been a girl's high school soccer coach, and is active in his local church.
Jennifer Loeffler, Partner
Educated at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, she began her career in research at Battelle, followed by OSU. In 2000 she was published in the Journal of Genetics, as well as several online publications. In 2007, she joined the financial services industry, and in 2016 made the move to Parallel Financial Group. Jennifer lives with her family in Canal Winchester, and enjoys the outdoors, biking, travel, and reading a good book.
Bart Fisher, ChFC®, CLU®, RICP®
Associate Partner
Born and raised in Tiffin, Ohio, Bart grew up in a small neighborhood with his parents, Mike & Jeanie and his younger sister, Andrea. The Fisher household was incredibly competitive, which drove Bart to be a year round athlete, playing baseball, basketball and football. Of the three, football was his passion. He is a die hard Green Bay Packers fan, and was All-Ohio most of his high school career, setting multiple state records by the time he graduated. After high school, he attended Tiffin University where he played football, and studied business, graduating with his BA’s in Marketing, Human Resources and Business Management and his MBA in Business Management. In 2010, Bart met his wife Bianka, and they have two teenager daughters, Aricka and Ellie. Their family resides in Findlay, Ohio, where Bianka was born and raised.
In 2014, Bart started his career in the financial services industry, getting his property and casualty license. Since then, he has received his Series 6, Series 7, and Series 63 licenses along with his Chartered Financial Consultant, Retirement Income Certified Professional, and Chartered Life Underwriter designations. Bart recently joined the Parallel team because of their focus on a holistic planning process but more importantly, because he is treated like family.