Our Team
Since its formation in 2002, AKF Consulting has become one of the nation’s leading sources of insight and expert guidance on the college savings industry. Beginning in 2014, we expanded our expertise into the ABLE and emerging State-run Retirement industries. Our firm was established with the sole purpose of bringing a private sector perspective to public administrators. To this end, our firm only represents the public sector and we bring to bear extensive private sector 529 and retirement experience as well as broad experience in mutual funds and municipal finance.
During our tenure, AKF Consulting has had the honor of advising forty-four public administrators across thirty-five States in every strategic aspect of their State-run Investment Plans, including: program design and implementation; regulation drafting, governance and fiduciary training; program manager solicitations, evaluations and negotiations; operational efficiencies and best practices; marketing assessments and distribution strategies; strategic product development; customized quantitative analyses; and legislative and regulatory updates , among others.
As an independent Municipal Advisor registered with the SEC and MSRB, AKF Consulting is held to the highest standards of fiduciary duty. Our Municipal Advisor Representatives provide 360-degree strategic advice to public entities involved in the business of establishing and maintaining State-run Investment Plans nationwide. Furthermore, our non-Municipal Advisor teammates include industry veterans with deep experience in the 529, ABLE, mutual fund, recordkeeping, retirement, corporate governance, regulatory and legal, and consumer marketing areas. Our entire team addresses the unique nature of each client engagement to ensure that each Program is customized to the needs and objectives of each State administrator and Board.
Our Team
Andrea Feirstein
CEO and Managing Director
Andrea Feirstein
CEO and Managing Director
Andrea Feirstein founded AKF Consulting Group in 2002 to address the growing need in the college savings marketplace for unbiased, expert advice on all aspects of 529 plan design and administration. Since then, she has expanded the firm’s focus to include ABLE plans as well as State-run Retirement Programs, and today she oversees the firm’s engagements on all these initiatives.
Bringing a multi-dimensional perspective to public administrators of tax-advantaged investment programs, Ms. Feirstein has advised upon a wide range of program development and operational issues, including fiduciary training, investment option design, administrative policies, marketing strategies and analysis, and consumer outreach. Her experiences have included the rebids of 529 Programs as well as the launch and ongoing administration of ABLE and State-run Retirement Programs.
Prior to starting AKF Consulting Group, Ms. Feirstein was Director of College Savings at Citigroup Asset Management (now Legg Mason, a subsidiary of Franklin Resources Inc.), where her team developed and managed the firm’s proprietary 529 business. In this role she oversaw implementation of the State of Colorado’s multi-manager, multiple share class Scholars Choice as well as the Bright Start College Savings, then a single share class product for the State of Illinois. Prior to her College Savings role, Ms. Feirstein was a senior investment banker with Salomon Smith Barney’s Municipal Securities Division (formerly a part of Citigroup) and a bond lawyer with Brown & Wood (now Sidley Austin LLP).
As an active industry participant, Ms. Feirstein currently serves on the Board of the National Institute of Public Finance, a joint venture between the National Association of State Treasurers (“NAST”) and Pepperdine University. She previously chaired the NAST Corporate Affiliate Advisory Board and the Corporate Affiliate Committee of the College Savings Plans Network. Ms. Feirstein has served on the Municipal Fund Securities Advisory Group of the MSRB since its inception in 2018. Additionally, Ms. Feirstein is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Randall’s Island Park Alliance, for which she serves as Treasurer and chairs the Finance Committee, having previously chaired the Audit Committee. Finally, from 2007 until 2023, Ms. Feirstein served on the Boards of Directors of the New York City Industrial Development Agency and Build New York City, for which she chaired each entity’s Finance Committee.
Ms. Feirstein graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Virginia Tax Review, and from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service (BS in International Finance). She is an SEC- and MSRB-registered Municipal Advisor Principal (Series 54) and a Municipal Advisor Representative (Series 50). Previously she was a FINRA-licensed General Securities Representative (Series 7), a Municipal Securities Principal (Series 53), and a Uniform Securities Agent (Series 63). She is also a member of the New York Bar.
Diana Cantor
Senior Advisor*
Diana Cantor
Senior Advisor*
Diana Cantor has been an instrumental part of AKF Consulting Group since 2010, when she and Ms. Feirstein teamed up to provide advisory services to qualified tuition plans. In 2012, they formalized their partnership under Hudson James Consulting LLC, which they ultimately rolled into AKF Consulting in late 2015. Since then, Ms. Cantor has focused on the areas of governance, fiduciary duties and oversight for AKF Consulting. Ms. Cantor is a Past Chairman of the Board and served for over ten years as a Trustee of the Virginia Retirement System. She is also a Partner and a member of the Board of Managers of Alternative Investment Management, LLC, an independent, privately held investment management firm.
Previously, Ms. Cantor served for over a decade as the founding Chief Executive Officer of the Virginia College Savings Plan (now Commonwealth Savers), the State agency that administers Virginia’s Section 529 qualified tuition plans. She has held the position of Vice President at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in New York, serving as chief administrator of the firm’s leveraged buyout and internal investment funds and merchant banking/principal investment operations. She also practiced law in the real estate department of the New York office of Kaye Scholer LLP (now Arnold & Porter).
Ms. Cantor is currently a director of two public companies: VICI Properties, Inc. (Chair of the Audit Committee, Member of the Nominating and Governance Committee), and Universal Corporation (Chair of the Nominating, Governance and Risk Committee, Former Chair of the Finance Committee, Member of the Compensation and Human Resources Committee and the Finance, Pension and Investment Committee). She also serves as a director of Mauser Packaging Solutions, a global privately held industrial packaging company and is a Trustee of the Dodge & Cox Funds. The other public companies she is a past director of are Domino’s Pizza, Inc. (Chair of the Audit Committee), Revlon, Inc. (Member of the Audit Committee), Media General, Inc. (Chair of the Audit Committee, Member of the Nominating and Governance Committee), and The Edelman Financial Group Inc. (Member of the Nominating and Governance Committee). She is an Advisory Board member of Stone Canyon Industries, Cerity Partners and Valor Ventures, and a past Director of the private company boards of Edelman Financial Services, Knowledge Universe, Service King Collision Centers and Vistage International. In addition, Ms. Cantor currently sits on the Boards of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and the VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University) Health System Authority Board.
Ms. Cantor graduated from New York University School of Law, University of Miami School of Business (MBA) and the University of Florida (BS in accounting). She is a Certified Public Accountant and member of the State Bar in Florida, New York and Virginia.
Soohyang Lee, CFA
Vice President
Soohyang Lee, CFA
Vice President
Soohyang Lee provides program and technical expertise on 529, ABLE and State-run Retirement Program client matters. She advises upon program matters generally, including Morningstar strategic reviews, investment option changes, and growth and revenue projections of 529, ABLE and State-run Retirement Programs. Additionally, she assists with various aspects of vendor procurement, including drafting and reviewing requests for proposals and providing scoring and cost analyses. In her capacity as a CFA charterholder, she brings a comprehensive understanding of financial products and investment principles applicable to program investment structures and options. She joined AKF Consulting in 2011 and has over fourteen years of State-run Investment Program experience.
Ms. Lee graduated from the University of Virginia McIntire School of Commerce (BS in Commerce with concentrations in Finance and Accounting). She is an SEC- and MSRB-registered Municipal Advisor Representative (Series 50). Ms. Lee is a Chartered Financial Analyst.
Ellen Breslow, CRPS
Senior Consultant*
Ellen Breslow, CRPS
Senior Consultant*
Ellen Breslow is responsible for all IRA and retirement plan activities within State-run Retirement Programs at AKF. Her expertise includes product design, IRA platforms, sales and marketing, and payroll provider relationships. Ms. Breslow’s primary focus is the development and the implementation of the appropriate retirement plan structure for Auto-IRA Programs. In addition to working closely with AKF Consulting on State-run Retirement Programs and general firm marketing, Ms. Breslow provides health care advisory services through EAB HealthWorks.
Ms. Breslow spent a 26-year career at Citigroup’s Smith Barney Global Wealth Management Division (now Morgan Stanley Wealth Management), most recently as the creator and Managing Director of the Retirement Resources Group focusing on individual retirement planning and health care advisory for clients and prospects of Smith Barney and Citigroup’s Private Wealth Management advisors. Prior to the establishment of the Retirement Resources Group, Ms. Breslow was the Managing Director of Financial, Education and Retirement Planning Services. In this role, she was the business manager for Smith Barney’s Financial Planning Desktop Applications and Citigroup’s prototype IRA and Qualified Plan documents. She also ran the marketing and strategy unit for Individual Retirement Planning Services, including systems, operation, compliance and legislative changes that impacted individual retirement plans. She was instrumental in the integration of IRA programs to the Citigroup IRA platform from acquired financial services firms.
Furthermore, Ms. Breslow developed and implemented Smith Barney’s “On Site” program, which offered corporate employers a variety of financial and retirement planning seminars conducted by highly qualified Smith Barney Financial Advisors. This program offered employers the opportunity to establish a financial wellness benefit at the workplace.
Most recently, Ms. Breslow has been instrumental in offering solutions for the distribution and income planning of IRAs. In addition to IRA expertise, she is a Chartered Retirement Plan Specialist (CRPS).
Ms. Breslow is a graduate of Lehigh University and is a General Securities Representative (Series 7), a General Securities Principal (Series 24) and a Municipal Fund Securities Limited Principal (Series 51). Previously, she was a FINRA-licensed Investment Company/Variable Contracts Products Limited Representative (Series 6).
Martin Feinstein
Senior Consultant*
Martin Feinstein
Senior Consultant*
Martin Feinstein is responsible for AKF’s quantitative modeling initiatives, including oversight of the development of customized financial models that analyze multiple alternative scenarios for State-run Investment Programs. He also heads staff training in analytics and modeling and provides quality control oversight for client deliverables.
Mr. Feinstein began his public finance investment banking career in 1980 as a computer programmer at First Boston Corporation. In 1986 he moved into the finance area before moving to Smith Barney (now Citigroup) in 1995, where he headed the Finance Structuring Group within the Municipal Securities Division.
Over the course of his public finance career, Mr. Feinstein had three main responsibilities: (i) helping municipalities to create financing plans and execute those plans to finance their project needs (ii) creating user friendly Excel models for municipal authorities to analyze their own financial needs, and (iii) training and developing investment banking analysts in the math of financial structuring and the execution of financing transactions.
Mr. Feinstein graduated from the State University of New York at Albany (BS in Computer Science/Applied Mathematics). Previously, he was a FINRA-licensed General Securities Representative (Series 7).
Carlie Cope
Associate*
Carlie Cope
Associate*
Carlie Cope is responsible for research and data work related to 529, ABLE and State-run Retirement Programs. She collects industry data, documents trends, analyzes developments, and manages databases for AKF. Prior to joining AKF in 2025, Ms. Cope conducted human insights research at Georgia State University as a graduate student.
Ms. Cope graduated from Georgia State University (MS in Educational Psychology) and Northwestern University (BA in Cognitive Science).
Mark Chapleau
Senior Consultant*
Mark Chapleau
Senior Consultant*
Mark Chapleau is responsible for reviewing State regulations, drafting or commenting on program disclosure materials, and monitoring legal and regulatory developments, including litigation developments relating to tax-advantaged investment plans, including 529, ABLE and State-run retirement programs. In addition to working closely with AKF Consulting, he is the founder and owner of Chapleau Law Group LLC. Mr. Chapleau is a recognized expert in the field of Section 529 education savings plans and Section 529A disability savings plans.
Mr. Chapleau provides consulting, counseling, representation, and training services to program managers, State agencies, non-profits, law firms, and individuals on a wide range of matters. His goal is to make the laws and regulations surrounding tax-advantaged education savings and disability plans understandable so that stakeholders may take full advantage of these powerful financial tools.
Mr. Chapleau has advised clients for over 22 years in connection with more than 50 state-run investment programs across 30 states. Mr. Chapleau is an active member of the Legal and Regulatory Affairs Committees of the College Savings Plans Network and the ABLE Savings Plans Network, which both educate the public on education savings plans and ABLE plans. In addition, he is a frequent speaker on, and moderator of, panel discussions at 529 and ABLE program conferences.
Mr. Chapleau leverages over thirty-five years of experience in the financial services industry to (i) navigate clients through applicable tax, securities regulatory, and other legal issues; (ii) draft and negotiate required contracts; and (iii) prepare program descriptions and other marketing disclosures. He is the former President and General Counsel of Upromise Investments (now Ascensus), one of the nation’s leading Section 529 education savings program managers. At Upromise Investments, he was a FINRA-licensed General Securities Representative (Series 7) and a General Securities Principal (Series 24). Prior to Upromise Investments, Mark was a Senior Legal Counsel at Fidelity Investments.
Mr. Chapleau received a merit scholarship and graduated from Brooklyn Law School, and from the University of Connecticut (BA in Political Science). He is a member of the Bar in Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Sean J. McInerney
Senior Consultant*
Sean J. McInerney
Senior Consultant*
Sean McInerney is responsible for all aspects of operations including technology development, product deployment, automation, project management, fund accounting, trading and custody administration. Mr. McInerney’s expertise encompasses systems design, front/middle/back-office administration, data management and integration, conversions, digital transformation, and third party vendor management monitoring programs, specializing in 529 and ABLE plans.
Previously Mr. McInerney served as Senior Vice President at Upromise Investments, Inc. (now Ascensus). Mr. McInerney played key roles in the design and execution of a new state-of-the-art college savings platform, the launch of three college savings plans and the data and asset conversions for 25 college savings plans. In addition, Mr. McInerney had oversight for advisor products, operations, broker dealer integrations, NSCC trading, third-party partners, corporate banking, custody administration, market trading and financial accounting teams. During his tenure he was a member of the Senior Management Committee and the Investment Management team responsible for recommending and monitoring underlying investment vehicles.
Prior to joining Upromise Investments, Mr. McInerney was an Officer at Boston Financial Data Services (now SS&C Technologies), the nation’s largest transfer agent, where he led business analyst and programming teams responsible for modifying the DST TA2000 system to support 529 plans. In addition, Mr. McInerney implemented sixteen 529 Programs, including four data conversions.
Mr. McInerney graduated from Bridgewater State College (BS in Business Administration). Previously, he was a FINRA-licensed Investment Company/Variable Contracts Products Limited Representative (Series 6) and a Uniform Securities Agent (Series 63).
Ella Nysetvold
Research Analyst*
Ella Nysetvold
Research Analyst*
Ella Nysetvold is responsible for research and analytical work related to 529, ABLE and Auto-IRA Programs. She reviews and analyzes Program features, Plan Disclosures and industry trends, and updates research databases for AKF. Additionally, she assists in various industry research projects. Prior to joining AKF in 2023, Ms. Nysetvold worked at AllStripes as an Associate Research Analyst. In this role, she was responsible for analyzing, cleaning, mapping, structuring, and performing statistical tests on de-identified datasets. She also streamlined processes for data capture, helped define data capture and quality requirements, and prepared data and scientific manuscripts for publication.
Ms. Nysetvold graduated from Brigham Young University with a BS in Bioinformatics.
*Not a registered Municipal Advisor
All biographical information is current as of September 12, 2025
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