Your Growth Next.

Early Beginnings

Raised in northern New Jersey by two young parents with an unbelievable work ethic, Michelle demonstrated an unquenchable thirst for achievement at an early age. Upon graduation from Pennsylvania State University, she was accepted into one of the most coveted rotational programs on Wall Street - UBS Financial Services’ Global Talent Program (GTP) in New York City. One of only a few students in the program who did   not   graduate from an Ivy League school, she proved early on that hard work, dedication, and strong instincts will get you far in the business world.

Financial Services Foundations

At UBS, Michelle earned her FINRA Series 7 and 66 licenses and set to work supporting financial advisors during 3-month rotations through various departments including Taxable Fixed Income Sales, Lending Sales, Municipal Bond Sales, Equity Syndicate and 2 financial advisory branches in Boston, MA. Michelle made the tough decision to move to the asset management side of financial services in order to stay in the city she had come to love and eventually marry her college sweetheart who was born, raised and running a family business in central Massachusetts.

On to Asset Management

In 2004, Michelle started on the Internal Sales Desk at State Street Global Advisors, the only female Internal Business Consultant at that time. Supporting external wholesalers in the Northeast and Southwest areas of the country, she built sales and marketing campaigns to further the sales of SSgA’s Separately Managed Accounts, Mutual Funds, and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) in her assigned territories. After a short time, Michelle was tapped to move to a new business unit at the firm focusing solely on SSgA's ETFs, later to become SPDR ETFs. There, she built relationships and marketed ETFs to institutional clients, including broker dealers, trading desks, and SSgA’s Authorized Participants. She also built an ETF-centric internal sales desk different from the one she came from - recruiting, hiring and training salespeople and earning her FINRA series 24 license.

Following an internal reorganization to align all products and prioritize ETFs, Michelle moved into a National Accounts role where she provided global coverage of partner firms like UBS, Wells Fargo Advisors, Merrill Lynch and RBC to attain platform placement, recommended list placement, and model portfolio placement for the SSGA's ETFs and Mutual Funds, while also sourcing business development opportunities for improved Advisor - Wholesaler connectivity through events, conferences, and due diligence meetings. During her 8+ years at SSgA, Michelle also participated in several projects to collaborate on the SPDR ETF rebrand initiative and earned her Series 24 license as well as the Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA) designation.

ETF Expansion

Recruited to PIMCO in 2012, Michelle was tasked with building the fixed income ETF business, covering the Northeast territory as an ETF Specialist. Calling on RIAs, Bank Trusts, broker dealer advisors, Michelle diversified her experience across all advisor channels, while still leveraging her key account home office contacts to obtain platform, recommended list and model portfolio placements at large wirehouse partner firms.

Leading Distribution Teams

In 2016, Michelle was recruited to John Hancock to build an ETF Specialist team from the ground up. Responsible for hiring, training and leading the team of 5, she also built the ETF sales and marketing strategy to complement a mutual fund-centric distribution force while earning her Certified Exchange Traded Fund Advisor (CETF) designation. Following her success with this initiative, she was tapped to also build and manage the RIA sales channel for John Hancock in 2021, restructuring a team of 3 salespeople to 8 salespeople in various account management and sales roles. Due to the open architecture nature of product distribution within this channel, the RIA sales team was often called upon to promote newly launched ETF and alternative investment strategies. It was then Michelle found her next passion - private wealth and private market investments.

Armed with the aforementioned alternative investment product experience and ready for a new challenge, Michelle moved on to build John Hancock’s Private Wealth Distribution strategy, developing the alternative investments platform and creating access strategies with private wealth financial advisors. In 2023, she earned her Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA) certification and became a requested speaker on the subject of exit planning for the likes of Forbes, FA Magazine and Exit Planning Institute. In 2024, she earned her CAIA Fundamentals of Alternative Investments certificate.

Growth Accelerated, LLC

Faced with a unique opportunity to drive both organic and inorganic growth, and leverage her passion for exit planning within the private markets, Michelle made the difficult decision to leave corporate America in late 2024 to work within her family’s 110-year old auto repair business. She is now offering similar growth acceleration services to businesses and business units of all sizes.

Getting Personal

A wife and mom of 3 young children, Michelle loves volunteering in her kids' schools, sharing her faith as a catechist at their family's church, and cheering her kids on during soccer, basketball, baseball, softball, and lacrosse games. Yoga, running, reading and beach time on Cape Cod round out her hobbies, preferably with friends and family close by.

A Final Note 

Michelle is passionate about financial services, sales, marketing and revenue generation strategies for businesses and business units of any size. She believes accountability, relentless execution and results-driven processes through strategic planning and servant leadership serve many executives well, regardless of industry.  No project is too big or too small!