Michael Beck, president of Eliciting Excellence, is an executive coach, business strategist, and the author of "Eliciting Excellence: Bringing Out the Best in People."  He is passionate about developing successors and preparing them to successfully run a company.  As a professional executive coach for the last 19 years, he has worked with executives to improve their leadership effectiveness, broaden their strategic thinking, and maintain their focus on execution.

Michael's credentials include an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School of Business along with degrees in Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.  He has worked both domestically and internationally with a wide range of clients from diverse industries.

Eliciting Excellence offers leadership assessments and executive coaching, all designed to help successors succeed.

Paul Dougherty is the Past-President of NAIFA and has been in the insurance and financial services field for twenty-eight years representing State Farm Insurance, the last twenty-one as an Agent in Hyattsville, Maryland.  He is a passionate advocate for the insurance industry in general, and the role of the agent specifically.

Throughout his career, Paul has actively engaged in training producers, educating clients, as well as advising regulators and legislators about the value of the products and services designed to help consumers recover from the unexpected.  Paul speaks to audiences and organizations around the country about the key role producers play in the industry and the need to assist clients in preparing for their financial future.  His insights in the delivery of professional advice to a diverse marketplace has resulted in multiple requests to brief members of Congress and their staffs on key issues and has led to frequent testimony before Maryland House and Senate committees.  He is also the current Chairman of the Retirement Planning Coalition of Maryland.

Paul balances the demands of his agency with his commitment to his community.  He has served on four different school boards in Prince Georges County, including as President of two, as well as serving on other charitable boards.  He is also a very experienced coach and has spent over fifteen years coaching 3 dozen different teams.

Paul is a native of Potomac, Maryland and a graduate of The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.  Paul and his wife Elizabeth live in Croom, Maryland with their two children, Madeline, 21 and Jacob, 19 in the historic West End Farm.

Steve Parrish is the Director of the New York Life Center for Retirement Income at The American College, where he also serves as an Adjunct Professor.  He is also a Program Director and Adjunct Professor at Drake University Law School.  With 40 years of experience as an attorney and financial planner, Parrish frequently addresses the challenges of business owners and executives nationwide.

Parrish is an expert on business owner estate and financial planning, including buy/sell agreements and exit planning as well as executive compensation.  He is a recognized industry authority, spokesperson, and author serving as an ongoing columnist for both Forbes.com and the Journal of Financial Service Professionals.

Parrish has served as an expert source for such prominent media outlets as InvestmentNews, MarketWatch, Wall Street Journal Radio, HR Magazine, and the Journal of Financial Planning.  He is also an Associate Editor of the Journal of Financial Service Professionals.  In addition, he is a sought-after speaker with bar associations, estate planning councils and state AICPA meetings.  He has addressed such financial service organizations as MDRT, Association for Advanced Life Underwriting, and Society of Financial Service Professionals.  Parrish also addresses numerous business organizations nationwide.

Parrish was employed at The Principal Financial Group from February 1997 until June 2015, and began teaching at Drake University in 2015.  Prior to that, he served as vice president, marketing services for Amerus Life Insurance Company.  He began his career as an attorney and advanced sales director in Minneapolis.  He became a financial planner and agent in Atlanta, where he was a co-owner of Walker Parrish Financial Group.  Steve received his BA Cum Laude, from Saint Olaf College and his Juris Doctor degree from the William Mitchell College of Law.

Mary Fipps is a certified public accountant and Director with ISLER CPAs, where she specializes in Estate and Trust Administration and Taxation.  Mary is the former owner of the accounting firm of Horsfall & Fipps, which recently merged with ISLER; the move has enabled her to focus almost exclusively in the estate and trust realm.  She has more than 30 years’ experience on public accounting, and has been a frequent speaker and instructor throughout Oregon on Individual, Business, and Estate Taxation, as well as Estate Planning topics.

Mary was born and raised in Cottage Grove, and studied accounting and fine arts at Lane Community and Linfield College.  She and her husband Larry have five children and nine grandchildren, and they are beekeepers.  She is also a portrait artist, working mostly in watercolors.