OUR PRIMARY SPEAKERS
Joanne McGehrin
Federal Benefits Specialist
Joanne has been conducting training for federal personnel officers and retiring federal employees for over 35 years, both as a federal employee and as a government contractor.
Joanne completed seven years of federal service with the Office of Personnel Management as a Retirement Claims Examiner and as a Federal Training Specialist designing and delivering training to new claims examiners and Federal Personnel Specialists. She left federal service in 1987 and founded J. P. McGehrin and Associates, specializing in Retirement Planning Seminars for Federal Employees. Joanne maintains a current comprehensive knowledge of retirement law to ensure that lectures and participant workbooks are accurate and consistent with changes in retirement laws and policies. Through exposure to thousands of questions posed by employees attending her seminars, Joanne has developed the ability to focus on the truly important issues facing federal employees and presents the information in clear, easily understood terms.
Karen Schaeffer
Certified Financial Planner™
Karen Schaeffer, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER ™, has been advising clients for over 35 years and has developed a diverse client base including professional women, foreign service officers, foreign nationals and federal government employees.
In addition to her financial planning practice, Ms. Schaeffer is a popular lecturer and seminar leader. She has spoken on global financial planning issues at many international conferences and has represented the CFP Board at Financial Planning Standards Board meeting around the world. Routinely she conducts programs on a wide variety of topics, from minimizing estate taxes to developing investment strategies, to planning for retirement. She has held adjunct faculty positions with the College for Financial Planning in Denver and George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Karen is often asked to design and teach continuing education courses for CFP certificates, CPAs and other financial services professionals. Her publishing credits include articles in Business Review, Best’s Review, and the Financial Planning Encyclopedia. She has coauthored a book titled Education Savings Planning Guide, and has appeared on many radio and television programs.