Biography:

Andrew Temte is CEO of the Kaplan Professional Education - a division of Kaplan, Inc., which is a subsidiary of The Washington Post. Andrew started his financial services education career in 1990, working together with Dr. Carl Schweser until 1999 to build Schweser Study Program into the global leader in CFA^® Exam review.

Upon its acquisition by Kaplan, Inc. in 1999, Temte took the reins of the Kaplan Schweser organization. Under his direction, Kaplan Schweser has been positioned as a leading global provider of innovative, efficient, and effective financial education solutions. In October 2007, he assumed responsibility for the Kaplan Financial Education division, which provides study tools for high-stakes securities and insurance licensing exams as well as the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation.

During Temte’s tenure, he has collaborated with some of the industry’s most respected business leaders and academicians to research, develop and implement new courseware for designations such as Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Financial Risk Manager (FRM), and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA). In addition to cutting-edge product development and implementation, Temte has made numerous and successful business acquisitions including the Study Seminar for Financial Analysts, Excel/JKE Exam Review, Koppel & Wiley, and U.S. CPA Success.

Temte earned his doctorate in finance at the University of Iowa with a concentration in international finance and investment theory. Temte holds the Chartered Financial Analyst^® (CFA^®) designation and has over sixteen years of university teaching experience in the areas of corporate finance, investments and international finance.

Biography:

Tim Smaby is Chief Learning Officer of Kaplan Schweser and Kaplan Financial Education, divisions of Kaplan Professional. Smaby joined the company in 2002 as the manager of the Level 2 CFA study materials. In his current role as CLO, Smaby oversees all content development and production for Kaplan Professional's insurance, securities, and advanced designations product lines.

Prior to joining Kaplan, Smaby was an associate professor of finance at Penn State Erie. Previously he held various positions in the banking industry with Bank One in Cincinnati, Ohio and First Republic Bank in Dallas, Texas.

Smaby is a CFA Charterholder and has also been awarded the Financial Risk Manager (FRM) designation. He holds a Ph.D. in finance from the University of Cincinnati, an MBA in finance from the University of Wisconsin, and a BS in economics from the University of Minnesota.

Biography:

Cynthia Davidson is the Vice President of Insurance Product Management for Kaplan Financial Education, which provides comprehensive education and compliance solutions to the securities, insurance, banking and financial industries. Kaplan Financial Education is a division of Kaplan, Inc., the education and test prep leaders, and a wholly owned subsidiary of The Washington Post Company.

Davidson, who has worked in insurance education publishing for 23 years, joined Kaplan in September 2003. She serves as Kaplan's main point of contact with the insurance regulatory community, and is responsible for the insurance prelicensing and continuing education product line in both classroom and non-classroom markets.

Her areas of expertise include insurance regulation, life/health and property/casualty prelicensing, insurance continuing education, market regulation and anti-money laundering requirements. She also is well versed in curriculum development to meet insurance compliance and training requirements.

Davidson currently serves on the California Insurance Department’s Curriculum Advisory Board, the Insurance Regulatory Examiners Society Foundation (IRESF) Board of Directors, and the Board of the Society of Insurance Trainers and Educators (SITE) where she is Immediate Past President this year.

Davidson earned the Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) designation in 1991 and holds a B.A. degree in English from Temple University, phi beta kappa, summa cum laude.

Biography:

Steve leads the team responsible for the Insurance Licensing, Insurance Continuing Education, and Insurance Achievement product lines; prior to that, he had been responsible for the Insurance Achievement line since 2005. Before taking on a leadership role, Steve specialized in writing insurance continuing education for Kaplan (and its predecessor Dearborn) in the areas of estate planning, retirement planning, and business planning. Before coming to Dearborn in 1997, Steve was a senior writer analyst in taxation at CCH, Inc. He also wrote popular tax advice columns and small business planning features carried in the online editions of the Baltimore Sun, Chicago Tribune, Long Island Newsday, Los Angeles Times, Orlando Sentinel, and other major newspapers. Steve earned his law degree at Ohio State University and his undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago.

Biography:

Barb Gavitt has been an instructor in the Insurance and Financial Services industry for over 18 years (13 with Kaplan Financial). She has developed and facilitated many train the trainer workshops internally for both presentation skills and product knowledge. She has developed classroom course material for prelicensing in all major insurance lines – life, health, property, and casualty.

Barb is also a content specialist for continuing education and Insurance Achievement. She serves a dual role as the Eastern Division Manager, responsible for the hiring and training of instructors in 22 states.

Barb received her Bachelor of Science in Education from Eastern Michigan University. She is also an active member of the Society of Insurance Trainers and Educators.

Biography:

Kevin is currently involved in the areas of content and project management for both securities and insurance. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Education from the University of Nebraska and has a professional background that includes more than twenty years of field experience. This experience includes agency, sales training and 16 years as a district manager. As a district manager he was responsible for all areas of his district’s operations, including the training of the agents in the various aspects of their agency operations. His industry licensing background includes all of the major lines of insurance - Life, Health, Property and Casualty - and the Series 6, 63, and 26 securities registrations, all in multiple states. Kevin initially joined Kaplan as an instructor in 2005 and has taught over 20 different courses in a number of states. These courses cover a broad range of subject matter, including a number of the securities series, all the major lines of insurance and many different continuing education courses.

Biography:

Jeff is currently Vice President of Securities and Insurance Education for Kaplan Financial Education. He has also served as Vice President and Level 1 Manager for Kaplan/Schweser's CFA Study Program. Jeff started teaching finance and developing financial education materials in 1988 while earning his Ph.D. in finance and operations research at Kent State University. As an associate professor of finance at Ohio University, he taught investments, portfolio management, and managerial finance in MBA and undergraduate programs, both domestically and abroad. His research has been in the areas of pension management, asset valuation, and instructional technology. Jeff has published articles in several academic and practitioner journals and has developed study guides and course presentation software for various financial textbook publishers. Prior to his current role with Kaplan Financial Education, Jeff held the rank of Professor of Finance at Florida Tech, where he was instrumental in the development and implementation of an online undergraduate business degree program.

Biography:

Jennifer Martin has been with the company since 1991. She began her Kaplan career as a Legal Editor before moving into the continuing education area. She is now the Senior Editor for Property-Casualty Product Development and is responsible for all titles in the property-casualty continuing education course library.

Jennifer has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Purdue University and has earned the Chartered Property-Casualty Underwriter designation.

Biography:

Bob Redman has worked as a writer and editor in the financial services industry since 1996. He is responsible for developing and maintaining an array of print and online training courses for insurance and other financial professionals. He has developed courses on the insurance and financial needs facing senior citizens, including courses on long-term care and senior needs planning, and he has developed courses on Section 529 plans and anti-money laundering.

Before entering the financial services industry, he worked as a writer and editor for a national healthcare accrediting organization, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. As a health policy analyst, he wrote speeches, position papers, and articles for the president, other officers, and board members of the Joint Commission. He also conceived and developed many publications on quality improvement in various types of healthcare organizations, and he wrote the standard history of the company, which was published in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). While in health care, he managed editorial, production, desktop publishing, and graphic arts units that produced books, journals, and newsletters. Bob has his BA and MA from Loyola University and is a NEDA Fellow (National Defense Education Award).