Meet our team of experts in financial wellness, coaching, and teamwork
Gary Klaben
Founder and CEO
Money is a part of everything we do. It is the lifeblood of our society. Without it, life is difficult. I’ve watched people struggle with money my whole life. Soclar addresses money and all the issues, big and small, that come with earning, saving and spending our money. It’s about proactively addressing all aspects of our money by making smart, educated decisions about our money.
I graduated from West Point in 1979 followed by graduating first in my Ranger School class. The caption under my West Point graduation photo reads, “Remember me not for what I said, but for what you saw.” The six years I spent in the U.S. Army infantry were great years of serving my country and my soldiers.
When I rejoined civilian life, a friend suggested that, with my love of numbers and people, I should look into financial advising. Sure enough, I was a natural at it, and all the industry laws and regulations just gave me a new kind of complexity to simplify while coming up with creative solutions for my clients.
My path to becoming a business owner may be an unusual one, but I have always been the quintessential entrepreneur. I deliver seminars and talks, and have developed a patented pending process for simplifying visual communication of our client’s complex wealth through mind maps. I am the author of Changing the Conversation, Wealth of Everything and co-author of The Business Battlefield that I wrote with my colleague, Adam Blonsky.
I am genuinely interested in getting to know all about the person in front of me. Who are they? What’s most important to them? Where do they want to go in life? Whether advising my clients, mentoring my team, or coaching entrepreneurs, I’m always simplifying complexity and motivating others to take the next action that’s right for them.
Kim Frank
VP Operations
Financial wellness & coaching…it’s the life blood of what we do here. When I was in my early 20s I put together a list of things that young adults need to learn but are rarely taught in school. I think I called it Real Life 101. Fast forward to the present and many of those skills and ideas from that list are now part of the coaching we do here at Soclar! So you can say it’s been a lifelong goal of mine to be able to reach young people and help them. I know each day I have the opportunity to make a difference in our clients’ lives through a little technology with a side of coaching!
In my previous life I spent 10 years in the travel industry which ignited my love of traveling and gave me an appreciation for other countries, cultures, and this quote: Travel is the only thing you buy which makes you richer. In the last several years I have rented a cottage for a few weeks each summer in Door County, WI to slow down, tune out the noise of the world, and enjoy the simpler things in life. And each year I come back to work rejuvenated and bursting with ideas on how we can make an impact on those we serve.
I am a coffee & wine enthusiast, wannabe artist, and avid reader of spy thriller novels. You will find me happily sitting in the sunshine at any beach I can find, waiting for the sunset.
Lisa Falconer
Copy Editing
I’m an organizer and a person who tends to the details and I love when I can find ways to make others’ lives easier. I’m also happiest working behind the scenes, making sure things run like clockwork. Becoming part of the team at Simply Money Now is a joy to me because I not only get to do work I love, but I’m working with a group of people who understand and appreciate the different strengths, outlooks, and experiences that team members bring to the table.
I have a BA in Psychology from the University of Rochester and an MS in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Ohio University. I worked in Human Resources for 12 years before staying home to raise our two boys and then re-entered the workforce in project management and editing.
My husband Andrew and I love taking our kids to new places and have traveled extensively, both within and outside the U.S. The adventure of experiencing new places, meeting new people, and seeing how others live outside of our community never gets old. I’m an avid reader, love running and cooking, and thoroughly enjoy trying out new restaurants. My latest project is my attempt at relearning the Korean language, which I was once fluent in, albeit when I was four! I look for ways to volunteer my time in the community, whether it’s with our town’s farmers’ market, the food pantry, my kids’ schools, or with a local animal shelter, all the while trying to impress upon our kids the importance of giving back.
Barb Dennison
Video Production
My name is Barb Dennison and I am the video editor here at Soclar. Our sole focus is to help people with issues around money, and I feel fortunate and proud to be part of that. Gary’s knowledge is immense and I myself have learned so much from editing his videos. My goal is for everyone to obtain the knowledge I have gained from our Soclar program. When I edit a video, my focus is to help Gary deliver his knowledge and I do that by adding content that is easy for anyone to learn. I am always excited to edit a new video to see what I can learn and how I can help someone else learn that lesson also.
My passion for helping others started with an earlier career in bookkeeping/HR and as a HIPAA privacy officer in a dialysis clinic, where I worked for 14 years. My daily job was to help staff members resolve issues with benefits that impacted their financial situations. At the end of the day, it felt good to know I helped to get a medical claim paid, figured out the best option for paid time off for a medical issue, or resolved a discrepancy with an employee’s pay.
My husband Andy is a fourth-generation dairy and crop farmer. I left my job at the dialysis clinic a few years after our daughter was born to raise her and work on the farm. When our daughter started school, it was very difficult for us to run the farm and be involved with all her activities. So, when our daughter was seven, we sold our dairy herd but continued to grow crops. This change freed up a lot of time for me and I sought something to fill my time. This is when I was given the wonderful opportunity to join the Soclar team, and it’s been a rewarding and fun experience ever since!
