Ray Sclafani
President and Founder
After 20 years at AllianceBernstein, Ray Sclafani founded and heads ClientWise, the premier coaching and training company exclusively serving the financial services industry. Ray’s passion for serving leaders, advisors, and companies in the financial services sector is reflected in ClientWise and its unique coaching programs and team of credentialed coaches that help advisors and companies find the next level of professional excellence and financial success with greater focus and ease.
Ray’s experience as a seasoned specialist in coaching and training in the financial sector mirrors his long and profitable history in the industry. In his 20 years at AllianceBernstein, Ray was one of the company’s top sales professionals and executive leaders. His knowledge of how to create and execute on highly successful sales plans and build long lasting client connections was later utilized as founder and Managing Director of the Advisor Institute at AllianceBernstein. In that role, he developed and directed an extensive series of programs that proved invaluable to advisors in creating improved and sustainable motivation, sales, and client relationships. Ray completed his transition to founding ClientWise through significant coaching education and practice that led to his recognition as a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) from the International Coach Federation, the leading independent professional association for coaches. As a complement to his coaching skills, he also holds a Master’s Certification in Neuro-Linguistics from the International Association for Neuro-Linguistic Programming and has participated in The Strategic CoachSM Program for 13 years.
Ray’s expertise as a coach and trainer is recognized and sought out by leaders within the profession. Through ClientWise, he has provided coaching or created and presented workshops for, among others, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, LPL, Raymond James Financial, and Ameriprise. In addition, he has spoken on request to major industry conferences and company events for firms such as Merrill Lynch for their Diversity & Training programs, LPL, MSSB Institutes Conferences, Raymond James, FSC Securities, as well as the FPA National Conference, John Hancock Funds Wholesaler Conference, Nationwide Financial Summit Sales Conference, Met Life Presidents’ Conference, Barron’s Winner’s Circle Summit, and Barron’s Top Advisory Teams Summit. He has authored “The High Performance Coach”, a monthly column for Investment Advisor magazine, and has been interviewed and quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Financial Planning magazine, and Registered Rep, to name a few.
Ray holds a BA from Baylor University. He lives in Bedford, New York with his wife and true life partner, Beth, and their two sons who continually inspire his work and his passion for excellence.
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Rebeca Buffaloe
Director of Coaching Services
Rebeca Buffaloe has more than a decade of experience coaching and working with financial advisors in business development. Before joining ClientWise, she served as Vice President of Branch Development for Householder Group, one of the largest production groups with AIG Financial Advisors, and owned and operated her own consulting firm. Rebeca’s expertise is in marketing strategy, team development and practice management. She has a BA in Rhetoric from the University of California Berkeley. She is also a Genos Emotional Intelligence Certified Practitioner. As Director of Coaching Services, she is responsible for the facilitation and success of the coaching program at ClientWise.
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Amy E. Buttell
Marketing Communications Director
Amy E. Buttell is a journalist and a branding specialist. During the past decade, Amy has helped editors and business owners define their communications strategies and communicate successfully with their target audiences. She’s written for numerous publications, including The Journal of Financial Planning, the FPA’s Practice Management Solutions Journal, the New York Society of Security Analyst’s The Investment Professional Journal and Better Investing Magazine. Her copywriting, articles and white papers have appeared on corporate websites from the Registered Investment Advisory Firm Wealthfront to Microsoft to Atlantic Trust Wealth Management. A graduate of Furman University, Amy also holds an Advanced Certificate in Accounting from the Walker Business School at Mercyhurst College. It’s Amy’s task to ensure that Clientwise’s branding message is consistent and creative. She makes her home in Erie, Pa.
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Lisa Hanna
Executive Assistant to Ray Sclafani/Team Project Coordinator
A seasoned executive assistant with over 30 years of experience working with major American corporations, Lisa Hanna is an integral part of the ClientWise team. With her hands-on, get it done approach, she helps ClientWise meet the objectives and expectations of our clients.
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Margaret Krigbaum
Chief Program Developer
After 11 years in private law practice, Margaret transitioned to coaching in late 1994, in the early years of the coaching profession. With over 15 years of coaching experience, her broad range of clients includes Fortune 500 companies, C-Suite and senior executives, and executives and professionals in the sectors of financial services and law. Margaret coaches issues of significance for her clients, including executive and leadership development, strategic planning with bottom line results, team communication and growth, individual brand development and professional progress, as well as mentoring advanced coaches in continued growth of their coaching skills. Her international client base extends throughout the United States and to Europe and Asia. She has coached over 1500 clients, 10,000 hours, and has coached individuals and teams in 26 different countries.
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Thomas Rey (Trey) Schalk
Business Development Director
As a business development director, Trey manages key institutional relationships and works closely with individual advisors, advisor teams and advisory firms. Trey brings 18 years of experience in the financial services industry in a variety of roles to ClientWise. Prior to joining the firm, he worked closely with financial advisors as a product wholesaler with Hartford. Trey began his career as a management consultant in trust operations for Price Waterhouse, then worked for Nomura Securities in New York. He holds a B.A. in liberal arts from Austin College and an MBA in Finance from Baylor University.
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Frank Troha
Director of Learning and Development
Frank Troha ranks among today’s most qualified instructional designers and performance improvement specialists. He teaches instructional design at Fordham University and has consulted for many leading asset management companies. Frank received a Master’s degree in Educational Communications from the State University of New York (Oswego) and a PhD in Adult Education from Commonwealth Open University (Asturias, Spain). He is also a formally trained coach.
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