Our deepest desire is to provide financial peace and confidence to those we work with.
We empower people to set and achieve their life and wealth goals by bringing clarity, transparency, and accountability to their financial world. We are driven to change our industry by dramatically improving the way advice solutions are built, delivered, and executed.
Our core values represent:
- Being dynamic, proactively looking for opportunities to improve and moving with power to implement.
- Holding ourselves accountable; taking ownership of client actions and the experts we work with to complete them.
- Always working towards being elite; it’s the little things that add up to greatness.
- Maintaining momentum, raising the bar for what baseline performance looks like, then pushing it higher.
Crown Wealth Group was founded by brothers Nick and Tyler Kolbenschlag in the spring of 2018.
Having worked in the private wealth management world for a combined 16 years, they knew what financial advice should be and what it shouldn’t. Crown was launched as a fully independent firm, free from the conflicts of interest present in the big banks and national wirehouses. Financial planning is a wonderful tool, but where the industry falls short is on execution. Nick and Tyler set out to solve this problem with their Personal CFO solution, where the advisor is the single point of contact for the client and accountable for ensuring all advice is executed from start to finish.
Steve Lindgren joined Crown as Chief Investment Officer and Partner in the spring of 2019.
The Crown Personal CFO solution was an immediate success and the firm designed a platform that could be scaled to offer this solution to many families. The key to doing this successfully is having the right team in place, and timing was right to bring on Steve Lindgren as Chief Investment Officer and a partner in the spring of 2019. Steve’s investment knowledge added a key skill to the team and rounded out the initial bench of experts.
Doug Coppola merged his business into Crown in the fall of 2019.
Client First Advisors of Chapel Hill, NC was founded in 2011 by Douglas Coppola, along with support from his wife Mary Jo. The Crown team was fortunate to meet Doug and Mary Jo Coppola in early 2019. After a great meal and a couple bottles of wine, everyone knew there was a strong potential to team up and grow together. Client First Advisors was built around strong investment management, focusing on capital preservation in difficult times and capital enhancement in good times. Having more than 40 years of investment experience, Doug brings a tremendous amount of knowledge to his clients who trust him to always keep their best interest at top of mind.
As a younger firm, Crown desired to bring that experience aboard the current team and asked Doug to merge his business with Crown’s and become an Executive Director and Chairman of the Investment Committee. After months of careful planning, Doug joined the Crown team in October of 2019 and brought with him a client base that would benefit from Crown’s financial planning and implementation expertise. The Crown clients now have an additional partner to help them navigate both good and difficult markets with more confidence.
Zac O’Brien opened Crown's Winston Salem area office and merged his business into Crown in the Spring of 2020.
The Greater Piedmont Group of Thrivent Financial was founded in 2009 by Zac O'Brien. The Group focused on financial planning and investment management, while building deep relationships with their clients. Unfortunately, large corporate financial firms often push their advisors to sell their products and hit sales goals. By the fall of 2019, Zac was ready to find a new home for his team and clients so he made a call to a close friend of 25 years. Nick Kolbenschlag described the Personal CFO model Crown Wealth Group had implemented for its clients and he immediately knew this was the model of the future and something they would be proud to deliver to his clients.
Zac and Amy joined the Crown Wealth Group family in February of 2020 and have not looked back. They are valuable additions to the team and will make a tremendous impact on not only this firm, but those they advise on a daily basis.
In the summer of 2021, Crown’s new headquarters opened in the heart of Historic South End just outside of Uptown Charlotte.
The space was purchased by the company in late 2020 and underwent a full upfit. A boardroom was added to the first floor and a mezzanine was added to the second floor. The design stayed true to the historic nature of the building with natural woods, iron, and brick, while incorporating modern furnishings and technology. The building first served as a cotton show room in the late 1800’s and now serves as the focal point for Crown team members, clients, and partners to work and grow together.
Bob LeBeau merged his business into Crown at the start of 2022.
Bob LeBeau started managing money for clients at Merrill Lynch in 1974. Over the past 47 years, his loyal clients followed him to many of the largest firms on Wall Street including Lehman Brothers, UBS and Oppenheimer, where in 1995 he met Doug Coppola. Bob and Doug have had a close relationship ever since. Once Doug shared his great experience moving to Crown Wealth Group, Bob knew he wanted the same for his clients.
In January 2022, Bob joined Crown Wealth Group as Research Director & Investment Committee Executive. With this change, he is able to focus more on managing money and his clients gained access to the full breadth of services the Crown Personal CFO solution delivers. All Crown clients, present and future, will benefit from Bob’s expertise in researching and selecting investments that support the needs of their most important life goals.
Sean Casullo joined Crown as Senior Wealth Planner in the summer of 2022.
In order to continue delivering the white glove service current Crown clients have grown to expect and potential clients wish to receive, it was time to add another Personal CFO to the Crown Charlotte team. In the summer of 2022, Sean Casullo joined the Crown team as a Senior Wealth Planner. Having worked the prior 11 years at a firm that focused more on investments, Sean desired to utilize his Certified Financial Planner and Behavioral Finance certifications to provide more holistic planning to the families he works with. Crown’s family-office style Personal CFO solution is the perfect fit for Sean’s skills and career vision. Sean’s attention to detail, holistic approach, and family focused mindset made him the perfect fit for the new role.
Zac O’Brien opened Crown's Winston Salem area office and merged his business into Crown in the Spring of 2020.
The Greater Piedmont Group of Thrivent Financial was founded in 2009 by Zac O'Brien. The Group focused on financial planning and investment management, while building deep relationships with their clients. Unfortunately, large corporate financial firms often push their advisors to sell their products and hit sales goals. By the fall of 2019, Zac was ready to find a new home for his team and clients so he made a call to a close friend of 25 years. Nick Kolbenschlag described the Personal CFO model Crown Wealth Group had implemented for its clients and he immediately knew this was the model of the future and something they would be proud to deliver to his clients.
Zac and Amy joined the Crown Wealth Group family in February of 2020 and have not looked back. They are valuable additions to the team and will make a tremendous impact on not only this firm, but those they advise on a daily basis.
Crown’s rapid growth was recognized when receiving a Fast 50 award from the Charlotte Business Journal.
Crown was identified as the 31st fastest growing private company in the Charlotte region. Even more impressive, Crown was the only financial services company represented on the list. Crown’s Personal CFO solution is setting a new standard in the industry, and our clients are on the cutting edge of financial advice.
Zac O’Brien opened Crown's Winston Salem area office and merged his business into Crown in the Spring of 2020.
The Greater Piedmont Group of Thrivent Financial was founded in 2009 by Zac O'Brien. The Group focused on financial planning and investment management, while building deep relationships with their clients. Unfortunately, large corporate financial firms often push their advisors to sell their products and hit sales goals. By the fall of 2019, Zac was ready to find a new home for his team and clients so he made a call to a close friend of 25 years. Nick Kolbenschlag described the Personal CFO model Crown Wealth Group had implemented for its clients and he immediately knew this was the model of the future and something they would be proud to deliver to his clients.
Zac and Amy joined the Crown Wealth Group family in February of 2020 and have not looked back. They are valuable additions to the team and will make a tremendous impact on not only this firm, but those they advise on a daily basis.
Scott Drake joined Crown’s Charlotte office as a Managing Director in the fall of 2024.
As Crown continued to deepen and expand its family-office structured Personal CFO solution, it was also time to deepen our bench of experts. In the fall of 2024, Scott Drake joined the Crown team as a Managing Director – advising high and ultra-high net worth clients. Having spent a successful 22 years in Corporate and Investment banking, Scott shifted his passion for strategic advisory and financial markets from the corporate sector to the personal side. Scott built a relationship with Crown over the years and saw firsthand how differentiating the family-office services were and wanted to bring that level of consolidated advice to the people in his life. Scott’s leadership, outgoing personality, and deep knowledge of the financial markets made it a natural transition into the private wealth space.