Executive Team
John Neyland
CIO, Principal, and Chief Investment Officer
Louisiana native John Christopher Neyland founded JCN Financial & Tax Advisory Group, LLC in 2002. John specializes in retirement planning with a concentration in tax efficiency and distribution strategies. John is a well-known and respected investment advisor representative, holding a Series 66 securities license. His bedrock investment philosophy of managing volatility, capital preservation, and prudent value-oriented investing is the core foundation of the JCN strategy.
John is an established author, speaker, humanitarian, and businessman, but he is also a dedicated family man to his wife, Karen, and their three children.
Karen Neyland
Bookkeeper and Queen Bee
Karen has raised her three children with her loving husband, John. She has a degree in occupational therapy and worked as an occupational therapist in the East Baton Rouge Parish (EBRP) school system for 10 years.
Karen was a vital component in the startup of JCN Financial and is now the chief financial officer for the company.
Now, she is everyone’s favorite person, especially on payday!
Lyen Martinez
President
With 10 years of experience in management services, Lyen has extensive experience within clerical services specific to the implementation of distribution, Roth conversion, and tax planning.
As President of JCN Financial, she is responsible for the comprehensive management of the business, managing staff, and maintaining working relationships with over 200 clients, as well as assisting in both the compliance and accounts payable departments. Lyen’s B.A. in management (with a concentration in the supply chain) from Southern University serves as a strong foundation for her current position. She is currently pursuing her master’s in finance from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She is bilingual in English and Spanish, which helps her connect with a wide range of clients.
Alex Bernal, MSC, MS, CMT, CFTe
Senior Quantitative Analyst
Alex Bernal has over a decade of industry experience in equity, commodity, currency, interest rate, and derivatives markets. He holds both the Certified Financial Technician (CFTe®) and the Chartered Market Technician
(CMT) designation, in addition to a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Southern California. Alex started his career at the Beverly Hills branch of Bear Stearns & Co. in the wealth management division. Then in 2007, he moved over to M&N Trading, LLC where he joined the prop trading desk where he specialized in statistical arbitrage in areas such as global yield curve spreads and STIR (Short Term Interest Rate) futures.
Lizzie Mejia
Client Relations Manager
Lizzie is an adept professional in customer service and operations for JCN Financial. She is a very dedicated and resilient individual involved in our day-to-day operations and overall customer experience. With over 15 years of
experience in the customer service area and her ability to communicate in English and Spanish, she provides us with the opportunity to build better relationships with our clients and an edge over our competitors.
Olivia Neyland
Chief Marketing Officer
Olivia was born and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She is a graduate of Louisiana State University, where she studied biology and business administration. In addition to leading the marketing team, she is a web
developer, manager, and video editor for the “John Neyland Show,” Olivia is studying for her Series 65 exam with plans to become a fiduciary financial advisor at JCN Financial.
Serena Nguyen
Marketing Project Manager
Serena is our Marketing Project Manager. She graduated from Louisiana State University with a degree in psychology and has over five years of experience in the customer service industry. She is quick to learn and
troubleshoot new computer programs, ensuring smooth operations for our team and for our marketing events and initiatives. As JCN’s Marketing Project Manager, she crafts visually engaging presentations and manages our messaging content to effectively communicate our business’s message, enabling others to have a life they otherwise would not have. Serena’s unique skill set makes her a valuable team leader in our marketing department.
Tracy Petrou
Administrative Assistant
Tracy is one of our dedicated administrative assistants. She graduated from LSU with a B.A. in communications and sociology. As a busy mom of three and early childhood educator, she is no stranger to multitasking! She uses her
expertise in time-proficiency and organizational skills to assist the marketing department. She is bilingual in English and Vietnamese and our resident social media personality. Her sunny disposition is such a joy to have at JCN and her willingness to help our team and clients is unmatched!
Roxxana Martinez
Administrative Assistant
Roxxana is our administrative assistant in our client services department. She is an incredible asset to Lizzie’s team! She has over 15 years of experience in business management, customer service and has served as an assistant
director of an early childhood program for over five years. She is bilingual in English and Spanish and her ability to serve and communicate for our extensive clientele has been very beneficial. With her extensive and diverse training, she is a wonderful asset to our team!
Research Team
John Neyland
Alex Bernal
David Bergstrom
Database Engineer and Senior Developer
With a decade of software and database management experience, David’s architecture for the JCN Financial research platform is what drives our investment models and research capabilities. He also specializes in C#.net
and C++ high-performance software development. David attended Bucknell and the University of Pittsburgh, and has more than a decade of experience in high frequency trading and market making.
Kris Kaufman
Technology Consultant
Since 1990, Kris has been president and chief executive officer of Parallax Financial Research, a scientific research boutique that empowers professional money managers using unique fundamental and quantitative security
models. Prior to that, he was a senior staff geophysicist at Sierra Geophysics. He has lectured on and published a variety of articles on neutral networks and non-linear financial predictors, the geophysics of nuclear explosions, and seismic wave propagation. Kris has advanced degrees in physics and mathematics from the University of Colorado.
Douglas C. Frick
Technology Consultant
Douglas is currently the vice president of Parallax Financial Research. Prior to that, he was manager of software engineering at Sierra Geophysics. He specializes in enterprise quality integration and automation of large
software programs using diverse databases. Douglas has a B.S. in mathematics from the University of Washington and an M.Sc. in information and computer sciences from the University of Hawaii.
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