Meet the Team

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, 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

Client Relations

Serena is the newest member of our client relations team. She graduated from Louisiana State University with a degree in psychology and has over five years of experience in the customer service industry. She assists Lizzie in handling client requests and the day-to-day operations of the business. Like the rest of JCN Financial, she holds a passion for empowering people to live their best lives and is preparing for the CFP and Series 65 exams to become a financial advisor.

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 Pittsburgh universities.

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 chief software engineer 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.