1. Timothy E. Casserly, CFP®
2. Walter T. Burke
3. Jerry M. Schwartz, CFP®AIF®
4. Karin Lopez
5. Olivia A. Mussett, CFP®
6. Christin Sarubbi
Timothy E. Casserly, CFP®
President & Founder
Tim graduated from Boston College with honors in 1981 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics and Communications. In 1984, Tim received his Juris Doctorate from Albany Law School of Union University in Albany, New York. Tim received his Certified Financial Planner designation from the College for Financial Planning in Denver, Colorado.
Tim Casserly along with his partner, Walter T. Burke, founded the law firm of Burke & Casserly, P.C. in
1988, which focuses on planning for all phases of life including estate planning, elder law, taxation and estate administration. Tim is also a founding member and President of Arista Investment Advisors, Ltd., a registered investment advisor with the Securities and Exchange Commission which currently manages investments in excess of $100 million for various individuals, corporations, pension plans and not for profit organizations.
Tim has written and lectured for many organizations and businesses across the country including the American bar Association, General Electric, the New York State Bar Association, State University of New York, the Financial Planning Association and NYS Department of Taxation and Finance. His lectures on "Planning For the Elderly" have been made available on tape through the College for Financial Planning in Denver, Colorado. Most recently, he coauthored the planning guide Boomer Basics published by McGraw Hill.
His combined practice of law and financial planning along with his presentation skills, has earned Tim the honor of being selected as a mentor for the Financial Planning Association’s national Residency Program - an intensive one week training program for newly credentialed CFP® professionals.
Tim is very actively involved with both professional and community organizations including the Financial Planning Association on both a national (Chair of the Professional issues Committee) and local (past president) level, the New York State Bar Association (Vice Chair of the Elder Law Section and Chair of the Financial Planning and Investments Committee), the American Bar Association, the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, St. Catherine’s Center for Children and YMCA’s Camp Chingachgook.
Walter T. Burke, ESQ.
Attorney at Law
Walter T. Burke, along with his partner, Timothy E. Casserly, founded the Albany, New York-based law firm of Burke & Casserly, P.C., in 1988. Now known as Burke, Casserly & Gable, P.C., the firm specializes in planning for all phases of life. Since its inception, it has developed from a two-lawyer, two-staff firm to a mid-size regional firm.
One of Walter`s primary areas of expertise is the burgeoning area of Elder Law. He is very active with the New York State Bar Association and is a former Chair of the Elder Law Section, which has over 2,500 attorneys in New York State. Walter was a leader in the New York State Bar's litigation against the "Granny Goes to Jail" Act. He also serves on the Elder Law Executive Committee. Walter had the honor of participating as Coordinator of the White House Mini-Conference on Aging and served as an Official Observer at the White House Conference on Aging in Washington, D.C. in 1995. He also served as a Delegate at the New York State Conference on Aging. In addition to Elder Law, Walter concentrates his practice in the areas of ongoing business planning and corporate matters, estate planning and financial planning.
Walter is actively involved with the American Bar Association and serves as an Assistant Secretary to the Senior Lawyers Division. Within this Division, he is Chair of the Elder and Long-Term Care Issues Committee, a member of State and Local Bars Committee, and liaison to the Business Law Committee.
Walter, along with his partner, Tim Casserly, Esq.; Robert Abrams, Esq.; and Barbara Nodiff, R.N., is a co-author of Boomer Basics , a layperson`s comprehensive resource guide to personal, financial, and health issues, as they relate to the Baby Boomer generation, their children, and their parents. Published by McGraw-Hill and available in bookstores nationwide, Boomer Basics is complemented by a website, www.boomerbasics.com.
Walter has also provided his expertise as an author to a chapter of the American Bar Association`s publication, The Lawyer`s Guide to Retirement, Strategies for Attorneys and Their Clients.
He also utilizes his financial and investment planning skills as a principal in Arista Investment Advisors, Ltd., a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA). Currently, the firm manages assets in excess of $100 million for various individuals, trustees, and retirement plans.
He has been a features lecturer at New York University`s School of Law and Albany Law School. Walter has appeared on various public television and news programs dealing with his area of expertise and has lectured locally and nationally on various retirement, elder law, estate and financial planning topics to attorneys, insurance agents, physicians, and corporate executives.
Walter earned his Juris Doctorate from Fordham University.
Jerry M. Schwartz, CFP®AIF®
CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER(TM) practitioner, Co-Founder
Jerry M. Schwartz, Co-founder, Principal, Chief Investment Analyst and Chief Compliance Officer with Arista Investment Advisors, Ltd., was born in 1947 in New York City. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from Stony Brook University and a Master of Arts degree in comparative East-West Philosophy from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. In addition to post-M.A. graduate work, he was the recipient of a National Defense Foreign Language Fellowship in Sanskrit, was the assistant to the editor of the journal Philosophy East and West, published at the University of Hawaii and participated in the East-West Philosophers’ Conference on Wang Yang-Ming, held at the University of Hawaii.
In 1977 he became an FINRA Registered Representative with Merrill Lynch in Honolulu and continued there until 1984, when he began his private financial planning and investment advisory practice. In addition, he was a Registered Principal with the FINRA, through Walnut Street Securities, Inc. through March 2004. He now serves his clients exclusively through Arista Investment Advisors, his independent investment advisory and financial planning practice.
Mr. Schwartz completed the CFP® Education Program through the College for Financial Planning and has earned the Certified Financial Planner® designation. In addition, Jerry holds the Accredited Investment Fiduciary™ (AIF®) designation. He is a member of the Financial Planning Association and the Registry of CFP® Licensed Practitioners. He is past President, past Chairman and past trustee of the Board of the Capital District Society of the FPA in Albany, NY and is a member of the Hawaii Society of the FPA in Honolulu and the Hawaii Estate Planning Council.
In addition to numerous appearances on the radio in the Albany area, on the CNBC cable television network and KHET Hawaii Public Television, he has taught individual tutorials in business ethics and philosophy through Empire State College of the State University of New York, financial planning and investment courses in the non-credit division of Columbia-Greene Community College in Hudson, NY and has twice addressed the New York State Bar Association, Elder Law Section. Mr. Schwartz spoke on financial planning for the aging and was a panel participant at the 2005 White House Mini-conference on Aging in New York City. He presents the “Planning for Retirement” and "Investing for Retirement" program segments of the telecourse, “Take Charge of Your Money3, presented on Olelo, Hawaii public access TV, through the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He presents programs and talks on spirituality and money, addressing the issue of applying the purposes of our lives to the money in our lives.
Mr. Schwartz was founding Board President of Greene County Common Ground, a not-for-profit alternative dispute resolution and mediation service. Mr. Schwartz is a board member, investment advisor and treasurer of the Foundation for World Education, a tax-exempt granting institution, which supports the work of the Integral Yoga community in the USA and Auroville, India. He is a past board, endowment and investment committee member of Camphill Village, USA, Inc. in Copake, NY, a life sharing community for the developmentally disabled and currently manages a portion of the endowment of the Camphill Village Copake Foundation. Additionally, he is a member of the board, chairs the asset management committee and is investment advisor for the Camphill Foundation. He is investment advisor to the Triskeles Foundation, which serves progressive social initiatives and philanthropy and serves as a board member and treasurer of Lokelani 'Ohana on the island of Maui, Hawaii, which is building a life sharing community for people with special needs. In addition, he manages several other charitable and religious endowments.
Karin Lopez
Karin Lopez has been active in the financial services field for over eight years. She graduated with honors in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the State University of New York at Albany. In December of 1996, Karin graduated with high honors with a Master of Business Administration again from the State University of New York at Albany. Karin started in the business obtaining her Series 7 and 63 Licenses with the FINRA and held her insurance license with the State of New York.
Karin joined the team at Arista Investment Advisors, Ltd. in February of 2002. Karin's position as Director of Financial Services at Arista Investment Advisors, Ltd. includes analyzing client portfolio holdings. This encompasses looking for unexpected risks by over-concentration, analyzing asset allocation and repositioning clients' portfolios, and making sure the portfolio is suitable based on risk tolerance and client objectives. Using her knowledge of investments, Karin recommends financial options to individuals in accordance with the individual’s short-term and long-term goals. Retirement planning, funding for college, general investment options, monitoring, researching, and updating the recommended list of suitable funds are just a few of her duties. Karin's next goal is to acquire her Certified Financial Planner designation in the near future.
Karin began her career in the Financial Services field at Trustco working in the Trust Department. There she gained working knowledge of Trust Investments. She has also gained experienced working in a broker/dealer side in a prior investment firm running managed asset programs.
Olivia A. Mussett, CFP®
Financial Planner
Olivia joined Arista Investment Advisors, Ltd. in March of 2006. As a Financial Planner, Olivia works directly with clients to structure and implement successful financial plans, to include appropriate asset allocation and investment planning, as well as retirement and risk planning.
Olivia began her career in the Financial Services industry in 1998 with Banc of America Investments in Jacksonville, Florida as a Registered Sales Associate, supporting a group of financial advisors who managed over $150 million in assets. In this role, she analyzed and monitored client portfolios and implemented adjustments to their investment strategy. In 2001, she joined Prudential Securities in Albany, NY as a Registered Sales Assistant, where she managed all aspects of investment administration for two independent investment teams. Most recently, she was a Relationship Manager with Curran Investment Management, where she created and managed financial plans for high net worth clients.
Olivia is a 2004 graduate of The American College’s CFP® Certification Program, successfully completing studies in financial planning, risk management, investments, tax planning and management, retirement and employee benefits and estate planning. In 2005, she earned the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ designation. She is a Series 7, 63 and 65 investment advisor and is also licensed in life, accident and health insurance. She has completed the NYS Partnership for Long-term Care Insurance training.
Olivia is a member of the Financial Planning Association and is a Board member of Zion’s United Church of Christ of Taborton.
Christin Sarubbi
Chris graduated from Fordham University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Theoretical Mathematics in 1972. She continued her graduate studies at New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences.
Chris was employed for over seventeen years in the financial industry where she worked for Morgan Guarantee Trust Company and was a Vice President of The Chase Manhattan Bank. Her areas of specialty were the trust and investment arenas and the management of corporate wide credit and country risk related issues.
For another seventeen years, she provided support to corporations in the Financial Services, Real Estate, Insurance and Educational industries. She has extensive experience in business analysis. This includes the organization of information to derive intelligence crucial to understanding performance, setting business directions, and implementing solutions.
Since 1994, Chris has been co-director of The Tibetan Lama Fund, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) corporation to support Tibetan monks and nuns in exile and assist the preservation of Tibet’s unique culture and philosophy.
Chris joined the team at Arista Investment Advisors Ltd. in August of 2006, as the Director of Client Services, where she provides assistance to clients, and maintains portfolio management and financial planning systems.
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