Rod Gibbings CFP®, RRC, BA Econ
Rod Gibbings learned early that success and security are not the same thing.
Over the years, he’s worked with countless clients who had done everything “right” on paper with a strong investment portfolio, thriving businesses, and multiple properties, yet they still carried a lingering sense of uncertainty about what it all meant for their future. What he came to understand is that wealth, on its own, doesn’t create peace of mind. It only becomes meaningful when it’s clearly connected to the life it’s meant to support.
That belief shapes how Rod guides his team, clients, and the colleagues he mentors to approach strategic financial planning. He starts with two simple but often overlooked questions:
- What does freedom mean to you?
- And what plan do you have in place to achieve it?
Until those questions are answered, even the most sophisticated financial strategies can feel disconnected.
Having wealth doesn’t automatically mean you’re living life to the fullest. Rod’s central philosophy is about identifying what needs to be in place for clients to experience their own version of freedom.
For decades, Rod has worked alongside individuals, families, business owners, and professionals whose financial lives have become so complex that intuition alone is no longer sufficient. Many come to him at pivotal moments when retirement and business succession decisions need to be made, when family dynamics are evolving, or during periods of uncertainty where emotion can quietly cloud judgment. These are rarely just financial decisions. They’re life decisions, with consequences that extend far beyond portfolio returns.
Rod is known as a financial advisor, speaker, and thought leader for his calm, relatable approach. He believes health is wealth, purpose matters as much as performance, and that the strongest plans are built by teams, not in isolation. By blending real-life perspective with practical planning insight, he helps make complex financial decisions feel clear and manageable, leading to outcomes clients can live with today and in years to come.
As a keynote speaker, Rod challenges industry colleagues to think differently, reflect honestly, and focus on what truly matters to deliver the greatest return on life for clients and themselves.
As an Executive Financial Consultant with the Gibbings Aylward Group, Rod leads his team to help clients see their wealth in context. Not as an end goal, but as a tool that supports family, opportunity, resilience, and legacy. Clients often describe their plan as life-changing, not because outcomes are promised, but because the conversations reshape how they think about money and what it’s actually meant to do.
The goal is not certainty. Life rarely offers that.
Rod's goal is to make better decisions with clarity, so your wealth supports a life well lived and a future you can feel confident about.
Check out the WiSE Words podcast and hear Rod's insights and perspectives that help successful families and business owners think more strategically about their wealth and their lives.
John-Gary Aylward PFP®, RIS
John-Gary Aylward’s clearest lesson about money came from watching his father run out of it.
His dad was an entrepreneur: gifted at starting things, driven by ideas, always building, successful in many ways. But when it came time to slow down, there wasn’t much waiting on the other side. No real retirement. No cushion.
At the same time, John-Gary saw the other side of the equation at home. His mother, an accountant, approached money with discipline and intention. She made every dollar count, invested wisely, and ensured that what the family built could actually be sustained.
Growing up between those two perspectives, ambition and stewardship, shaped how John-Gary understands wealth today. He believes wealth creates freedom only when it’s deliberately connected to the life it’s meant to protect, with the right balance of opportunity and guardrails.
That instinct to connect the dots showed up early in his career. He learned that progress rarely comes from rushing decisions, and that when people feel unheard or unclear, friction follows (often quietly, and often expensively). Taking the time to understand what was really happening beneath the surface consistently led to better outcomes. That principle has stayed with him ever since.
Today, as a Senior Consultant with Gibbings Aylward Group, John-Gary brings that same mindset to higher-stakes planning. His work is best suited for people whose financial lives have grown complex enough that instinct and spreadsheets are no longer sufficient. He starts with the person, not the portfolio, because the numbers only matter in relation to the life they’re meant to support.
Clients often come to him when money stops being theoretical: a major business decision, a liquidity event, a family transition, or a season of uncertainty where emotion can quietly hijack good judgement. These decisions often carry consequences well beyond returns, affecting families, businesses, and future options.
In those moments, John-Gary is a steady guide, known for asking careful, sometimes uncomfortable questions, helping clients understand trade offs clearly and move forward with intention rather than urgency.
The goal is straightforward: protect the future, support the people you love, and build the kind of freedom his dad never had the chance to fully enjoy. The goal is not certainty, it’s better decisions, made with clarity.
Jakob Reichert CFP®, CIM®
Jakob Reichert’s first real finance education didn’t happen in a lecture hall. It came in hockey dressing rooms, on buses, and around teammates who suddenly had real income (sometimes before they had any structure to protect it).
As a hockey player, Jakob grew up alongside athletes who reached every level of success: minor hockey, NHL camps, and a small group who became household names. This gave him a front-row seat to what happens when a young person starts receiving a six-figure paycheque every couple of weeks and doesn’t know what to do with it.
He watched signing bonuses disappear into brand-new vehicles. He watched money get spent on “looking the part.” He watched smart people make bad decisions because they didn’t have a plan and didn’t have anyone in their corner to protect them from themselves.
That early exposure shaped the lens he still uses today: wealth decisions are rarely driven by math alone, they’re usually driven by emotion first.
We interpret risk through the filter of past experiences. We sometimes confuse short-term comfort with long-term security. We chase the feeling of momentum. Or we sit on cash because it feels safe.
Today, as a Financial Consultant with the Gibbings Aylward Group in Kelowna, Jakob’s work is about building the one thing emotion can’t easily hijack: a process. A structure that holds up.
As a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professional and CHARTERED INVESTMENT MANAGER®, he pairs technical planning with something just as important: behavioural guidance that helps clients stay steady when emotions run high.
Because the point of all that structure isn’t just to protect wealth: It’s to help you find freedom. The freedom to travel, buy the cabin, support family, give generously, or stop second-guessing every financial move.
Jakob starts by asking what freedom looks like in your life, then builds a plan designed to get you there.
If you want your money to feel less like pressure and more like possibility, connect with Jakob and start the conversation.
Julie Steele
When you talk to Julie Steele at the Gibbings Aylward Group, the conversation always feels different. You can hear it in the space she gives you; the kind that tells you there’s no need to rush. No need to tighten your story into a neat little package or race to the point before someone cuts in. And no need to repeat yourself.
You have her attention. Fully.
In a world of half-listening, multitasking, and hold music, that kind of focus carries a lot of weight. It makes you feel like what you’re saying actually matters.
Julie didn’t set out to work in private wealth. Early on, she was raising her children and looking for part-time work (something practical that could fit around a life already full). She started in banking. But as the days turned into years, she learned what the work was really all about: listening closely, then helping people find their footing and the next right step.
Julie is now in her 14th year working alongside Rod and supporting the Gibbings Aylward Group. Her approach is practical: She returns calls. She gives timelines. She follows meetings with notes that reflect what was said and what mattered. She’s the type of person who remembers your birthday and the trip you’ve got planned this winter. Not because it’s a “nice touch,” but because she listens and cares.
Julie offers calm, clarity, and genuine care when you need it most.
Katie English
Katie English is at her best when something needs sorting out. A client has a question. A detail is missing. A request comes in with a bit of urgency attached. Katie’s instinct is simple: get clear on the problem, take responsibility for it and then do everything in her power to see it through.
That mindset didn’t start in wealth management. Katie grew up in England, trained in performing arts, and then did something most people only talk about at dinner parties: she took her career to the sea, spending years travelling as a dancer on cruise ships. It’s a customer-facing world where you learn to stay composed, read people quickly, and deliver a great experience, night after night, even when you might not be feeling your best and the literal ground you’re standing on isn’t so steady.
When Katie and her husband settled in Canada, it was a fresh start. She gravitated toward the work that fit naturally: client service and administration. She pays attention to the small moments that make people feel valued, and she’s always looking for ways to make a visit, a call, or a first meeting feel special.
Katie’s philosophy on client experience is simple: in the moments that matter (when there’s a concern, an opportunity, or something time-sensitive to deal with) people may not remember every detail of what was said. But they will remember whether you took their issue seriously and whether you did what you promised.
Outside the office, Katie’s life runs in pairs: two kids, two dogs, two cats…and two lists: one that keeps her on track through the day, and one she writes before bed so tomorrow doesn’t start in a scramble.
Nicole Germano
In private wealth, the moments that build (or break) trust aren’t always the things that immediately spring to mind: a document that has to be right the first time, a deadline that can’t slip, a small issue that needs to be solved before it becomes a bigger one. That’s the space where Nicole Germano does her best work.
As an Executive Assistant with Gibbings Aylward Group, Nicole is known for bringing order, follow-through, and a steady hand to the details that keep a high-performing practice running smoothly.
Nicole has always been naturally drawn to numbers. Nicole chose a mathematics degree because it fit the way her mind works: structured, logical, and focused on getting to the right answer. That foundation shaped her early career in banking, where she learned how much people value consistency and responsiveness when money is involved. Moving into private wealth expanded that lesson: client experience isn’t just about meetings and big decisions, it’s also about operations, compliance, and the behind-the-scenes coordination that keeps everything seamless for the families the team serves.
Nicole measures a “good day” in a simple way: If she’s resolved an issue, if she helped make someone’s life easier and if she helped move things forward.
Her ultimate goal? Peace of mind: for her colleagues and for the clients she serves.
Outside of work, Nicole keeps a long-time passion alive: dance. After years of competitive dancing as a kid and continuing through university, she still makes time for adult classes, an outlet that mirrors her strengths at work: discipline, focus, and timing.
If you’re working with the Gibbings Aylward Group, Nicole is one of the people behind the scenes making sure everything runs the way it should: clear communication, smooth coordination, and a well-managed experience that supports strong outcomes from start to finish.
Danielle Van Raalte
Important information doesn’t land all at once when it comes to our finances. First, we absorb what matters most at this moment, and the rest comes into focus later (when life makes room for it).
That understanding sits at the centre of Danielle Van Raalte’s client communications philosophy: information should be designed to help clients connect more dots over time, understand what support is available from their team of advisors, and feel cared for without needing to know the perfect questions to ask.
Danielle didn’t adopt this approach from marketing courses while obtaining her degree. She learned it through years of assisting high-net-worth clients in a top nationally-ranked private wealth management practice, working up from Executive Assistant to Associate Consultant and Business Development Operations Manager.
She knows what high-net-worth families ask once they feel comfortable, how to anticipate what gets missed when life is busy, and how communication can be designed to feel supportive (and not transactional).
This client-centered, insider lens, along with an in-depth understanding of financial planning strategy, is how she approaches communication and marketing for the Gibbings Aylward Group. Danielle sees communication as an invaluable part of the client experience. She thinks in two directions at once: current clients who deserve timely, useful reminders, and prospective clients who want a clear sense of what it feels like to be looked after.
She’s deliberately careful with language. Danielle isn’t interested in hype or pressure. The goal is never to “convince.” It’s simply to clarify: how the team works behind the scenes for clients, how clients benefit from experienced advice, and the freedom that's possible when clients work with the Gibbings Aylward Group.
Her vision is straightforward: make the Gibbings Aylward team’s value easy to recognize and ground all communications in the same care the team brings to the work itself.