John Vilardo - Managing Director, Senior Financial Advisor

John has 30 years of experience constructing and maintaining portfolios with knowledge of municipal bonds. Before becoming a fully licensed advisor with Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, John served on the Sales and Underwriting Municipal Desk for Security Pacific Investments. He received the honor of being designated investment advisor for Executive Financial Services, managing the personal portfolios of bank executives and executives of corporate banking clients. John received a BS in Business from Pepperdine University and the Certified Investment Management Analyst® (CIMA®) designation awarded by IMCA and taught in conjunction with the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania. John holds Series 7 & 66 FINRA Registrations.

Brett’s work ethic and desire to serve others has been a part of his character far before his professional career. At the age of 10, Brett began running a 120-home newspaper route. A few years later, he was bagging groceries at the local grocery store while still managing his newspaper business. From there, the young entrepreneur found an opportunity that would forever change his life…and it was only a few feet away from the check-out line: an in-store banking position.  That was 1995, and soon thereafter, Brett became a branch manager with NationsBank in Miami. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch Wealth Management in 2010, he worked in private international banking and asset management for Bank of America.  

Dedicated to a lifetime of learning, Brett holds various professional designations, FINRA registrations (Series 7, 63, and 65), licenses (life, health, long-term care, and variable contracts), and educational degrees. He graduated with his Bachelors of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Michigan. In addition, Brett has studied Gerontology at the University of Southern California and International Administration at the University of Miami. Brett holds the Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor designation, awarded by The College for Financial Planning Institutes Corp.

As Brett has grown older, his altruism and spirit has led him to expand his life beyond the financial world. He is a practicing Catholic, volunteers regularly with The Salvation Army, and is a Chairperson of Diversity and Inclusion for the Bank of America Volunteer Group.  In addition to following a strict vegan lifestyle, Brett enjoys cooking, reading, and circuit training.