Profile

Cory has served as Resident Director of the Merrill Lynch Wealth Management office in Destin Florida since 2008. He also works for a number of high net worth families as their Wealth Management Advisor. He began his career at UBS PaineWebber with The Krueger Group in 2002. Cory holds the CFP® certification and the CIMA®, CPWA® and CRPC® designations. He received a Certificate in Financial Planning from Florida State University in 2005, a CIMA® designation sponsored by the Investments & Wealth Institute™ (The Institute) at the University of California-Berkeley in 2008, and a CPWA® designation sponsored by the Investments & Wealth Institute™ (The Institute) at the University of Chicago in 2012.

Cory is originally from central Illinois where he completed his bachelor’s degree and graduate studies at Western Illinois University. There, he received his Business degree and MBA while serving as captain of the Men's Basketball team. Cory received Academic All-Conference honors for four consecutive years and was the leading scorer and Team MVP for the 2000-2001 season. He held the school record for ‘Games Played in a Career’ and was 3rd All-Time in ‘Three-Point Field Goals Made’.  

Cory is actively involved in the Destin community.  He served as Chairman of the Board for the Destin Charity Wine Auction Foundation (DCWAF) in 2015 and again in 2019.  DCWAF was ranked the #3 largest wine auction in the country by Wine Spectator Magazine. Under his leadership in 2015, the Foundation celebrated its 10th Anniversary and crossed the $10 million mark in aggregate funds raised for local children in need.  In 2019, DCWAF set a record by raising over $3 million for the first time. He is the former Board Chairman of the Walton Area Chamber of Commerce and served as President of The Destin Toastmasters Club for 7 years. In 2014 he served as the Honorary Commander of the 705th Squadron of the 505th  Wing  at Hurlburt Field.  He was on the Board of the Destin Area Chamber for two years and co-founded the Emerald Coast Emerging Leaders (ECEL) in 2004. He co-founded the Young Professionals at THE Beach (Now called ‘YP’) and was the 2009 & 2010 Chairman. Cory is also an active member at Shoreline Church and has been an Adjunct Professor at Northwest Florida State College since 2010. Cory is on the Board of Sacred Heart Hospital and serves on the Golf & Gala Committee for the Children’s Advocacy Center.

He was married in April of 2006 to his high school classmate Hillary Erdmann and they have five children: Nash, Micah, Monroe, Zion, and Crosley.  When Cory is not working at Merrill or serving the community, he enjoys traveling, golf, and opening a rare bottle of wine with friends.

Cory was named to the Forbes "Best-in-State Wealth Advisors" list in 2022.*


*Source: The Forbes “Best-in-State Wealth Advisors” list, published on April 7, 2022. Rankings based on data as of June 30, 2021.

Data provided by SHOOK® Research, LLC. Forbes Best-in-State Wealth Advisors ranking was developed by SHOOK Research and is based on in-person, virtual, and telephone due diligence meetings to measure best practices; also considered are: client retention, industry experience, credentials, review of compliance records, firm nominations; and quantitative criteria, such as: assets under management and revenue generated for their firms. Investment performance is not a criterion because client objectives and risk tolerances vary, and advisors rarely have audited performance reports. SHOOK’s research and rankings provide opinions intended to help investors choose the right financial advisor and are not indicative of future performance or representative of any one client’s experience. Past performance is not an indication of future results. Neither Forbes nor SHOOK Research receive compensation in exchange for placement on the ranking. For more information, please see www.SHOOKresearch.com. SHOOK is a registered trademark of SHOOK Research, LLC.