Meet Your Team
Our team is comprised of passionate, experienced, and specialized individuals curated to serve clients who dream as big as we do.
We approach financial planning as a team, with every perspective helping us build a stronger plan with better outcomes for our clients. When you work with one of us, you're working with all of us.
Implementation
Jennifer Cothern
Director of Insurance Operations and Services
Insurance Specialist
Jennifer is a vital part of our team at Northwestern Mutual. While in the office, she manages all client's from phone to plan creation, through underwriting and plan implementation. She joined Northwestern Mutual in 2010 and is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Jennifer can help with your insurance needs and currently holds her North Carolina Life and Long Term Care insurance licenses. Jennifer also facilitates the underwriting process and customer service requests.
While away from work, she is actively involved in her church, many social organizations, and travels frequently to serve around the world. She also enjoys running and spending her free time with friends and family.
On my Playlist: I Wanna Dance With Somebody – Whitney Houston – You can’t listen to this song and not want to get up and dance!
Most impactful read: The Bible
Passion & Charitable Service: International Celebration Assn – Prison Ministry in Guyana South America
Advice to her younger self: Always be grateful and find the positives in any situation.
Super power: Being able to fall asleep anywhere anytime
Most likely to: Try and make you smile
Parks is our firm’s Investment Operations Manager who believes a variety of investment strategies can be used to help clients achieve their financial goals. After seeing the impact of the great recession in 2008 he wanted to play a role in providing clear guidance that simplifies complex topics and provides a disciplined process to ensure families stay on track.
Parks brings over a decade of experience both in wealth management and employee benefit planning. In 2016 he obtained his CFA® charter, a globally recognized credential in the investment management profession. This designation gave him advanced investment analysis and real-world portfolio management skills to serve our clients’ sophisticated planning needs.
When Parks is not building and optimizing portfolios, he can be found watching SEC football and spending quality time with his wife and their two large dogs: a Newfoundland and Bernese Mountain Dog.
On my playlist: Marshall Tucker, CCR & Blackberry Smoke
Most impactful read: The Success Equation by Michael Mauboussin
Advice to Younger Self: Stay curious, never stop asking questions
Superpower: Ability to quickly see all sides of a problem and how they connect
Most likely to: Recall an obscure fact for almost any topic
Planning
Sydney is the newest member to the LifeWorth Financial Team joining in the later part of 2020. She is a first-generation graduate from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where she received her BSBA in Finance. She relocated from Gaithersburg, MD to Charlotte, NC full time upon graduation. Sydney currently holds her North Carolina life insurance, long-term care and FINRA Series 7 and Series 63 securities registration.
On my playlist: All 90’s R&B! Such a great time period for music.
Most impactful read: Born A Crime – Trevor Noah
Passion & Charitable Service: Beds For Kids in Charlotte, NC. Not only do they collect beds for children but, most household essential furniture to assist families in need.
Advice to younger self: Relax, what is for you will always be for you.
Super power: Making you laugh/smile almost always.
Most likely to: Save puppies from puppy mills.
Davis Dunn is on our Planning team at LifeWorth. He believes that clients are much more than just the numbers on their balance sheet. He counts the relationships he makes with the families we serve as the fuel that drives his love of our industry, and helping watch their dreams come to life is the biggest reward he can imagine.
Davis is a rare and nearly extinct true Charlotte-an. He was born in a nearby suburb and received his Finance and Banking degree in 2017 from Appalachian State. A sports fanatic at heart, Davis began his career in college athletics before deciding to explore opportunities that would leverage his degree. In 2021 he joined the LifeWorth team and credits the incredible people he meets every day as what keeps him fulfilled.
In his spare time, you can find Davis playing golf, watching sports, and seeking new challenges to conquer. He's currently learning Spanish as part of his "40 under 40" bucket list.
On my playlist: I listen to literally everything. I would say mostly country music, but there is some John Mellencamp & Ed Sheeran on there as well.
Most impactful read: The Richest Man in Babylon. Great book to read if you need help organizing your finances.
Advice to Younger Self: Don't quit. No matter how hard or impossible it seems, keep going.
Superpower: Fly* (*while on an airplane)
Most likely to: Crack a joke to keep the mood light.
Katie Harclerode is a Financial Planning assistant for the LifeWorth team. She believes that each family’s dreams are the foundation of their plan and loves to show them how their goals can be reached with a solid strategy in place.
Katie started her career in education, then joined a small firm as a paraplanner. After one summer away from the industry, she knew she wanted to get back to serving clients in a meaningful way and joined the LifeWorth team in 2022.
Katie is a New Jersey native and a graduate of Kutztown University in Pennsylvania. In her spare time, she can be found going on hikes with her dog Stella, and spending time with family and friends.
On my playlist: A mixture of lots of different genres. NEEDTOBREATHE, Thomas Rhett, Kasey Musgraves, Steel Drivers, Cain, Milky Chance, Macklemore, Tyler Childers, Chris Stapleton, or a 70’s playlist from Spotify!
Most impactful read: Becoming Odyssa by Jennifer Pharr Davis
Passion & Charitable Service: back home I was involved with Father Johns Animal House (where I rescued my sweet pup Stella) and R-Hub
Advice to Younger Self: Get out of your comfort zone, girl!
Superpower: Staying positive in most situations – I like to think the glass is half full.
Most likely to: Arrange a family game night