About Us
Celandra Deane-Bess, CFP® (Certified
Financial Planner)
Career Biography
Celandra earned her Bachelor of
Science degree in Economics from the Wharton School at The University of
Pennsylvania in 1997 and her MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of
Business in 2008. In 2003, she
successfully completed the experience, coursework and comprehensive examination
requirements to earn the designation of Certified Financial Planner®. In
addition, she is a Registered Representative with FINRA (Series 7, 63), and is
also a licensed insurance agent in the State of Maryland. Celandra brings over
12 years of comprehensive financial planning experience with deep expertise in retirement
planning, goal planning, investment analysis and insurance planning experience
through her tenure at TIAA-CREF, a Fortune 100 Company, and one of the leading
financial services firms in the industry. At TIAA-CREF, she began her career as
a financial advisor and quickly rose to senior levels providing sophisticated
Wealth Management services to some of TIAA-CREF’s highest net worth clients. As
a Wealth Management Advisor, Celandra also spearheaded several financial planning
seminar programs for the employees of many of TIAA-CREF’s largest institutional
clients, with audiences ranging is size from 20 to 250. Therefore, she also
brings a wealth of formal presentation expertise for a wide range of audiences.
More recently, Celandra was asked by TIAA-CREF senior management to utilize her
expertise in a strategic position assisting in the launch of an entirely new
Advisory Services Platform into market, while they sponsored her MBA. While
still at TIAA-CREF, in 2006, Celandra Co-Founded, Unique Properties, LLC, her
own successful real estate investment company, currently managing approx.
$1Million in real estate assets part time. Therefore, she also offers her
clients a wealth of real estate investment experience.