Brent R. Brodeski

Brent is the CEO and founder of Savant. He has been involved in the financial services industry since 1988 and previously taught investment and finance courses at Rock Valley College, Rockford University, and Northern Illinois University. Brent earned a bachelor of science degree in finance and economics and a master’s degree in business administration with an emphasis in accounting from NIU. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional, and a Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA®).

Brent is a co-founder and past president of Zero Alpha Group (ZAG), an industry association. He is also a co-founder of the Alliance for RIAs (aRIA), a prestigious industry group. Brent was a long-term participant in Vistage (previously known as TEC) and The Strategic Coach™.  He is currently a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) and serves on the boards of the Northern Illinois University Foundation and the Rock Valley College Foundation.

Brent was named by Chicago magazine as the #1 independent financial advisor for the Chicagoland area in 2008 and one of the nation’s top professional advisors by J.K. Lasser. In 2017 he was ranked by Forbes as #40 on their top 250 wealth advisors list. From 1997 until the survey ended in 2008, Brent appeared on Robb Report Worth magazine’s “The Nation’s 100 Most Exclusive Wealth Advisors” list. In 2011, Brent was named the nation’s 10th “Most Experienced Independent Financial Advisor” by Bloomberg Businessweek. Brent was named “one of the 17 people advisors should watch in 2017” by Financial Planning magazine. He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and events and is recurrently featured in local, industry, and national media. Brent was named to Barron’s Advisor Hall of Fame in 2019, an award presented to one percent of all advisors in the industry, and has appeared in at least 10 of Barron’s annual Top 100 Advisor rankings. Under Brent’s leadership, Savant was named to the Inc. 5000 annual list of fastest-growing private companies in America in 2023. Brent was named to the 2024 Chicago Titan 100, which recognizes the Chicago area’s most accomplished business leaders.

Brent received the Distinguished Finance Alumnus Award from NIU in 2018. He likewise received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Rock Valley College in 2014. He received the Alumni Excellence Award from Boylan Catholic High School in 2015. In 2017 Brent was named “Citizen of the Year” by the Rockford Chamber of Commerce.

Brent is married to Sharon and has four children and three grandchildren. In their free time they enjoy traveling, wine, collecting art, boating, fine dining, and spending time with family and friends at their summer lake house in Lake Geneva, WI and in Naples, FL during winters. During the 2020 pandemic he and Sharon became level 3 sommeliers.