Brent Burns

President and Founding Partner

Brent brings more than a decade of financial and investment experience to his work in applying academic research to the development of practical and innovative portfolio strategies. Brent’s deep background in empirical finance helped form the basis for all of Asset Dedication’s modeling and analysis. His work with Asset Dedication began at the University of San Francisco, where he partnered with co-Founder Stephen Huxley as a McLaren Research Fellow to study portfolio performance and the impact of withdrawal rates, inflation, and market conditions. In addition to his role at Asset Dedication, Brent periodically teaches the Personal Finance courses in the MBA and undergraduate programs at the University of San Francisco School of Management.

Brent holds an MBA with honors from the University of San Francisco and a BS from the University of California, Berkeley. Brent is also a former world-class pole vaulter and was a member of the U.S. National Track and Field Team.

Stephen J. Huxley, PhD

Managing Director, Research, and Founding Partner

Stephen holds a doctorate in economics from the University of California at San Diego and an undergraduate degree in business and statistics from Ohio State University. He was a tenured Professor of Business Analytics in the School of Management at the University of San Francisco, where he taught 1973-2024. His courses included Business Analytics, Decision Science, Operations Management, and Analytics of Personal Finance at the graduate and undergraduate levels. He has received awards from the university for teaching, research, and service. In 1988, he won the National Franz Edelman Award for Outstanding Achievement in Management Science for his work in scheduling. It is the highest award given by the profession. Over the years, his research has been published in academic journals, trade journals, and international conferences.

His consulting work has included personnel scheduling for law enforcement agencies, productivity and quality improvement for the California Public Utilities Commission, and statistical process control systems in the manufacturing industry. He began to apply his scheduling research to investment strategies in the late 1990’s using dedicated portfolio theory. This work ultimately led to the book Asset Dedication: How to Grow Wealthy with the Next Generation of Asset Allocation (McGraw-Hill, 2004), which he co-authored with Brent Burns.

In his off time, he enjoys spending time with his family, is active in his church, assists animal shelters, and tells Dad jokes.

Jeremy Fletcher, CFA

Managing Director, Investments and Partner

Jeremy joined Asset Dedication in 2010. He has been in fixed income management since 1991. Previously he co-managed the $3.5 billion fixed income investment pool at the City and County of San Francisco, where he created and implemented the strategy to deliver safety, liquidity, and yield to the pool’s constituents while providing cash flows for daily operations. Before that he was a portfolio manager responsible for over $2 billion in fixed income assets at American Century Investments, including directing the firm-wide strategy for inflation-linked products and managing that firm’s series of zero-coupon funds. Jeremy launched the firm’s flagship inflation-linked fund in February 1997 along with the debut of the U.S. inflation-linked market. In 2000, he managed one of the top-performing U.S. fixed income funds in the United States.

Jeremy earned his BA in Economics/Mathematics from Claremont McKenna College and holds an MBA with honors from the University of San Francisco. He became a CFA charter holder in 2000.

Daniel Yeoman

Managing Director, Product Development

As the Director of Product Development, Dan manages and implements systems that enhance the client experience and provide Asset Dedication with scale. Dan is also responsible for overseeing the onboarding of new clients and the firm’s day-to-day operations.

Prior to merging his financial services web development firm, AdvsiorShip, with Asset Dedication, Dan was an independent technology and business consultant for boutique management consulting firms and startups. Before that, Dan was a summer associate at Disney’s in-house investment banking advisory and strategy consulting team where he analyzed M&A opportunities and strategic growth initiatives including the $4.6 billion dollar acquisition of Marvel Comics.

Dan earned his BS in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from Babson College.

Jason Romero

Senior Trader

Jason joins the Asset Dedication team after spending almost 6 years with another firm where he led the firm’s trading desk, supporting advisors with day-to-day operations. His core strengths include managing and communicating clients’ cash flows, account setup and maintenance, trade execution, and management of portfolios. Jason also manages relationships with various custodians and portfolio accounting/trading IT vendors. Jason earned his bachelor’s degree from California State University Sacramento with a double major in Finance and Risk Management. As a hobby, Jason is a member of a car racing team.

Brian Duvall, CFP

Manager, Advisor Services

Brian has been working in the financial planning space since 2006. He holds undergraduate degrees in both finance and Economics plus a Master’s degree in software development. Brian is also a Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) and Retirement Management Analyst (RMA) designations. Brian bridges Asset Dedication’s software development and operations teams and integrates with the trading team to provide automation of services and direct interaction with advisors to facilitate back-office functions. He enjoys spending time with his family and is an avid snowboarder.

Mindy Cantrell

Senior Client Services Associate

Mindy has been with Asset Dedication for over six years, after spending six years with another financial firm, where she led the Client Services Associate Team, and worked with one of the founding partners as well as supporting other advisors as needed. She has been in an office environment for over four decades. Organization and details are her strongest gifts. She excels at managing and communicating with clients in account setup, follow up, and maintenance. In her spare time, Mindy enjoys cooking, reading and spending time with her family.

Mark Fineza

Senior Client Services Associate

Mark brings a decade worth of experience and an exceptional attitude to elevate the advisor experience with Asset Dedication’s platform operations. Prior to joining Asset Dedication in 2024, Mark worked with Envestnet Tamarac, where he guided onboarding firms and serving key resource through the process. In addition to professionalism and client service excellence, Mark’s inquisitive mind and forever learning mantra is well suited to the academic DNA of Asset Dedication. Born in California and raised in New Jersey, Mark graduated from Rutgers University with an undergraduate degree in Economics. Outside of the office, Mark can be found reading/researching, exercising and visiting family.

Tyler Shellman

Associate Developer

Tyler has an undergraduate degree in Software Engineering with a minor in Financial Planning from Brigham Young University – Idaho. While attending BYU-Idaho, he participated in a team of web developers who placed 1st in the nation at the 2022 Business Professionals of America competition. He has also participated in the Wealth Management and Web Design & Development Societies. Before joining Asset Dedication in 2024, Tyler led a team of developers in maintaining call center software created to capture and analyze data used by the BYU-Idaho administration.