Paula H. Hogan
CFP®, CFA

Founder and CEO

When I thought about my future career, I knew that I liked working with different people and I knew that I wanted to do something meaningful. With those two things in mind, my first career thoughts were about… healthcare. 

I started working in the field and even earned a Master’s degree in Health Policy & Management, but continued to feel the pull of both finance and working with individual people. 

At that time the whole notion of a comprehensive, fee-only financial advisor did not exist, so I detoured to different positions with a couple of large banks, and, during a maternity leave, I satisfied my desire to work with people by founding and running a pre-school in Odessa, Texas (from “Friday Night Lights” fame).

Eventually, I learned about a new type of financial advisor that was just coming into existence. I realized immediately that the career of comprehensive, fee-only planning would be my calling. I jumped in early and enthusiastically. 

While juggling raising a family and running the preschool, I studied for and took both the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) exams. The school outlasted my tenure in Texas and was a beautiful place for our children and for our community. I think that’s where I solidified my entrepreneurial leanings.

After moving to Wisconsin, with certifications in hand, I worked briefly for an independent financial planner. It didn’t take long for me to formalize my own notions of financial advice; in 1992, I started this firm.

Despite my extensive training in financial planning, my prior life and work experiences have been crucial in helping me understand how life ebbs and flows for each of us and how important it is to keep a clear vision of what is meaningful and what you really care about.

From the start, my vision has been to provide individual advice and to take the worry out of personal finance for my clients. Our work is based on truly understanding each client’s unique situation, including what stage of life they are in (using a “life cycle theory” of investing), their resources and, importantly, their hopes for the future (this is all part of “comprehensive planning”).

A fundamental value to me is that we be worthy of our clients’ trust. To me, that means high integrity and transparency in our relationships, impeccable reliability in our work, and cutting-edge excellence in our advice.

I am pleased to be considered one of the pioneers of the field, but even more so that we have been early adopters at several fundamental turning points (including the use of asset class investing, or index mutual funds, and more recently, the adoption of a life cycle investing point of view). I am proud that we continue to help shape the industry for the benefit of clients everywhere, even as we go about the business of focusing on our own clients.

Paula is a nationally recognized leader in the financial advisory field and has served on the national boards for the Financial Planning Association and for NAPFA, the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors. In addition to working as a financial advisor, Paula has published multiple articles in the AAII Journal and in the Journal of Financial Planning and has also co-authored papers for the Wharton Pension Research Council and for The John Marshall School of Law Employee Benefits Annual Symposium. Paula’s education includes an Economics degree from Princeton University and a Master of Science degree in Health Care Policy & Management from the Harvard School of Public Health. She has been voted one of the Top 50 Women in Wealth by AdvisorOne/Bloomberg Wealth Manager and in 2002 received the Robert J. Underwood Award for her substantial contributions to NAPFA and to the financial advisory profession. She and her husband Quinn live on the east side of Milwaukee after having raised their four children in Whitefish Bay.

Clint R. Wondra
CFP®, CPA/PFS

Shareholder and Chief Operating Officer

During my freshman year of high school, we were assigned to write reports on two careers that we thought we’d like to pursue. I chose accountant and attorney. Even though I found law to be fascinating, I just had a knack for math and detail-oriented work.

After graduation, I enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where I enrolled in the five year Masters of Accountancy program. Growing up in the small town of Juneau, Wisconsin, I wanted to not only see what bigger city life was like, but what it would be like to work in a large financial firm. This led me to Chicago where I got an internship at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC). After a year of interning and finishing my Master’s work, I started working with them full-time. Somehow in the middle of all of this, I fit in studying for my CPA exam and passed all four parts on the first try. After a few years at PwC in Chicago, I transferred to the Milwaukee office where I continued to work with high net worth clients and PwC partners on their personal tax compliance and planning. Also while there, I took general financial planning calls from Fortune 100 company employees and worked with other PwC colleagues across the country. Being a big sports fan, one of the more interesting things I was able to do during my tenure with the firm was to manage tax compliance for shareholders of an NBA franchise. Yet, although I enjoyed my time at PwC and learned a lot, I found myself wanting to help people more. I wanted to work at a place where I could have more one on one contact and not only make a difference in my clients’ lives but also have a positive impact on my coworkers and help shape a company. And that’s what drew me to Paula’s firm. Hogan Financial is unique in that we believe that there is tremendous value in having deep conversations and maintaining an open dialog with our clients so we can better understand their hopes, dreams, and goals. Another benefit to the way we do business is that we’re structured as a fee-only fiduciary firm. Because we don’t work off of commissions like many others, we aren’t beholden to any specific products, which gives us the ability to provide unbiased advice and truly operate in our clients’ best interests. In the coming years, I hope to keep streamlining our operations and simplifing our onboarding process. That way, we’ll be able to focus even more energy on the things that really matter. Our clients’ lives and well-being. When I’m not working, I enjoy playing basketball and golf. I like the challenge of competing against myself and others. In basketball, I enjoy the team based approach using each player’s unique skills to achieve a common goal. While in golf, no two days weather wise or courses are ever the same. I’ve really come to appreciate the mental toughness and discipline it takes to do well on the golf course. I’m married to a wonderful woman, Amanda, who also works as a CPA at Baker Tilly. We live in Richfield, Wisconsin with our two young children —and two playful dachshunds.

In addition to serving clients as a financial advisor, Clint serves as our Chief Operating Officer. Prior to joining the firm, Clint was a tax manager for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP working first in Chicago and then in the Milwaukee office as part of PwC’s national Personal Financial Services (PFS) practice. Clint earned both his undergraduate and Masters of Accountancy degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Business School. Clint is a licensed CPA in Wisconsin and holds the Personal Financial Specialist (PFS) designation issued by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). He is also a member of the Wisconsin Institute of Certified Public Accountants (WICPA) and serves on the board of the Financial Planning Association (FPA) of Wisconsin.

Samuel P. Kruschel
CFP®, CRPC®, ChFC®

Financial Advisor

Math has always been fun for me. That passion, paired with my respect and dedication to supporting people through both good times and bad, is why I was drawn to a career as a financial advisor.

In college, as a member of the Applied Investments Program, I enjoyed the experience of investing real money on behalf of the university. During this time, I also worked for U.S. Bank in their mutual fund compliance department and then stayed on with U.S. Bank while earning my MBA at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

For the next chapter of my career, I made a deliberate shift to personal financial planning and particularly enjoyed working for MassMutual creating fee-only comprehensive financial plans for clients. The experience with MassMutual exposed me to a more diverse client base and more sophisticated planning strategies.

The opportunity to join the Hogan Financial team appealed to me because I immediately saw that they had a different and highly appealing approach. We are a fee-only company and take a truly holistic approach to financial planning. Everything with Hogan Financial is transparent. Clients completely understand what they’re paying for and the strategy and reasoning behind our advice. We are all about building trust and relationships and delivering results. Much of my role as a senior advisor is client-facing, and because of my background in insurance, I play a large part in helping educate and guide clients on various insurance options. I am also heavily involved in expanding and improving internal quality control processes and systems for our clients.

I’ve taught International Investments at UW-Milwaukee and Financial Management at Wisconsin Lutheran College as an adjunct professor. Being an educator is important and gratifying to me, whether it’s teaching college students or providing planning services to clients.

My amazing wife, Jenna, is a practicing CPA, specialized in assurance and audit quality control and is a regional leader for women’s inclusion. We recently built our family home in Germantown, where we are raising our young family. We enjoy family trips, especially to Las Vegas (where my parents live) to see shows and hike in the mountains, and each year Jenna and I visit Door County where we were married.

In my personal time, I enjoy golfing, spending time with my family and watching most sports. Being active in the community is important to me, and I served as the treasurer for a free health clinic in Milwaukee for several years and am currently a member of the Waukesha County Estate Planning Council and Financial Planning Association.

Sam earned a Finance degree from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He has his CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER (CFP) and Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) designations and is also a Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor (CRPC).

Thomas Meeker, CFP®

Associate Financial Advisor

Thomas holds many responsibilities that go beyond client service including assisting with portfolio management, reporting and rebalancing. He is a graduate of Marquette University with a degree in Finance and study abroad experience at the University of Southern Denmark. He has also qualified for the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certification.

Thomas is a member of the Financial Planning Association (FPA) of Wisconsin and serves as co-chair for the association’s annual symposium. He is an avid triathlete who loves to share his enthusiasm for the sport. Currently, he’s enjoying working as an Assistant Coach for the middle school athletes of the Bruce Guadalupe Mountain Biking Team.

Mary Immel

Office and Client Service Administrator

Mary is the person with the friendly greeting when you call or visit the office. She is known among her colleagues for being highly organized, conscientious and trustworthy, with an exceptionally kind and caring outlook. With a career including stops at Health Exchange Resources, HGA Architects & Engineers, and also several years with a family private office, Mary is well-versed in office operations, calendar management, financial reporting, document management, and most importantly, great client service, which is her professional passion.

Outside of work, and beyond managing her active family life, Mary’s personal passion is cooking. Mary developed her superb cooking skills directly from her father, who taught her from an early age. (Ask her about her red sauce!)