Team
Principal Coaches
Rhonda Sherwin, MBA, AFC®
Financial Coach for the Armed Forces Service Corporation, specializing in services to US Veterans.
She has extensive experience as a business leader in retirement services, trust and estate administration, and investment operations. Rhonda, throughout her career has always been active in personal finance education. She has been a career volunteer for Cents Ability, W!SE, Coalition for Debtor Education and served on the board at JKO High School as a career mentor. It has always been her passion to share the knowledge she has learned through her own personal experiences along with executive positions at Merrill Lynch, (Sr. Retirement Relationship Manager) Guardian Life Insurance, (Chief Trust Officer) and Franklin Templeton. (Director, Bank Relationship Management)
Rhonda is a graduate of NYU, with a BS and MBA from the Stern School of Business. She is an AFC® (Accredited Financial Counselor) and is a member of the Association for Financial Planning and Education ( AFCPE) and SHRM
While working full time, Rhonda earned a diploma in Teaching English as a Second Language to Adults, (TESLA) from the Literacy Assistance Center in NYC. As a volunteer at Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, she combined her financial knowledge with teaching skills to educate non-native speakers who were new to NYC how to navigate the complex world of personal finance.
She also earned a certificate in Conflict and Dispute Resolution from NYU for additional training to be an expert listener and mediate/negotiate complex business problems.
In her free time Rhonda is an avid pro sports enthusiast, original member of the NYC chapter of the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition, and dedicated patron of NYC theater.
Carol O’Rourke, MBA, CFP®
Executive Director of the Coalition for Debtor Education in NYC
As the Executive Director of the Coalition for Debtor Education with topics ranging from student loans and credit repair to smart shopping and basic investing.
She has always been passionate about financial education. Prior to her ten years at the non-profit, Carol was an Investment Information Specialist at Merrill Lynch where she won a Silver Anvil award for a campaign that introduced women to investing through a nation-wide seminar program. As Sr. VP at Smith Barney, she focused on programs to help individual investors understand and stay informed about investing choices. She taught classes for novice investors at The New School and has written financial information columns for women’s newspapers and for the NYCHA Journal.
A graduate of Emmanuel College in Boston, she also holds an MA from Boston College, and an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business. Carol is a Certified Financial Planner®. She volunteers in the RSVP program at Community Service Society, teaches classes on a pro bono basis.at Career Gear and at Non-traditional Employment for Women.
Carol grew up in Providence, RI, where she taught at Classical High School before moving to New York. She’s a member of the Financial Planning Association and SHRM, and serves as Treasurer of the Board of Encore Community Services, a non-profit in the Times Square, that feeds and houses the elderly.
Member: Financial Planning Association and SHRM.