Jane Beule

Founder & President

Jane began her career in finance as an industry analyst with J.P. Morgan in New York. After graduating from Harvard Business School, she moved to the Bay Area with her husband and worked for both large and smaller corporations as well as venture-backed start-ups before following her passion to serve individual clients. She founded Griffin Black in 2001 in order to create the kind of Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) firm she wanted to hire herself. Jane and her husband have two grown children and live in Redwood City, CA.

Manju George

Client Operations

Manju George is the face of Griffin Black’s Client Operations. She’ll help you stay on track with the necessary operational details – making sure that your i’s are dotted and your t’s are crossed – at every step along the path towards achieving your financial goals. You’ll be interacting extensively with her as your engagement gets underway, and regularly as we continue to work together. You can depend on her to help with any administrative roadblocks you might encounter in implementing your financial plan. She’ll be your first point of contact to address many questions and concerns you may have, and will proactively reach out to you to help you move forward.

Born in India, raised in the United Arab Emirates, educated in Switzerland, and now here in the USA, Manju is a quintessential child of the South Asian diaspora. She has earned degrees in both Psychology and International Business, and has experience with corporate strategic planning as well as personal financial planning. She joined Griffin Black in 2013 seeking to build a more personal connection with the people she works with every day.

Shannon Stone

Lead Wealth Advisor

Shannon Stone is the newest member of the Griffin Black advisory team. She brings many years of experience to her new position, having worked for wirehouse and municipal bond firms before settling in to her more recent positions in the Registered Investment Advisory industry. That experience has given Shannon a broad knowledge of financial operations, compliance, and investment strategy, in addition to her experience serving high-net worth individuals and multi-generational families.

Above all, Shannon has a passion for working with people, whether it’s through advising and financial planning or simply creating high touch and memorable client experiences.

Shannon is a past president of the non-profit organization Visions for Teens at Risk. She challenges herself with on-going personal development projects, Spartan races, and being an extraordinary wife and mom.

Jon Hsu

Wealth Advisor

Jon Hsu started his career as an engineer, first developing software for embedded systems, then studying alternative energy technologies. Recently, he discovered a passion for personal finance. Over the past few years, he has assisted individuals both as a tax preparer and as a professional credit counselor, helping individuals get better control over, and feel better about, the role of money in their lives.

In his free time, Jon enjoys playing Ultimate Frisbee and strategy board games.

Terrence Palazzolo

Associate Wealth Advisor

Terrence Palazzolo is a career changer who applies his deep experience in corporate finance to his passion for personal finance. Prior to joining Griffin Black, he held senior positions in corporate planning and strategy in the retail industry. In his role as a strategic leader he developed and managed financial forecasts and maximized shareholder wealth. This has now evolved into helping individual clients achieve their goals and gain financial peace of mind.

Financial literacy outreach is very important to Terrence. He volunteers at pro bono Financial Planning Day events to help increase community awareness of personal finance topics.

Terrence is a Bay Area native and enjoys learning about different cultures and hiking with his wife in his free time.

Tim Connolly

Associate Wealth Advisor

Tim is a graduate of Kenyon College where he majored in Economics, with a focus on financial markets and portfolio allocation. Prior to joining Griffin Black, Tim worked as a senior member of a specialty tax credit consulting firm. In this capacity, Tim partnered with executive teams of small to midsize businesses, and their support teams, to determine potential tax savings strategies to help the business reach its financial goals. Throughout the pandemic, Tim recognized the peace of mind that comes with solid financial planning and literacy and now leverages his experience to help clients achieve their personal financial goals.

In his free time, Tim enjoys staying up to date with topics related to financial markets as well as more active hobbies including playing basketball, walking his dog with his fiancé, and exploring the Bay Area. Further, as the son of two Irish immigrants and a former member of the Kenyon College Men’s Varsity basketball team, Tim remains active in both the Kenyon College sports community and in the Bay Area’s Irish community.

Griff Coleman

Technical Operations

Griff brings experience from both enterprise software product management and qualitative innovation research to building out Griffin Black’s process automation infrastructure. He began his career as a cultural anthropologist, earning a Ph.D. from Columbia University based on a study of kinship and work organization in a remote village in North Sumatra. He then worked for almost two decades in Silicon Valley companies developing enterprise software.

In the back half of his career Griff returned to research as a principal at boutique design research consultancy Point Forward, Inc. At Griffin Black, Griff’s goal is to help the firm devote as much personal attention as possible to unique client needs by minimizing the burden of essential administrative processes.

In his spare time, Griff enjoys playing pickleball and tending his bees.

Francesca Vyvyan

Client Services Associate

Born and raised in the United Kingdom, Francesca studied Hospitality Management at Bournemouth University, enjoying an Industry year placement in the New Forest National Park. This led her to a 10 year career in four-star hotels, managing the Front of House department and then the Sales & Event Team before relocating with her husband and cat Walter to the Bay Area, CA in January 2020. Due to the relocation, Francesca decided to take the opportunity to change industries and now applies her hospitality skills in the world of wealth management.

Francesca is part of the Operations Team at Griffin Black and alongside Manju will ensure that all your administrative details are taken care of.

In her spare time, Francesca enjoys pet sitting, travelling, and playing netball.