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.

Kate Coleman

Digital Operations

Kate Coleman incorporates her experience in archives and digital asset management to keep the digital operations and behind-the-scenes work of Griffin Black running smoothly. After working for traditional academic repositories, she joined Griffin Black in 2014 for a change of pace. Kate finds the challenges of adapting archival methodologies to fit the needs of Griffin Black rewarding, and enjoys the freedom to build new organization systems. Having successfully extolled the virtues of a well-developed metadata schema, Kate is now shifting her focus towards helping the firm develop marketing and social media strategies.

A native of the Bay Area, Kate is recently returned from her Texan adventure. She is happiest when baking, reading 19th century history, or talking about soccer teams and tactics.

Jon Hsu

Associate Financial Planner

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.

Jon is currently pursuing a graduate degree in financial planning in preparation for getting his CFP® certification. In his free time, Jon enjoys playing Ultimate Frisbee and strategy board games.

Alina Lee

Wealth Manager

Alina decided to pursue a career in financial planning because she was passionate about helping others with their personal financial needs. While Alina works with clients on all aspects of their financial plan, she has specialized training in planning for Retirement, including Social Security and Medicare planning.

Alina began her career in banking, where she worked in trust administration, portfolio analysis, and wealth management. Most recently, Alina served as the Director of Financial Planning at a large independent wealth management firm in Northern Virginia, where she and her staff provided high-level, comprehensive planning as well as life transition services to hundreds of clients.

A native of Maryland, Alina is looking forward to becoming acclimated to the Bay Area. She enjoys hiking and cooking Korean food in her free time.

Kathryn Kaczmarski

Associate Financial Planner

Joining the Griffin Black team in 2019, Kathryn is embarking on a career in financial planning after many years of consulting to leaders in organizations. She most recently held internal leadership positions in biopharmaceutical and consulting companies. Earlier in her career she created and managed her own consulting practice and co-founded two non-profits. She greatly enjoys the creative process of organization-building and helping to grow and scale smaller enterprises.

Acting on her life-long interest in finance and investments, Kathryn is currently pursuing her CFP® certification. She holds degrees in chemical engineering, organizational psychology, and organizational behavior – enabling her to use the left and right sides of her brain in equal measures. In her free time, Kathryn engages in a regular yoga/meditation practice and enjoys long-distance hiking.