Michael Kothakota has been hired by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards to the newly created position of head of research, the CFP Board announced today.
Kothakota will lead the organization’s research enterprise and develop and execute a research agenda. Based in the CFP Board’s Washington, D.C., headquarters, he will be in charge of the board’s research studies that will assess the impact that financial planning has on clients’ well-being. Further, he will develop new research and resources for practitioners and the CFP Board business intelligence, the board said.
“This newly created position will oversee cutting-edge studies to demonstrate the value proposition of CFP certification to the public, policymakers, firms and advisors,” CFP Board CEO Kevin Keller said in a statement. ”Michael’s experience as a veteran, small business entrepreneur, CFP professional and adjunct professor makes him uniquely qualified to implement a comprehensive approach to research in an age of constant data expansion.”
Kothakota joins the CFP Board from WolfBridge Wealth, a financial services firm based in Raleigh, N.C., where he served as CEO and conducted financial planning for retail clients. He also designed and implemented surveys and analyzed data as a partner at DataTactix; was a research consultant at Bento; and served on the research council at IncomeLab.
He holds teaching positions at Kansas State University, the University of Georgia and Columbia University. Kothakota holds a Master of Science degree in predictive analytics from Northwestern University and a Ph.D. in personal financial planning from Kansas State University.