Meet The Team
Each member of our team is driven by our firm’s core founding principles of helping clients achieve their long-term financial goals, and providing the highest level of service. Our wealth of industry experience in investment management and financial planning enables us to deliver a strong combination of expertise, insight, and skill to support clients on their financial journeys. We have built a reputation of excellence by investing in employees that share our values: always putting our clients’ interests first, and building trust through quality results.
John Hamilton
Chief Executive Officer
As Founder and Chief Executive Officer, John leads Aspire with more than three decades of investment and financial services experience. John is also founder of affiliate firm Hamilton Cavanaugh & Associates, which he created in 1986 with a focus on providing institutional retirement plan services, particularly in the healthcare and non-profit sectors.
From the outset, John’s vision was guided by three core principles: unmatched expertise, creative solutions for clients, and outstanding service. Today, Aspire remains committed to these principles in providing independent, fiduciary investment and financial planning services to a diverse array of individual and institutional clients.
John holds FINRA Series 26, 6, 63, and 51 registrations, as well as Life, Accident, and Health Insurance licenses.
James Rank
President
Having spent over a decade working with individual and corporate clients, James has acquired astuteness for helping them understand their unique needs and for developing investment solutions on their behalf.
As President of Aspire Advisors, James manages the investments for employer-sponsored retirement plans and high-net-worth individuals, as well as selecting investments based on the needs, suitability, and objectives of each client.
After earning a Bachelor of Science degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, James went on to work at Merrill Lynch & Co. in various senior research and trading capacities. He worked primarily as a portfolio manager on the distressed securities trading desk.
Subsequent positions include senior health care bond analyst at CreditSights Inc. and managing partner at NYC-based hedge fund Terragon Capital Management. Now, he is a registered investment advisor representative and holds an Accredited Investment Fiduciary® (AIF®) designation.
Barbara Ingenito
Executive Vice President
Barbara Ingenito has been serving clients of Aspire Advisors and Hamilton Cavanaugh & Associates for more than 25 years.
Her extensive experience working with not-for-profit clients, as well as managing and servicing pension plans and voluntary tax-deferred retirement plans has made her an invaluable asset to the team.
However, the real focus of Barbara's work is her understanding that the clients are the reason for the firm’s existence. Her direct communication with our clients has given her a deeper understanding of their needs and made her uniquely qualified and prepared to address their investment-related issues.
Prior to working at Aspire Advisors, Barbara worked for Diversified Investment Advisors as the account consultant for the Healthcare Association of New York State. She is a registered investment advisor representative and has an Accredited Investment Fiduciary ® (AIF®) designation. She also holds FINRA Series 6, 63, and 26 registrations, as well as New York State and Connecticut Life Insurance licenses.
Jane Emerick
Director of Operations
Jane Emerick
Director of Operations