Our Team

John is a 1984 graduate of Brown University as well as the American College of Financial Services where he earned the Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) designation. John began his life insurance career in 1986 and has been recognized as a respected industry leader qualifying yearly for membership in the exclusive Million Dollar Round Table. John works with Senior Executives at large private and public companies, Private Equity MD’s/ Partners and Institutional Fund Managers.  His focus is sharing a vision with client’s on how to solve income and estate tax issues using sophisticated life insurance tools and strategies.

John was a 3-time All-IVY football player and is a member of the Brown University Athletic Hall of Fame. He is married to Cathy and resides in Wellesley with their six children and enjoys spending time with his family and friends. John coordinates the Thursday Men’s Breakfast at the Union Club, one of Boston’s longest running men’s fellowship gatherings. He’s a past director of the Brown Club of Boston, and also enjoyed volunteering for many years as a Wellesley Youth Football coach. John is actively involved in community ministry activities and is a longtime member of St. Pauls’ Parish in Wellesley, MA.

Brian started in the life insurance business in 1991.  For nearly 3 decades, Brian and his team have been serving families with their financial security needs.  Today, Brian’s focus is helping our pre and post-retirement clients with tax efficient insurance tools that help them manage market risk, longevity risk, healthcare risk, and legacy planning.   Brian enjoys golf, hiking, and, most of all, spending family time with his wife Sarah and three children Kallie, Beau, and Hannah.  Brian is a graduate of Williams College.

Connor is passionate about serving others through his work. He wakes up excited to share the value that Civic Financial provides to its clients and their families. He strongly believes that continuing education allows him to be the best resource for his clients throughout their financial lives. With that in mind, Connor has earned his Certified Financial Planner Designation as well as others and is committed to constantly growing his knowledge. He considers being a great listener to be the most essential skill in his work.

Connor loves connecting with people in his personal networks. He is a proud alumnus of Lincoln Sudbury Regional High School and Union College. While at Union he earned his degree in economics and discovered his interest in the field of Financial Planning. At both LS and Union, he captained the lacrosse teams and earned All American Honors. Connor’s love for lacrosse keeps him involved in the sport by coaching youth and high school players in the Lincoln Sudbury programs and his off-season training program Foundations Lacrosse. He enjoys staying as active as possible through working out, water skiing, and refusing to hang up his lacrosse gear.

Carly grew up in Wayland, Massachusetts, and received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Boston College.  She entered the industry in 2011 and is the third member of her family to be a Financial Advisor. Carly is devoted to being at the center of her clients lives and focuses on planning with the fast-paced millennial market, busy couples, as well as delivering education and financial empowerment to successful women across the country.

Carly lives in Boston and outside of Civic Financial she loves spending time with her family, always enjoys planning her next travel adventure (Prague and Vienna are top on the list) and has recently completed her goal of accomplishing a yoga headstand!  On the philanthropic side, Carly ran the Boston Marathon in 2015 for Joslin Diabetes Research raising over $20,000 (older brother and younger sister are Type 1) and their families “Team Cure” walk team in 10 years raised over $1 Million Dollars for diabetes research.

Dakotah came to Northwestern Mutual after graduating from UVM with a B.A. in Economics and a Statistics minor. He has been a soldier in the National Guard since 2013. Dakotah graduated at the top of his class in Basic Training and was awarded “Soldier Leader of the Cycle”. While at UVM he participated in the ROTC program and upon graduation, was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant. 

Dakotah started his own financial planning practice through Northwestern before joining Civic Financial. He has channeled his empathy for others into working closely with clients to build comprehensive financial plans. Working a lot with younger families, Dakotah helps clients put protections in place for their loved ones while providing responsible wealth accumulation. 

When Dakotah isn’t in the office or at training for the military he enjoys playing basketball, hiking, and spending time with his family.

Desi grew up in Bulgaria, graduating from high school as valedictorian with an International Baccalaureate Diploma. She then studied Psychology at Harvard University. While at Harvard, she worked at The Mindfulness Lab, The Morality Lab and The Nock Lab, which strives to advance understanding, prevention and prediction of suicide and self-injury. During her undergraduate studies, Desi also worked her way up in a small tour business, ultimately taking on the role of Operations Manager.

She is a Financial Planning Analyst at Civic with a focus on wealth planning and financial planning analysis. Desi brings a diverse perspective to our team, having experience in research and customer service, as well as small business management and operations. She is passionate about ongoing learning and has both her investment and insurance licenses.

Desi has a passion for tea, traveling, and martial arts. She hopes to earn her first black belt in the next year.

Tyler has been in the financial services industry since 2006. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of New Hampshire, majoring in Business Administration and completed his Master of Business Administration from the University of Minnesota with a focus in Finance.

Tyler is actively involved in the analysis, design, service and implementation of life insurance strategies. He works closely with both new and existing clients, their advisors and our internal team members to ensure efficient execution of projects and the highest level of service.

Originally from Newton, Massachusetts, he now resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota with his wife, young daughter and rescue dog. When he is not discussing estate planning strategies with his wife, an estate planning attorney, you can find him chasing their toddler around, traveling, running marathons or being active outdoors.

Faith has worked with John Daniel and Brian Nixon for 6 years as a Director of Marketing. Faith manages and coordinates all aspects of marketing and communication to prospective and current clients. Faith lives in Needham with her husband and 2 daughters. She enjoys boating, fishing and traveling.

Anna graduated from Castleton University with her Master of Science while working as a Graduate Assistant for Castleton’s Conferences and Events office.

Anna started her own financial planning practice with Northwestern before joining the Civic Financial team.

As the Director of Policy Owner Services, Anna works with clients to maintain strategic relationships and help clients manage and maintain their life insurance portfolio’s. Anna strives to provide exceptional client service.

Michelle is from Boston MA and is a graduate of UMASS Amherst. She has worked closely with John Daniel and Brian Nixon for over 25 years and brings with her a wide knowledge of the insurance industry and is involved in all aspects of the business, and especially enjoys working with, and speaking directly to clients.  Michelle lives in Westwood with her husband Bob and two sons, Matthew and RJ.

Janine DiPaolo is an experienced Executive Assistant with over 25 years in the field.  She began working with John Daniel and Brian Nixon in 2004 as Director of Policy Owner Services, moved to the Director of Marketing, and is currently their Executive Assistant with a large focus on managing the logistics of their schedules.

In her spare time, Janine enjoys traveling, cooking and spending time with her husband, two daughters, granddaughter, two rescue dogs and chickens.

Elizabeth is a Massachusetts native and a graduate of Boston University. She has been a part of John Daniel and Brian Nixon’s team for ten years. Elizabeth lives in Framingham with her husband and three children and enjoys being outdoors with her family.