Meet The Team

Steve Repak, is a Certified Financial Planner™, Army veteran, and author of Dollars & Uncommon Sense: Basic Training For Your Money. Steve graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in Management Communications from Amridge University. Steve has been a frequent guest on Fox and Friends, Fox Business, and the 700 Club. Steve has been interviewed on NPR, Bloomberg, Market Watch, and Wall Street Journal Radio. Steve’s work has been featured in Forbes, Investor’s Business Daily, BusinessWeek, MSN Money and Yahoo Finance. Steve is currently a contributor to the Equifax® Finance Blog, Choose Now Ministries and The Life of a Single Mom Ministries. Steve is an advocate for financial literacy and a 15 year veteran in the financial services industry. Steve has demonstrated expertise as an educator from how his presentations are well received by the audience, and from the post-surveys collected which demonstrated the material made an impact.

Erica K. Jackson served as Director for the Center for Financial and Consumer Outreach (at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College) and holds a certification as a Certified Financial Education Instructor (CFEI). In this role, she was responsible for financial literacy programming, project management, and community outreach /collaborations. Jackson has also served as the inaugural Executive Director for Junior Achievement’s Northwest PA Regional Office. Over the years, Erica has partnered with several agencies and organizations to advocate for financial capability including: National Financial Educators Council, Pennsylvania Treasury, Pennsylvania Department of Banking, and Jump$tart Coalition. Because of her active involvement throughout the state, Erica has been recognized for her commitment and dedication. This includes: Distinguished Leadership Award – Honored by Governor Edward Rendell, U.S. House of Representatives Congressional Certificate, and Women Making History.

Gary Jaeckel’s passion for improving people’s financial capabilities took him from the corporate world to the financial literacy industry. He brings real world experience to the academic side of the financial literacy field with his background in the financial and securities industries and corporate finance. He is a recognized expert in teaching personal finance and is known as an advocate promoting personal financial education as a stand-alone course in all schools across the country. At NFEC, Gary was instrumental in developing the Framework for Teaching Personal Finance and his textbook, Teaching Personal Financial Education, is used as part of the NFEC’s curriculum. He has also authored another textbook, Personal Finances and the Economy which covers the major personal finance and economic content standards. Gary holds a Masters degree in international business and a Secondary Education Teaching Certificate.

Diane Larsen is a NFEC Certified Financial Education Instructor and award winning economics teacher at Mater Dei High School where she has taught for 26 years. She was selected as Jump$tart Coalition Outstanding Educator and the only California teacher chosen by CEE and the U.S. State Department to travel to South Africa to teach and review other economics teachers in an exchange program. Her students have won high honors in the California State Stock Market Simulation placing 1^st in 2008, 2009, and twice in 2012. Last year she had trained 5 of 10 teams in the top ten in the State and had a team win the National Stock Simulation. Diane’s students have scored in the upper 10% in the National Financial Literacy Challenge with one in the upper 1% of the nation. Her teams have been regulars in the CCEE Capital Markets Competition and last June had a team place in the top 6 in the Money Wise Teen competition sponsored by CCEE.

Vince Shorb is CEO of the NFEC and one of the Council’s original founders. Shorb remains involved in educational development and raising awareness for the financial literacy movement. Before joining the NFEC, Shorb talked with more than 20,000 people about their personal financial situation and reviewed the personal financial statements of more than 10,000 clients. This real-world experience in the financial literacy field contributes to his deep understanding of the challenges people face today. His passion for helping people improve their financial capabilities combined with his expertise in the financial education industry propelled him into a leadership role in the industry. Shorb was instrumental in developing the Framework for Teaching Personal Finance, the CFEI training program, founded the first national speakers association for personal finance experts, created a PSA campaign covered by TIME, was the lead consultant on initiative that will reach over a half-million people, has lead the Curriculum Advisory Board on development of over 250 hours of curriculum and enlisted the support of top celebrities – Shorb’s credentials make him among the most qualified financial literacy advocates in the world.