Brent Kessel has been a NAPFA member since 1997 and is the co-founder and CEO of Abacus Wealth Partners, a $4.3 billion wealth management firm whose mission is to expand what’s possible with money. He has taught impact investing at MIT, has presented at seminars and financial planning industry conferences throughout the U.S. (including NAPFA national conferences), and is the author of It’s Not About the Money, published by HarperCollins and named one of the top five business books of the year by Kiplinger’s.

Brent spent the first ten years of his life growing up in apartheid South Africa which shaped many of his perspectives on racial inequality and systemic racism. In 2021, Brent co-authored a paper entitled Two Financial Plans: The Next Fifty Years of the Racial Wealth Gap and What You Can Do About It.