RIA Compliance Consultants is a team of industry experienced professionals dedicated to working with investment advisors who are also committed to implementing good compliance and risk management strategies. By working together, RIA Compliance Consultants helps investment advisors navigate the maze of investment advisor compliance regulations and find the best ways to satisfy their obligations.

Mission Statement

RIA Compliance Consultants helps investment advisors identify regulatory and risk management challenges, and then build and implement practical solutions that protect their clients and meet their regulatory responsibilities.

Bryan Hill, President^*

Bryan Hill is the founder of RIA Compliance Consultants, Inc. As President of RIA Compliance Consultants, Bryan leads a team of compliance consultants that assists registered investment advisors with meeting their regulatory obligations.

Prior to entering into private practice, Bryan served as president of an independent broker-dealer and worked extensively on investment advisory issues.  He specifically led the development of an investment advisor compliance practice group that served numerous independently registered investment advisors. His more tactical experiences include leading a team of compliance professionals that supervised the activities of 1,400 registered representatives and investment advisor representatives across the country. Serving as in-house legal counsel to a financial services company, Bryan prepared defenses to securities arbitrations, interpreted broker-dealer and investment advisor regulations, and handled regulatory investigations. These various roles within the securities industry make Bryan especially adept at understanding the challenges facing registered investment advisors and providing compliance advice that considers different perspectives.

Bryan graduated with distinction from the University of Nebraska College of Law. He has successfully completed the Securities Industry Institute at Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania and passed regulatory exams including the Series 7, Series 24, Series 65, and Series 66. Bryan has earned the Accredited Investment Fiduciary® (AIF®) professional designation from Fiduciary360. He is a FINRA arbitrator and has been trained as a mediator. Before attending law school, Bryan was an assistant to a U.S. Congressman. While studying political science as an undergraduate at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, Bryan worked as a research assistant for the Nebraska Legislative Research Division.

Jarrod James, Vice President & Senior Compliance Consultant

Jarrod James serves as a Vice President and Senior Compliance Consultant for RIA Compliance Consultants, Inc.

His duties at RIA Compliance Consultants include the registration of new investment advisor firms, developing written supervisory policies and procedures and codes of ethics, reviewing advertising and sales literature, presenting compliance training for investment advisors, annual amendments, and assisting investment advisor firms with regulatory exams including the preparation of letters of response to alleged deficiencies. Moreover, a significant portion of Jarrod’s consulting practice involves working closely with a limited number of annual retainer clients of RIA Compliance Consultants by creating and implementing ongoing compliance programs for such clients. Finally, his focus on strategic planning, recruiting investment advisory firms as clients, and providing professional compliance consulting services to those clients have been instrumental in the development and growth of RIA Compliance Consultants.

Jarrod is an experienced investment advisor compliance professional. His background includes working as a Compliance Examiner for one of the largest independent broker-dealers in the country. In this role, his focus was on the regulatory responsibilities of the firm’s corporate investment advisory unit, which maintained nearly $10 billion in assets under administration and management.  Jarrod’s responsibilities also included the preparation of Form ADVs, compliance manuals, advertising reviews, compliance training seminars, and conducting audits of independent investment advisor firms operated by registered representatives of the independent broker-dealer.

Jarrod graduated, cum laude, from Northwest Missouri State University where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Government with minors in Economics and Criminal Justice while also an Academic All-Conference student-athlete.  He earned a Master of Arts in Management from the Bellevue University – College of Business.  Jarrod is a designated Investment Adviser Certified Compliance Professional^® (IACCP^®) and has passed the Series 7, Series 24, and Series 66 examinations.

Tammy Emsick, Senior Compliance Consultant

Tammy Emsick, Senior Compliance Consultant and Director of Business Development for RIA Compliance Consultants, Inc., is in charge of the firm’s marketing and business development initiatives. She serves as a point-of-first contact for new RIA Compliance Consultants, Inc. clients. Her strong industry background is used to help determine appropriate consulting services for investment advisor firms based on their unique, individual circumstances. Tammy is also responsible for coordinating and organizing compliance webinars hosted by RIA Compliance Consultants, Inc. and publishing the firm’s newsletters and blogs.

Before assuming the role as Director of Business Development, Tammy’s prior experience with at RIA Compliance Consultants concentrated on registering new investment advisor firms, developing written compliance programs and codes of ethics, conducting mock SEC and state regulatory examinations, assisting investment advisor firms with regulatory exams and presenting compliance training for investment advisors.

Tammy is an experienced securities industry professional. Her career in the securities industry began over 20 years ago. During this tenure, Tammy has successfully passed the Series 7, Series 24, and Series 66 examinations and held various leadership roles in compliance and operations.

Since approximately 1996, Tammy has concentrated upon compliance issues related to the investment advisory rules issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and state securities regulators. In particular, Tammy has served as the RIA Compliance Director of one of the largest independent broker-dealers in the country. In this role, Tammy was responsible for compliance matters and documentation development for the firm’s corporate investment advisor, which maintained over $10 billion in assets under management and administration and had over 800 investment advisor representatives.

In addition to her compliance work with the corporate investment advisor of the independent broker, Tammy also led the development of a compliance consulting group that assisted independent investment advisor firms that were operated by registered representatives of the independent broker-dealer. In this capacity, she and her staff consulted with over a hundred independent investment adviser firms on various regulatory issues, prepared regulatory documents such as Form ADVs and compliance manuals, and administered IARD accounts. Finally, Tammy developed and taught investment advisory compliance training seminars, conducted investment advisory audits of independent investment advisor firms operated by registered representatives of the independent broker-dealer, and assisted these independent investment advisor firms with the preparation for regulatory audits and providing responses for such audits.

Christina Bruck Heller, Senior Compliance Consultant^*

Christina Bruck Heller serves as a Senior Compliance Consultant for RIA Compliance Consultants, Inc.

Her compliance consulting duties at RIA Compliance Consultants include the registration of new investment advisor firms, developing written supervisory policies and procedures and codes of ethics, conducting mock regulatory examinations, and assisting investment advisor firms with regulatory examinations including the preparation of letters in response to alleged deficiencies.

Christina is an experienced securities industry professional. Her background includes working as counsel for a large independent broker-dealer with a corporate investment advisory unit. She has extensive experience handling regulatory inquiries and examinations as well as investor initiated complaints directed to the broker-dealer firm, broker-dealer branch offices and to independent investment advisor firms that were operated by registered representatives of the independent broker-dealer. Additionally, Christina has experience conducting the supervision of registered representatives and investment advisor representatives, including conducting office examinations. Christina is a FINRA arbitrator and has passed the Series 7, Series 24, Series 4, Series 53, and Series 66 examinations. Additionally, Christina is a designated Investment Adviser Certified Compliance Professional^® (IACCP^®) and earned the Accredited Investment Fiduciary® (AIF®) professional designation from Fiduciary360.

Christina earned her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Iowa College of Law. She completed her undergraduate studies at Creighton University, magna cum laude, with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature (and a Certificate in Business).

Tom Zielinski, Senior Compliance Consultant

Tom Zielinski serves as a Senior Compliance Consultant for RIA Compliance Consultants, Inc.

His compliance consulting practice at RIA Compliance Consultants includes registering new investment advisor firms, developing written supervisory policies and procedures and codes of ethics, reviewing advertising and sales literature, presenting compliance training for investment advisors, preparing annual amendments, and conducting compliance reviews.

Tom is an experienced securities industry professional. His career in the securities industry began over twenty-five years ago. During this tenure, Tom has successfully passed the Series 4 (Registered Options Principal), Series 7 (General Securities Representative), Series 24 (General Securities Principal), and Series 27 (Financial and Operational Principal) examinations and helped build the compliance functions of three nationwide financial services firms from the ground floor.

Since approximately 1987 Tom has concentrated upon compliance issues related to the rules issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, self-regulatory organizations and state securities regulators. In particular, Tom has served as the chief compliance officer of a national clearing broker-dealer and two separate independent broker-dealers and their related investment advisory firms. In addition he has held the role of vice president of risk management for a national broker-dealer and investment advisory firm. In these roles, Tom was responsible for all compliance and regulatory matters along with the creation and documentation of the compliance programs. He has gained extensive experience with the securities industry regulators through researching, negotiating and responding to regulatory requests and investigations. During his career, Tom has had the honor of working with and mentoring a number of compliance professionals that now work with broker-dealers and investment advisors across the country.

Tom has a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Nebraska at Omaha majoring in accounting and banking and finance.

Nicole Rischling, Compliance Specialist

Nicole Rischling serves as Compliance Specialist for RIA Compliance Consultants, Inc. She assists the Senior Compliance Consultants with day-to-day operations. This includes, but is not limited to, document drafting, submissions, and client communications.

Nicole has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from Creighton University, as well as a Certificate in Paralegal Studies from College of Saint Mary. Her professional background involves extensive work in the legal environment, including estate planning, litigation, and insurance.

Bre Newman, Compliance Specialist

Bre Newman serves as a Compliance Specialist for RIA Compliance Consultants, Inc. Currently, Bre assists with the firm’s marketing and business development initiatives. She provides support services for compliance webinars hosted by RIA Compliance Consultants, Inc. She also works with the Senior Compliance Consultants providing support in areas such as document drafting, submission of regulatory documents, and client communications.

Bre is a United States Navy veteran. She served in the Navy for four years where she earned numerous awards and medals for serving her country, including Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Navy Good Conduct Medal, the Navy Achievement Medal and the National Defense Service Medal. While in the Navy, Bre participated in several defense operations including Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. While serving in the Navy, Bre worked as an Information Services Technician, proving her with an extensive knowledge in computer systems. After leaving the Navy, Bre went back to school and is completing her Bachelor’s Degree in Legal Studies at this time. She hopes to begin her Master’s program in Personal Finance early next year.

* Nature of a Consulting Relationship – Not a Law Firm

Although RIA Compliance Consultants, Inc. (“RCC”) is an affiliate of a law firm and RCC may have an individual on its staff that is also licensed as an attorney providing legal services in a completely separate capacity, RCC is not a law firm or an attorney and does not provide legal services or legal advice.

In general, a licensed attorney is regulated by his or her state supreme court through the use of rules of professional conduct, minimum education and examination requirements and a disciplinary process. Unlike a client of an attorney, a client of RCC will not receive the advantages of such regulatory oversight since the compliance consultant occupation is not licensed by state government.

A compliance consulting relationship with RCC is not provided those legal and professional protections that normally exist under an attorney-client relationship such as the following: (a) privileged communication between an attorney and client; (b) the requirement for an attorney to use a client trust account for safekeeping of fees paid in advance; or (c) prohibitions preventing an attorney from having impermissible relationships with clients, representing other persons with conflicting interests, receiving referral fees from third-party vendors, or prospectively limiting liability for malpractice through a contractual provision in a client agreement.

In the event that a securities regulator has initiated an enforcement proceeding claiming an individual or entity has violated the applicable law, such individual or entity will need to retain legal counsel to represent the individual or entity before the securities regulator. Although RCC may serve as an expert regarding industry practices, RCC is not a substitute for engaging appropriate legal counsel to represent such individual or entity.

The determination to use a third-party compliance services provider is an important decision and should not be based solely upon advertisements or self-proclaimed expertise. A description or indication of limitation of our compliance services does not mean that an agency or board has certified RCC as a specialist or expert in investment advisor compliance. All potential clients are urged to make their own independent investigation and evaluation of RCC.

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