Jarrett Topel
CFP®, MSFP
Financial Advisor, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™
With over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, Jarrett brings a vast wealth of knowledge and expertise in delivering personalized financial planning and investment management strategies to our clients.
Prior to co-founding Topel & DiStasi Wealth Management, Jarrett worked in various capacities in the financial services industry, giving him a broad perspective of the complex issues clients face today. He began his professional career at Smith Barney in 1994, then moved on to tax consulting and tax preparation work for a small boutique firm, ConsulTax, in Oakland, CA. Jarrett joined American Express Financial Advisors in 1999, and started his own firm as a franchisee of American Express Financial Advisors in 2003. Later that year, Jarrett earned his CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ designation (CFP®) and, since then, has continued to expand his knowledge base and skills set through continuing education and the attainment of advanced degrees and professional designations.
Jarrett holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration/Finance from San Francisco State University, a Certificate in Personal Financial Planning from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Masters of Science in Financial Planning from Golden Gate University. Jarrett also holds a CA Insurance license.
Jarrett has taught financial planning and investment management classes at many local community centers, adult schools and public libraries, as well as at Golden Gate University in San Francisco, CA.
A lifelong Bay Area resident, Jarrett currently lives in Berkeley, CA with his wife Janine and their children Kayla and Julian.
CA Insurance Lic#0C99096
Gavin DiStasi
CDFA®, CES™
Financial Advisor, Certified Divorce Financial Analyst®, Certified Estate & Trust Specialist™
Prior to co-founding Topel & DiStasi Wealth Management, Gavin was an Associate Financial Advisor with Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc. where he began his career in the financial services industry in 1999 as a paraplanner.
Gavin’s journey to becoming a financial advisor was not a typical one. He was trained as a classical musician at the prestigious New England Conservatory of Music before accepting an invitation to tour with the avant-garde jazz quartet, Marshall Arts, in 1992. He spent the next eight years touring the world and performing as a professional musician in venues ranging from the Istanbul Open Air Theater to Madison Square Garden with such artists as The Black Crowes, Phil Lesh and The Charles Mingus Big Band.
A chance offer from Gavin’s childhood friend, Jarrett Topel, revived a lifelong fascination with finance and led him to the financial services industry in 1999 where he began his second career at what was then American Express Financial Advisors. In 2003 he and Jarrett branched out to run their own franchise of American Express Financial Advisors, which was later spun off and re-branded as Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc. Since then, he has continued to expand his expertise, earning the CES™ (Certified Estate and Trust SpecialistTM) designation from the Institute of Business & Finance, and becoming a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst(R), while maintaining client relationship duties and directing business development and investment management strategies at the firm.
Gavin holds a CA Insurance license and is a member of the Institute for Divorce Financial Analysts and an associate member of Collaborative Practice East Bay. Over the years he has taught numerous financial planning, investment and risk management courses at a variety of community-based organizations throughout the Bay Area.
Currently, Gavin lives with his wife Tracy and children Nicolas and Ava in the Elmwood neighborhood of Berkeley where he was born and raised.
CA Insurance Lic#0E05175
Nancy Wright Cooper
Wealth Manager
Nancy joined Topel & DiStasi as a Wealth Manager in 2019. She came to us with over 25 years of financial services experience, most recently serving as DeYoe Wealth Management’s Team Leader for over a decade. Her industry experience includes turns at Thornburg Investment Management, Van Kasper, Smith Barney, Dean Witter, and North Point Advisors – a San Francisco M&A firm she helped establish in 2004. She is also a California Licensed Insurance Agent.
Nancy particularly enjoys helping women, recent retirees, and multi-generational families realize their long-term financial goals through thoughtful financial planning and behavioral investment advice. We feel lucky to have someone with Nancy’s expansive industry experience and dedication to personalized client service on the Topel & DiStasi team.
Nancy has an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University, and she happens to be a professionally produced playwright and critically acclaimed performance artist whose work has been seen in New York, Edinburgh, Berkeley, San Francisco, and Santa Fe.
She and her husband Andrew live perched on a hill in Kensington and believe the views of Mt. Tam and the Bay are worth the 46 steps from the curb to their front door. When not in the office, she can be found crafting careful prose, cooking tasty Italian meals, reading detective fiction, playing with her blue-eyed dog, Caravaggio, practicing yoga, and hiking all over the Bay Area. Nancy has a grown daughter, Tess, who is also a talented artist.
CA Insurance Lic#0F32839