Management Team

Tim McAfee
Founding Partner
Tim McAfee's career in the financial services industry began in 1984, when he became a registered securities representative. Within his first five years in the industry, McAfee moved through the ranks as a producing broker, manager, area vice president over South Carolina and North Carolina, and regional vice president over South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia. During his tenure as regional vice president, McAfee moved to Atlanta, where, in addition to overseeing the offices in his region, he built his base office and managed its growth to over 70 registered reps within the first year.

Bill Mello
Founding Partner
After serving a four-year enlistment in the United States Marine Corps, Bill Mello joined a subsidiary of Leucadia National Corp. in 1972. He rose quickly through the organization and served in a variety of management positions. In 1986, Mello changed careers and entered the securities industry, where he met Tim McAfee. They joined forces in 1993, opening an independent office of J.W. Charles Securities. In 1997, Mello and McAfee opened J.P. Turner & Company. Mello has served on the board of directors of Sales Lead Management, LLC, and the National Investment Banking Association (NIBA).

Dean Vernoia
Chief Operating Officer
Dean first joined the company in 1997 as vice president of business development and was promoted to chief operating officer in 2003. Prior to J.P. Turner, Vernoia owned, managed and operated an independent office of Raymond James Financial Services. Registered since 1987, he has also served as a financial consultant and recruiter for Robert Thomas Securities, where his operation ranked second in productivity out of some 300 locations for three years running. He holds a bachelor's in business management from the New York Institute of Technology.

Department Managers

Jim Attaway
Chief Technology Officer
Jim began working at J.P. Turner in 2002 as the firm's director of technology. He has worked in the technology field in a variety of capacities managing technology and security departments for software development firms and Fortune 500 companies. At J.P. Turner Jim is responsible for all internal systems, system security and product development. He holds a variety of technology certifications including MCP, MCP+1 and MCSE. Jim is a veteran of the US Army and served with both the 4th Infantry and the 507th Infantry. He attended Indian River College, Fort Pierce, Fla.

Mike Bresner
Senior Vice President of New Products & Due Diligence
Mike began his financial services career more than 40 years ago when he joined the Value Line organization as a securities analyst trainee. He moved up quickly in the research arena and after only three years became the managing editor of the Value Line Special Situations Service. After leaving Value Line, Bresner became the editor of the "Findings and Forecasts" research publication as well as the secretary/treasurer of its publicly traded parent corporation. Bresner has held a number of positions at brokerage firms, including retail and institutional broker positions, financial and operations principal; municipal principal; options principal; chief financial officer and president of National Securities. Bresner joined J.P. Turner in 2005 as executive vice president and now leads the New Product and Due Diligence Department. He earned a bachelor of business administration degree in finance and investments from the City College of New York.

Steve Fisher
Financial and Operations Principal
Steve worked as a management consultant throughout the United States and Canada for two years before becoming a broker and moving into the financial services industry. In 1993, Steve went to work for Bill Mello and Tim McAfee at J.W. Charles Securities. From there he became the manager of the Operations Department, first at J.W. Charles and then J.P. Turner. In 2000, he was promoted to financial and operations principal. He holds a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering and operations research.

Clint Gharib
Director of National Sales
Clint joined J.P. Turner in 1998 and served as director of insurance and managed products until he was promoted to his current position in 2012. Under his direction, from 1998 to 2003 J.P. Turner expanded to offer bonds, mutual funds, insurance products and managed money programs. As a result, the company has grown its mutual fund and managed money programs to over $1 billion, the firm's bond desk to some $60million/month, and insurance products to $500 million. Clint's specialties include asset modeling, retirement planning, insurance products, alternative investments, college savings plans and estate and tax planning. He provides investment advice to the financial representatives of J.P. Turner as well as individual and institutional clients in 40 states. Clint served as a panelist for the 6th annual Savingforcollege.com 529 Conference and Boot Camp in 2008. He was the first advisor invited to participate in this conference as a panelist. Clint was also a panelist at the 2012 Financial Advisor Retirement Symposium.

Scott Holcomb
General Counsel
Scott joined J.P. Turner in 2007 and became the firm’s first general counsel.  Prior to joining J.P. Turner, Holcomb was an associate with a prominent national law firm where he focused his practice on securities matters. While in private practice, he was twice recognized as a "Rising Star" by Georgia SuperLawyers and Law & Politics.  Holcomb began his legal career in 1998 with the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Corps, serving six years as a Captain.  Holcomb has been a visiting professor at the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Tech and he has published articles in prominent publications including the Chicago Journal of International Law and The Christian Science Monitor. Holcomb is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Principal with the Truman National Security Project.  Holcomb is also a FINRA Dispute Resolution arbitrator.

Reed Lengel
Senior Vice President of Supervision
Reed has been in the securities industry for 25+ years, starting with Prudential Bache in 1987. He was employed for nearly 10 of those years by Morgan Stanley-Dean Witter. Reed has worked in compliance and supervision roles over the past six years, joining J.P. Turner as an Area Vice President in 2011. He was promoted to head of Supervision in 2013. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from the University of South Florida in Tampa. 

Al Pierantozzi
Senior Vice President, Business Development & Branch Support
Al joined J.P. Turner in 2000 and served as national sales manager until 2012 when he was promoted to his current position. Al oversees our customer service department as well as a team of recruiters that are responsible for identifying and cultivating leads for the firm. Under his guidance, J.P. Turner has grown to more than 200 independent branch offices throughout the United States. Prior to joining J.P. Turner, Al was consistently a top 10 nationwide producer for two other firms and co-managed a 50-person branch which was unfailingly the number one or number two producing branch for the firm. He holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from West Chester University, West Chester, Pa.  

Patrick Power
Managing Director Investment Banking
Since joining J.P. Turner in 1998, the investment banking division, under Patrick's guidance, has represented over $4 billion for its clients. He has been cited for managing one of the top three performing public offerings (Investment Dealers' Digest) and for running one of the best regional investment banks in the United States (Success Magazine). With the Investment Banking Division's leadership, J.P. Turner was ranked one of the top 25 brokerage firms in the United States for a number of PIPE transactions (The PIPE Reporter). Patrick and members of his team have been quoted in numerous publications including The Wall Street Journal and Investor's Business Daily. He has been a featured speaker at several high-profile capital conferences including The Investment Banking Panel at the Los Angeles Venture Association's Capital Conference, Internet Investment Banking Conference and the National Investment Banking Association's Capital Conference. Prior to joining J.P. Turner, Patrick held a chief strategist position at a regional merchant bank, served as a vice president of a NASDAQ traded company, and was a municipal researcher for a national, full-service brokerage firm. Patrick was nominated and elected by his peers in 2000 to serve on the NIBA membership committee. He graduated cum laude from University of Central Florida, Orlando, with a bachelor's degree in finance.

Adam Simon
Vice President Operations
Adam is a highly experienced veteran of the financial services industry and currently serves as vice president of J.P. Turner's operations department. He has a broad range of trading, operations and compliance experience working with general securities, derivatives, managed futures and municipal securities.  Prior to joining J.P. Turner, Adam served in compliance and operations roles and acted as branch manager and Series 7 instructor for a boutique firm in Florida. From there he joined Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and worked as a retail broker moving on to once again serve dual compliance and operations roles for an independent Florida firm. Adam joined J.P. Turner in 2005 and he and his team provide back office support to J.P. Turner's nationwide network of independent representatives. He attended Palm Beach Community College and Florida Atlantic University.

Marc Slavny
Director Alternative Investments
Marc joined J.P. Turner in 2000 and launched the real estate syndication practice area in 2002. Under his direction the practice has completed $575 million in transactions in non-traded REITs, LLCs and 1031s to date. His prior industry experience includes four years in investment banking where he facilitated the buy-out of two privately held companies and 10 years of retail. Marc is a Certified Financial Educator, Certified Public Accountant and holds registrations and licenses in securities, insurance and real estate. He earned a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Georgia, Athens, Ga.

Ed Woll
Chief Compliance Officer
Over the course of his 15 year career, Ed has held positions as chief compliance officer for The Strategic Financial Alliance, director of regional supervision for World Group Securities, regional compliance manager for AXA Advisers and trader/compliance officer for IFG Network Securities & Compulife Investor Services. He currently serves as managing director of the Atlanta Broker-Dealer and Investment Adviser Continuity Group. He was a member of the Financial Services Institute Compliance Council from 2006 to 2009. Ed holds a bachelor of arts degree in communications from the University of Georgia.

Heidi Wheatley
Director of Marketing
A seasoned marketing professional, Heidi joined J.P. Turner in 2008 after building a successful career in marketing and event management in the higher education, non-profit and small business arenas. At J.P. Turner she is responsible for brand development and management, internal and external communications, creating marketing solutions for the company’s independent branch offices and event management. Throughout her career Heidi successfully developed and managed brands, created and implemented successful marketing campaigns and managed events ranging from small corporate dinners to elaborate conferences turning them into profit centers for various institutions. She has significant management experience creating cohesive and well structured departments and processes. In 2004, she was recognized as one of the Top 40 Leaders Under 40 in the Quad Cities (Illinois/Iowa). Heidi earned a bachelor’s in mass communication from St. Ambrose University, Davenport, Iowa and a master’s in business administration with a marketing concentration from Keller Graduate School of Management, Atlanta.