take a moment to get to know the Executive team of Endurance Financial.
Charles West
Founder
Charles West began his career in the tough market environment of 2001, gaining hands-on experience in helping people weather the ups and downs of financial turmoil. Based in North Carolina, Charles has an extensive background in financial services, with a specific expertise in working with businesses with annual revenue up to $100 million. His focus is on building Virtual Family Office teams for high net worth families and the businesses they develop. They are tasked with delivering more value to wealthy families by being more proactive, comprehensive, and integrative in a multi-disciplinary approach. In the end, he believes strongly that the best in the world are only proven by their ability to solve real-world problems
Charles is also widely known for his hobby of running 100 mile ultra-marathon foot races through some of the most beautiful mountains of North America. He has now retired from running and continued that passion for the outdoors into hiking. He also finds time for his passion for private aviation and is in the process of earning his Private Pilot Certificate. Naturally, all of this requires a particular skillset in taking naps.
Neil Ellington
Neil Ellington has worked in the Financial Services Industry for over 23 years, gaining experience with Fortune 500 companies such as Ford, Wells Fargo and Bank of America’s precursor First Union in their Consumer and Commercial Lending divisions. As a seasoned business consultant, Certified Value Growth Advisor, and consumer finance executive he is passionate about creating financial independence for all of his clients. Recent publications in which he has been seen include the Newsweek Magazine, the New York Times, and MSNBC Online.
His financial evangelism comes directly from his Great Grandfather. As the teacher in the proverbial one room schoolhouse in rural Alabama Neil’s Great Grandfather taught his students that you can live separate, but you can’t live alone. From that Neil developed his community spirit and passion for counseling about finance and business growth.
Outside the office Neil enjoys mentoring youth by sharing a powerful and compelling story that captures the essence of an entrepreneurial mindset and the unlimited opportunities it can provide.
Cena Melton
Cena Melton, Client Service Specialist at Endurance Financial, has a driving interest in serving and meeting client needs with true excellence, has a sincere love for helping others, and is focused on providing the highest level of client service and advisor support. She is responsible for generating and supervising any processes required to manage, transfer, and open new accounts. Cena has spent the majority of her professional career in office management, gaining experience in areas such as organizational development, process management, and technology utilization.
While assisting clients is her primary job function by day, Cena also loves spending time with her family, especially the grandchildren. She also enjoys camping and biking excursions with her husband, Eric.
Dan Kurth
Dan Kurth brings to Endurance Financial twenty-eight years of experience working with small to medium sized businesses and their owners. After consulting with over 1,100 companies in 43 States in the U.S. and four provinces of Canada there are few problems that Dan has not seen and helped people solve – most of them several times over.
His process includes helping companies analyze business problems, define their cost to the bottom line, prioritize them in order of importance, and create a plan to overcome the problems. His primary goal is to help owners transition their businesses to achieve everlasting performance. For mature businesses, he focuses on improving the value of the business to its owner, successor(s), or to an outside buyer.
Dan and his wife Julie live in New Ulm, Minnesota and have three children, Allison (Robert), Erin (Ben) and Colin, as well as five grandsons, Tyler, Albie, Hudson, Baylor and Drake and a granddaughter, Kinsley.
Jennifer Hardesty
Jennifer Hardesty. After many years, on the West Coast, helping patients in the medical world, Jennifer has relocated to the East Coast and found her happiness in helping clients in the financial world. Once she became a mother, and saw the importance of planning for their future, she decided to dedicate her time to helping others do the same as a Service Advisor for Endurance Financial. As the Service Advisor she is responsible for assisting the Lead Advisor in meetings as well as assisting with our client service team to serve client account needs. Her passion to build positive relationships with clients will give her the opportunity to support the unique nature of each client’s needs.
When she’s not in the office she can often be found in the kitchen, cooking with her husband Justin, or spending quality time with their family. Jennifer is a lover of animals, having 7 pets to care for at home, and loves all genres of music
Kathleen Zheng
Kathleen Zheng is the Administrative Assistant at Endurance Financial. After graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, Kathleen decided to start fresh and pursue a career in finance.
Her love of learning along with her hopes of helping people who may not have much of a financial literacy background inspires her to continue her education so that she can better assist others. At Endurance Financial, she handles appointment tasking, information management and keeps order around the office.
Although she keeps herself busy, outside the office Kathleen also loves traveling, finding new spots to eat, and spending quality time with family and friends.