Ken Adams, AAMS Principal Financial Advisor with Edward Jones

Ken Adams joined Edward Jones in 2001 and began his career as an Edward Jones financial advisor in Hendersonville, N.C., in 2002.  During his Edward Jones career, Adams has held a variety of regional leadership roles, including serving as a field trainer and level coach new through 4. In addition, he has completed one asset-sharing program and has served as a Goodknight ambassador.

Adams has qualified to attend five Financial Advisor Leaders Conferences, which recognizes outstanding financial advisors, and one Managing Partners Conference, which recognizes the top 350 of the firm’s more than 14,000 financial advisors. His branch team has qualified for two Drucker Conferences, which recognizes the firm’s top branch teams in terms of client service excellence.  In 2011, Adams was asked to serve as a regional leader. Today he supports and guides more than 60 branch teams located throughout the western North Carolina mountains and serves as a liaison between them and the firm’s St. Louis headquarters.

He was named a principal with the firm in 2015.

Adams holds the Accredited Asset Management SpecialistSM professional designation and a degree in finance and history from East Carolina University. He also has an MBA in finance from Western Carolina University.

Adams is president of the Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy board as well as serving on this Four Seasons board too where he finds his time and energy are well spent and valued.

Ken Kaplan, CEO & Managing Partner of Kaplan CFO

At 29 Ken became one of the youngest General Managers of a Fortune 500 subsidiary. In 1998, as VP/CFO of a national medical supply manufacturer, he led a successful ownership transition by raising $16.5 million in debt and equity, negotiating the successful sale of the company three years later. Since then, Ken has engineered successful turnarounds at two multi-generation, family-owned companies and managed exponential growth as the CFO of a solar design & installation company, which was ranked as Inc. Magazine’s 46th fastest growing company for 2011.

Robert Seiler

I live in Saluda where my wife and I moved to in 1992 after I took early retirement from William M. Mercer, a subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan which worked with companies on their employee benefit programs.  I managed their office in Birmingham, Alabama.

I am actually not new to the area as I attended Camp Mondamin in Tuxedo when I was a child and have attended many conferences at Kanuga over the years.  This has truly been a second home for me.

Over the 20 years or so I have been here, I have served on several boards including the Children & Family Resource Center, Alliance for Human Services (now non-operating), Hands On! , the Hope Chest in Asheville (dealing with cancer patients) and two terms on the Vestry of St. James Episcopal Church in Hendersonville where I am a member.  This has allowed me to use my experience to be of service to the community and has introduced me to the many wonderful people who make things happen in Hendersonville.

On the personal side, I book music for the Purple Onion Café in Saluda and have done so for many years.  I play the piano and sing in the choir at St. James.  I have three wonderful children who are also raising wonderful grandchildren.

The sad part of my story is that my wife, Barbara, died last year after a four year battle with ovarian cancer.  We had been married 53 years.  In her last days with us, Four Seasons Hospice was brought in to make her last days as comfortable as possible.  Their staff did a great job and she was able to die peacefully and without fear in her own bed.  It was as graceful a death as could be imagined and it would not have ended as well without Four Seasons’ assistance.

I have gotten to the age (78) where I don’t want to serve on any more Boards unless I am passionate about the work it does.  I feel that way about Four Seasons and wish to serve it as best as I can.