FORMER CFP BOARD CHAIRPERSON TO LEAD INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL PLANNING STANDARDS-SETTING ORGANIZATION

Elaine Bedel, CFP^®, Named 2006 Chairperson of Financial Planning Standards Board

DENVER, COLORADO, JANUARY 30 — Effective this month, Elaine E. Bedel, CFP^®, president and owner of Bedel Financial Consulting Inc., Indianapolis, will serve as 2006 chairperson of Financial Planning Standards Board Ltd. (FPSB), a nonprofit standards-setting organization that owns and manages the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERTM certification program outside the U.S.

“Elaine Bedel has worked tirelessly over many years to establish financial planning as a profession and to ensure that the global public can readily identify competent and ethical financial planners,” said Noel Maye, FPSB CEO. “She has earned the respect of her peers and of key influencers in financial services, both in the U.S. and internationally, for her commitment to benefiting and protecting consumers, and for her capable leadership of those responsible for developing standards for the global CFP certification program.”

Nationally, in 2002, Bedel chaired Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc., the entity that owns the CFP certification program in the U.S. and, in 1998 and 1999, chaired its subsidiary Board of Practice Standards, charged with establishing professional practice standards for financial planning. She serves on the national board of the Foundation for Financial Planning and has been recognized by various publications as one of the nation’s top advisors and a “mover and shaker” in financial planning in the U.S.

“The number of CFP professionals outside the U.S. has doubled in the past four years to more than 46,000 and should increase exponentially in the next few years because of growing global interest in CFP certification,” said Bedel. “As international demand for competent and ethical financial planners increases, and the global public becomes more aware of the benefits of financial planning, it is both rewarding and humbling to have been chosen to lead FPSB in realizing the vision of a global financial planning profession based on the CFP marks.”

Bedel has 30 years’ experience in the financial services industry, the past 25 in providing fee-only financial planning and investment management services to individuals and business owners. Prior to founding Bedel Financial Consulting, she was director of personal financial planning at Coopers & Lybrand and vice president and trust officer at Indiana National Bank. Bedel writes a weekly column on financial planning for Inside Indiana Business’s The Inside Edge, and has been published in Indianapolis Business Journal, Indianapolis Star and Indianapolis Monthly.

FPSB is governed by a nine-member international board of directors and supported by the FPSB Council, an advisory group representing 17 organizations (FPSB Affiliates) that currently manage the CFP certification in their respective countries and three organizations in the process of becoming FPSB Affiliates. Countries or regions where FPSB has a nonprofit member organization that offers, or is preparing to offer, CFP certification include: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Chinese Taipei, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Organizations from Bulgaria, Greece, Indonesia, the Netherlands and Thailand are preparing to join FPSB.

FPSB manages, develops and operates certification, education and related programs for these financial planning organizations so that they may benefit and protect the global community by establishing, upholding and promoting worldwide professional standards in financial planning. FPSB’s commitment to excellence is represented by the marks of professional distinction – CFP, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER and CFP (with flame logo).