R. Dean Piccirillo, MSFS, CFP®, CRPS®, AIFA®

Dean Piccirillo is a principal, senior financial advisor and client service team director advising HBKS^® Wealth Advisors clients in the firm’s Fort Myers and Sarasota, Florida offices. Additionally, he works with a number of families out of the firm’s offices in his hometown of Erie, Pennsylvania. Dean also directs the HBKS^® Wealth Advisors Retirement Plan Unit which provides investment consulting services for dozens of corporate, nonprofit and municipal retirement plans.

Dean began his career in financial services in 1989 in Erie with American Express Financial Advisors, where he worked as an advisor in the firm’s Advanced Planner Group before joining The Sorce Financial Group in 1995. There, he provided personal financial planning and wealth management advice to personal, corporate and institutional clients while also serving as chief operating officer and chief compliance officer. He continued in a leadership role following the Sorce merger with the financial services affiliate of HBK CPAs & Consultants. In 2007, he returned his attention to working full-time with personal, corporate and institutional clients.

Dean holds the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER ^™ designation as well as Chartered Retirement Plans Specialist^SM and Accredited Investment Fiduciary Analyst ^™ certifications. In 2023, Dean was appointed an NFLPA (National Football League Player’s Association) Registered Player Financial Advisor. This program, founded in 2002, is designed to provide professional football players with prescreened financial advisors who meet specific experience, education and business practice requirements. He earned his B.S. in Finance and Economics from Slippery Rock University and his Master of Science in Financial Services (MSFS) from the Richard D. Irwin Graduate School at The American College of Financial Services in King of Prussia, Pa.

Why have you stayed at HBKS^® as long as you have?

I’ve been practicing for 28 years. I joined the predecessor firm to HBKS^® Wealth Advisors shortly after it was founded in 1995. That means I’ve been with essentially the same firm for 23 years. I’ve stayed for many reasons, but first and foremost, because we have been consistently committed to holding the interest of our clients above our own since our founding. We have always acted as fiduciaries to our clients and taken an independent, unbiased, fee-based approach to helping them accomplish their objectives.

Also, I’ve always been surrounded by extremely dedicated, competent, like-minded professionals here. As part of the HBK family of service firms and organizations, I have a broad range of resources and expertise at my disposal that I can bring to bear in my financial planning for my clients that is virtually unparalleled in the independent, registered investment advisor space.

Is there a specific accomplishment you’re proud of?

Well, the role that I’m most proud of is that of father to my son, Dominick. If he grows up to be successful, independent person, then I will consider myself a success.

I also consider myself privileged to serve in a variety of leadership roles in the communities where I’ve worked, including as president of the Greater Fort Myers Chamber of Commerce in 2015 and 2016, as board chairman for the March of Dimes South West Coast Division from 2013 through 2017, as chairperson of the 2015 Signature Chefs Auction for the March of Dimes, and as president of the Greater Fort Myers Chamber of Commerce Foundation from 2015 through 2018.

I’m also honored to have been recognized on several occasions for my community leadership and volunteer work, including “Person of the Year Finalist” in Southwest Florida in 2015, and 2017 “Board Leader of the Year” in Southwest Florida, which is awarded by the Cape Coral Community Foundation. I was also named one of the “Faces of Philanthropy” in 2015 by the Southwest Florida Community Foundation.

I’m also very proud to have served as an officer in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard for nearly 20 years.

How would you describe the culture at HBKS^®?

Our culture is driven by comprehensive planning, helping our clients accomplish their life’s objectives. Further, independence and objectivity are extremely important to us. Ultimately, what matters to us is bringing the options to our clients that will give them the greatest probability of accomplishing their objectives. We would never put ourselves in a situation where we couldn’t feel comfortable acting as fiduciaries or had incentives to offer a particular security or planning tool for clients.

What would you look for in a wealth manager?

I would look for an independent, fee-based personal financial planning and wealth management firm. I would make sure they were big enough to have the depth, scale and resources to remain relevant in the marketplace. I would want to make sure the firm I was working with was independent from a product standpoint and committed to acting as a fiduciary to me as the client. I would also be very interested in a firm that was able to coordinate closely with my tax professional, particularly if I were an affluent family or business owner.

What does it take to be successful in wealth management?

These days, to be successful in wealth management, particularly in the independent registered investment advisory space, you have to be committed to acting as a fiduciary to your clients, taking an independent, unbiased approach to the recommendations you make. I also think that you have to have a certain amount of scale and resources so you can hire and retain the best professionals for your team.