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About Us
Our Knoxville team is committed to offering objective, actionable advice and comprehensive financial planning services. We serve individuals and families, specializing in family-owned businesses and supporting women who have recently found themselves taking on more financial responsibility. While we enjoy many long-term wealth management relationships, we also believe that it’s important to make financial planning services more widely accessible in order serve a broader range of people. Consequently, we also offer financial planning services on an hourly basis.
We take a holistic approach that integrates sophisticated wealth management, and comprehensive financial planning with a deep understanding of each client’s unique circumstances. We take the time to educate as well as advise so our clients can make informed decisions, and we work diligently in our wealth management relationships to keep our clients on track to meet their goals.
Our team has been serving families and business owners in Knoxville since 1996 before joining Apella in 2017. Today, we tap into Apella’s vast resources, investment research, and educational tools while maintaining the highly personalized service we’ve always delivered to every client we serve.
We’ll help you anticipate and prepare for life’s biggest financial hurdles, so you can worry less about the future and be more present in the moment. Whether it’s selling a family business, maximizing retirement benefits, or navigating other life transitions, we’ll develop a roadmap designed to help you get where you want to go.
Regardless of whether you’re just beginning your personal financial journey or you’re seeking help with more intricate planning and investment needs, we’re committed to putting our collective knowledge and experience to work for you.
Our Services
- Comprehensive financial planning
- Making sure your portfolio supports your long-term goals through investment management
- Structuring your investments and working closely with your tax professionals for both short- and long-term tax planning
- Helping business owners protect their businesses, provide benefits to employees, or buy or sell a business
- Ensuring you have resources to pay for the unexpected as well as a regular income in retirement through cash and income planning
- Helping you leave a legacy that reflects your goals and values through estate planning
- Partnering with other financial professionals, including your CPA and Estate Attorney, to ensure an efficient and coordinated approach
Special Focus
- Integrated (as well as standalone) financial planning
- Exquisitely comprehensive wealth management
Financial Advisors
Kathleen S. Parks, CFP®
Kathy Parks has utilized the financial planning process to help clients reach their long-term financial goals for nearly 30 years. She received her CFP® designation while living in Houston, Texas before relocating to Knoxville, Tennessee and launching her practice in 1995.
Over the years, she has meticulously dedicated herself to elevating her technical and professional skills along with the financial planning profession. Kathy is renowned for her impeccability and preparedness, deep technical knowledge and the passionate application of her skills and expertise for the benefit of her dear clients. She brings all of this to bear in leading Apella’s Knoxville office and Advisor Study Group.
Ms. Parks grew up around her family’s concrete business in Painesville, Ohio and received her business degree from The Ohio State University. Her lifetime involvement with her family business has given her the skills necessary to not only successfully run businesses, but also the perspective to assist other business owners in overcoming their unique challenges to successfully meet their financial objectives.
Kathy is passionate about learning and has participated in many of the top educational programs available in the financial planning profession. She utilizes these skills and talents to help families and individuals navigate the issues associated with life’s most common and difficult challenges, such as the loss of a parent or spouse, divorce, the sale of a business, and retirement.
Ms. Parks has contributed to her community through various organizations, including the Financial Planning Association, Rotary International, and Knoxville Habitat for Humanity. She also enjoys sharing her knowledge through speaking engagements whenever the opportunity avails itself.
Eric Theiss, CFP®
Eric Theiss has worked in the wealth management and financial planning profession in Knoxville, Tennessee since 2008 and earned his CFP® designation in 2014. Prior to joining Apella, Mr. Theiss worked with firms such as TIAA and Fidelity where he honed his skills in tax strategies, portfolio construction and financial planning. Eric manages the financial planning process for the Knoxville office helping clients envision the future they dream of and determine how best to achieve it.
As a dedicated problem-solver, Eric uses his skills to build financial plans and wealth management strategies tailored to each client’s unique situation. He uses his natural thirst for knowledge to research and develop innovative strategies that empower our practice and bring value to clients. His willingness to collaborate and partner with Senior Financial Advisor Kathy Parks and our other colleagues at Apella has proven invaluable to our ability to serve clients as efficiently as possible.
Eric is a member of the Financial Planning Association (FPA) and holds a B.A. in Business Administration from Davenport University. Originally from Ohio, he lived in Maine before relocating to Knoxville, Tennessee, where he lives with his wife, two children and dog Pepper.
Support Team
Angela Caquias
Angela Caquias provides client relationship support to Apella's Atlanta and Knoxville offices. Prior to joining Apella, Angela held leadership roles in the insurance, retail, and the music business industries. Angela takes pride in providing excellent customer service and support for a professional work environment. Ms. Caquias graduated from Kennesaw State University with a Bachelor of Science in Communications with a focus in Public Relations. Growing up in a military family, Angela lived in various cities in the United States as well as overseas in Germany. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, facilitating sound baths, and spending time with family and her Boston Terrier.
