General Colin L. Powell, USA (Ret.)
The 65th Secretary of State of the United States of America

General Colin L. Powell, USA (Ret.) became the 65th Secretary of State on January 20, 2001. General Powell brought extensive experience with him to his office. Before becoming Secretary of State, Colin Powell served as a key aide to the Secretary of Defense and as National Security Advisor to President Reagan. He also served 35 years in the United States Army, rising to the rank of Four-Star General and serving as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989 – 1993).  During this time he oversaw 28 crises to include the Panama intervention of 1989 and Operation Desert Storm in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. More ...

Mark Douglas
Author of The Disciplined Trader: Developing Winning Attitudes and Trading In The Zone: Master The Market With Confidence, Discipline And A Winning Attitude

Mark is President of Trading Behavior Dynamics, Inc., a consulting firm that helps traders master the psychological skills that are necessary to trade successfully. Mark has been a regular speaker at investment conferences and seminars since 1983, including Computrac, The Online Investor Expo, TradingMarkets.com, and a world speaking tour for Dow Jones Telerate in 1997. More...

Ross Shafer
Veteran Comic/Author back for the 5^th time as WizeFEST Emcee

As his friend Jay Leno put it, "Finally a motivational speaker, without the speech!"  Ross Shafer didn’t start out as one of the country’s funniest motivational speakers though. A native of the Pacific Northwest, he was an All-Conference football player in high school and played four years of college football; graduating from the University of Puget Sound – a small NCAA Division II school where Shafer was often the player voted “most likely to be shaken up on the play.” More...

George Thompson
President and Founder of Wizetrade^®

George started Wizetrade in 1999 and has dedicated his time, passion and intellect to making it everything our customers expect and more.  Known as the face of Wizetrade by many, it’s George’s big heart that wins the loyalty of those who know him best.  When Wizetrade was just getting started, George was known to go without a paycheck so his small group of original employees could get paid.  To this day, George stays personally involved in the day-to-day operations of the company and makes a concerted effort to respond to as many customer letters or emails that are addressed to him as he can.

John Dankovchik
President, The Wizetrade Group, LLP

John received his securities license over 20 years ago and has dedicated the last 5 years to making The Wizetrade Group and our customers more successful. In the 80’s, John was a cold calling stock broker like the ones you see in the film Wall Street. Of the experience, John recounts, “I used to dial the phone over 300 times a day. Boy that was tough work but it definitely taught me persistence!”

Alan Knuckman
Chief Commodities Strategist

Alan joined The Wizetrade Group in 2004 after over 15 years in the trading industry. When asked what attracted Alan to his current position, he explains “I grew up in a commodities sensitive mining town and have an inherent appreciation of supply and demand cycles…whether I like it or not. It’s a part of me.”

Jared Levy
Chief Options Strategist

Jared has been in the industry for over 14 years. In fact, he was one of the youngest members of the PHLX and AMEX. Despite his vast experiences from racing motorcycles to pit trading, Jared claims “WizeFEST is an energy that I have never experienced before; it surrounds and envelops you. It’s raw, motivational and it solidifies relationships that last for years. The education is some of the best in the industry; it’s applicable, it’s real and it works.”

Blake Morrow
Chief FOREX Strategist

Blake was born in Taipei, Taiwan and brought his talents to The Wizetrade Group 6 years ago. His favorite pastime is playing with his two sons, but he also loves working because it gives him a chance to work with “the most dedicated traders around.”

Nick Pirraglia
Chief Auto-Trading Strategist

Nick has been in the trading industry since 1991 and has traded for a living for 13 years. He has been with The Wizetrade Group for over 5 years. Nick is also a Desert Storm veteran, an avid athlete who has finished a number of marathons and triathlons, and he enjoys restoring cars in his occasional spare time.

“This was amazing. I learned so much. It was such high energy! Great music, staff, and the speakers were awesome. We’ll be back.”

“George, et al, I don’t know how you managed to get G.H.W. Bush, but THANKS! Neil Cavuto – WOW!”

“I am finally getting it! WizeFEST generates confidence and renewed enthusiasm – I think I can do this!”