Breaking into the Financial Service Industry

Guest Speakers: Lena Allouche and Brett Cristiano

Lena Allouche is the Director of Training and Development and Financial Strategist. Brett Cristiano is the Managing Director at MassMutual Greater Houston. Join us for a knowledge share session about how they got into the financial service industry.

Here is a bit of their Bios:

Lena Allouche is a Partner at Duenna Wealth Strategies as well as the Director of Training and Development for MassMutual Greater Houston. Lena works with her clients to build comprehensive and personalized financial strategies. Not only does Lena help families and business owners with their financial strategies, but she is also responsible for training and developing over 120 financial services professionals.

Lena holds a bachelor’s degree in finance with certifications in risk management and insurance from the Bauer Honors School of Business at the University of Houston. She is a Certified Training Director and holds many sales and financial industry-related training certificates. Currently, she is pursuing a Master’s Degree in Psychology from Pepperdine University.

Apart from her work in the financial services industry, she is passionate about community involvement and development. She currently sits on the Board of Directors for The Houston Women’s Resource, a 501c3 organization that strives to help women and girls make choices towards becoming independent, productive, and financially stable. Lena has previously sat on the Executive Board of Directors for Friday Harbour, a 501c3 organization that provides temporary housing for families and patients receiving cancer treatment in the Texas Medical Center. Additionally, Lena was the Chairman Elect for Graduate Growth Group and led the organization’s soft-skills development program. She is a member of the Greater Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Emerging Leaders Institute as well as a member of the United Way’s Project Blue Print class XXXVII; both programs designed to showcase Houston’s prospective leaders in the business and not-for- profit spaces. Lena is an advocate for women’s financial literacy and donates her time speaking to women’s groups to educate them on the importance of savings, diversification, and protecting the things they care about the most.

Brett Cristiano is a graduate of Texas A&M University and University of Houston, C.T. Bauer College of Business. He was steadfast in his decision to pursue a career in finance and enjoyed the way he and his father analyzed world markets together; however; he was unsure of what his exact path should be. As his undergraduate years were wrapping up, The Great Recession was in full effect. It was the longest lasting economic downturn since World War II and Brett watched in disbelief as the pension plans of so many near retirement aged people were completely diminished into nothing. He saw what resilient people did differently, watched with fresh eyes as only a new graduate can see, and his focus suddenly became that much more clear. With a sharper vision of what his career in finance should be, he completed his graduate studies at Bauer with Honors and began a career with MassMutual.

Rising into his role as a Financial Advisor, he has grown his book of business through referrals from satisfied clients who appreciate the passionate way he listens to their financial goals and the meticulously detailed manner each plan is executed. He continues to be recognized by MassMutual as a leader and is consistently ranked as a top advisor at the firm.

Brett is an excellent educator and his enthusiasm for the financial services industry shows. As such, he was promoted to Managing Director and works hands on in mentoring new Advisors.

Brett stays active by playing ice hockey and chasing his toddler son, Vincent, and young daughter, Carmela.