Oregon Financial Educators Council: About, Mission, Advisory Board
The Oregon Financial Educators Council℠ is committed to helping people across the state gain access to financial education programming that helps them work toward financial wellness. To this end, we provide complimentary resources, advocacy campaigns, and local personal support to build scalable financial wellness initiatives.
The mission of the Oregon Financial Educators Council℠ is to build sustainable, scalable economic empowerment programs that have a real impact on people’s lives at the community level.
Oregon & Regional Advisory Board
The Oregon Financial Educators Council Advisory Board members come from diverse backgrounds, yet share one similar goal – to help push the financial wellness movement forward. Board members serve in a variety of roles to support the Leadership Team to develop leading educational resources, expand our business, and create positive social change.
Founding Member
Zaneqwah Shaw
Founder and CEO, Learn Financial Growth
Western Regional Advisory Board Members
Larry Dicke
CalChamber of Commerce, Chief Financial Officer, Retired 2022
Veselina Dinova
Haas School of Business UC Berkeley, Executive MBA Professor
Sonja Strzoda
Financial Services Executive & Nonprofit Board Professional
Sam X Renick
Internationally Recognized Financial Literacy Pioneer
James Chang
President and CEO of Pasadena Federal Credit Union
Raymond Donegan Jr.
Financial Education Instructor (CFEI®)
Ghufran Wasiq
Founder, TotalPlus Solutions, LLC
State Chapter Details & Affiliation with National Council
The Oregon Financial Educators Council℠ is a chapter of the National Financial Educators Council®. The National chapter is well-qualified to support our initiatives here across the state of Oregon. They bring:
Accreditation
As an IACET Accredited Provider, the NFEC offers IACET CEUs for its learning events that comply with the ANSI/IACET Continuing Education and Training Standard.
Social Impact
As a Certified B Corporation, the NFEC meets the highest standards for socially responsible commerce, using the power of business to build more sustainable economies.
Standards
The NFEC set industry standards for the financial education industry and materials are developed with the highest educational outcomes in mind.
Zaneqwah Shaw
Founder and CEO, Learn Financial Growth
Familiarly known as “Zee,” Zaneqwah Shaw draws her motivation for promoting financial wellness from her personal experiences and decision to make a deep investment in her own financial knowledge. Along that journey, she studied under prominent financial experts including Dr. Lynn Richardson, Dave Ramsey, and Robert Kiyosaki. She earned credentials as a Certified Financial Coach through the Dave Ramsey Financial Coach Master Training program and as a Board Certified Credit Consultant registered with the Credit Consultants Association (CCA). She joins the Oregon Financial Educators Council Advisory Board with a goal to advocate for equitable financial education and wealth-building opportunities, extending her influence beyond individual coaching to touch community empowerment, mindset shifting, and helping people transform their financial lives.
In 2021 Zee founded her current business enterprise, Learn Financial Growth, with a mission to help others take control of their financial paths, rewrite their money stories, and build a financially independent future. Her work has spanned personal finance coaching, business development support, and providing underserved, low-income, and BIPOC communities with behavioral health and housing services. As a financial coach, Shaw equips clients with actionable tools, tailored plans, and confidence to shift their financial realities and achieve their long-term goals.
In her Advisory Board role, Zee’s goal is to reach even more individuals, families, and business owners with high-impact financial education and customized, outcome-driven solutions. The OFEC anticipates a long-term and productive partnership with Zaneqwah Shaw as a founding member of its board.
Larry Dicke
CalChamber of Commerce, Chief Financial Officer, Retired 2022
Larry is board certified and has in-depth experience in large public, private and not-for-profit business organizations with various and increasing responsibilities. Including accounting, purchasing, operations, customer service, international, marketing, timely, complete, and accurate reporting of financial results, evaluating capital expenditures, negotiating operating and capital leases, developing compensation and benefit plans, and negotiating working capital and medium-term financing and cyber security. During his career he was the leader or participated in Domestic and International Acquisition Teams.
Larry retired from CalChamber on April 30, 2022. He started there as vice president of finance on June 1, 2002. Larry was appointed executive vice president and chief financial officer in March 2007. In January 2012 Larry was chosen to lead CalChamber’s compliance business. The compliance business includes membership, products, and training. The members have access to best software as service (HRCalifornia) for providing answers to questions on California employment laws and a Helpline for answers to confidential questions. The products sold by this business include employment compliance tools, required state, federal and local employment posters and pamphlets, reference guides, and an online employee handbook creator. Training includes the best online sexual harassment prevention course in the country, compliance seminars and webinars.
Before coming to the CalChamber, he worked for Blue Diamond Growers in Sacramento as vice president of finance and chief financial officer. During his employment with Blue Diamond, he added responsibilities for human resources and information systems and added the responsibilities of corporate secretary.
Dicke was a founding member and past president of the Greater Sacramento Area Chapter of Financial Executives International. He was an adjunct professor for the Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Davis; served as chief financial officer for the California State Protocol Foundation; and was a member of the California Governor and First Lady’s Conference Board of Directors. He is a former president of the Sacramento Area Commerce and Trade Organization (SACTO) and once served on the board of the Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce.
Dicke was born and raised in Chicago, graduating from Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois with a B.S. in accounting. He passed the CPA exam in Illinois and earned his MBA from the University of Chicago and has a CERT Certificate in Cybersecurity Oversight. He is a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors, Financial Executives International and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He was Sacramento area CFO of the Year for Nonprofits in 2014.
Veselina Dinova
Haas School of Business UC Berkeley, Executive MBA Professor
Veselina Dinova is faculty at Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, where she teaches finance, accounting, financial information analysis and stock valuation focused courses with the graduate and executive MBA programs. Her mission is to educate the future corporate leaders on how to build and grow companies that make the world a better place for all their stakeholders. She has won numerous awards for teaching excellence.
Veselina has researched and analyzed the financial performance and corporate governance of publicly traded companies from a wide range of industries. She cares deeply about education and enjoys working with and learning from her students with vastly diverse backgrounds, opinions and aspirations. She is passionate about innovation and has mentored startups at SkyDeck, the premier accelerator at UC Berkeley.
Prior to becoming faculty at Haas, Veselina was in corporate treasury at multinational corporations where she had a wide range of responsibilities: portfolio management of fixed income and equity investments, bank and investment managers’ relationships, corporate cash forecasting, SEC reporting, internal audit compliance.
Veselina is originally from Bulgaria and came to the US to pursue her MBA degree at Thunderbird School of Global Management in Arizona. She is a CFA charter-holder and a member of the CFA Society of San Francisco. She is NACD Directorship certified.
Carolyn Campbell
Emerging Capital Partners, Managing Partner and COO
Carolyn Campbell is an experienced executive and board director with over 25 years of investing in the financial services and technology sectors. Ms. Campbell is a founder and managing partner of Emerging Capital Partners (ECP), a private equity firm which has raised over $3.4 billion in growth capital for investment in over 70 listed and private high-growth companies, with a focus on innovation in financial services, telecom and energy/logistics. As a member of ECP’s Audit/Valuation, Investment and Executive Committees, her M&A financial and legal background makes her a key decision-maker in relation to financial performance and governance. As chair of the firm’s advisory committees and a director of multiple boards, she is valued for oversight and strategy in relation to finance/audit, corporate governance, management and ESG, improving financial reporting, corporate governance, business plans and IT systems. Ms. Campbell is particularly well-versed in issues facing highly-regulated industries and those looking to expand into new markets.
Prior to founding ECP, Ms. Campbell worked in global private equity at Emerging Markets Partnership (EMP), where she provided overall leadership and strategy for funds in Asia and Eastern Europe. Prior to that, Ms. Campbell worked in M&A and corporate finance globally at White & Case LLP, where she advised on U.S. venture capital deals and guided expanding multinational corporations to find suitable investments, build strong local partnerships and achieve best governance practices. Her work at White & Case spanned a variety of sectors, including financial services, insurance and technology.
Ms. Campbell has received various awards including the Private Equity Africa Women Impact Award and life membership in the Council on Foreign Relations. A sought-after speaker on board governance, investment strategy and executive management, she has appeared on C-SPAN, Bloomberg and Africa Today, spoken at the National Economists Club, the Brookings Institute, and the Harvard and Wharton Business Schools. She has published on cryptocurrency and other topics in the Financial Times, Environmental Finance, Quartz and Private Equity International. Ms. Campbell received a BA in Economics summa cum laude from the University of Connecticut, a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, and a Ph.D. in Political Economy from Oxford University and is fluent in French.
Other Board Experience
- Chair of Finance/Audit Committee for six years of Washington International School, a private K-12 school with over $45m in revenues
- Investment Committee Member, American Psychological Foundation
- Advisory Council Member, United States Millennium Challenge Corporation
Sonja Strzoda
Financial Services Executive & Nonprofit Board Professional
Sonja Strzoda has over twenty-five years of experience in the global asset management and financial services industries working with Boards, senior executives and major investors. She was most recently with ColumbiaThreadneedle Investments (a subsidiary of Ameriprise Financial) where she served as Director of Consultant Relations and facilitated the re-engineering of the global consultant relations effort. Previously, Sonja was Senior Vice President for Putnam Investments where she worked as part of the global sales team and re-established the firm’s brand in the institutional marketplace. Earlier roles and positions included Vice President at Robeco Investment Management, Principal at Bradford & Marzec, Inc., a privately held institutional fixed income manager, PIMCO, and Dean Witter Reynolds (Morgan Stanley).
Sonja currently sits on the Boards of WISE-Women Investing in Security and Education, NuVision Federal Credit Union where she serves on the Asset and Liability Committee and CEO Compensation Committee, and Working Wardrobes where Sonja is a member of the Governance and Strategic Planning Committees, and Chair of the Audit Committee.
Sonja received her MBA with an emphasis in finance from California State University, Long Beach, where she was the first woman portfolio manager on the University’s Student Managed Investment Fund. She earned her BS with a major in economics from University of California, Irvine. Sonja is also a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professional and held FINRA Series 7 and 63 licenses.
Sam X Renick
Internationally recognized financial literacy pioneer and leader Sam X Renick has joined the California Educators Council Advisory Board as of 2022. Mr. Renick’s expertise lies in innovative children’s financial education, with which he has reached more than a quarter million children across 8 countries and 40 US states over the past two decades.
Mr. Renick founded his social entrepreneurial venture, the “It’s a Habit!” Company, in 2001 and co-created the Sammy Rabbit storybook character to empower individuals from all backgrounds to teach young children excellent money habits in an entertaining, effective format. For his own far-reaching children’s financial literacy instruction efforts, he and his team have earned multiple honors – including the 2016 National Financial Educators Council Instructor of the Year Award, the New Jersey Coalition for Financial Education Lifetime Achievement Award, the California Jump$tart Coalition Leaders in Personal Literacy Award, and induction into the Loyola Marymount University Wall of Honor, among many more.
A prolific author and songwriter, Mr. Renick has developed one of the largest financial literacy resource libraries in the world. Among this extensive bank of resources can be found storybooks and songs such as Sammy’s Big Dream, Get in the Habit, S.A.V.E. Rainy Day, Lemonade Stand, Anyone Can Be Rich, and Show Your Family the Way.
Mr. Renick also has garnered substantial media attention for his exemplary work in the financial education space. His efforts have been featured in television and radio spots on ABC, the Armed Forces Network, Fox, and NPR; and in print media including the Chicago Tribune, New York Times, Kansas City Star, MSN, Kiplinger, MarketWatch, and Yahoo Finance.
Today, Mr. Renick serves a myriad of high-profile clients, both individuals and enterprises. His work has gained worldwide support from groups of all sizes and from all sectors, including the US Department of Defense, Air Force Aid Society, Citi, Girl Scouts of America, Texas Family Community Leaders of America, Toyota, the University of Maryland, and the United Way.
Sam Renick’s lifelong commitment to spreading knowledge and joy on great money habits has helped form his mantra: “Great habits give all kids a better and brighter future!”
James Chang
President and CEO of Pasadena Federal Credit Union
President and CEO of Pasadena Federal Credit Union in Pasadena, CA, James Chang brings more than 25 years of financial institution experience to his position on the California Financial Educators Council Advisory Board. His substantial skills and expertise include promoting professional personal finance guidance, strategic use of technology, and personal delivery of outstanding products and services.
Holding a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara, Chang started his career as a credit union teller – where his daily interactions with members quickly illuminated and solidified his passion for helping others. He cites his dedication to prioritizing members’ interests as the impetus behind his advancement into top leadership positions. In addition to his current title, he has held executive positions at Pasadena Service Federal Credit Union, Verity Credit Union, and Southland Credit Union.
James views his Advisory Board role as a unique opportunity to amplify his community impact by becoming a champion of top-quality financial education resources. He plans to leverage his broad professional network to advance the cause of building greater financial literacy and well-being among Californians in his own community and statewide.
Raymond Donegan Jr.
Financial Education Instructor (CFEI®)
A retired U.S. military service member, licensed Life Insurance Broker, and NFEC-Certified Financial Education Instructor (CFEI®), Raymond Donegan Jr. dedicates his energies to empowering individuals, families, organizations, and whole communities with financial literacy education. He credits his own past experiences growing up on the South Side of Chicago – in an underserved community where personal finance was neither taught nor discussed – as the impetus behind his passion for financial wellness advocacy today.
Donegan served in multiple leadership roles during his military career, including Command Financial Specialist, Command Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society Representative, Military Police Officer, Command Drug and Alcohol Program Advisor, Command Sexual Assault Victim Intervention Program Coordinator, and Supply Department Leading Petty Officer. His service taught him the importance of discipline, structure, and strategic planning, key tactics he now applies to teaching money management as a life skill. His stated mission is to equip young people and their families with the knowledge, tools, and confidence to make informed financial decisions – freeing them to break cycles of financial uncertainty and build generational wealth.
Currently based in San Diego, Raymond Donegan Jr. leads practical, interactive financial wellness workshops for a broad range of audiences – from high school seniors to community groups. His programming focuses on essential topics that include budgeting, debt management, wealth-building, protection from risk, and long-term strategic planning. Raymond brings his dedication to service to bear toward helping others build the strong financial foundations that foster lasting change and prosperity.
Ghufran Wasiq
Founder, TotalPlus Solutions, LLC
Ghufran Wasiq is a financial educator and community advocate dedicated to helping individuals – especially immigrants and underserved populations – confidently navigate U.S. financial systems. Originally from Afghanistan, his international background includes service as a Certified Security Professional with the United Nations, where he developed a global perspective and a strong commitment to public service.
After immigrating to the United States and experiencing firsthand the challenges of understanding banking, credit, and financial products, Wasiq turned that learning curve into a mission. While teaching adult students in the Sacramento area – many of whom were new to the country – he saw how limited financial knowledge could affect everyday stability and long-term opportunity. This experience inspired him to focus his career on practical financial education and community support.
Today, Ghufran serves clients through his business, TotalPlus Solutions LLC, where he and his team provide a broad range of services including DMV assistance, tax preparation and planning, and business support services. Alongside these offerings, he prioritizes financial wellness education – helping clients build essential financial skills such as budgeting, emergency savings, retirement planning options, and life insurance needs.
Wasiq’s goal is to act as a bridge between complex financial systems and the communities he serves, ensuring that individuals not only can access services but also gain the knowledge they need to make informed financial decisions. Through his work, he continues to empower clients with the tools, confidence, and understanding necessary to achieve long-term financial stability.