our purpose. your purpose.
Our mission is to help you dedicate your resources to support the life you want to live.
About Our Team
Each of us has unique knowledge, skills and interests, that we believe are best delivered in concert. You benefit not only from formidable backgrounds in market risk management and creating personal finance solutions but also from our team approach as differing ages, genders and perspectives are brought into meetings. There’s a reason for the cliché- we are stronger together.
Doug Wallace
After 25 years of managing investments for other institutions, Doug started Alpha Advisors twenty years ago to serve the needs of friends and family. Those folks started referring their friends and families. And in a few short years, Doug found himself with three partners and a growing list of clients. What set the firm apart was its emphasis on tailoring each client’s portfolio to their purposes in life that were revealed through extensive inquiry guided by a process called Evoke.
Doug recently celebrated his 52nd anniversary with his wife, Joanne. They have one daughter, 3 grandsons, and a granddaughter who was married on Doug’s 75th birthday in January 2022. Doug and Joanne seize every opportunity to spend time in their travel trailer, particularly if it is near a bike trail. Their youngest grandson started college recently, so even their daughter is now an empty nester. Doug thinks retirement is a four-letter word. He’s still buying 30-year bonds expecting to mature them.
Sarah Byrd
Sarah is a Registered Life Planner, RLP @, through the Kinder Institute, and co-advises clients with RLP colleagues, Mark and Alex. When she is working with clients and their financial worlds, she believes she is working close to their hearts. They worked hard for their money; they inherited it from a loved one; they sold a business into which they put blood, sweat, and tears. It isn’t just money. Much is wrapped up in it and its history in each client’s life: their dreams, hopes, fears, and regrets. Sarah enjoys making the, sometimes, intimidating subject of finances understandable and helping people make good choices. She brings her practical approach and life experiences into each engagement. Discovering Financial Life Planning changed a job into a calling for Sarah and she believes in the possibilities that EVOKE has for each client she sits down with.
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With over 40 years of marriage, two daughters and sons-in-law, and seven grandchildren, Sarah has resided in Richmond since 1983 and has actively contributed her time and efforts to community organizations, including her past service on the Barnabas Center board. A long time ago, she acquired a BBA from James Madison University.
Mark Leimberger
Mark is a Certified Financial Planner professional™ and Registered Life Planner™ through the Kinder Institute. As a Two on the Enneagram, Mark believes every conversation with a client is an opportunity to help and encourage them. In support of this calling, he has found the EVOKE® process to be a fantastic platform to deliver that level of service and connection with clients. He loves to engage in collaborative financial and investment planning, providing clarity on important decisions and tackling the problem-solving opportunities that naturally occur in clients’ lives.
Mark has been married to Alyssa for over 25 years. They take active roles in supporting the Richmond community, both in their church and other organizations to which they feel called to support. With two amazing, grown children, Mark has found cycling with his wife along with golf and kayak bass fishing to be helpful activities in the transition of being empty nesters.
Alex Scott
Alex joined the Alpha Advisors team in 2013 transitioning from managing financial risk for commercial banks since the mid-80s to helping clients manage the financial uncertainties in their lives. Seeking the relational quality of helping people one at a time, he found working with Doug and the team to be a natural fit. Since joining, he has embraced the team’s Financial Life Planning process and finds it goes layers deeper than just helping clients manage financial uncertainty. He will tell you the process produces a rich return on time for both the giver and receiver.
Alex has been married to Karen for 36 years and has two married children, 6 grandchildren, and a cat named Murray. When he is not reading bedtime stories to grandchildren, he runs, swims and when he can break away and find one, he greatly enjoys sailing a deep-keeled sloop in a stiff Chesapeake Bay breeze.
Britton Smith
Meet Britton Smith, Client Services Director, who transitioned to Alpha Advisors in January 2024. With a Doctor of Pharmacy degree earned in 2005, Britton dedicated 18 years of service to Walgreens as a community pharmacist here in Richmond prior to joining our team. In 2006, she met her husband, Jason, at a ballroom dance studio and they have three boys, ages 10, 12, and 13.
Challenging times emerged in 2019 when Jason was diagnosed with cancer. At that time, Britton and Jason became clients and began receiving invaluable guidance from Sarah and Mark. His passing in August 2023 ushered in a new season for Britton and her family leading her to this role at Alpha Advisors. Britton brings the same professionalism and work ethic she brought to Walgreens. Her deep desire to give each client the best care possible lines up with Alpha Advisors’ belief that people are the clients, not their resources. Outside of work, she enjoys quality time with her children, ballroom dancing, connecting with her church community, and vacationing with family in sunny South Carolina.