Todd A. Sanford, B.B.A.’83, Outstanding Service Award

Todd Sanford is the CEO and president of Sanford Financial Services, a full-service financial planning and wealth management practice. The firm focuses on intergenerational financial and estate planning, retirement plans and money management. Sanford started the company in 2000 with one employee managing nearly $50 million in client assets. Today, he leads a team of 16 employees managing more than $800 million of client assets.

Prior to opening Sanford Financial Services, he worked for Investors Diversified Services/American Express Advisors and later became a partner and shareholder in Scott, Doerschler, Messner and Gauntlett, a well-known, highly regarded employee benefits and financial services company. He earned his certified financial planner designation in 1991 and has received multiple honors for his work in financial planning. Sanford has been honored on Barron's Top Advisor List on multiple occasions, was recognized by Forbes as Best-in-State Wealth Advisor for 2017, has received multiple recognitions from the Financial Times publication, and has been recognized as a Top 10 Financial Advisor at Raymond James for the past 13 years, out of more than 7,200 advisors. He has served on numerous internal strategic planning committees for Raymond James and has held positions on several nonprofit boards in Kalamazoo County, including treasurer of the Kalamazoo Valley Community College Foundation Board.

Sanford earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from WMU’s Haworth College of Business and was honored with an Outstanding Alumni Award from the college’s Department of Finance and Commercial Law in 2011. He recently made a gift to the college to establish the Sanford Center for Financial Planning and Wellness, a center dedicated to providing a variety of services and impactful programs for members of the community.