About This Cause
At the Alliance Foundation, we are passionate about helping individuals Build a Path to Prosperity by offering them a Helping Hand Up through our programs focused on food, shelter, and emotional support. Our vision is to see every individual in our community reach their full potential and lead prosperous lives. We will achieve this by providing access to resources and support that meet basic needs and promote wellness and self-sufficiency. We are committed to being a catalyst for positive change in our community, one life at a time.
We believe if people have food, shelter & emotional support, they will have a strong foundation for which they can be prosperous in life.
Our Team
Prior to founding The Alliance Foundation, he owned and operated a boutique financial services firm, from 1998 to 2017. After transitioning his financial services practice to his partners, Brad focused on consulting with other financial advisors, guiding them in all aspects of wealth management. Brad has received numerous awards and designations, including the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) designations as well as numerous Five Start Wealth Manager awards. Brad has consistently been active philanthropically, receiving the Philanthropist of the Year award in 2017 from Amita Health Foundation, and serving on a number of non-profit boards. Brad took his experience and created The Alliance Foundation in 2020 as a way to give back and help people struggling. Brad founded the organization based on the old adage of “giving a person a fish they eat for a day, teach someone to fish, they eat for a lifetime.” Based on this, our goal is to help people build a path to prosperity by helping to provide a strong foundation for with they can prosper. We believe that strong foundation is based on having food, shelter, & emotional support
Joseph is an Information Technology (IT) professional with more than 25 years industry experience including eight years as a technical support analyst with the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Logistics Agency, supporting U.S. troops and other end users worldwide in various areas of IT, including networking, hardware, software, and mobile phone support.
Joseph believes technology should make people more productive and simplify life. He holds a degree in Management and Information Systems from Rockford University in Rockford, IL along with certifications in computer hardware support, network security, and Microsoft Windows.
Joining the Alliance Foundation was important to Joseph because he believes everyone deserves an opportunity to be prosperous in their lives. Through hard work and focus, anyone can be successful and happy.
Joseph currently lives in Lansing, MI, with his wife, Julia, and their furry friends Ducky Dog (Labrador) and Bones (Cat).
Judy Zawisza was Brad Barrie’s executive assistant & office manager for over 9 years. She continues to support financial advisors as an Office Manager and Marketing Manager. She wears many hats in her position and continues to learn new systems to elevate the practice. She worked in the general office for an electrical contractor and support staff for an accounting firm prior to working with Brad.
Cheryl Nelson Boyd is a financial advisor and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ practitioner with over 14 years helping families, individuals and business owners attain financial independence. Cheryl specializes in helping to meet the financial needs of working women with a focus on the unique opportunities and challenges that women in the workplace face.
Through the process of comprehensive planning, she helps clients define their values and make aligned choices with their investment objectives. She is passionate about helping others live the full and rich lives they are working towards. She is a local provider of the Ameriprise Financial Wellness program which offers practical advice, educational workshops, tool and resources that can help employees make informed financial choices and help them be happier, healthier contributors to their workplace.
Carlos brings experience in both fitness and business to the Alliance Foundation's Board. In addition, Carlos is passionate about teamwork and believes teams build interpersonal relationships and facilitate things getting done in the modern workplace.
Having a physical fitness and business background makes Carlos uniquely qualified to bring more robust communications and increased productivity to the Alliance Foundation board. Carlos has led multiple business ventures, including his own fitness training company. In addition, as a personal trainer, Carlos helps others build healthy lifestyles. He is eager to help people prosper and live longer lives and is excited to be part of the Alliance Foundation's board.
About Our Logo
Our logo symbolizes the four essential elements of our mission and our approach:
- The foundation of the house represents our belief that having a solid foundation is essential for people to be able to to prosper in life.
- The apple represents the need for food everyone has as a basic necessity of life.
- The house represents the universal need for shelter.
- The dog represents our belief that animals can help provide emotional support, which we believe is one of the unique characteristics of our organization.
