Chad Chatham
Founder and Wealth Manager
For more than 29 years, Chad Chatham has been building relationships, navigating markets, and helping clients prepare for the futures they have been working toward. His career as a financial advisor began in 1997 and has never slowed down. For Chad, this work has never felt like a job. He often shares his favorite saying: "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." For anyone who has spent time with him, it is clear he means it.
Chad began his career at Northwestern Mutual, where he spent 25 years and was recognized among the top five percent of financial investment advisors across the company. In 2018, he transitioned his practice to LPL Financial, the largest independent broker-dealer in the country, where he has qualified for the Directors Club each year since, a recognition reserved for advisors based on their standing among LPL's advisors.
What sets Chad apart is not a title or a credential. It is the depth of the relationships he has built over decades. Many of his clients have been with him for more than 20 years. He has been present for their milestones, their challenges, their retirements, and the moments when a steady voice made all the difference. He has watched their children grow up and, in many cases, become clients themselves. That kind of continuity does not happen by accident, it is the result of showing up consistently, communicating clearly, and treating every client's financial life with genuine care.
Chad's focus has always been on personalized retirement planning - helping clients of every age understand where they stand today and build a clear, realistic path toward the future they want. He believes that financial planning should never feel abstract. When a client can see exactly how their financial picture is taking shape, what their retirement looks like one year out, ten years out, twenty years out, the uncertainty starts to lift. That clarity is what Chad works to give every person he serves.
Chad has no plans to retire. The work is too meaningful, the relationships too important, and frankly, the enjoyment too real. He and his partner Ryan Szwast continue to build C&R Wealth Management as a firm designed to serve clients and their families for generations to come.
Outside the office, Chad lives in Orange County with his wife Linda and their two pugs, Brody and Cody - the latest in a decade-long tradition of rescuing pugs together. He is the father of seven children. An avid endurance athlete, Chad has completed more than 52 marathons, three ultramarathons, and numerous triathlons. Among his proudest athletic achievements are running the Boston Marathon and completing the Alcatraz Triathlon, which includes a swim from Alcatraz Island to the San Francisco shore. The same determination that carries him across finish lines is the same dedication he brings to every client relationship.
Ryan Szwast
Partner and Wealth Manager
Ryan Szwast came to financial planning with a conviction that most people share but few act on: everyone deserves a clear, confident path forward. Too many people move through life without a real financial plan, and without one, the future stays uncertain. Ryan built his career around helping individuals and families replace financial stress with clarity, uncertainty with direction, and worry with a plan they can actually see and trust.
Ryan has more than 20 years of background in business and finance, including experience managing both money and people. That foundation informs how he approaches client relationships, with the kind of steady, organized thinking that comes from years of working through complex financial and operational challenges before ever sitting across the table from a client.
For the past decade, Ryan has worked alongside Chad Chatham, learning from one of the most experienced financial advisors in the industry. Chad mentored Ryan directly in the philosophy, values, and disciplined approach that have defined this firm since its founding. That mentorship shaped not just Ryan's technical foundation but his understanding of what a long-term client relationship actually looks like, and the patience it requires, the consistency it demands, and the trust it builds over time. The partnership that became C&R Wealth Management is the natural result of that decade of working side by side.
Ryan's approach to financial planning is grounded in one belief: this work is about people, not portfolios. He wants every client to feel that they are not navigating their financial life alone. The plan gets built together. It gets adjusted together. And the relationship continues for the long term—through market cycles, life transitions, and all the moments in between that shape a financial picture. For Ryan, the most meaningful part of the work is watching a client settle into the confidence that comes from having a plan and a team behind it.
As a partner at C&R Wealth Management, Ryan is committed to carrying forward the multigenerational practice that Chad built while continuing to serve clients at the highest level for years to come. His role in the partnership is a signal of long-term continuity. Clients of C&R Wealth Management work with a team, not a single advisor, and Ryan's presence ensures that commitment extends well into the future.
Ryan is affiliated with LPL Financial, the largest independent broker-dealer in the country, which provides the firm access to a broad range of resources and technology in support of personalized client service.
Outside the office, family comes first. Ryan coaches his son's baseball team, enjoys time with his daughter, and spends the better part of his life outside work with his wife and children. Those relationships keep him grounded and remind him every day why the work he does for his clients matters.
Gladys Villegas
Client Services and Marketing
Gladys Villegas brings a background that is as people-focused as it is professionally grounded. Before joining the financial services industry, she spent more than five years with the Walt Disney Company, where she developed a deep foundation in leadership and customer service, learning firsthand what it means to make every person who walks through the door feel genuinely welcomed and well taken care of. That instinct for attentive, relationship-centered service has followed her throughout her career.
Gladys holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Management with a minor in Mathematics from California State University, Fullerton. She also holds a California Life and Health insurance license.
Over the past nine years, Gladys has built her career in client services and marketing within the financial industry. She is often the first voice clients hear and the steady presence behind the scenes that keeps the client experience running smoothly. Her combination of organizational skill, attention to detail, and genuine warmth makes her an integral part of the C&R Wealth Management team.
Outside the office, Gladys's world revolves around her husband, her son, and their two Welsh Pembroke Corgis. She loves exploring the mountains of Mammoth Lakes, spending time along the Colorado River in Arizona, and enjoying the beaches of Southern California - always with her Corgi girls along for the adventure. As she puts it, no adventure is too great for their short little legs.
