In 2013, and for each of the previous five years, Barron's recognized Barbara as one of the Top 100 Female Financial Advisors in the United States. She has also been recognized as one of the Barron's Top 1,000 Advisors for many consecutive years, including 2014. Barbara, numbered among the first female Financial Advisors whom Merrill Lynch hired, joined the Firm in 1978. She holds the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERTM designation, awarded by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc., and also the Certified Investment Management Analyst® (CIMA®) designation.A co-founder of the Association for Financial Professionals, Barbara is also a founding member of the Minneapolis chapter of the White House Project (a non-partisan, nonprofit organization that aims to advance women's leadership in all communities and sectors). She is president of the Foundation for St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, is on the board of the Africa Classroom Connection (which works toward building schools in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa) and is chair of the board of the Jungle Theatre in Minneapolis.Outside of her business and charitable endeavors, Barbara enjoys traveling with her four grandchildren, reading and hiking. To celebrate her sixtieth birthday, she climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro. Barbara resides in Minneapolis.