Profile
From advisor to product builder at Orion
Cade DeNazario Akers spent years sitting across the table from clients before building the technology meant to support that conversation. Now the senior product manager at Orion, he leads work on financial planning tools shaped by someone who remembers exactly what a hard client conversation feels like.
Before joining Orion, he spent seven years at Charles Schwab & Co., advancing from service and business roles to vice president and financial consultant, earning the CFP® certification in 2018. Akers earned his MBA in 2026, the same year the firm put him forward for this recognition.
“My first real job out of college was working as a teacher in international schools, and I’ve come to admire teachers as master presenters,” Akers says. That experience, along with years of playing music, helped him shed what he calls performance shame, making him more confident and comfortable dealing with people.
Improving financial advice, one tool at a time
In 2021, Akers moved from advising clients directly to building the technology that supports advisors who do. He now works on Orion Planning, the company’s financial planning platform, and collaborates with teams developing Redtail, Orion’s AI-first CRM, and new AI capabilities on Denali.
Akers names this behavioral finance work as his proudest achievement. “I am very pleased with having been a part of building and releasing behavioral finance tools that normalize people talking to each other with greater ease and effectiveness,” he says. “I delight at the idea that Orion Planning, with its behavioral finance suite, is the tool that allows advisors to have the best conversations.”
17605 Wright Street, Omaha, NE 68130
402 496 3513
success@orion.com
linkedin.com/in/cadeakers
orion.com
Cade DeNazario Akers
Senior Product Manager
Orion
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Bio
Milestones
2011–2014
2014–2017
2017–2021
2021–2023
2023–present
Worked as an international teacher
2011–2014
Held service, business, and associate financial consultant roles at Charles Schwab & Co.
2014–2017
2017–2021: Vice President and Financial Consultant at Charles Schwab & Co
2018: Earned the CFP designation
2017–2021
Product Manager, Financial Planning at Orion Advisor Technology
2021–2023
Senior Product Manager, AI-First CRM and Financial Planning at Orion Advisor Technology
Earned an MBA
2023–present
Milestones
“The predominant attitude I possess is good old gratitude”
Cade DeNazario Akers,
Orion
““I am very pleased with having been a part of building and releasing behavioral finance tools that normalize people talking to each other with greater ease and effectiveness”
Cade DeNazario Akers,
Orion
Curious by design
Asked what he believes his defining professional trait is, Akers points to his innate curiosity. “If one day they discover a curiosity gene, and I didn’t have it, I’d be double surprised,” he says. He carries this trait into how he works with people, too. “I ask people a lot of questions about themselves, and that means I often find myself knee-deep, and happily so, in great conversations.”
He sees that curiosity as one of his biggest assets, but also something of a Catch-22 for him. “I’m an ideas guy, and so lots of greenfield is both very satisfying and simultaneously dangerous for me.”
Gratitude keeps him grounded. “The predominant attitude I possess is good old gratitude,” he says. “I’m grateful and lucky to be working with a talented team of people who are motivated to stay right at the leading edge of what’s interesting and innovative in our industry.”
Being named to InvestmentNews Rising Stars 2026 list for Akers is a validation of the work he has put in so far. “I’m completely gobsmacked and flattered, and that’s nothing if not an impact on my mindset.”
True to his character, Akers is already looking toward what comes next, with psychology among the frontrunners. Outside of work, he is a musician and an avid outdoorsman, spending his free time hiking, camping, and skiing.