Manuel José Espinosa is a Financial Planner and Investment Advisor currently working with the CPA/Plus Network and a Principal at The Phoenix Group, a management consultancy. As a Financial Advisor his focus is on holistic financial planning, retirement planning, and investments.
Manuel’s experience includes co-founding three companies, work as a business consultant to an investment firm, running a process reengineering consultancy, leading strategic company-wide information systems planning initiatives for Pacific Bell, and planning and managing several statewide computer network implementation projects in California. In 1994 Manuel founded The Phoenix Group, a management consultancy working in strategic planning, process redesign, activity-based cost analysis, and project management. In 1998 he also began work as a founding member with a San Francisco-based incubator and venture capital fund for Internet-focused startups. He was a co-founder and Chief Operations Officer for WebNet Wireless Inc., a broadband communications company.
With more than 20 years of success in project management and systems analysis, Manuel has managed large-scale technical and product implementation projects at several Fortune 1000 companies as well as at smaller companies in diverse industries. His work has included writing and publishing three books on corporate-level information systems planning, implementing multi-million dollar network and process redesign projects, and performing innovative product and service cost studies. As a management consultant Manuel has written more than 75 client-sponsored research reports and business plans.
Manuel is a certified Retirement Management Analyst®(RMA®) and Professional Plan Consultant (PPC™), the latter designation making him an ERISA 3(21) fiduciary. Manuel holds the following securities licenses: Series 7, Series 66, and a California Insurance License (License No. 0F54280) for working on Variable Contracts. Manuel is also a Certified Financial Education Instructor (CFEI), earning this designation through the National Financial Educators Council. Manuel has also been a Certified Professional Consultant to Management (CPCM), earning this designation from The National Bureau of Certified Consultants in strategic planning, process reengineering, and project management. Manuel graduated from Santa Clara University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy (Honors), studied philosophy on a Ford Fellowship in Ph.D. programs at Yale and Stanford Universities, and did graduate work in computer science, mathematics, and engineering economics at Santa Clara University and Stanford.
Manuel is married, has a son, and loves dogs. He is also an avid organic gardener, often sharing much of his harvest with his family, neighbors, and a local shelter for battered women and the homeless.
Manuel and his wife go to the movies at least once a week and spend as much time as they can hiking in the hills surrounding Santa Clara Valley. He has ridden most of the hills from San José to San Francisco on road or mountain bikes, and has completed several dozen century rides throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.