Christopher Swan, CFP®

Retire With Swan

Founder | Retirement CFO

Large Wealth Management Firms

Worked as a licensed financial advisor with several nationally recognized wealth management firms.

Financial Advisor

AT&T

Leadership Development Program

LeafHouse Financial

Associate

Texas A&M International University

Graduate Assistant

Killam Development

Intern

In 2010, I started my career in financial services.

Making phone calls for independent advisors in Austin, TX, I quickly found myself drawn to the work.

By 2014, I was a licensed financial advisor, learning the ropes at firms like Edward Jones, Merrill Lynch, and Charles Schwab.

Over the years, I helped people at every stage of life:

Those just starting out.
Those at the end of their journey, focused on legacy.

And everyone in between.

Through it all, I prayed.
Prayed for God to guide me toward the most purposeful work I could do.

Eventually, it became clear—
My biggest impact would be helping people prepare for, transition into, and live in retirement.

By creating secure, reliable plans, I could help people:
Feel confident.
Transition comfortably.
And focus on what matters most: faith, family, fitness, fun, and fulfillment.

That’s why I founded Retire With Swan.

We don’t just focus on numbers.
We focus on people.

To make the retirement journey easier, faster, and more transformational,
I crafted the Swan Song System and GRACE Framework.

These systems simplify the complexities of retirement planning.
They help you clarify your goals, protect your income, and build a roadmap to peace of mind.

If you’re strategically thinking about your retirement, I’d love to help.

And remember:
It’s never too late—or too early—to better plan your exit.

Founder & CEO

Christopher Swan, CFP®, MBA

Energy Tech Nexus

Founding Partner

They say everything’s bigger in Texas, including climate change. That’s why Houston is leading the energy transition here in H-Town, the fourth largest city in the United States, entrepreneurs from across Texas and around the world are gathering to work with titans of industry to build the technology that will reduce emissions and power a low carbon future.

We sit down with those change makers and wildcatters who are solving the toughest energy challenges with trillions of dollars on the line. We dig into how Houston will bring technology to market on a massive scale. Join us as we talk with the leaders of the energy capital of the world as they show us how the energy transition gets done.

https://digitalwildcatters.com/podcasts/energy-tech-startups/

Show Host

MCJ Collective

Helping the climate ecosystem grow in Houston and beyond.

Active Member - Houston City Host 

Greentown Labs

Memberships focuses on the identification and recruitment of high impact startups across the Climatetech Industry

-	Built a community of 50+ founders in Houston Climatetech Ecosystem
-	Streamlined documentation and reporting processes, increasing the throughput of individual contributors by 25% and developing a sales performance dashboard
-	Implemented automated contracting
-	Developed and implemented mail merge and mass e-marketing tools
-	Developed customer profiles and customer journey map around core customer segments.

Sr. Director of Membership

-	Conducted groundwork with the CEO to identify a thriving climatetech community and rally government and corporate stakeholders
-	Supported fundraising to finance and launch Greentown Houston
-	Identified construction partners and oversaw construction project
-	Conducted site identification, analysis, and selection
-	Supported lease negotiation and financial model development.
-	Launched an early access program to seed the community; ultimately converting >75% of early access to full time members
-	Identified and secured initial service providers; supported opening and launch of the incubator on time and on budget for Earth Day 2020.
-	Facilitated transition of staff and resources to ongoing operations team

Greentown Houston - Operations Lead

- Supported initial set up and operations of Greentown
- Developed iconic community driven safety program
- Developed initial application and screening process to identify high impact startups
- Facilitated relocation from Summer St. to Somerville
- Developed and oversaw initial startup recruiting and onboarding process
- Initiated early diversity and inclusion efforts
- Supported conversion of Greentown to Public Benefit corporation (PBC)
- Co-developed Launch (Now Go)

Co-founder, Member Board of Directors

Dynamo Micropower

Did all the startup things in eight parts:
-	Built a team
-	Launched two products, named in 3 patents
-	Secured $1M in Bookings
-	Shipped 23 commercial units
-	Developed supply chain partners
-	Raised Capital with Angels and Institutional 
-	Underwent customer challenges
-	Wound down the business when market conditions turned

Spent better part of the decade building a team to commercialize gas turbine technology.  Through customer discovery, identified power pain points in the upstream O&G industry, driven by the shale revolution. The industry had the dual need to manage flare gas and power onsite equipment.

Secured funds to grow the business including grants such as NSF SBIR, DOE, & START.  Also raised angel capital and venture—ultimately raising $7M.
Led a focused, high-performance team to Develop a unique small gas turbine solution which both ran on wet flue gas and was coupled to an energy storage system which could drive ESPs and Pumpjacks.  We designed the products, proved functional performed, contracted supply chain firms for packing, and ultimately deployed 23 systems with customers.  

Gained significant experience in upstream O&G, technology deployment, commercialization.  Developed a wisdom that only comes with the scar tissue of company building, and an understanding of how market timing and capital can make or break everything.

Founder, President & CEO

Capire Micropower

Developed Project plan for the manufacturing novel gas turbines using MEMS etching technology.  Including budgeting, resourcing allocation, timeline development, sensitivity analysis, and interdependency analysis.  Identified key technical risks and strategies to mitigate.  

Launched the Boston office and identified key technology vendors to confirm costs and production requirements.

Conducted direct customer discovery research with OEM customers in the target market, ultimately determining with the leadership team, that the technology lacked product-market fit.

Project Manager

GE Aviation

Team player in Lynn's T700 Production Manufacturing Operations (TPMO) group focused on driving overhaul production while helping with any quality, production or cost reduction needs of the team.

Launched and implemented a waste recycling program which lead to several million in savings per year.

Formative leadership role filled a gap as second shift cell leader, working with production teams.  Managed work in process inventory, equipment utilization and personnel. Overseeing production on 30 machines, the safety of 22 workers, and inventories of 15 unique parts, and delivering an average of $600K in product a week.


2nd Shift Cell leader
Acted as a general manager during the 2nd-shift, worked closely with hourly workers and higher management.  Managed WIP inventory, capital utilization and worker performance.

Quality and Process 
Conducted review of out of tolerance production parts as well as looked at new processes to reduce costs

Second Shift Cell Leader/Supply Chain Intern

Mars Gravity Biosat (MIT)

A first experience in leading a team of seven
Led two engineering teams preparing the Mars Gravity program for Critical Design Review

Project Manager Team Lead

Orbital Sciences Corporation

Design intern spanning two summers at Orbital.
Conducted CAD and FEA analysis for several satellite configurations as well as part of the SLS which ultimately became Artemis.  

Conducted market analysis to help leadership understand as well as articulate how Orbital had developed its satellite development capability over its history.  

My market research at Orbital revealed the emergent trend in the deployment of microsats and nanosats.  I came to understand these satellites were increasingly low cost to deploy alongside large payloads and as such the entry cost of development was orders of magnitude less than traditional satellites.  

To prove this trend, the TJ3Say program was conceived and initiated within TJHSST.  This program uniquely combined engineering systems coursework with the development and deployment of a Cubesat.  Aside from educating students, it also demonstrated the lower barrier and accessibility of spaceflight.  The emergence of large constellations of small low cost satellites is a megatrend in commercial aerospace industry today.

Aeroastro

Utilized STK (Satellite Tool Kit) to analyze several mission profiles, conduct a mission power performance study against a power budget, and make recommendations on operational procedures to ensure mission parameters were met.

Specialties: Specific focus on working with early-stage climate tech founders with experience and expertise in customer development, launching technical products, and raising capital.  

Expertise: Developed and raised over $20M in capital, with a specialization in leading high performing teams to tackle high risk, high reward projects.  By identifying and managing risks, am able to consistently achieve key objectives on time, on budget.  Work is consistently recognized across industry via accolades and awards.

Worked with and built exceptional teams.

taplio

The Battle

Christopher Swan, CFP®, MBA

Jason Ethier

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