Team

Susan Faykus, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Faykus Financial, LLC. 

Trusted Advisor | Wealth Manager | Economist | Philanthropist

Susan is a successful and trusted business leader with a reputation for her innovative approach and specialized expertise in transforming substantial wealth into value driven legacy plans for generational giving and philanthropic impact. 

Upon graduating from The University of Texas at Austin in 1987 with a BA in Economics and Business Administration, Susan joined Waddell & Reed to begin her investment and planning career. Soon after, she funded and managed a private equity portfolio with concentrations in new technologies, biomedical advancement and other areas of innovation companies led by proven leadership. In 2016, Susan started Faykus Financial which today is a full Registered Investment Advisor Firm disrupting the multi-family office model to bring intentional macro-perspective wealth management to those reaching for impact beyond themselves.  Susan is currently enrolled in the master’s Level Financial Planning Certificate at The University of Texas Austin. 

As a Trusted Advisor to CEOs of global companies, entrepreneurs, real estate developers, technology leaders, non-profits, family foundations and farmer/ranchers, Susan drives a variety of initiatives to design a holistic master plan to transform significant wealth into a remarkable legacy. Through sound business succession plans, goal-based investments, risk management and tax strategies, an Impact Map is generated to optimize results and obtain defined goals for her family of clients.

Susan’s unwavering commitment to her faith and mission to change lives has led her to be held in the highest regard as a principled leader and trusted confidant by her family, clients, colleagues, and community.  Susan’s unparalleled knowledge in consultative wealth management, wealth conservancy, legacy planning and philanthropic strategy development has resulted in earning her a reputation as an emerging thought leader disrupting wealth management and legacy development today. 

Areas of expertise include: Advisory | Investments | Estate and Gift Tax Planning | Business Succession Planning | Pre-liquidity Planning |Charitable Gift Planning | Multi-Family Office | Heir Development | Governance and Education | Tax Planning

Trenton Faykus, Vice President of Operations and Wealth Manager 

Innovator | Strategist | Trusted Consultant

Trenton is a results oriented professional with a high degree of competency in corporate financial planning and analysis, management, business operations and technology integration. His distinctive knowledge and ability to produce results in business transformation, process optimization, and operational excellence makes him an ideal VP of Operations for Faykus Financial. 

As a Wealth Manager, Trenton helps to deliver strategies with a high level of assuredness and accuracy based on an analytical approach according to emerging trends and an understanding of relevant knowledge in the various respective fields of Faykus Financials’ family of clients. 

Trenton possesses a unique strategic awareness of broader trends enabling him to incorporate ideas and new innovations into practice to ensure that Faykus Financial is implementing the latest cutting edge technologies and best practices to support a multi-family office and client centric environment. 

While at Texas A&M University, he served as Assistant Director of MSC FISH, an organization focused on leadership and professional development where he led several initiatives impacting thousands of lives of the most underserved in the community. Trenton then joined a successful technology start-up where he was responsible for developing and leading several hundreds of the top performing real estate teams across the country, as well as, providing consultative support to executive management on how to maximize ROI and how to best serve clients. 

In 2019 Trenton joined the Faykus Financial Multi-Family Office where his experiences and demonstrative presence fosters a culture of trust and honesty with the team and with clients, resulting in Trenton being identified as one of the leaders of tomorrow ready today.

Areas of expertise include: Operations | Technology Integration |Wealth Management

Lauren Shanks, Executive Assistant 

As the Executive Assistant to the CEO, Lauren is responsible for upholding a high level of confidentiality while coordinating executive and client communications and schedules, organizing and maintaining clients’ library of documents. 

Lauren’s ability to perform a range of complex and confidential administrative and management duties puts her in a vital role to provide an unsurpassed client experience while supporting the entire team in optimizing results for the client. 

Lauren’s exceptional talent of insight and a keen focus to get the task accomplished in a high-profile environment exemplifies the Faykus Financial mission to provide a unique approach to a multi-family office, and in consultative wealth and philanthropic planning. 

Lauren’s proficiency as an Insurance Agent has allowed to bring her previous experiences and knowledge to work to support the CEO in providing the greatest options and services available to the client and their family. 

While at Sam Houston State University, Lauren became a Property & Casualty Insurance Agent, and went on to become a Life & Health Agent. After graduating in 2018 with a BA in Business Management, Lauren entered into the financial services industry when she joined the Faykus Financial multi-family office.  

Areas of expertise include: Executive Administration| Insurance | Communications