Brennan Denny
Wheaton,IL
Summary
Client-focused professional moving into wealth management with a background in college funding, client consultation, and complex decision support. Builds trusted relationships, analyzes needs, and turns financial aid, college cost, and competing priorities into clear recommendations. Brings budget management, team leadership, and data-driven problem solving to relationship banking or client service roles.
Overview
1
1
Certification
23
23
years of professional experience
Work History
College Funding Professional
Elite Collegiate Planning
Exton, PA
01.2025 - Current
- Guided clients through financial aid, scholarships, admissions decisions, and appeals to enhance their college funding strategies.
- Guide families through complex, multi-stage college-selection and financial-planning decisions by assessing individual needs, evaluating alternatives, and developing customized strategies.
- Analyze individual circumstances and available options to help clients make informed decisions aligned with their goals, resources, and constraints.
- Translate complex financial, educational, and procedural information into clear recommendations and actionable next steps.
- Cultivated trusted client relationships through consultative communication and active listening, ensuring consistent follow-through on their needs.
- Coordinate multiple stakeholders and interconnected processes while maintaining a high level of client service and accountability.
- Executed solution-oriented decision-making in high-stakes situations, applying judgment and organization to navigate complex challenges.
Assistant Principal for Curriculum and Instruction
Plano High School
Plano, IL
01.2018 - 01.2025
- Led the development, coaching, and performance management of 60+ teachers and instructional professionals, building relationships based on trust, accountability, and individualized development.
- Managed an annual teaching and learning budget exceeding $400,000, evaluating competing needs, prioritizing investments, allocating resources, and aligning spending with organizational objectives.
- Used quantitative performance data to identify gaps, evaluate opportunities, develop strategies, and monitor results; more than doubled AP pass rates over a five-year period.
- Expanded participation in vocational career pathways from 50 to 110 students a 120% increase by identifying barriers, evaluating opportunities, coordinating stakeholders, and implementing strategies that increased access to career-focused programs.
- Designed and implemented the annual master course schedule, balancing staffing, resources, individual needs, organizational constraints, and competing priorities.
- Led complex initiatives from planning through implementation and evaluation, adjusting strategies based on data, stakeholder feedback, and measurable outcomes.
- Built collaborative relationships across administrators, teachers, coaches, students, families, and community stakeholders to achieve shared objectives.
- Supervised and developed instructional coaches and professional learning teams through goal setting, feedback, and performance monitoring, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and professional growth.
Science Department Chairperson
Riverside Brookfield High School
Riverside, IL
01.2009 - 01.2018
- Led department-wide initiatives involving faculty development, staffing, resource allocation, performance improvement, and strategic planning.
- Supervised and coached science faculty, providing individualized feedback and development that enhanced teaching effectiveness.
- Managed departmental budgets and purchasing decisions, evaluating needs and allocating available resources to support organizational objectives.
- Participated in hiring and selection processes, developing high-performing teams through targeted interviewing, onboarding, mentoring, and coaching.
- Analyzed performance information and operational needs to identify challenges, evaluate solutions, and implement improvements.
- Coordinated diverse stakeholders around shared objectives, ensuring clear communication and accountability to facilitate collaborative outcomes.
Science Teacher
Riverside Brookfield High School
Riverside, IL
01.2004 - 01.2018
- Designed learning experiences requiring analysis, experimentation, problem solving, and application of complex concepts.
- Adapted strategies based on performance data and individual needs.
- Partnered with colleagues and stakeholders to enhance processes and student experiences.
- Cultivated analytical, communication, presentation, and relationship-management skills through daily interaction with diverse individuals and groups.
Education
Master of Education (Ed.M.) - Educational Administration and Leadership
University of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign
05-2009
Bachelor of Science (B.S.) - Biology Secondary Education
University of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign
05-2004
Skills
- Financial aid advising
- College cost planning
- Budget management
- Analytical and critical thinking
- Client consultation
- Client relationship management
- Relationship building
- Attention to detail
RECOGNITION
Illinois State Board of Education: Those Who Excel, Excellence in Administration Award (2023)
Certification
- Illinois Life Insurance Producer License
Timeline
College Funding Professional
Elite Collegiate Planning
01.2025 - Current
Assistant Principal for Curriculum and Instruction
Plano High School
01.2018 - 01.2025
Science Department Chairperson
Riverside Brookfield High School
01.2009 - 01.2018
Science Teacher
Riverside Brookfield High School
01.2004 - 01.2018
Master of Education (Ed.M.) - Educational Administration and Leadership
University of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign
Bachelor of Science (B.S.) - Biology Secondary Education
University of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign