A Trusted Partner

Our Philosophy

Guidance with Purpose

Decisive leadership requires clarity. We go beyond headlines to uncover the deeper forces shaping markets, economies, and lives. It’s not just about staying informed. It’s about knowing what to do next, and why.

We believe true success isn’t just measured in returns — it’s reflected in how closely your financial life aligns with your values. We help you design a future that’s intentional, meaningful, and deeply personal.

Trust isn’t granted. It’s earned through follow-through, discretion, and unwavering consistency. Our role is to be a long-term partner on your journey, placing your priorities at the center of everything we do.

Foundation

When you’ve worked hard to build something meaningful, whether a business, a family legacy, or both, you deserve advice that reflects that level of responsibility. We believe real financial guidance begins with trust, and the most effective strategies are built around what matters most to you.

Alignment

As fiduciaries, we are committed to acting in your best interest at every step. We take the time to deeply understand your goals, your values, and how you define success. Then we build a plan that aligns with your priorities and adapts as your life evolves and circumstances change.

Growth

Our investment approach is grounded in research, with a focus on risk management, broad diversification, and personalized implementation. Every decision is made to enhance outcomes, designed to grow and protect your wealth while staying aligned with your long-term vision.

Meet the Team

Endeavor delivers large-firm experience with boutique-level relationships to you and your family. Get to know our team.

Colter Lewis, CFP®, CPWA®, ChFC

Founder | CEO

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Adam Brennen, CFP®, CPWA®, CWS®

Partner | President

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Philip Armes, CEPA®

Partner | Director of Business Advisory

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Freddy Garza, CFP®, CPA

Partner | Director of Wealth Planning

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Richard LaFont, CPA

Partner | Director of Family Office Services

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Cody Wainscott, JD

Associate Client Advisor

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Jeffrey B. Early

Independent Director

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Susan Shepard

Client Experience Manager

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LeRoy Bell

Vice Chairman

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Deborah Bell

Client Advisor

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Colter Lewis, CFP®, CPWA®, ChFC

Founder | CEO

Colter Lewis is an experienced financial professional with nearly 30 years of expertise in wealth management and investments. He has worked in various roles in financial planning, philanthropy, private banking, and family office services.

Prior to Endeavor, Colter held executive leadership positions in a global, publicly traded private bank and trust company, ultimately serving as President, leading a $18 billion region with multiple offices and nearly 200 employees. During this tenure, he was responsible for creating, building, and leading one of the firm’s top-performing ultra-affluent advisory teams. This experience gave him a deep understanding of the unique needs and challenges affluent families face in managing and growing their wealth.

To complement his extensive practical experience, Colter has also earned several prestigious professional designations through rigorous academic study, including the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® (CFP®) and Certified Private Wealth Advisor (CPWA®) certifications and the Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) designation. These distinctions demonstrate Colter’s deep understanding of the complex financial and investment strategies that can help families achieve their financial goals.

Colter currently serves as a board member and Development Chair for the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion and is also involved with the DePelchin Children’s Center, the President’s Leadership Council, the J.C. Walter Transplant Center Task Force for Houston Methodist Hospital, and the ACU College of Business Dean’s Council. He is also an active member of YPO.

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Adam Brennen, CFP®, CPWA®, CWS®

Partner | President

For over 20 years, Adam Brennen has collaborated with wealthy individuals and their families in comprehensive wealth planning that includes high-touch investment management, trust and asset servicing, and multi-generational advisory practices. His clients receive an unparalleled level of service along with a coordinated and multifaceted approach to the management of their wealth.

Adam serves as an advisor on topics such as tax strategies and planning, portfolio management, risk management and asset protection, charitable giving, estate planning and wealth transfer, family business planning, and business succession planning.

Before joining Endeavor, Adam spent a decade with Northern Trust and the previous decade with Amegy Bank, working comprehensively with highly successful families on their wealth plans. At Northern Trust, he led the greater Houston region as a member of the Executive Leadership Team to become the highest-performing region in the enterprise. He won the Chairman’s Award among 24,000 employees for his work on the client experience.

Adam completed postgraduate studies at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Rice University, and Cannon Financial Institute. He received his MBA from Texas Tech University and graduated summa cum laude from Abilene Christian University with a degree in finance, where he was also a University Scholar. Adam holds the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® and Certified Private Wealth Advisor® certifications and the Certified Wealth Strategist® designation.

Adam regularly lectures on financial topics at the University of Houston, the University of Texas Medical School, Baylor College of Medicine, and Abilene Christian University. He has also served as a trustee for the Cy-Fair Educational Foundation and as President of ACU’s alumni advisory board. Adam is actively involved in initiatives that promote financial literacy for underprivileged high school students in Houston and that support the fight against human trafficking, and he also serves his church community.

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Philip M. Armes, CEPA®

Partner | Director of Business Advisory

Philip Armes is a seasoned wealth management professional with over 10 years of experience advising high-net-worth clients and private business owners at two of the nation’s leading private banks. 

As a Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA®) with expertise in pre-transaction planning, deal execution, and post-transaction wealth management, Philip helps entrepreneurs navigate their business transitions’ financial, tax, and estate planning implications. Philip is a connector of resources for his clients, drawing on a deep network of professionals to address their needs (estate planning attorneys, M&A attorneys, CPAs, investment bankers, etc.). He takes immense pride in partnering with clients long before a formal transition or liquidity event, earning their trust by putting structures in place to maximize after-tax benefits and enjoy their exciting next chapter. 

Before joining Endeavor, Philip was a Senior Vice President at Northern Trust Wealth Management, focused on business development for the Houston office and consistently a top performer nationally. During that time, he was responsible for nearly one billion dollars of new assets under management, primarily as a result of guiding entrepreneurs to a successful transition event with a strategic or financial acquirer. 

Philip graduated cum laude from Texas A&M University with a degree in finance. He also completed his postgraduate studies at Texas A&M University, receiving a master’s in real estate. 

He is a native Houstonian and keeps busy with his wife, Sydney, and three young children, Camden, Cooper, and Vivienne.

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Freddy Garza, CFP®, CPA

Partner | Director of Wealth Planning

Freddy Garza delivers valuable and actionable wealth-planning advice that helps successful families and family offices grow and preserve wealth over multiple generations. His professional expertise includes holistic financial planning, goal-based investment management across all asset classes, income tax efficiency, cash flow modeling, executive compensation and retirement strategies, philanthropy objectives, risk management analysis, and lifetime gift and estate planning.

With nearly 20 years of planning and client service experience, Freddy has an intimate understanding of the wealth accumulation, preservation, and distribution life cycle and how to position his clients for long-term financial success. Before joining Endeavor, Freddy was a Senior Wealth Advisor at Northern Trust Wealth Management for over 15 years, where he advised successful families on all significant matters of their financial lives. He started his career in public accounting at Deloitte.

Freddy graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in accountancy. He obtained advanced degrees from the University of Texas at Austin (Master of Professional Accounting) and DePaul University (M.B.A. in Finance). He is a CFP® professional and Certified Public Accountant (CPA) (Texas). He is an active member of the financial planning community, currently serving as Treasurer of the Financial Planning Association of Houston, and he is a member of the Texas Society of CPAs, the Houston Estate & Financial Forum, and the Houston Business and Estate Planning Council. Freddy lives in Pearland, Texas, with his wife, Elizabeth, and daughters, Ella and Avery.

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Richard LaFont, CPA

Partner | Director of Family Office Services

Ricky is an experienced wealth advisor with more than 20 years of expertise in trust administration, tax strategy, and wealth transfer planning. His career has focused on supporting the complex needs of high-net-worth individuals, multigenerational families, closely held business owners, and charitable foundations.

Before joining Endeavor, Ricky served as a Senior Relationship Manager at Northern Trust and Sentinel Trust Company, where he administered large, complex trust structures, including revocable, irrevocable, retirement, and charitable trusts. He advised clients on sophisticated estate plans, investment strategies, and tax-efficient wealth transfer techniques.

Ricky also brings over a decade of experience as a Certified Public Accountant. As Managing Partner of a boutique CPA firm, he specialized in estate, gift, and trust tax compliance, as well as the design of advanced wealth strategies for affluent families. His dual background in fiduciary administration and tax advisory allows him to guide clients through the intersection of financial, legal, and generational considerations with clarity and care.

He earned his undergraduate degree in accounting from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.
Deeply committed to giving back, Ricky was recently appointed to the Professional Advisor Council for the Greater Houston Community Foundation, where he collaborates with other advisors to help clients align charitable giving with long-term financial goals. He and his wife, Alexandra, also serve as volunteer foster parents for rescued pugs through PugHearts of Houston.

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Cody Wainscott, JD

Associate Client Advisor

Cody Wainscott advises high-net-worth individuals and multi-generational families with income tax advisory, trust planning, complex gift and estate tax issues, and intra-family wealth transfers.

Before joining Endeavor, Cody was a Vice President at a Multi-Family Office offering wealth management, estate planning, and tax advisory services. This experience led him to develop a passion for helping families solve complex issues with personalized service. Cody began his career as a Senior Tax Associate with RSM’s Ultra-High Net Worth team, where he specialized in estate, gift, and trust taxation.

Cody graduated with his Juris Doctorate from The University of Oklahoma College of Law, focusing on Tax and Corporate law. He is currently working to become a Certified Public Accountant.

Cody’s favorite part of wealth management is the service of others. He currently volunteers through his church and serves on the board for Pull Kids Up, Inc., a non-profit that serves children in the foster care system. He lives in The Woodlands, Texas, with his wife, Kathryn, and their two dogs.

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Jeffrey B. Early

Independent Director

Jeff Early brings strategic guidance and insight to both the Endeavor Team and clients through his decades-long experience in wealth management and helping financial professionals grow successful advisory businesses prior to Endeavor. 

Jeff spent over 40 years at Northern Trust, where he most recently led all wealth management business for the firm’s Texas markets, as well as national and regional specialty groups. Throughout his career there, he held a variety of senior leadership positions, including serving as the head of the Houston market and the broader Texas Region — a role in which he preceded and mentored Endeavor founder, Colter Lewis.

In addition to his professional experience, Jeff has served as a corporate director on the board of Commonwealth, LLP, and The Wintermann Foundation.

Outside of work, Jeff is deeply involved in the Houston community and has held leadership roles in numerous nonprofit and cultural organizations. He has served as president of the Houston Symphony Society and the Salvation Army board and has held board positions with the Houston Ballet, UT Health, the Houston Grand Opera, the Holocaust Museum Houston (executive committee), the Sam Houston Area Council of Boy Scouts of America, and the Alley Theatre, and as Secretary of the Coronado Club.

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Susan Shepard

Client Experience Manager

Susan Shepard was raised in Bradshaw, Texas, and considers herself “a local”. She graduated from Jim Ned High School and then attended Tarleton State University, majoring in business administration. Susan brings more than 20 years of investment industry experience. When asked about her role at Endeavor, her favorite part of the position is the relationships created with clients. “So many have become like family. Watching them grow personally and financially is the greatest reward.”

Susan and her husband, Steven, have a daughter, Stephanie, and son-in-law, Kyle. However, it is her grandson, Sutton, and granddaughter, Sawyer, who keep her busiest with football, baseball, dance, and cheerleading. Susan and Steven are passionate about helping children and can be found serving their community through Shriner’s, Scottish Rite, and their church.

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LeRoy Bell

Vice Chairman

Backed by decades of industry experience, LeRoy Bell works alongside the leadership team to shape and deliver Endeavor’s mission.

LeRoy brings over 50 years of financial services and investments experience. Most recently, he was the founder and president of Compass Financial Strategies, which joined Endeavor Advisors in 2023. He is a former president of the Texas Association of Life Underwriters, trustee of the National Association of Life Underwriters, Assistant Presiding Officer for the Brazos River Authority, and former Chairman of the Board for Disability Resources. He earned his Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU®) designation from The American College of Financial Planning.

An attendee of Texas Tech University, LeRoy was a volunteer pilot for the South-Central Region Angel Flight Program for several years. He’s a recipient of the Silver Beaver and Silver Antelope recognition by the Boy Scouts of America and a 65-year member of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity.

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Deborah Bell

Client Advisor

Deborah Bell works closely with Endeavor’s clients, helping with day-to-day administration and communication.

Before joining Endeavor, Deborah was the vice president of the Texas State Board of Nursing and the former vice president of the Abilene Chamber of Commerce. Deborah spent 12 years as vice president for the Brazos River Authority and was appointed by Governor Clements to serve on the Texas Commission for Women. She also served on the Board of Directors of Abilene Regional Medical Center.

Deborah graduated from the University of Arkansas and earned her Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC®) and Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU®) designations from The American College of Financial Planning.

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