Our Team

Shane is a co-founder and the General Manager of EAFA. He specializes in financial advice and investment management, with a focus on cross-border issues.

Shane is based in Sevilla, Spain and is especially knowledgeable in managing and advising on investment portfolios for US citizens living abroad. Building on over 10 years of experience in international financial markets, he designs balanced and diversified global portfolios for long-term returns, considering risk, regulatory, and tax implications.

Prior to his time with EAFA, Shane founded and managed his own boutique investment advisory firm. Shane also worked for several years as a portfolio manager at a Trust Bank in Michigan. As an American expat himself, he worked in Europe as an independent consultant to start-ups, and SMEs in London and Brussels. Shane has also taught a variety of graduate financial markets and economics courses at the Strathclyde Business School, Scotland.

Shane holds an MSc in Financial Economics and an MPhil in Economics from the University of Strathclyde, in addition to a B.A. in Business and Finance from Aquinas College, Michigan. Shane is a certified Agile Project Manager and holds the US Series 65 Investment Advisor license and an EFPA European Financial Planner, the highest level of EU certification (EQF6)..

Tom Zachystal is co-founder, and Director of EAFA. He is also the owner and Chief Investment Manager for International Asset Management, a US Registered Investment Advisor specializing in discretionary investment management services for Americans living abroad. Tom also spent ten years as an engineer for oil services firm Schlumberger, during which time he worked in a dozen countries on four continents.

Tom has an MBA in Global Management from Thunderbird University in Glendale, Arizona, a BSc in Civil Engineering from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) credential as well as the British Investment Management Certificate (IMC), and is a Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP™) practitioner. He is a past President of the San Francisco Financial Planning Association and has been managing investment portfolios on a discretionary basis since 2002.

Laurie Thomas provides cross-border financial planning support for clients of EAFA. Laurie has been Customer Experience Director at International Asset Management since 2016 and has over 20 years experience in the brokerage industry. She passed her series 7 and 63 brokerage licenses in 1996 and worked as a broker and program manager at Charles Schwab in San Francisco prior to joining IAM in 2016. She also obtained the General Securities Sales Supervisor series 9 and 10 licenses in 2000. She holds a Bachelors degree from Guilford College in North Carolina as well as a Masters from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Laurie has spent many years within the financial services industry putting her passion to work on creating programs and initiatives to help clients become more financially fit. Her focus at EAFA is on providing clients with financial plans that will help them better navigate their future and helping to ensure that we provide the highest level of service possible to our clients.

On a personal note, Laurie enjoys spending time outdoors, traveling, and volunteering in a reading program for young children, as well as spending time with her family.

Hugo joined EAFA in 2023 to oversee IAM communications. He has worked in marketing and communications in financial services for international Americans for over 10 years. He is based in the UK, having previously lived in Spain and Latin America.

Outside of work, Hugo enjoys spending time with his family, is a trustee of an educational charitable trust, and plays drums in a jazz band.