Eleanor Blayney is President of Directions LLC, with the mission of empowering, educating, and engaging women in personal finance.
Eleanor is licensed as a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERTM and an IRS Enrolled Agent. She is the author of two books published in 2010. “Women’s Worth: Finding Your Financial Confidence” speaks to women in and on their own terms about the major financial issues they face in their lives. “The Home Budget Workbook” is a straightforward guide for creating and maintaining a practical budget.
Eleanor also serves as the Consumer Advocate for the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, educating consumers and the media about the value of the financial planning process and the importance of working with a qualified competent professional.
As a founder and managing director of Sullivan, Bruyette, Speros & Blayney, Inc. from the firm’s inception in 1990 through 2007, Eleanor specialized in the areas of portfolio management, retirement planning, and estate planning, helping clients to develop strategies appropriate to their goals and market conditions. She also was responsible for firm communications and marketing.
Eleanor is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College and Cambridge University, UK, where she majored in English and French literature. She also holds an MBA from the University of Chicago where she specialized in finance and international business.
A member of the Financial Planning Association, Eleanor has served as a member of its Ethics Committee. She also served on the Ethics and Standards committee for the Financial Planning Standards Board, the organization that licenses and supervises international CFP® certificants. She has been an adjunct faculty member for the College for Financial Planning and a member of the Alpha Group, a national network of independent wealth advisors. Eleanor has also served on advisory boards for the TIAA-CREF Institute and the CFP® Board of Practice Standards. In 2002, the National Capital Chapter of the Financial Planning Association named her “Planner of the Year” and in 2010, Financial Planning Magazine named her as one of the year’s “Movers and Shakers” in the planning profession.
Ms. Blayney is a board member for the National Woman’s Party, which manages the Sewall-Belmont House and Museum in Washington, DC. She is also a Trustee for the National Hospice Foundation, where she heads the Governance and Investment committees. She is also a patient care volunteer for the Capital Hospice in Falls Church, Virginia. Eleanor has been a board member for the Wolf Trap Associates, and a member of the Planned Giving Committee for the INOVA Hospital System.