My Story and Services

As your Financial Advisor, I can help you define and strive to meet your goals by delivering a vast array of resources to you in the way that is most appropriate for how you invest and what you want to achieve. Working together, I can help you to preserve and grow your wealth. You will have access to some of the world’s most seasoned and respected investment professionals, a premier trading and execution platform and a full spectrum of investment choices.

In 2025, our team, The Cypress Grove Group, was recognized as a Best-In-State Wealth Management Teams by Forbes.

Source: Forbes (Awarded Jan 2025). Data compiled by SHOOK Research LLC based for the period 3/31/23–3/31/24. https://www.morganstanley.com/what-we-do/wealth-management/forbes-top-wealth-advisors-lists-2025
Securities Agent: NJ, IL, TN, NM, PR, UT, AL, SD, MA, LA, RI, OR, OK, VA, AK, VT, WA, VI, WV, KY, KS, IN, NE, MI, AZ, NH, MN, WI, CT, IA, PA, MT, ME, GA, HI, FL, CA, ID, MO, WY, DC, TX, NY, SC, MS, NV, NC, ND, MD, DE, CO, AR, OH; General Securities Representative; Investment Advisor Representative
NMLS#: 2140230
Check the background of Our Firm and Investment Professionals on FINRA's BrokerCheck.*

Custom Process & Planning

The Cypress Grove Group provides our clients with a distinctive process and an exhaustive planning approach, both tailored to the character and needs of executives and entrepreneurs.

We follow a high-touch process of accountability and frequent reporting that closely mirrors corporate and business operational methods. We supplement the customary four step process—discovery, analysis and recommendation, implementation, and governance—with defined periodic interactions that allow for frequent status and result reviews.

Our planning goes beyond the traditional approach, taking into account the unique needs of our clients. We add executive and business owner planning elements to the traditional package of financial, investment, retirement, wealth and asset protection planning.

Executive Planning

Benefits and Incentive Compensation Analysis

  • Types and provisions
  • Income tax implications

Stock Options

  • Vesting Analysis
  • Optional exercise strategies

Concentrated Position Analysis

  • Risk analysis
  • Diversification strategies

Executive Stock Monetization

  • Sales of restricted shares under Rule 144
  • Rule 10b5-1 trading plans
  • Loans and hedging strategies

Business Owner Planning

Business Needs

  • Ownership
  • Control and liquidity
  • Key opportunities
  • Key challenges

Cash Management and Capital Needs Review

  • Deposit/ Treasury services
  • Lines of credit
  • Growth capital
  • Key challenges

Retirement and Benefits Assessment

  • 401(k), profit sharing an defined benefit plans
  • Non-qualified deterred compensation

Risk Management

  • Continuity planning
  • Buy sell agreements
  • Key employee life
  • Split-dollar life

Succession or Exit Planning

  • Strategic Client Group / Investment Bank (private sale)
  • IPO
  • Valuation maximization
  • Strategic sale
  • Financial recapitalization
  • Employee stock ownership (ESOP)

The Challenge of Concentrated Stock Positions

There are many reasons you've had a successful career. You're among the best at what you do. You're an innovator. But perhaps most important of all, you're an enterprise leader with the dedication and vision to value the organization's interests as much, if not more than, those of your own unit or department. That's why you've been rewarded with sizable equity compensation in the form of stock grants or options.

While you have additional assets in your retirement plan, other investment accounts, insurance, and real estate, this concentrated stock position in your company represents a significant part of your total wealth. This also represents significant challenges, such as tax implications, liquidity limitations, and potential volatility. You need the help of someone who understands the complex regulations as well as the potential political ramifications surrounding equity compensation.

How We Can Help
The Cypress Grove Group at Morgan Stanley specializes in helping executives manage equity compensation issues and craft bespoke, all-inclusive wealth plans. Drawing on our team's experience and expertise, as well as Morgan Stanley's resources, we help corporate insiders navigate insider trading regulations and reporting requirements.

We can suggest tax-efficient approaches to diversification and strategies to address cash flow needs before stock liquidity is available.

  • Exchange Funds: Provide diversification without triggering taxable gains through IRS-approved tax-deferred investment vehicles
  • Opportunity Zone Investments
  • Donor Advised Funds: Gifting appreciated long-term gain stock to offset income tax in a year when there is a liquidity event
  • Portfolio Line of Credit: Borrowing against stock in a portfolio line as needed for immediate cash flow requirements
  • 10b5-1 Plans: Preset diversification plans to sell through open and closed windows, approved by legal counsel and executed by third parties
  • QSBS Exclusion: Gain from the sale or exchange of qualified small business stock (QSBS) may be 100% excluded from income

THE CHALLENGE OF MONETIZING BUSINESS VALUE

You've devoted yourself to building your own business. It was never really about the money; that was just a way to keep score. It was actually about pursuing your passion, being your own boss, challenging the status quo, and creating something lasting. Through your ingenuity, determination and grit, you've achieved success.

Now you're ready for another challenge, you'd like to spend more time with your family, or both. But you have substantial net worth that's difficult to access. You know your success in business doesn't automatically qualify you to steer your family through this very complex transition. You need advice and guidance from a team with the expertise and experience to help you manage what could be the transaction of a lifetime.

How We Can Help
The Cypress Grove Group at Morgan Stanley specializes in working with entrepreneurs just like you. We help you leverage personal wealth for business growth or liquidity as well as examine potential exit strategies in light of family as well as financial needs.

Drawing on our in-house expertise and the resources of Morgan Stanley we can help you through every stage in the life of a successful entrepreneur:

  • Strategic Client Group / Investment Bank (private sale)
  • IPO
  • Generation: gain access to liquidity for business and personal use through approaches best suited to your needs and circumstances
  • Monetization: model alternative strategies to monetize the value of your enterprise and consider how the proceeds hold be structured and invested
  • Retirement: calculate cash flow needs, determine post career priorities and implement succession plans for continued family ownership
  • Transfer: prepare younger generations with the education and support needed to assume control of family business and philanthropic legacies

THE CHALLENGE OF INTERGENERATIONAL WEALTH

You've been so dedicated to your company's needs that you probably never focused on the wealth you've built. Now that you've integrated the value of your concentrated stock into your plan or monetized the value of your business, you've found that your hard work has potentially provided generational wealth for your family. This realization raises family, lifestyle, and values questions as well as financial issues.

How much of your wealth do you want your heirs to inherit and are they prepared intellectually and emotionally to manage it? How can you make sure the money you donate is used effectively and how can you get your family interested in philanthropy? How can you develop a trust, tax and estate strategy and overall wealth plan that will provide for your current and future needs as well those of your heirs and causes?

How We Can Help
The Cypress Grove Group at Morgan Stanley can help you answer these questions and address these challenges. We bring the same level of attentiveness and service to all the issues you're facing, not just those involving your compensation, business, and finances.

Thanks to the resources available from Morgan Stanley we can provide you with comprehensive family office style services.

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    Tax, Trust and Estate Planning

    We will coordinate with your other advisors to explore the elements of your existing TTE plan and see how it works with your wealth plan and if changes need to be made.

    Tax, Trust and Estate Planning
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    Philanthropic Advisory

    We will help you and your family create a mission statement and a charitable giving plan that matches your values as well as your needs.

    Philanthropic Advisory
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    Family Governance and Education

    We will work with your family to ensure that they have the knowledge and understanding to play whatever role in the family's wealth future that you and they wish.

    Family Governance and Education
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    Lifestyle Services

    We can offer you access to specialists who can help you with travel and concierge services, health and security advisory, tangible asset management, personal enrichment and financial administration.

    Lifestyle Services
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    Art Resources Team

    Morgan Stanley's Art Resources Team can help you craft bespoke solutions regarding the art and collectibles which may make up a portion of your assets.

    Art Resources Team

Client Service Team

    Carousel Associate Image
    Stephanie Donato - Assistant Vice President, Director of Business Strategy
    Phone:
    (972) 943-7276(972) 943-7276
    Email:stephanie.donato@morganstanley.com
    Stephanie earned a Bachelor’s of Business Administration with an emphasis in Finance from The University of Texas in Austin. She began her career in the Financial Services Industry with Lehman Brothers in 1997 where she worked in the Trading Services Division. In 1999, Stephanie joined Morgan Stanley focusing on operations, security analysis, and asset management. Presently, as a Director of Business Strategy, she supports her team by helping implement long-term investment solutions to our valued clients as well as providing superior customer service.

    Stephanie and her husband Jack, have been married for over 25 years and reside in Allen, Texas with their 3 sons. In her spare time, Stephanie enjoys being outdoors with her family, watching her boys on the soccer field and volunteering within her community.

Location

7500 Dallas Parkway
Suite 500
Plano, TX 75024
US
Direct:
(972) 943-7263(972) 943-7263
Wealth Management
Global Investment Office

Portfolio Insights

Retirement

Working with you to understand your life goals and develop a personalized wealth strategy. Today and for the years to come.
  • 401(k) Rollovers
  • IRA Plans
  • Retirement income strategies
  • Retirement plan participants
  • Annuities
4 Financially Smart Ways to Take Money Out of Retirement Accounts
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4 Financially Smart Ways to Take Money Out of Retirement Accounts

Discover how planning for required minimum distributions from retirement accounts can help you fund future needs and support loved ones.

Investing

Working closely with you to guide your wealth and investments through the most challenging market cycles.
  • Asset Management
  • Wealth Planning
  • Traditional Investments
  • Alternative Investments
  • Impact Investing
2025 Global Economic Outlook: U.S. Policies May Temper Global Growth
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2025 Global Economic Outlook: U.S. Policies May Temper Global Growth

Global growth is likely to be around 3% in 2025 and 2026, as tariff and immigration policies begin to slow the U.S. economy late next year, and China's underperformance restrains emerging markets.

Family

Creating customized financial strategies for the challenges that today’s families face.
  • Estate Planning Strategies
  • 529 Plans / Education Savings Planning
  • Long Term Care Insurance
  • Special Needs Planning
  • Trust Services
Taking Control of Your Finances After Death of a Spouse
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Taking Control of Your Finances After Death of a Spouse

Financial planning after a divorce or death can be trying, but with the right approach and the right advice you can turn a difficult situation into empowerment.

Business Planning

Helping you on key aspects of your business such as ownership, liquidity and developing opportunities.
  • Succession Planning
  • Business Planning
  • Qualified Retirement Plans
Financial Planning for Life After Selling a Business
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Financial Planning for Life After Selling a Business

Selling your business can mean big changes for your life, both personally and financially. Know how to make the most of your windfall.

Philanthropy

Making sure your philanthropic dollars are managed with the same high quality service as the rest of your wealth.
  • Endowments
  • Foundations
  • Donor Advised Funds
  • Impact Investing
Donor Advised Funds: A Smart Way to Manage Your Giving 
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Donor Advised Funds: A Smart Way to Manage Your Giving 

There’s more to charitable giving than you may realize. Here’s one method that may be a tax-efficient way to give and can help maximize your impact.

Financial Wellness

Enhancing Financial Wellness enables your workforce to do their best work. Companies that invest in financial wellness have an opportunity to:
  • Reduce employee stress,
  • Improve retention and engagement, and
  • Set themselves apart by offering comprehensive financial wellness benefits.
The Business Case for a Financially Resilient Workforce
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The Business Case for a Financially Resilient Workforce

In the face of turbulent markets, the word “resilience” may be top of mind. Broadly speaking, resilience is the ability to “bounce back” when encountering life’s inevitable challenges.
Ready to start a conversation? Contact Matt Ventura today.
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Check the background of our Firm and Investment Professionals on FINRA's BrokerCheck*.

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Awards Disclosures
CRC 6491812 (04/2024)