Norvian Advisory
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Norvian Advisory / Leadership

Leadership.

The standard Norvian holds is set by the people who built it, each drawn from a career where judgment carried consequence and accountability was not optional.

Team

The people who set the standard.

Norvian's team spans institutional capital markets, technology, clinical medicine, dispute resolution, and corporate law.

Operating team

Chris Lautenslager, CEO and Founder of Norvian Advisory
CEO / Founder

Chris Lautenslager

Institutional capital markets · Behavioral risk governance

Chris Lautenslager founded Norvian to bring institutional standards of rigor, accountability, and discretion to families and fiduciaries confronting addiction and mental illness. He brings more than a decade and a half of experience in institutional capital markets, with senior roles at Credit Suisse and InterContinental Exchange and extensive work in derivatives valuation and risk-management technology. Earlier he co-founded a proprietary commodity trading firm and later served on the board of directors of a publicly listed company. His most recent work was within the behavioral-health field, which gave him a direct view of how often that industry is improvised rather than governed. That is the gap Norvian was founded to address. His commitment to this work is also personal, grounded in his own connection to recovery. He earned his M.M. in Finance and Economics from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management and a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Colorado.

Dr. Abhin Singla, MD, Medical Director of Norvian Advisory
Medical Director

Dr. Abhin Singla, MD

Clinical authority · Independent assessment

Abhin Singla, MD, is Norvian's Medical Director, overseeing all medical-related decisions. A practicing internist and addiction medicine physician with nearly three decades of clinical experience, he has served since 1997 as Medical Director and Owner of Clinical Associates in Medicine, LLC in Joliet, Illinois, and is affiliated with Saint Joseph Medical Center and Silver Cross Hospital. He is also a practicing medical informatician, with a decade of informatics work at the University of Illinois Chicago and hands-on experience designing medical software and health information networks, a rare combination of clinical authority and health-technology fluency. Dr. Singla earned his MD from the University of Illinois College of Medicine and a BS in Biomedical Engineering from UIC.

Candace Backer, Program Consultant to Norvian Advisory
Program Consultant

Candace Backer, LCSW, LCAC

Physician health programs · Clinical operations

Candace Backer spent three decades building and running one of the country's established physician health programs. In 1990 she became the first full-time coordinator of the Indiana State Medical Association's Physician Assistance Program. She wrote its policies and procedures from the ground up, later extended its scope to behavioral and mental health concerns, and led it until 2021. Before ISMA she was clinical director of an inpatient substance-abuse hospital. Nationally, she represented the Central Region on the board of the Federation of State Physician Health Programs and served on its Ethics Committee. She helped develop the Federation's Evaluation and Treatment Accreditation standard, where she remains a subject-matter expert. Mental Health America of Indiana honored her in 2018. Candace designs Norvian's clinical operations protocols.

Advisors to the Board

Paul Rusnock, Advisor to the Board of Norvian Advisory
Advisor to the Board

Paul Rusnock

Engineering · Technology Risk

Paul Rusnock is an engineering and risk executive who architects, directs and verifies production software built by AI coding agents. He spent twenty-five years in derivatives trading, research and risk management. He was a member of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and an options market maker on its floor from 1986 to 1991, then Director of Research for Managed Futures Investments, a fund-of-funds group at Kidder, Peabody & Co. In 1991 he co-founded Webster Management Group, a global-macro derivatives firm, and was its Chief Investment Officer and that of its successor, Newport Capital Management, from 1995 to 2012. Today he specifies what a system must do, proves that it does it, and documents the controls so a reviewer can trust the result. Paul built Norvian's prototype software and website, and he advises the board on platform, technology risk and AI-assisted engineering. He holds an M.M. in Finance and International Economics from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Northwestern.

Robert Jones, Advisor to the Board of Norvian Advisory
Advisor to the Board

Robert Jones

Trust and private wealth · Fiduciary distribution

Robert Jones has spent 39 years in trust and private wealth, much of it running the kind of fiduciary business Norvian serves. From 2008 to 2015 he was President and CEO of Central Trust Company in St. Louis, Central Bancompany's trust and investment subsidiary. He oversaw investments, trust administration, financial planning, operations and compliance. Earlier he led US Bank's Central region wealth functions and ultra-high-net-worth client teams at Harris Bank, and spent eleven years at Northern Trust, rising to Vice President and Division Head in private banking. He later served as President, Wealth Management at Enterprise Bank & Trust. Since 2018 he has advised institutional clients as a wealth management expert with GLG. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. Robert advises Norvian's board on the fiduciary channel and trust-company buyers.

Jonathan Hoffman, Advisor to the Board of Norvian Advisory
Advisor to the Board

Jonathan Hoffman

Brand strategy · Wealth management

Jonathan Hoffman is Chief Brand Officer at BBR Partners, the New York wealth management firm. Since 2019 he has led its marketing and brand and supported its Portfolio and Wealth Advisory team. He came to wealth management after a long career at the top of advertising. He was Vice Chairman of Leo Burnett USA, Chief Creative Officer of Leo Burnett Warsaw, and President and Chief Creative Officer of McCann Minneapolis. He also founded Zero Dot, a brand advisory unit within Publicis. His work for Crayola and Nintendo is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. He holds a BA in film from Vassar College. Jonathan advises Norvian's board on brand and on how families and their advisors hear Norvian's message.

Counsel and accounting

Faustin "Frosty" Pipal Jr., Counsel to Norvian Advisory
Counsel

Faustin "Frosty" Pipal Jr.

Dispute resolution · Fiduciary conflict dynamics

Faustin "Frosty" Pipal Jr. has practiced as a litigator, arbitrator, and mediator since 1980. He is a founding partner of Chicago-based Pipal & Berg, LLP, and clients have used him to resolve more than 3,500 lawsuits and pre-suit claims in mediation. He is a member of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals and serves on the FINRA mediation panel for securities and employment disputes. He is a past president of the Chicago chapter of the Association for Conflict Resolution and an approved mediator in the EEOC's external mediation program and the Cook County Law Division's mediation program. He is a graduate of Northwestern University School of Law. Frosty advises Norvian on dispute resolution and fiduciary conflict dynamics through Inside Track Legal.

Bill Pipal, Counsel to Norvian Advisory
Counsel

Bill Pipal

Corporate · Commercial · Data privacy

Bill Pipal founded Inside Track Legal after nearly a decade as in-house counsel at high-growth technology companies. His 12-year career spans an AmLaw 100 firm (Troutman Pepper) and in-house roles at Home Chef and SpotHero, and he holds the CIPP/US privacy certification. His practice covers corporate matters, commercial contracts, employment, and data privacy, delivered as fractional general counsel to growing companies. Bill serves as Norvian's outside counsel.

Greta Hanson, CPA, accountant to Norvian Advisory
Accounting

Greta Hanson, CPA

Accounting · Financial controls

Greta Hanson is Vice President, Accounting Solutions at Selden Fox, the Chicago-area CPA and advisory firm serving private businesses, family offices and high-net-worth clients. Her work covers month-end and year-end close, general ledger maintenance and related accounting support. She began her career with six years at a Big Four firm. She then served as a manager in the controller's department of a global manufacturing company and as financial controller for a law firm before moving into consulting for private companies. She is a Certified Public Accountant and graduated with high honors from Indiana University with a degree in business administration, concentrating in accountancy. Greta and Selden Fox provide Norvian's accounting.

The Standard Norvian Holds

Institutional discipline applied to deeply human circumstances.

The firm is built on the premise that recovery is achievable, that families can stabilize, and that better outcomes depend on accountable systems, honest counsel, and dependable execution rather than improvisation. That standard, drawn from a career spent where accountability is not optional, is the foundation on which Norvian is being built.

Chris Lautenslager · CEO / Founder, Norvian Advisory
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