Lisa Anne Cerbone Montalto is a Senior Vice President and Wealth Management Advisor with Merrill Lynch Wealth Management in Ridgefield, Connecticut.  With a passion for igniting positive change in the lives of everyone she meets, Lisa has been creating financial planning strategies designed to address every aspect of her clients' lives for more than two decades.  In a world of data and numbers, she strives to be a friendly face and provide the clarity and confidence that clients seek to pursue their financial goals.

Lisa seeks to understand and care for the unique needs and challenges facing medical providers and families today. Leading her team's healthcare professional and workplace solutions initiative. she combines her industry knowledge with financial services acumen to serve the wealth management needs of dedicated physicians, nurses, executives, healthcare institutions and their staffs. Her goals is to help hardworking medical professionals turn a lifetime of work into a sustainable lifestyle and an ongoing legacy so they can have more time to do what they do best:  take care of their patients. 

Prior to joining Merrill^® in 1999, she spent twenty years in the healthcare field, from Graduate Medical Education and patient care program design to executive positions supporting physicians and their practices.  She earned her Bachelor's degree with Honors in Government from Wesleyan University and her Master’s degree in Health Services Administration from the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Ann Arbor.  Seeking to support her non-profit institutional clients, she has completed the Yale School of Management Women on Boards Certificate Program. 

Committed to ongoing education and staying at the forefront of the industry by pursuing multiple professional designations, Lisa is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER^™ (CFP^®) Certificant, a designation awarded by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. She also holds the Certified Investment Management Analyst^® (CIMA^®), Certified Private Wealth Advisor^® (CPWA^®), Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor^® (CRPC^®), and Certified Plan Fiduciary Advisor^™ (CPFA^™) designations.

Community, family, and friendship are central to who Lisa is and how she lives her daily life. A dedicated leader and volunteer in her community, Lisa is the proud recipient of the 2022 Bank of America Corporation’s David Brady Community Service Award*. This award is bestowed upon Merrill^® employees who exemplify David Brady’s selfless dedication to putting the needs of his clients, colleagues, and community first. Lisa strongly believes that no matter where she is in her life and what type of schedule she currently has, there is always time to find a way to make a difference in someone else’s life.

Lisa is passionate about helping people find the knowledge and resources they need to live their best lives. She volunteers with the Lions Low Vision Centers of Fairfield and New Haven Counties, Inc. to improve access to vision-assistive devices and rehabilitation so people with low-vision can once again do what they most enjoy. She is a past board member of the Danbury Lions Club and served as its chair for eye screenings for Greater Danbury’s pediatric population. She is a past board member and philanthropy chair for the Danbury Regional Child Advocacy Center.

Lisa believes in the power of mentoring and financial literacy. She serves as Mentor Chair and Past President and Philanthropy Chair of the Merrill Lynch Soundview Women’s Exchange. In this role, she co-developed a Financial Literacy Program for Girl Scouts of Connecticut. Within her community, Lisa also volunteered as co-director of the Saint Therese Youth Choir in Danbury, Connecticut, where she enjoyed teaching the joy of choral singing to children ages 4 through 18.

Mother of three, Lisa lives in Brookfield, Connecticut, with her husband and Merrill partner, Jim Montalto. Her hobbies include sculling on Candlewood Lake, wine making—from crush to pour— watercolor painting, mobile app development and meeting inspiring people each year bicycling to benefit Yale New Haven Health - Smilow Cancer Center’s Closer to Free Ride.

*Bank of America Corporation’s David Brady Community Service Award is named for David Brady, a Merrill financial advisor who died in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. He was highly respected for putting the client first and giving back to his community. The award that bears his name was created in 2007 and seeks to honor individuals within Bank of America Corporation Global Wealth & Investment Management who continue to emulate David’s ethos.