Financial Aid Team

Founder and Team Leader



Dr. George Gately is the founder and team leader of Succeed Where It Counts, LLC.  George holds an earned doctorate from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, in addition to an M-Div, and a Bachelor of Arts (English).  In 1975, following a life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ, George entered pastoral ministry. 

The year 2001 surprised him as the Lord led into the world of small business.  By 2010 George modulated a traditional financial services business into the highly specialized discipline of college admissions and financial aid coaching.  George loves his work.  As he often says, "Every day I wake up and I'm a pastor.  It's just that now I intersect people's lives at a different point."  Specifically that is the time in life when children in high school are trying to figure out where to go to college, and parents are trying to figure out how to pay for it.		  

Freshman Year Coach



Hannah Stoffel is Freshman Year Coach for Succeed Where It Counts, LLC. 

You've no doubt heard about "the freshman 15" -- meaning the typical weight gain freshman experience. That is not simply an issue of how your clothes fit.

College is wonderful, and challenging. Students live and work -- 24/7 -- 8 months of the year --in a place that is not home. That affects everything from self-image to physical health to GPA.

Hannah works with our students the summer following high school graduation, teaching them about self-care, eating well and staying physically fresh.  She continues to interact with our students during that first college year to help them meet and master the challenges of dormitory life.

She cares for her students as an educator, with a mother's heart, and as one not-long separated from the college scene, herself.  Empire State University awarded her a Bachelor of Education degree. She also attended UNC-Greensboro and UNC-Charlotte prior to her marriage.

As a military wife Hannah balanced the demanding tasks of mother of an infant daughter, and wife to a sergeant in the U.S. Army (now a retired veteran).  Hannah took to military life, and was sad to see it come to an end.  She joined the family business while her husband was fulfilling one of his overseas assignments.  Hannah enjoys cooking healthy, personal fitness (she's a Tracy Anderson devotee), being mom to her two, magnificent daughters, married life with Shawn and anything that gives her opportunity to spend time with family and friends (local and distant).		  

Financial Efficiency Coach



Isaac Gately is Financial Efficiency Coach for Succeed Where It Counts, LLC.  He works with parents to improve their financial efficiency as they prepare for the extraordinary costs associated with having children in college.

Most families are suffering financial losses via unnecessary wealth transfers.  Many are not aware of the five major areas of wealth transfer, and even those who are aware may not know how to correct the problem.  Isaac identifies those areas of wealth transfer, presents options, and then helps initiate the family's plan. 

As a father of a special needs child Isaac is particularly sensitive to the multiple challenges facing families.  One of his children suffered a major brain injury as the result of meningitis contracted at age 2 months.  Adding to the difficulty for Ava, she was a "premie" triplet.  Her brother and sister were unaffected and are delightfully brilliant.  The triplets have a wonderful, older brother, making for a household of six, including mom. 

Isaac worked for several years in "corporate America" before joining the family business.  His experience in sales and management inform his understanding that a college education is a large consumer purchase that impacts a family's future financial plans in many unforeseen ways.		    

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