Jeff Scales
Chair
Jeffrey Scales served for thirty-five years as a financial advisor, and in 2005 founded JSA Sustainable Wealth Management. The firm earned B Corp certification, a designation for businesses who are rigorously committed to providing tangible benefits to the community and the environment. JSA’s recipe for sustainable and responsible investments included addressing environmental, social, and good corporate governance factors that have enormous influence on our future lives and the planet, while promoting sound portfolio risk management. Jeff is now Chief Impact Officer for Longwave Financial.
Jeff’s professional education includes undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of New Mexico. He earned the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certification and holds the Accredited Investment Fiduciary® designation. As a member of US SIF, the Forum to Sustainable and Responsible Investments, and to the American Sustainable Business Network, he actively participates in lobbying efforts to support Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) policies.
He serves as the Chairman of Rhinebeck Rotary Club’s International Committee supporting world service projects. This includes traveling each year with high school students to Central America, constructing classrooms in rural Nicaragua, and more recently to EARTH University in Costa Rica to expose teenagers to sustainable and regenerative agricultural techniques, and immersion in zero waste recycling programs. He is a member of his community’s Climate Smart Taskforce and supporter of Hudson River Watershed Alliance and Sustainable Hudson Valley.
Jeff works with the Advisory Board of Bard College Center for Environmental Policy and Sustainable MBA programs. He was one of the original co-presidents of the Mid-Hudson Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association over thirty years ago.
Commonwealth Financial Network formally recognized Jeffrey’s worldwide service work and efforts to educate other financial advisors about sustainable investing (along with nudging advisors to implement more responsible allocations for their own clients!) through their prestigious Special Service Award in November 2018 and help found the ESG IMPACT Group of over 65 financial advisors to network and mutual support ESG investment and advocacy work.
Jeff has lived in the Hudson River Valley since 1987, where he may be seen kayaking at dawn or sunset on the Hudson, often removing trash and non-native invasive plants from the river and admiring bald eagles overhead or great blue herons on the shore.
