About Dean Lovett

Though I believe I should provide my business background, and, hopefully, increase your comfort level with my analyses, I’ll also share a glimpse of my personal background as well.

Business Background

I obtained my Masters in Business Administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and worked as a CPA in my early days. I have authored and published financial newsletters, a hardcover book (“Still Hope for the American Family”), and speak frequently in public.

After my early years as a CPA for a large accounting firm, I began my entrepreneurial life in 1984. Since then, I have created funded, organized, staffed, owned and operated ten business enterprises. During the mid-1980s I was Vice President of a firm which provided communications consulting services to the cellular industry.  In 1989 I started Cellular One of Berrien County (“Cellular One”) and was its majority owner, President and CEO for seven years until its 1996 sale to a publicly traded company.

During the late 1990s, through my company DCL Associates, I provided communications consulting and investment advisory services in the specialized mobile radio (“SMR”) industry, a dispatch radio technology which, through the aggregation of spectrum, was evolving into a cellular competitor. DCL Associates acquired several thousand SMR licenses, formed a holding company to operate a competing service to cellular in over 100 cities, then, prior to network construction, sold its licenses to Nextel Communications.

While performing consulting work in the late 1990s, I also became heavily involved in charity works, co-founded Place of Hope (“POH”), the largest community-style foster care facility in Florida, and was extremely “hands-on” for several years as its President and Board Chairman. Today, I am thankful to say that POH provides community-style foster-care to more than fifty children and a host of child welfare services in the South Florida community today (www.placeofhope.com).

More recently, I invested in a developmental company offering fixed broadband wireless (“FBW”) Internet services with the potential of competing against the local Telco. After nearly three years of unfruitful but feverish work to resolve service technology problems, I closed its doors in 2005.

Upon moving to Charlotte, NC in 2006, I created The Lovett Companies, LLC and began my first land development venture. We completed our first residential development at the end of 2008 – the height of the worst real estate market in fifty years! While the development has been largely illiquid (though a great “land bank”), I began researching how to help retirees, do something that really makes a difference, and that led me to annuities, The Annuity Foundation, LLC and AnnuitySpeak. Though entrepreneurship resembles more of roller coaster than a merry-go-round ride – the pros outweigh the cons and I’d do it all over again.

On a Personal Note

As hard as it is to write, I just turned fifty (50), the big 5-0. No, wait that was last December. Jeesh – by the time you read this I’ll probably be fifty-one (51). For everyone in the over-fifty bracket, you know exactly what Jack Nicholson meant when he said to Morgan Roberts (in the “Bucket List”), that time vanishes, “Like smoke through a key hole.” All I can add is that I remember high school like yesterday and still have dreams of being late to high school football practice. Go figure.

I’m what people commonly refer to as “a breeder.” My bride of twenty years, Pamela (yes, the one and only one) and I are the proud parents of six children ranging from four to eighteen years old. If that sounds busy, note that Pamela decided to breed King Charles Cavaliers (www.lovettcavaliers.com) last year, so we have six adult dogs and too many puppies to count. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s never boring and I wouldn’t change a thing.

Authoring My Story

In 2006, I decided to chronicle my life, family and faith in a hardcover book entitled “Still Hope for the American Family.” If interested in ordering it, simply click on its icon and follow the instructions.

“A heart-wrenching and biographical story which illustrates that strong families form the foundation of meaningful individual lives.”

Family Connections

I also have three brothers, also entrepreneurs, in very different fields. The oldest, Mark, is an extremely gifted musician/artist/photographer (www.marklovettstudio.com). Two younger brothers (Gil and Ken) run a successful ATM distributorship (www.atmsystems.com). My dad is a retired attorney/entrepreneur and the most interesting and colorful person I have ever known. My mother (Phyllis) and stepmother (Lynda-Faye) are creative and talented people in their own rights. I have a slew of nieces and nephews and I am proud of them all. So, there you have it. I come from a large and, frequently, raucous family. If you joined our extended clan for Thanksgiving, you’d need to be a major extrovert, or find a quiet closet in which to hide.