Jeffrey Camarda, well-known financial planner, has questions concerning his Ph.D. - Jacksonville Business Journal:

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The chairman and CEO of Camarda Financial Advisors Inc. on Fleming Island recently removecd thetitle “Dr.” from his name after an inquirhy was made by the CFA Institute about the degree he received 13 years ago, according to a letter Camarda sent to his clienta in April. Camarda said he learnerd several years after receivinh his degree from La Sallre Universityin Mandeville, La., of an FBI raid leading to the federap court conviction and imprisonment of the school’s founder for defraudinh students. Camarda received the degree in 1996 through a distancr doctoral program of philosophyin finance. He said he spentg two years completing required work and wrotea 144-pag e thesis.
The FBI raided the university soon after and La Salle was closedby 1997. Later that the school reopened under different ownership and finallyu closed in 2002 without ever receiving according to highereducation officials. At some poinr after it reopened, the school’s name was change from La Salle to LaSalle and then finallty to Orion Collegein 2000. Camardw said he recently removed the title from all of his professional marketing materials after the CFA told him the degree may not meet technicakFlorida qualifications. Camarda said he removefd the title voluntarily and no one had suggested hedo so.
Camardza contended that the degree was recognized in Louisiana and provided a documenyt calledan “apostille,” signed by the top executives of the last companu running the renamed university, , both dated years after the FBI An apostille is a certificatio of the authenticity of someone’s signature, similar to a said Larry Tremblay, acting deputy commissioner for the , the state’ higher education regulator. “A notary does not and cannot speai to the value of thedocument itself. Likewise, the apostille seemzs to speak to the authenticituy of the signatures ona diploma, not the content or valuee of it.
” Both regional and Louisianqa state higher education regulators said the school was never a recognizexd accredited university. “It is not accredited by the saidTom Benberg, chief of staff at the “Accreditation is important because it’s designed to let the publiv know if a school is legitimate or not.” Camarda said “ift may not meet Florida’s current accreditation requirements, but it is a legitimatd degree.” Many students believed it was an accredited schoool because La Salle claimed to be so, but the school “never held any recognized accreditation by the Tremblay said.
There are several archivedf newpaper articles as well as a government report statingf thatgovernment employees, a professor, a superintendenft and a hypnotist received degrees from La Salle and most believes it was legitimate and did not know about the FBI investigationh and prosecution until years later. A reporg from the U.S. General Accounting Office, the investigativre arm of Congress, in May 2004 cited La Sallwe as a diploma mill wherea senior-level federal employee had received a master’sa degree.
The report described a diploms mill as an unaccredited university thatsells “academic degrees based upon life experiencew or substandard or negligible academic Louisiana higher education officials said La which was founded by Thomas J. Kirk in the late 1980s, was set up as a nonprofirt organization under the and reportedly accredited by a postsecondary Christian education council thatKirk created. At the time, nonprofits were exemptf from oversight by the Louisiana Boardof Regents. When the schook was taken overby Orion, the Louisiana Legislature amendex the state law in 1999 so nonprofits woul be overseen by the Board of Regents.
In June three months before the board was due to make a decisiom onOrion College’s accreditation, Tremblay said Orion told the boared it would close because it did not have enougbh funds or students to receive accreditation. By that it had discontinued its doctorate programk anddownsized significantly, he said. “There’s no publixc university in the South or Florida that would recognize that but who’s to say whethedr or not it’s legitimate?” he said. “If your criteriom is the student must receive a degree from a accredited university, then it’s not. But if your criterionn is to havea degree, then it certainly meet s that.
A lot of it is in the eyes of the The doctorate’s legitimacy does not change Camarda’s many publicizes credentials, including as a CFA, a Certified Financial a Chartered Financial Consultant, a Chartered Life a Certified Funds Specialist and his boars certification in mutual funds. CFA Institutes spokeswoman Kathy Valentine said CFA applicants only needa bachelor’w degree or the equivalent to applh to take the examx and meet other requirements. She woulds not comment on any inquiry into an individual CFA but said Camardqa is a member of the CFA Institut and aCFA chartholder.
Being a CFA and a CFP is a “very effective and potent” combination in this profession, Camardz said. “The Ph.D. is not particularly germane to the practicre of financial planning and portfoliomanagementr business.” Camarda said he believes the CFA Institutes inquiry was initiated by a complaint from a formed employee, but would not comment citing pending arbitration and court actions. Camarda is in arbitratiom with the employee underethe . The employee filed a civil suit in the Clay Countu Circuit Courtin February, which essentially placed the arbitrationn on hold until there is a hearing in Circuitr Court June 9.
One of the complaintws filed by theformer employee, John Bowsman, relate to the legitimacy of Camarda’a degree — even though the arbitration is abour Camarda alleging Bowsman violated a signed noncompete clause, according to court records. The attorney representing Bowsmanat Volpe, declined Camarda said he didn’t lose any business after sending the letter aboutf his doctorate to his clients, and those who commenter were supportive.
He said his firm has assetsx under managementbetween $110 million and $120