J. M. (Mack) Johnston, Jr. CFA is the founder of Nikitis Advisors, Inc. and serves as the Chairman of the Investment Committee.  Mr. Johnston is responsible for the day-to-day management of the firm as well as research and portfolio management duties.

Mack has held a variety of positions in the investment management arena over his 22 plus years in the business.  Before establishing Nikitis Advisors, he was the Managing Director (Administration) for First Investment Advisors, First Union's (now Wachovia’s) private client investment group.  He also served as FIA’s State Chief Investment Officer for Georgia and Tennessee.

Mack also managed several mutual funds for Bank South (Atlanta) and personal and institutional investment accounts before that while at Citizens and Southern Investment Advisors (Atlanta).  He began his career at Dean Witter before moving to Atlanta in 1982 to join Charles Schwab & Company.

He received the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter in 1987, a Master's of Business Administration from Georgia State University in 1986, and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Alabama in 1981.

In addition to his expertise in financial planning, Bryan has extensive experience in planned giving consulting, charitable gift annuities, and non-cash asset receipt and disposition.  Over the last decade, Bryan has served as the director of planned giving for the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta, director of planned giving at the national office of Boys & Girls Clubs of America and as vice president of advancement at The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta. 

For the past four years, he has served as a part-time graduate personal financial planning instructor in the Department of Risk Management and Insurance in Georgia State University’s J. Mack Robinson School of Business.  He has given more than 400 presentations on financial planning and planned giving topics and has been published in an international insurance textbook.  In addition to writing more than a dozen articles for financial services and planned-giving journals, he authored a planned giving manual entitled Just Add Water, which has sold more than 2,000 copies. 

Bryan also serves on the editorial board of the Planned Giving Design Center and on the Advisory Board of the American College’s Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy (CAP) designation program.