Knowledge and Experience
We are involved and invested in our clients’ lives beyond their finances. While most financial firms may treat you like a number, at Sterling Wealth we take the time to get to know you and your family. We look forward to putting our intimate knowledge of your situation, goals, and challenges to work on your behalf.
R. Bertram Williams III, CFP®
Principal
Bert has been a financial advisor in Wilmington, helping clients with planning and wealth management for 45 years. He is passionate about putting his clients’ interests first, and assisting them in nearly all matters, including the accumulation and distribution of their savings. Bert gets great pleasure from helping create a method to fund their most important life goals—whether it be educating their children or grandchildren, living successfully in retirement, to creating a legacy for their loved ones.
Bert’s path to financial management began after he graduated from New Hanover High School. After high school, he made his way to UNC-Chapel Hill earning a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He later returned to Wilmington and started working for a regional bank. After seven years with the bank, Bert decided he wanted to do more in his career and be more successful for others and himself. In 1979, Bert discovered his passion and began working for clients as their financial advisor.
In 2012, after a loyal 33 years and six firm name changes, Bert decided to leave the company he was with and become part owner in Sterling Wealth Management. This has proved to be the best career move possible, allowing Bert the time and resources to take care of his clients' needs as he sees fit.
To deepen his expertise, Bert spent more than a year studying for and achieving qualifications for the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® certification. In 2015, he completed and formally held the National Social Security Advisor (NSSA®) Certificate Program in order to better advise clients on Social Security matters critical to retirement security.
Bert and his wife, Melanie, have been married for nearly 50 years, and they have three wonderful children and five active grandchildren. Bert has many interests outside of work. If the sun is out, so is he. He spends as much of his free time as possible at his farm where the main crop is field corn which is sold to the hog industry. He also enjoys growing fruits and vegetables, especially sweet corn and okra, and gives those veggies to clients, friends, and neighbors. Bert loves anything to do with the water. He loves boating, fishing, and hunting.
Bert serves as an officer with his church and is active in Wilmington Rotary Club and several other non-profit organizations. He has been involved with Boy Scouts for many years, and serves as Council Treasurer, Executive Committee member and Board member.
Kristy Speight
Client Service Associate
Kristy joined Sterling Wealth Management in October 2018. She assists clients with all their account servicing needs, including opening new accounts, making changes to existing accounts, processing contribution and distribution requests, and much more. She also offers complimentary notary services to clients as a Notary Public.
Kristy is from Wilmington, North Carolina, and she is very proud to call this place her home. After graduating from Laney High School, Kristy attended East Carolina University where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in psychology and child development. She is also a certified dental assistant. After college, Kristy spent 10 years working in early childhood education and was on staff at her church as the children’s ministry director for over six years.
Kristy lives with her husband, Holland, and their four children: Gadisson, Josslyn, Maddox and Adalyn. She and Holland share a love for real estate and remodeling old homes. They are also very involved in international missions and love to travel and experience new and exciting things with their kids.
Kristy enjoys reading, cooking, gardening and completing home projects with her husband. Her family loves going to the beach and boating, especially with their Goldendoodle, Sarge. She believes Wilmington is the perfect place to raise a family and couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.