Our Leadership

Gary Bottoms, CLU, ChFC

Gary Bottoms is President of The Bottoms Group, LLC. He is a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology. He also holds the Chartered Life Underwriter designation and the Chartered Financial Consultant designation from the American College.

Mr. Bottoms is a Past President of the Atlanta Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors. This Atlanta group has approximately 800 members and is one of the largest professional organizations of its kind in the country. From this organization he has received the Harry I. Davis Award which is given to one member annually who represents the highest ideals and principles of the financial services profession. Mr. Bottoms is one of only 36 other Atlanta professionals who have achieved this distinction over the years. In 2009, he was one of only 16 Atlanta insurance professionals included in Atlanta Magazine's list of FIVE STAR Wealth Managers. The "Best in client satisfaction" list is based upon a survey of 70,000 high net worth residents in the Atlanta area. He is a member of the Association for Advanced Life Underwriting, which is an invitation only organization composed of professionals serving the high-end marketplace. For this group, he serves as the key liaison with a member of the United States Senate.

Mr. Bottoms currently serves as Chairman Elect of the Cobb Community Foundation, Past President of the Cobb Schools Foundation, and is a Board Member of the Atlanta Estate Planning Council and the North Georgia Estate Planning Council. He is also a current member of the Board of Trustees for the Cobb County Government Employees Pension Plan. He has been involved in numerous other civic, church and community endeavors and has served as Board Chairman of the WellStar Health System Foundation and The Center for Family Resources, and President of the Rotary Club of Marietta. Mr. Bottoms is also a former member of the Board of Trustees of the Georgia Tech Alumni Association and received the Volunteer of the Year Award in 1995.

Mr. Bottoms and his wife, Melissa, are graduates of Leadership Georgia. They have been married for 35 years, have three adult children and attend Christ Church Presbyterian in Atlanta.

David Bottoms, CFP®, REBC, RHU, CLU, ChFC

David is Vice President of The Bottoms Group. David was born and raised in Marietta, GA where he attended The Walker School. Upon graduation, he was awarded the President's Scholarship to attend Georgia Tech on full academic scholarship. During his tenure at Georgia Tech, he was heavily involved in a number of campus activities and graduated with Highest Honor in December of 2000 with a Major in Management and a Minor in Economics.

David joined The Bottoms Group after serving for 7 years as an employee benefit specialist at Unum. In this role, David served as a consultant to employee benefit brokers regarding advanced absence management strategies and employee communication plan development. This experience has served David well as he now works to institute employee benefit/communication best practices on behalf of The Bottoms Group's client base.

David currently serves on the Boards of the Georgia Tech Alumni Association, 1st & 10 Board of the Georgia Tech Athletic Association, Good Samaritan Health Center, The Center for Family Resources, Tommy Nobis Center, SafePath Child Advocacy Center, and the Blair Valley Community Association and sits on the Advisory Board for NFP Benefits. David was recently named one of the "Top 30 Under 30" by the Georgia Tech Alumni Association and one of the "20 Rising Stars Under 40" by Cobb Life Magazine.

David and his wife, Brittney, have been married for eight years. They attend the First United Methodist Church in Marietta.

Amy Knudsen, GBA

Amy Knudsen is the Vice-President of Client Services at The Bottoms Group and has worked in the employee benefits industry for more than seven years. Amy manages the client services support structure and serves as the primary contact for several key client accounts.   Amy manages the renewal and marketing process for group benefit clients and oversees the management of employee benefit websites, assists with elevated claim issues and is the senior liaison between the client and the insurance carriers. 

A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she holds a Bachelors in Business Administration with a concentration in finance. Amy began her career with Smith Barney's retail brokerage and investment division. She moved into the benefits industry after obtaining her insurance license. She has obtained her Group Benefits Associate designation and is in the process of obtaining her Certified Employee Benefit Specialist designation. 

She is the current Vice President of Membership for the Junior League of Cobb Marietta. Amy is a member of the Leadership Cobb class of 2010, a member of the Metro-Marietta Rotary Club, on the Board of Communities in Schools of Marietta/Cobb County and volunteers with the lay caregiving team at Smyrna First United Methodist Church. She has been a member of the Center for Family Resources Oscar Night Gala Committee, a volunteer with Hospice at the WellStar Hospice's Tranquility facility, and a Children's Church teacher. Amy and her husband have been married for seven years and reside in Smyrna.