Our Team

Joe VanOtterloo

Financial Advisor

Joe VanOtterloo is a Financial Advisor and founder of BlueWater Financial Group LLC, a family owned practice founded in 2019. He works with a wide variety of clients, including business owners, executives, farmers, and young families and enjoys helping clients balance between enjoying life today and protecting for retirement. Joe is a problem-solver who takes a holistic approach to retirement planning and protection. When he is working with his clients, he takes time to learn about them, their goals, their concerns, and their risk tolerance so that he can make recommendations that are in alignment with who they are and what they want to achieve. He looks at each of his clients as family or friend and advises them based on what he would advise his closest friends or family members. He focuses on making sure his clients feel like part of the BlueWater Financial Group family.

Prior to becoming a Financial Advisor and starting BlueWater Financial Group, Joe spent 13 years in commercial banking. Joe graduated from the University of Sioux Falls. He is currently working on growing his knowledge through the American College of Financial Services and plans to start working on his Certified Financial Planning (CFP®) designation.

Joe is a proud member of the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) and President's Council** Agent as of 2023 with New York Life. He is a member of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA) and has won the Partners of Excellence Crow Your Business award with KHI.

Since joining New York Life Insurance Company as an agent in 2015, Joe has qualified for New York Life's prestigious Council** each year, with two of those years being Chairman's Council, one of the highest council recognitions. He was the New York Life Great Plains General Office Rookie of the Year in 2016, New York Life Great Plains General Office New Agent of the Year in 2017, New York Life Great Plains General Office Agent of the Year in 2021 and The New York Life Great Plains General Office Associate Agent of the Year in 2023.

Joe was born and raised in Rock Valley, Iowa, graduating from Rock Valley High School in 1999. After graduation, Joe attended The University of Nebraska for two years before transferring to the University of Sioux Falls where he received his bachelor’s degree in Business Management. He married his wife, Megan McGill, in 2004 and they have two children, Gabe and Dane. Joe is very active in the local community, serving on multiple boards and volunteering in the community.

Photo of Joe and son
Photo of Mark McGill

Mark McGill

Financial Services Professional

Mark McGill has been working in the insurance and financial service business since April of 1995 giving more than 25 years of service to his clients. Mark is committed to helping his clients succeed in their retirement planning goals and to protect their families in the event of a sudden unexpected death.

Mark earned his bachelor's degree in Finance from the University of Iowa. Continuing his education, Mark earned his Charter Life Underwriter® (CLU®) and Chartered Financial Consultant® (ChFC®) in 2001 and a Certification Long Term Care® (CLTC®) in 2007.

Mark is active in his community and has served on many boards and councils in the area. Mark has been a member of business organizations such as NAIFA and a life-time member of the Million Dollar Round Table*.

Mark and his wife forty plus years, Kathy, have four children and nine grandchildren.

Photo of Cindi Blankespoor

Cindi Blankespoor

Licensed Service Assistant

Cindi is the Licensed Service Assistant for BlueWater Financial Group. She provides administrative assistance and support to the agents by maintaining client files, scheduling appointments, managing service requests, and much more. Cindi is married to Brian, and together they have four children, Nicole, Caira, Brady, and Jon. They thoroughly enjoy being grandparents of seven (Alexis, Jack, Jamison, Gavin, Evelyn, Theodore, and Reed). When she's not at work, Cindi enjoys gardening, camping, fishing, traveling to Arizona, and most of all spending time with her family. She also enjoys serving our military overseas, sending care packages through S.A.L.U.T.E.

*MDRT, the Premier Association of Financial Professionals, is recognized worldwide as the standard of excellence in life insurance sales performance.

**Council is an annual New York Life recognition program based on agent production from July 1- June 30.