The Future of Workflow Automation, Executive Moves by Advisor Group and Wealth Enhancement Group, a Changing Mindset on Diversity and … Ponzi Schemes, Money Laundering and Advising Sex Workers
To My Fellow WSR Community Members:
What if you, as a hospital administrator, owned a robot that performed 99% of appendectomies flawlessly and then consistently botched the other 1%, causing pain and safety risks to the patient? Sander Ressler gives us just such a food-for-thought hypothetical in discussing the future of workflow automation.
In our stampede towards technology, we cannot neglect the human touch without producing harmful results in some situations. More broadly, old-fashioned prefrontal cortex human intelligence must guide our industry, while the processes we automate ideally should free our time to provide the value that only we can.
When firms look to scale operations, streamline processes, increase the impact of diversity and inclusion and even seek growth through technology, the human touch remains in the forefront – we hire the right executives, conduct penetrating inquiries and employ the unique intuition of our wetware.
Of course, human intelligence can do something that artificial intelligence can’t yet – act on greed, duplicity and indulgence – so we never run out of morbidly captivating stories for our monthly Bizarre Industry Bazaar column.
Kicking Off Women’s History Month With WSR Pathfinder Awards
Before turning to this week’s articles, I’d like to tell you more about our invitation-only Top Women in Wealth Management awards this month as the next installment of our WSR Pathfinder Awards, celebrating the prestigious careers of top women C-suite executives and dealmakers across the wealth management space and examining ways to improve the representation of women across the industry.
My editorial team’s search for the most deserving names, currently in process, has turned up so many inspiring industry leaders that their largest task lies in narrowing the field.
Though much more work remains to truly level the playing field, we can be thankful that our industry has progressed in the area of women’s advancement in recent years.
This Week’s Issue
Here’s what we have for you this week:
- In our Upmarket section, Advisor Group prepares its executive bench for growth by the addition of Tim Hodge as Executive Vice President, Trading and Operations, Jen Roche as Senior Vice President, Corporate Content, Communication, and Public Relations and Aiyisha Adams as Vice President of Advisor Engagement.
- Also in Upmarket, RIA super-aggregator Wealth Enhancement Group displays the ongoing trend of wealth management firms seeking growth by leveraging fintech through its latest hire of Silicon Valley veteran Eric Weiss as Chief Growth Officer.
- In her latest installment of Human Capital Corner in the Words in Edgewise section, Cecile Muñoz interviews Regina Curry, Chief Diversity Officer of Franklin Templeton and Keisha Payne, Senior Director, Business and Legal Affairs at Village Roadshow Entertainment Group on the best ways to enhance diversity in the workplace, including an executive mindset change on the capabilities of diverse talent and recognition of the benefits of diversity.
- In our Bizarre Industry Bazaar section, James Miller, who never ceases to surprise me with weirdness, has decided to adopt a personally combative tirade towards me which I have decided to allow because I find it mildly entertaining. He covers laundering the proceeds of cocaine smuggling, providing financial advice to sex workers, laundering Bitcoin and an advisor stealing $3 million from his father in a ponzi scheme, which I also find entertaining.
- In The Digital Domain, we explore the benefits, drawbacks and future of wealth management workflow automation with a range of experts: Derek Bruton, Senior Managing Director at Gladstone Group, Marc Butler, President and COO of Skience, Adrian Johnstone, Co-Founder and President of Practifi, David Knoch, CEO of Docupace and Sander Ressler, Managing Director of Essential Edge.
WSR Growth & Innovation Awards
By way of reminder, we are close to the submission deadline for the first set of WSR Growth & Innovation Awards, the Hybrid RIA / Independent Financial Advisor Group of the Year – March 15.
WSR will name two winners and three honorable mentions for this first award, which recognizes independent financial advisor groups, with or without a hybrid RIA entity, that recruit, retain and grow the businesses of independent financial advisors conducting both brokerage and fee-based advisory business.
Firms may self-nominate and the criteria and submission form are on our website.
In addition, please keep sending your thoughts, ideas and questions. The editors dedicate themselves to your concerns and love hearing from you so they can tailor content to match your needs.
If you have a friend examining the workflow automation issue or considering improvements to diversity initiatives or who could just use a good laugh at bizarre industry stories, please share on email or through social media, including LinkedIn.
Have a great week!
Cheers!
Larry Roth, CEO
Wealth Solutions Report
