Association Of African American Financial Advisors Announces Leadership Changes, Next Stage Of Equity Initiatives, Transition Of History-Making Founder
The Association of African American Financial Advisors (AAAA), a non-profit organization for African American Advisors and wealth management professionals, announced the appointment of Alex David, President and CEO of Stifel Independent Advisors, as its incoming Chairman Emeritus. In the role, David will provide strategic guidance to the AAAA as it implements the next stage of its vision for a more equitable industry.
AAAA Founder LeCount Davis will transition to a chief advisory role but remain Chairman Emeritus and a member of the Board of Directors in 2023. The first African American to earn the CFP designation, Davis founded AAAA in 2001 to address the needs of African American financial professionals.
“I am honored to take an active role in the future of AAAA at this critical moment in time for the wealth management industry,” David said. “The ample transition runway we are chiseling leaves room for one of my top priorities: to build out a new advisory board comprised of Black CEOs and their allies, to further drive AAAA’s industry vision and objectives in collaboration with LeCount Davis. Having visible Black leadership is critical to the future of a more equitable financial advice industry, but it must go deeper.”
Nwasike To Continue As Chairman
Christian Nwasike, who will continue as Chairman of the Board, said, “AAAA is positioned to amplify our voice and influence in helping to reshape the industry to be more reflective of our modern-day society because of the remarkable work of LeCount, who is truly a trailblazer for the Black financial advisor community.”
Nwasike continued, “Building upon his lifetime of work, we will take bold and collaborative actions to develop solutions to problems of financial literacy, wealth inequality and other issues of immediate relevance to Black communities across the country.”
Nwasike is also Principal and Executive Managing Partner at business growth and success consultancy Practice Management Consultants, which coaches African American advisors in business growth and success.
Next Stage Of Initiatives
The AAAA’s initiatives include establishing a multi-racial Advisory Board of wealth management C-suite leaders to support its development of new programs to advocate for additional Black and diverse C-suite leadership and supporting young Black professionals seeking to enter the financial advisory space, as well as engaging with the Black community to enhance financial education and address the racial wealth gap.
The AAAA also plans to increase its collaboration with historically Black colleges and universities including Howard University, Morehouse College and Spelman College, increase awareness of wealth management to address the Black advisor shortage, and strengthen its partnership with Merrill Lynch, J.P. Morgan, Edward Jones and Wells Fargo.
Commenting on the AAAA’s strategic development, David said, “We will push our industry to make our board rooms, C-suites and branch offices more representative of the communities we serve.”
Addressing The Advisor Gap
According to the press release, only 60,000 Series 7 and Series 65 license holders and IARs of a total of 700,000 are Black, which represents 8% of the advisor population, far short of the 14.6% of the U.S. population represented by Black and African American communities.
“We believe we must achieve population parity between the percentage of Black advisors and the percentage of Black and African American communities in this country,” Nwasike said. “We need to double the number of Black advisors to meet this goal to mitigate the negative impacts of the racial wealth gap in the United States.”
Janeesa Hollingshead, Executive Editor at Wealth Solutions Report, can be reached at editor@wealthsolutionsreport.com
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