Top Black Industry Leaders Of 2023, Including Rising Stars, Plus Our Weekly Recruitment Roundup, Best Practices For Recruiting And M&A, And Breakaway Advisor Opportunities
To My Fellow WSR Community Members:
I am excited to continue the WSR Pathfinder Awards into this new year. We began this series a year ago by celebrating Black History Month 2022, and this week we commence a second year of honoring exemplary executives and professionals from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds while catalyzing “water cooler” discussions on DEI across the wealth management industry.
The Pathfinder Awards series was one of my favorite initiatives last year, providing a platform for the winners to raise awareness about where our industry is and how it should develop. We were overwhelmed with your positive feedback and eagerness to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in wealth management.
This month, we are proud to bring you the Top Black Industry Leaders of 2023. These remarkable executives and professionals, as well as our first organizational Pathfinder Award winner, represent the best of our industry’s dedication, excellence and virtue.
In addition, we bring you the latest roundup of recruiting news, best practices for recruiting and M&A and the possibilities available to wirehouse breakaway advisors.
This Week’s Issue
We bring you multiple articles celebrating Black History Month in our On the Rise section:
- We introduce the WSR Pathfinder Awards – Top Black Industry Leaders of 2023, tell you about their lives and careers, as well as the award category for each winner.
- In a separate article, we name winners in the category of Top Black Rising Stars of the Year, honoring individuals with great achievements early in their careers, who have the potential to lead our industry for decades going forward.
- Our first Lifetime Pathfinder Award winner, LeCount Davis, Founder of the Association of African American Financial Advisors, who made history in 1976 as the first African American to achieve the CFP designation, tells us about the past, presents DEI challenges and solutions and gives career advice for Black professionals.
- The winner in the category of Black CEO of the Year, Kim Crawford Goodman of Smarsh, speaks with us about her career inspiration, ways to improve the industry, especially in the C-suite, and her advice for Black women in wealth management.
- We hear from Nikki Palluzzi, the Senior Director of Member Services & Experience at the first organization to win a Pathfinder Award, the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA), winner of the Black History Month Organization of the Year. She discusses NAPFA’s DEI training and initiatives, how to advance DEI in our industry and her organization’s work with Dr. James Pogue.
In addition to the Pathfinder Awards, we have the following news and insights for you:
- Who is our new Recruiter of the Month? In our Newsmakers & Roundups section, we spotlight Becca Hajjar, Managing Principal and Chief Business Development Officer, Commonwealth Financial Network. Our other entries in the Weekly Recruitment Roundup feature deals involving LPL Financial, DayMark Wealth Partners, Private Wealth Asset Management, Integrated Partners and Savant Wealth Management.
- What should wealth management firm sellers and transitioning financial advisors focus on to achieve maximum success during these pivotal moments in their careers? In our Words In Edgewise section, we speak with Louis Diamond, President of Diamond Consultants, to find out. He also details the evolution of his family’s New York metro area-based recruiting and M&A business, which operates nationwide.
- Can a breakaway advisor launch with capital backing from the first day? “Yes,” says John Langston, Founder and Managing Partner of Republic Capital Group. In the Upmarket section, Langston walks us through options for breakaway advisors with over $500 million in client assets, including joining a regional RIA and establishing a new firm with capital backing.
- In our Capital Connections section, RIA M&A activity slowed significantly in the first quarter to date, according to an alert issued by DeVoe & Company, dropping 22% from the same period in 2022. At the same time, deal size grew. The alert analyzes the background and potential causes of the slowdown, with commentary from the firm’s Founder and CEO, David DeVoe.
Tell us your views and share your questions! We always enjoy hearing from you!
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Have a great week!
Cheers!
Larry Roth, CEO
Wealth Solutions Report
