The buzz has begun in advance of Focus13, the giant conference for gigantic independent broker-dealer LPL Financial, which will bring hundreds of advisors together for three days of technology launches, continuing education sessions, compliance workshops and networking opportunities between advisors and home-office partners.
To be held Aug. 18 to 21 in LPL's headquarters city of San Diego, Focus13 will feature keynote speakers Gen. Colin Powell and The Economist economic editor Zanny Minton Beddoes in addition to home-office speakers Chairman and CEO Mark Casady, president of Advisor and Institution Solutions Robert Moore, Chief Investment Officer Burt White and more.
LPL's heavy focus on technology will be a big theme of this year's conference. The independent broker-dealer already has established itself in the Twittersphere (with 2,794 followers as of Wednesday, many of them including the 17,000 financial professionals associated with the firm), and LPL is using that online presence to talk up its tech launches ahead of the conference.
The firm's Twitter feed, @LPLFinancial, is currently promoting a new client portal with new mobile apps to be unveiled at Focus13 along with a new Account View tool.
As a further example of LPL's renewed commitment to investing in its technology platform, 22-year IT industry veteran Victor Fetter (left) joined LPL in December as chief information officer from Dell, where he served as CIO of Dell Online. Now, Fetter is actively tweeting about LPL's tech developments and launches planned for Focus13.
"<1 week to #LPLFocus. @LPLFinancial team hard at work putting finishing touches to new #products and #platforms," Fetter said in one typical tweet from his Twitter feed @vpfetter, while reaching out in other tweets to LPL partners planning to attend Focus13.
