In early January, the Financial Services Institute — which represents independent broker-dealers and advisors — said it would host its first-ever all-women CEO panel during the group's OneVoice 2019 event, set for Jan. 28–30 in New Orleans. We applaud this effort.
Of course, it does raise an important question for the financial-services industry: When will the first female technology-executive panel be scheduled?
There are lots of women in different IT leadership roles throughout the industry. So many in fact, that we had to limit the group highlighted here to those making a significant impact on wealth management at a select number of firms.
For the inaugural top Women in WealthTech list, we chose to present a group of individuals who lead tech efforts at indie and national BDs, wirehouse firms, clearing and custodial partners, RIAs and technology-focused organizations.
This list is by no means exhaustive. However, it does include women with companies known for tech innovation and for serving large numbers of advisors.
This year's Women in WealthTech participants kindly shared their views on many trends affecting technology and financial services. We present an abbreviated look at their insights and achievements in this feature and the complete profiles and responses to a questionnaire online at ThinkAdvisor.com.
Still, there remains room for improvement, and they are working on it. "There are not enough women in wealth management and technology," said Kirby Horan-Adams, LPL Financial's head of Investor and Investment Solutions.
"While you don't find many women leading Wealth Technology in the industry, I could not be prouder of a strong team of women leaders working with me…," explained Cynthia Jane Buckler, chief information officer and head of Wealth and Investment Management Technology for Wells Fargo. "They … understand the power of technology and are passionate about how technology can help our clients reach their financial goals."
