The Association of African American Financial Advisors is gearing up for the first run of a two-day networking and educational event in Chicago starting on Juneteenth. In an interview with ThinkAdvisor about the agenda, Sheena Gray, the interim CEO of the group known as Quad-A, honed in on the main goal of the inaugural Women's Impact Initiative Network Conference.
"This conference will serve the vital purpose of addressing the underrepresentation of African American women in the wealth management sector of the financial services industry," Gray said. "For 2024, our goal is to continue the fundamental Quad-A mission to close the racial wealth gap and ensure the full representation of people of color in the financial industry."
To that end, Gray said, the group is working with its corporate sponsors and other stakeholders on both the WIIN project and other initiatives that feed into the central mission.
Gray, who said she was honored to transition from her leadership position at JPMorgan Chase into a new professional role at Quad-A earlier this year, was joined in the interview by Alex David, who now serves as interim chairman of the group's board of directors following Christian Nwasike's abrupt departure and is also a division director at Raymond James.
David said he shares Gray's vision and hopes for the WIIN conference, noting that Gray herself represents an all too rare example of a Black female executive in financial services: "It's wonderful to have Sheena leading the way here.
"When I step back and look at this, I can't remember a time in our industry in the last 30 years when we have seen a true full-court press on the part of all the big firms like we have seen with WIIN — where they are coming together and backing Quad-A on this specific challenge of supporting African American female financial advisors and industry professionals," he added.
