Page 35 - Investment Advisor - Jan/Feb 2021

before the widespread use of technol-
ogy. Our children, mine and Cheryl’s, are Top of the Charts
roughly the same ages and have grown The following women in wealthtech have
up with technology.
The next generation knows that tech- been recognized in special coverage by
nology is part of the way things work Investment Advisor/ThinkAdvisor to date:
and that it’s embedded in work. It’s • Andina Anderson of Envestnet Tamarac
not separate. We don’t have a separate • Colleen Bell of Cambridge Investment
technology department at my firm, for Research
instance. If you look down the road and • Cynthia Jane Buckler of Wells Fargo
ask who’s head of digital, is there really
one head of digital? Can there be a head • Lisa Burns of Fidelity Institutional
of digital? Isn’t that everyone’s job? • Pamela R. Ellis of Bank of America-
Those in the next generation are Merrill Lynch
learning about technology at such a • Estee Faranda of PFS Investments
rapid rate by using it and gobbling it up. • Danielle “Dani” Fava of Envestnet
When you contrast those individuals
and their ages with the average age of a • Michelle Feinstein of BNY Mellon
financial advisor, being over age 60, you Pershing
start to see the problem. • Stacey Goodman of Prudential Financial
Generally speaking, women some- • Doreen Griffith of Securities America
times may not want to think of them- • Lori Hardwick of RedRock, Riskalyze
selves as sort of geeks or numbers
people. That’s another misconception • Naureen Hassan of Ascensus and
about being a financial advisor — that OneSpan
you must be a numbers person, when • Neesha Hathi of Charles Schwab
really it’s addition and subtraction. • Kirby Horan-Adams of LPL Financial
There are tons of technology prod-

ucts that can help with planning, and • Mary-Catherine Lader of Aladdin,
BlackRock
women are natural planners — if you
look at any type of statistics. Women are • Kit Lee of BNY Mellon’s Pershing
natural savers. They like to help people. • Jess Liberi of eMoney Advisor
They’re very well suited for the career of • Bella Loykhter Allaire of Raymond
a financial advisor. James
The job is also quite portable. If you
have young children or are planning a • Miriam Manning of Commonwealth
family, you can expand or contract your Financial Network
number of clients or adjust when you • Salit Nagy-Todd of Raymond James
see them. It’s very easy for women to be • Angela Pecoraro of Advicent
financial planners. • Allison Couch Pratt of Advisor Group
Yet there’s no knowledge [or expo-
sure] about it as a career when you’re in • Tricia Rothschild of Apex Clearing Corp.
college. People haven’t really heard of it. • Teri Shepherd of Carson Group
• Clara Shih of Hearsay Systems
NASH: I agree. When you think about • Christina Townsend of BNY Mellon
women today and you think about tech- Pershing
nology, what we’re seeing — especially
now — is that more and more people are • Sunayna Tuteja of TD Ameritrade
adopting technology because they have • Rachel Wilson of Morgan Stanley
to. We’re doing this [interview] over • Hilda Wong-Doo of Fidelity Institutional
Google Meet. • Lori Yaverbaum of Commonwealth
When we became a new company Financial Network
back in February and March, we all went

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021 INVESTMENT ADVISOR 33