Page 29 - Investment Advisor September 2021

Baird’s Private Wealth Management encourage women in the network to grow in their roles and to
Foundations program, founded in 2012, is a recruit more female-led RIAs to increase peer-to-peer interac-
competitive rotational training program for tion and increase diversity in the network. The final goal is to
diverse candidates — most coming from dif- leverage content and research to shatter the stereotype of a
ferent careers — seeking to become a financial advisor. women’s network.
Through the program, associates network with Baird’s private
wealth management teams in branches they would like to stay Nationwide’s Financial Alliance for Racial
with in the long term. Once they’re matched with a team, the Equity (FARE) was the result of a 2020 part-
Foundations associate spends three months at that branch to nership between Nationwide Financial,
solidify a permanent placement. Baird’s Foundations program financial services organizations and histori-
has created more racial, ethnic, age and gender diversity in cally Black colleges and universities. FARE’s
the firm’s advisor talent pool, which has improved overall focus is on increasing the number of Black professionals in
advisor productivity. the financial services industry and investing in them once
there. The initiative will provide resources, training and
Raymond James’ Advisor Inclusion connections to Black students and professionals. Since
Network Symposiums — which forming, FARE partners have committed to connecting stu-
include seminars, breakout ses- dents from six HBCUs with FARE member firm internship/
sions, chat rooms and presentations — went virtual in career opportunities, producing a “See It, Be It” video
2020 and reached larger audiences than before across series showcasing Black financial professionals in leader-
U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom in 2020. The 26th- ship roles and providing mentoring resources to Black
annual Women’s Symposium doubled its size to 1,480 reg- financial professionals.
istrants globally, including over 40-plus prospective
women advisors; 46 nationwide study groups with 450 FMG Suite’s goal is to protect
women were formed following the event. The seventh- essential human rights. To
annual Black Financial Advisors Network Symposium achieve this, the technology
quadrupled its number of registrants at about 450 — of company formed a DEI Council of nine volunteers from
which some 50 were prospective Black advisors and 100 the organization. The company set key performance indi-
were students participating in the event’s career fair. cators to ensure accountability and measure success.
Metrics include employee sentiment, diversity in hiring
and diversity in promotions. FMG Suite also formed com-
PROGRAMS, PRODUCTS & SERVICES - OTHER munity groups such as APAC and LGBTQIA. Employees
are invited to join these groups and connect with one
CHIP (Changing How Individuals another, plan activities or simply have a conversation.
Prosper), a B2B2C financial services mar- The company hosts webinars and podcasts to open the
ketplace that makes it easy to find Black dialogue on the disparity of women or people of color in
and Latinx financial professionals, was financial services.
launched in 2019 by Dana L. Wilson. The goal is to bridge the
gap between consumers of financial products and financial The University of Akron, Financial
professionals of color. CHIP’s focus is to grow generational Planning Program, College of
wealth, as well as build trust for financial professionals in Business launched Diversitas to
underrepresented communities. In the past 12 months, the bring students, teachers, guid-
firm closed five partnerships, onboarded more than 200 pro- ance counselors, industry professionals and thought lead-
fessionals, matched over 180 consumers with professionals, ers in diversity together, nationally, with the goal of
and launched two content series focused on amplifying attracting more women and people of diverse back-
voices in communities of color. grounds to the financial industry. Started in 2017 as a
regional program with Barry Mulholland, Diversitas
Dynasty Financial Partners’ Dynasty became national in 2020. Roughly one-third of attendees
Women’s Network was established to have been female, non-white or both. The program con-
further the firm’s commitment to the tent includes actions that can be taken by industry profes-
advancement of women in the financial sionals to improve diversity, including donating, starting
services industry. DWN’s first goal is to create an increase in scholarships, guest teaching, mentoring and offering
the participation of diverse women in the Dynasty Network internships. Diversitas also has created scholarships for
and ecosystem within the industry. The second goal is to students in financial planning.

SEPTEMBER 2021 INVESTMENT ADVISOR 27