Community Leadership Awards finalists announced

InvestmentNews and the Invest in Others Charitable Foundation have announced this year’s finalists in the Community Leadership Awards’ four categories.

The Community Leadership Awards recognize financial advisers for exemplary leadership in their communities. Honorees will be announced and presented with their awards at a dinner in New York Sept. 30.

Honorees’ charities will each receive a $10,000 donation and finalists’ charities each receive a $500 donation.

Awards are presented in three individual categories and one group category.

In the Community Service category, the adviser finalists are W. Stephen McMahon of Wells Fargo Advisors LLC in Manchester, N.H., for his work with the Boys and Girls Club of Manchester; Robert E. Wamhoff of Wamhoff Financial Planning & Accounting Services Inc. of Hazelwood, Mo., for Just Because We Care; and Stephen Brent Wells of The Solaris Group LLC in New York for St. Mary’s Healthcare System for Children.

In the Mentoring Excellence category, the adviser finalists are Mason Champion of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Lutherville, Md., for the Boys’ Latin School of Maryland Golf Program; Brett S. Ellen of American Financial Network/Securities America in Calabasas, Calif., for Turn Kindness On Helping Hands; and Karen True Winslow of Wintergreen Financial Group in Portland, Me., for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southern Maine.

In the Volunteer of the Year category, the adviser finalists are William Pickens of Wells Fargo Advisors in Memphis, Tenn., for Gift of Life Mid-South; Mary Schulte of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Naperville, Ill., for DuPage PADS Inc.; and Robert B. Wolford of Hollencrest Capital Management in Newport Beach, Calif., for Operation Homefront.

In the group category — for the Volunteer Team Award — the adviser finalists are the Financial Planning Association’s Massachusetts chapter in Waltham, Mass., for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Peter Donovan and Wright Investors’ Services in Milford, Conn., for The School for Ethical Education; and Scott Thole and Daniel Pierson of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Chicago for Chicago HOPE Dollars for Scholars.

“Selecting this year’s finalists from the nearly 400 nominations was quite a challenge,” said Suzanne Siracuse, publisher of InvestmentNews and a member of the board of the Invest in Others Charitable Foundation. “Our judges — an advisory board consisting of industry executives and a team from InvestmentNews — were awed by the contributions made by financial advisers to their communities.”