Diversity & Inclusion Awards Diversity Champions part 02

Full name of company Type of organization If other, please describe City State Year firm was founded Firm’s…

Full name of company	Type of organization	City	State	Year firm was founded	Firm’s assets under management	Please describe the firm’s initiatives that were developed to foster diversity and inclusion within the firm or within the financial advice profession. Describe the firm’s internal programs that seek to improve diversity or its external campaign to boost financial literacy among diverse groups, publish research or other writings showing the impact of diversity and inclusion, or other successful efforts to advance diversity and inclusion in the advice business.
Impax Asset Management/Pax World Funds	Asset manager	Portsmouth	New Hampshire	1971	More than $200 million	Pax World Funds (Pax), advised by Impax Asset Management LLC, is a pioneer in investing in women, advancing pay equity and promoting greater gender diversity in corporate leadership. Since 2007, Pax has managed the first mutual fund in the United States focused on investing in companies that do more to promote and advance women. In 2014, we built the first index of the highest-rated companies in the world for advancing women onto their boards and into executive management and launched the Pax Ellevate Global Women’s Leadership Fund (a successor fund to our earlier women’s fund) – the first mutual fund that invests in the highest‐rated companies in the world for advancing gender diversity. Our team has written and spoken widely on the critical role that gender diversity plays in long-term business success, including articles such as “Gender Equality as an Investment Concept” by President Joe Keefe (written in 2010, it was one of the earliest thought leadership pieces to advocate for gender lens investing) and “The Investment Case for Gender Equality” by Senior Vice President for Sustainable Investing Julie Gorte. Our shareholder engagements focus on influencing corporate policies and behavior so that companies are well-positioned to take advantage of the benefits associated with gender diversity. Across our funds, we vote against all male board slates and we generally will not support a full board slate unless it includes at least two women. Since 2010, we have voted against over 1,100 board slates due to insufficient gender diversity. In 2011, we launched a “Say NO to All-Male Boards” campaign encouraging investors to join us in this effort. Since 2012, Pax has filed board diversity proposals asking nine companies to adopt gender diversity policies for their boards, and six companies have subsequently announced new female directors. Since 2015, Pax has filed or co-filed fourteen shareholder resolutions on pay equity and thirteen companies have enhanced their pay equity disclosure. And in February 2016, Pax Ellevate Management sent a petition for rulemaking to the SEC urging the agency to require public companies to disclose gender pay ratios on an annual basis. Pax is a founding member of the Thirty Percent Coalition, which seeks to assure that women hold 30 percent of board seats across public companies in the U.S. More than 100 of the companies contacted by the Coalition since 2012 have appointed women to their boards. And as signatory to the UN Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) and a member of the WEPs Leadership Group, we have conducted a series of letter writing campaigns urging companies to endorse and implement the WEPs, a set of practical guidelines for businesses on how to empower women. Over 1,000 companies have endorsed the WEPs. We developed Women & Wealth, a practice management initiative that provides financial advisors with expertise and resources to help them better serve their female clients. By helping advisors become more responsive to women’s financial issues, we seek to help advisors strengthen their client relationships and the value they provide to their female clients.
UBS Financial Services	Broker-Dealer	San Diego	CA	1858	More than $200 million	Financial services is known to be a heavily male-dominated industry. For a few years, UBS Financial Services has had a program called “All Bar None,” (ABN) which is intended to engage, educate and empower employees to promote the professional advancement of women at UBS and to champion the vision, values and strategies of the firm. Up until 2017, however, this program was limited to only a few major offices – in NY City; Weehawken, NJ; and Nashville, TN. In May of 2017, however, Debra Cammareri and Jennifer Povlitz were appointed as co-heads to build out ABN across the field. Since then, the program has expanded greatly, opening 17 additional chapters in the US, with “Field Connectors” as chapter chairs in each community who are empowered to lead the programs in their locations. They conducted a survey to determine the types of programs and events people would want to have and learned that participants are interested in career and skills development but that networking among peers was equally important. Community involvement and philanthropic activities also ranked high. The mission for the Field Connectors is to grow the business and themselves by increasing opportunities for women – both as financial advisors and in other roles in which the women themselves may be interested. Both men and women are encouraged to join in as participants but all the chapter chairs are women. The UBS executive committee has been quite supportive of the concept – giving ABN a budget that would help them to promote the concept to all internal audiences. Launch events have been held in each of the new chapters, ranging from professional development seminars, to yoga events, to purely social networking events such as the Rose’ wine event recently held in Los Angeles that drew 65 attendees, including the four most senior male executives in the city, who wanted to show their support for the idea. 1,000 new members have joined the program thus far, bringing the total to about 3,000! More growth is expected in the next few years as ABN is just now launching chapters in Mexico City and Toronto and is planning a formal mentorship program in all the chapters. Teams reflect diversity in race, ethnicity, age, gender, background, education, sexual orientation and other characteristics. Q#2: Perhaps the best result of All Bar None program at UBS is it exposes women to career options they didn’t know they had, and helps them achieve them. In branch offices, everyone takes pride in achievements of women in the company. They are making connections with other people who can help them both inside and outside UBS, and broadening resources who can help grow their practices. community impact: o Financial literacy programs for high school girls from lower income families, teaching about budgeting, creating life plans, and giving back to charity and family o Season of Service summer programs – More than 50% of UBS employees volunteer time for this firm-wide initiative.
AXA Advisors, LLC	Registered Investment Adviser	New York City	NY	1859	More than $200 million	Answer #1 Axa Advisors To help the underserved markets/communities AXA must first ensure that its financial advisors (FA) are equipped with the knowledge and expertise. Several programs are in place to help the FA to be on top of their game. Each program has the same goals which are to share sales ideas and best practices, and to network for further learning and opportunity to do joint work. This translate to first class service to clients The programs are: 5 Annual Diversity Summits for the following groups: African American, Asian, Hispanic, LGBT and Women’s. They are educational conferences designed to provide additional knowledge to FA outside of what they receive from the local branch level Annual diversity breakouts at the National Leaders Forum, a recognition event for top FA. FA hears each other’s best practices Multi Market Diversity & Inclusion calls – monthly and quarterly national study group calls for FA to share and exchange ideas on sales techniques and how to provide the highest degree of service to clients Marketing materials both in English and in-language (Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Japanese, Vietnamese and Polish) as well as market specific materials for the LGBT and women’s markets Field Advisory Councils (one for each group) who partner with HQ for all diversity related matters as well as acting as peer advisory groups for the FA These support and tools help our FA go out to the communities with confidence that the help they provide for individuals, families and businesses are first class and current Answer #2: Our trained diverse FA (Financial Advisors) are able to go back to their own communities translating their knowledge into actions. This is done in several different ways based on prospects’ needs ranging from high end events to community seminars as well as through volunteering programs. Many of our FA in the Retirement Benefit Group who work with teachers (mostly women of color), nurses (mostly women) and municipalities work tirelessly to ensure their clients are financially protected for generations to come. The training our FA received is translated into education for our diverse prospects/clients for a better life. At AXA we put high priority in educating ourselves and our prospects and clients We created a Multicultural Directory that showcase our top 10 advisors in each of the 5 groups as well as our Field Advisory Council members.
Northern Trust Asset Management	Asset manager	Chicago	IL	1889	More than $200 million	At Northern Trust Asset Management, we believe organizations with a demonstrated commitment to corporate social responsibility, diversity and inclusion create greater value for the clients and communities we serve. This is why we foster a culture of inclusion and diversity beginning with our efforts to recruit, develop and deploy the highest caliber workforce. In addition: – We employ a Director of Global Diversity & Inclusion, a senior executive position, to ensure progressiveness in our programs, training and policies. – Our senior leadership team is gender and ethnically diverse with women representing 38% of top executives and 23% of our board of directors is African-American – Since the 1980s, Northern Trust has supported a variety of leadership groups – our “Business Resource Councils” — including groups focused on Asian, Black, Latino, and LGBT professionals. – In 1998, 15 years before the federal government recognized same-sex marriage, Northern Trust became the second bank in the U.S. to offer employees domestic partner benefits for both same-sex and opposite-sex couples. – In 2010, Northern Trust formalized a national LGBT and Non-Traditional Family Practice to meet the financial needs of this group. – Northern Trust is a CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion signatory, a group of more than 150 CEOs from some of the world’s leading companies committed to advancing diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Beyond the walls of our organization, we support diversity and inclusion in the broader marketplace in several ways: – Our Minority-owned brokerage program, established in 2007, sets a target to execute 10% of all equity security trading commissions with minority brokers for approximately 120 common and collective investment trusts we manage. In February 2018, we further expanded the program to include equity research firms owned by minorities, women or people with disabilities. – Our Emerging Managers Program, established in 1993, invests approximately $2.4b with more than 25 emerging and minority-owned investment management firms through manager-of-managers programs. – Most recently, we launched our newest investment solution, the Northern Engage360TM Fund, designed to expand the lens through which diversity investing is viewed by applying a multi-dimensional investment process to identifying and assessing diversity in investment managers. – Northern Trust is also a signatory to the Women in Finance Charter, a UK-based charter which aims to build a more balanced and fair financial services industry. Underscoring this commitment, we have set our target to increase the number of women in senior management roles in the UK to 35% by December 2020. Our firm has been recognized for our leadership in the area of diversity and inclusion, including: • Best Employers for Diversity — Forbes, 2018 – Ranked #1 • Gender Equality Index Member — Bloomberg, 2018 • Top 50 Company for Executive Women — National Association for Female Executives (NAFE), 2017-Seventh Consecutive Year • Top 50 Companies for Latinas to Work for in the U.S. — Latina Style Magazine, 2017 • Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality — Corporate Equality Index, 2017 – Eighth Consecutive Year
National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors	Association or other industry group	Falls Church	VA	1890	not applicable	Advancing diversity and inclusion in the insurance and financial-services industry is at the heart of NAIFA’s vision for the future and a key component of the NAIFA 20/20 Strategic Plan. The Diversity and Inclusion initiative supports NAIFA’s 20/20 goal of empowering its members by broadening diversity, bolstering advocacy, developing top-notch training programs and increasing public awareness. For the past several years, NAIFA has been at the forefront of promoting and advancing inclusion and diversity in the financial-services industry. Here are a few of the programs the association has developed to achieve these goals: * NAIFA has created a Diversity Task Force to bring together enthusiastic NAIFA members who are dedicated to empowering agents and companies with strategies designed to attract a diverse work force that reflects the communities they serve. The task force’s goal is to empower NAIFA to become the industry leader and a key resource in diversity and diversity training and to create a more diverse membership that is reflective of the population that the members serve. * NAIFA has created a Diversity Champion Award, which recognizes exceptional efforts of members to promote the full and equal participation of diverse people within the insurance and financial-advising profession. * NAIFA has sponsored a Diversity Symposium, which brought together forward-thinking executives from the nation’s top financial firms to discuss the importance of having a diverse workforce and share strategies for making this happen. Speakers presented the business case for promoting diversity and inclusion, as well as facilitated discussion of how the industry can work together to move the needle forward in advancing diversity. Work is under way to host another Diversity and Inclusion Symposium in September 2018. NAIFA has created several Action Reports on diversity and Inclusion. These Action Reports or White Papers include: –Finding Success in Diverse Markets–a report that demonstrates how agents and advisors can sell succesfully to diverse markets. –Profiles in Success–a report that highlights successful female NAIFA members and the paths they took on their way to the top. –NAIFA’s 2017 Champions of Diversity Report–a report that shines the spotlight on NAIFA’s 2017 Diversity Champions and offers helpful hints for promoting diversity in organizations. NAIFA has also published several articles on diversity in its award-winning magazine, Advisor Today. * NAIFA is currently hosting a series of webinars on how to create and promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc.	Fintech company	Lake Success	New York	2007	not applicable	We are pleased to nominate Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. to receive InvestmentNews’ first Excellence in Diversity & Inclusion Award. In today’s global marketplace, developing and maintaining diverse talent is critical to continued growth and success. Broadridge recognizes that being a place where talented men and women of all genders, races, ethnic backgrounds and sexual orientation choose to work enables the delivery of award-winning services to customers and, ultimately, creates value for shareholders. Broadridge’s promotion of a particularly diverse and inclusive workplace fosters associate community and engagement, ultimately providing exceptional service to a diverse client base. Since becoming a publicly traded company independent of ADP in 2007, Broadridge has pursued both top-down and bottom-up approaches to advancing women and minorities by embedding D&I values into its culture. President and CEO Rich Daly spearheads Broadridge’s drive to increase D&I and initiated the Broadridge Inclusive Pledge that, among other things, promises to: • Appreciate every associate’s unique attributes and recognize how they may provide a different, useful perspective; • Create an environment where everyone feels accepted and can bring their full self to work; • Build upon the existing efforts to increase diversity within Broadridge’s workforce; • Ensure fair hiring and promotion processes and procedures to reduce unconscious bias and structural barriers; and • Incorporate diverse representation in everything we do. In January 2010, Broadridge formed its first employee resource group (ERG), the Women’s Leadership Forum. The impetus for this ERG, and its purpose since, has been to actively remove barriers to women’s advancement at Broadridge. Subsequently, Broadridge formed two other employee resource groups—Leading Broadridge to Greater Awareness (LGBTA) for LGBT employees and allies, and the Multi-Cultural Associate Network (MCAN)—to accomplish this goal for other diverse communities throughout the firm. Broadridge also has an Executive Diversity Committee and a separate Inclusion Board to track the company’s progress in D&I and ensure the firm delivers on its commitments. As a direct result of its efforts in the space, Broadridge has been named one of the “Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality” for five consecutive years by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. The company was named to Fortune Magazine’s 2016 list of the “World’s Most Admired Companies” and was also ranked among the 30 “Best Companies to Work for in New York State” for nine consecutive years by the New York State Society for Human Resource Management. Externally, through a partnership with the SIFMA foundation, Broadridge employees have encouraged financial literacy for more than 24,000 diverse students across New York City and Long Island classrooms by providing them access to The Stock Market Game™, a financial education tool with a strong track record of increasing students’ math skills and financial awareness. This effort toward raising the next generation of underrepresented communities and improving financial literacy will feed future dividends by helping these young people and their communities in the long-term.
Lincoln Financial Network	Broker-Dealer	Philadelphia	PA	1905	not applicable	Lincoln Financial Network (LFN), part of Lincoln Financial Group, is committed to fostering diversity across our organization for employees, advisors and their clients. We pride ourselves in maintaining a culture of open and inclusive thought and perspectives, and always consider diversity when recruiting the best and brightest people in the industry. LFN participates in a company-wide diversity and inclusion effort led by the Lincoln Financial Group Diversity Council. Executive and advisor-level representatives provide oversight and direction for LFN’s diversity and inclusion strategy, set company-wide diversity priorities, commission diversity and inclusion task forces or action teams, and serve to link employees and all business functions. Among the programs supported by the Council is the signing of the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion and the Balanced Slate Process where each hiring manager commits to interviewing a final slate of five candidates, including at least one woman and one person of color. LFN leadership also works with internal groups of employees across Lincoln, known as Business Resource Groups (BRGs), assembled to represent a diverse constituency and identify opportunities to enhance Lincoln’s brand and market presence to consumers within that community. Most recently, representatives of LFN have partnered with Lincoln’s LGBTQ group to educate employees on the insurance and retirement products we offer to best serve the unique needs of that community. Our employees also support diversity and inclusion in partnership with Carry the Load, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing active, meaningful ways to honor and celebrate the sacrifices made by our nation’s heroes — military, law enforcement, firefighters and first responders. LFN has been actively involved with the charity for the past seven years with employees raising money and participating in the annual relay event to walk 6,000 miles to honor those who serve our country. LFN also developed and supports The WISE Group (Women Inspiring, Supporting and Educating), a grass roots organization within LFN with the mission of furthering the growth and development of women in the financial advisory industry and addressing the unique needs of female clients. WISE focuses on inspiring women to join the financial advisory industry through recruiting and development opportunities; supporting women advisors through formal mentoring programs and sharing of best practices; and educating women advisors by providing training to advance technical skills, coaching for presentations and sales meetings, and increasing overall expertise through networking opportunities to join special committees and sub-groups within the organization. Project Inspire, a WISE program, provides one-on-one mentoring across our office locations to promote next generation talent and use professional development modules to educate young people on careers in the financial services industry. To expand the impact of the mentoring program, WISE Group members follow-up and continue outreach to Project Inspire participants after the program concludes with the goal of increasing the number of women in the industry. The Group also conducts research to provide insights into female investors to increase financial planning opportunities for all advisors and to help meet the unique and changing needs of women.
T. Rowe Price Group	Asset manager	Baltimore	MD	1937	More than $200 million	The Equality Economy is proprietary research that focuses on understanding the LGBT+ community and their needs in reaching financial goals. The research examined the behaviors, growth, and investing clout of the LGBT+ community in the United States. The research was driven by PRIDE @ T. Rowe Price, a business resource group that aims to ensure all LGBT+ associates are comfortable with bringing their full selves to work every day. The group understood this was an untapped audience for advisors, and to fully understand specific sentiments about their financial goals, the group surveyed 1,300 adults age 21 and over who identified as LGBT+. All participants had a household income of at least $50,000 and investable assets of $25,000 or more. Overall, we learned that the LGBT+ community is self-reliant and is open to guidance but feels underserved. This proved to be a business opportunity, and by identifying an untapped audience, T. Rowe Price was able to provide advisors with the background necessary to engage and connect with the LGBT+ community. The research was not only a value-add component to advisors but it allowed T. Rowe Price to advance and align diversity inclusion as a business imperative. The size and buying power of the community makes it an important market for financial services. And the research helped to further identify the needs and behaviors of a new audience that could create a market impact that embeds inclusion and trust within the advisor-client relationship. Additionally, by having PRIDE @ T. Rowe Price spearhead the efforts, the methodology and research produced a tangible connection between business opportunity and the passion to better serve and represent the LGBT+ community. Link to The Equality Economy: https://www4.troweprice.com/gis/content/dam/fai/images/LGBTQ/TheEqualityEconomy.pdf
Morgan Stanley	Other	New York	New York	1935	More than $200 million	We believe that an open and inclusive culture is fundamental to our role as a global leader. Bringing together and supporting employees with different backgrounds, talents, perspectives, cultural identities and experiences helps foster a dynamic business environment that produces innovative and exceptional ideas. We demonstrate our commitment to women and ethnically diverse employees at every career stage through development, engagement and philanthropic initiatives across the Firm and in our communities where our employees live and work. Recently, we hosted our third biennial Women’s Leadership Summit gathering more than 300 of our top female Financial Advisors and Managers in an off-site setting to explore modern wealth management, leadership, technology and strategies to achieve peak performance. To share this unique experience, an impressive array of industry and non-industry professionals shared their stories. A series of workshops were also curated to deliver impactful presentations on the topics of social media, work-life-balance, resilience, and multicultural marketing. Similarly, the biennial Multicultural Leadership Summit held in March of 2017 featured ethnically diverse entrepreneurs, thought leaders, C-suite executives and industry experts who are shifting the conversation around race in financial services. Makers@ Morgan Stanley is an annual event designed to recognize and celebrate the stories of women at Morgan Stanley who are groundbreakers, innovators and advocates at the firm and in their communities. Since its founding in 2013, the Firm has recognized 89 women from over 2300 nominations from fellow employees. Our Summer and Full Time Branch Analyst Diversity Program places diverse students and recent college graduates in one of our branches located throughout the United States. We are committed to the professional development of our junior talent through programs such as our Multicultural Professional Development Series (MPDS). MPDS is intended to develop and engage junior Black and Hispanic talent through a series of engaging professional development sessions and interactions with Morgan Stanley leaders so that they may build networks that are essential for career success. Our Return to Work Program, focused on experienced hires, is a 12-week paid internship reintroducing experienced professionals to the workforce after an extended career break. Participants are placed in roles both in corporate throughout the firm and in our branch system based on their skills and interests. The Firm sponsors employee networks across all of its divisions globally that foster professional development and employee engagement through year-round programming. Finally, our internal supplier diversity database is a go-to resource for Supplier Diversity team members and Sourcing managers alike. The Firm reviews supplier diversity spend on a quarterly and annual basis to monitor spend with diverse companies. Q#2: Our focus on D&I has led to changes in the composition of our leadership team. In Wealth Management, accountability is built through the Manager Compensation Program wherein which metrics for success include diverse representation and ensuring Advisors are growing their business. also have Regional Diversity Officers; Division-specific Diversity & Inclusion Councils comprised of leaders who lend their voices to help us drive our diversity agenda.
OppenheimerFunds, Inc.	Asset manager	New York	NY	1959	More than $200 million	At OppenheimerFunds, our dedicated Diversity & Inclusion function, which is led by a Head of Diversity & Inclusion, continues to define and drive a multi-year strategy. As part of our business strategy evolution, the Senior Leadership Team, which is comprised of our Chairman and CEO and his direct reports, continue to champion efforts around the execution of our strategic initiatives geared toward increasing the diversity of our workforce, while creating a more inclusive culture. Within our business units, senior leaders have created action-oriented departmental “Diversity Business Plans” and diversity committees. A an example of how we put his into action is through our partnership with The Association of Hispanic Professionals (Prospanica), where we held a panel discussion and networking event which focused on careers in Distribution and Marketing. Additionally, our Business Resource Groups (BRGs) play an important role in the firm’s inclusion efforts by creating communities for diverse talent, while representing those demographics underrepresented at the firm. The BRGs deploy a multiculturism approach when planning networking events, on campus recruiting activities, and when defining programming with external partnerships. For example, our February 2018 FourBlock event, where we helped prepare the 20 veteran attendees for job searches (e.g., resume reviews, mock interviews, job search best practices seminars, networking opportunities, etc.) and connect them with individuals at OppenheimerFunds, served as a source of pipeline talent for veterans, those with disabilities, and for people of color. Additionally, in 2017, the firm launched a pilot “Diversity Ambassador Recruiting Program” in the Distribution area, which the organization plans to roll out more widespread in the future. This program trains a team of “diversity recruiters” on how to pitch the company to potential recruits for new roles from culturally and economically diverse institutions. The firm has developed a training program and is working on marketing material and elevator pitch speaking points. Over the past several years, OppenheimerFunds has engaged in partnerships with external organizations that are committed to advancing women and other underrepresented groups, such as Inroads (Underserved Youth), the YWCA USA (Underserved Youth), the Jackie Robinson Foundation (Black Professionals), FourBlock (Military), Girls Who Invest (Women), Women in ETFs (Women), the Blind Institute of Technology (Disabled), and Out for Business (LGBT), to serve as strategic channels into diverse talent pools. Recently, OppenheimerFunds, in partnership with YWCA, sponsored a Welcome Reception in March for women of many different cultures during the 62nd Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW62). Through our external outreach efforts, coupled with our commitment to building and nurturing an innovative, inclusive, and insightful culture for employees through targeted corporate initiatives, the firm continues to reiterate the message to employees that Diversity & Inclusion are embedded in our firm’s value system. Employee engagement has been very positive and sentiment has been very favorable in external workplace surveys, as well as our recent Employee Experience Survey, where employees answered 85% favorable to the statement “People from all backgrounds have equal opportunities to succeed” at our firm.
Financial Planning Association	Association or other industry group	Denver	CO	1973	not applicable	To many the Financial Planning Association (FPA) is known as the membership organization for financial planning professionals, which is accurate, but it is also so much more. FPA is a community of communities – bringing together financial planning professionals from all spectrums of business model, geography, client-focus, life experience, expertise, and focus. FPA seeks to help our members succeed professionally so that they can effectively and ethically serve this vast, diverse public. The public served by financial planners is so beautifully different and unique that it requires this profession be diverse and inclusive so that all may have access to a financial planning professional to thrive and prosper. FPA has always been focused on the founding principle of inclusivity, but put a stake in the ground regarding those affirmations in 2006. It was an inclusive FPA staff, paired with three innovative and visionary members, Lee Baker, Ed Gjertsen, and Trudy Turner, who began this journey. Since that time FPA has continued to incorporate diversity and inclusion throughout its DNA via diversity scholarships, summits, educational content, resources for FPA chapters, further awareness in volunteer engagement, partnerships, support of diverse members, and the FPA Diversity and Inclusion Statement. FPA strives to give individuals from diverse backgrounds and life experiences a seat at the table, because only with influence do things change. We are proud to empower diverse planners through providing access to mentors, leadership opportunities, and the ability to contribute to this Initiative and the profession in ways that are unique and meaningful to each individual. FPA is about lifting up and empowering individuals so that they have a voice, and the ability to help make change. Through diversity scholarships, FPA has provided opportunities for more than 35 individuals who are either diverse or serve diverse populations to attend an FPA conference, be paired with a “buddy” who introduces them to the community and connects them with influential professionals, a one-year FPA membership, one-year of FPA chapter meeting fees, the opportunity to volunteer with FPA (either in this area or whatever area interests them) to provide them the opportunity to share their voice and perspective, and unlimited support as they navigate FPA membership and the profession. FPA has provided scholarships to some of the leading diverse financial planners of today, and we’re proud of their accomplishments, success, and increased opportunity to share their perspective to the profession and American public. Many organizations and firms do a very good job at surveying, reporting, and making a business case for why it’s important to serve the diverse public. This has an integral role in this discussion, but sometimes people are left wondering, “now what?”. FPA’s Diversity and Inclusion Initiative is the “now what” – where diverse financial planners are given an authentic voice and unlimited opportunity.
CFP Board Center for Financial Planning	Association or other industry group	Washington	D.C.	2016	not applicable	The Center was established in 2016 to create a more diverse and sustainable financial planning profession. Since then, the Center has been working to address the lack of gender and racial diversity within the profession to ensure it can meet Americans’ increasingly diverse needs for personal financial advice. Addressing this challenge requires an understanding of why certain populations are underrepresented among financial planners. To that end, the Center engaged Fondulas Strategic Research and its partner Focus Pointe Global to conduct a comprehensive research study to identify barriers to racial and ethnic diversity in the workforce. Completed in December 2017, the study consisted of qualitative and quantitative research exploring the perceptions and attitudes of key groups, including representatives of the financial services industry, educators in financial planning, current and prospective CFP® professionals (African American, Latino and non-African American/ Latino) and consumers. Study findings have been reviewed by the Center’s Diversity Advisory Group, which was established in September 2017. Comprised of experts in diversity and inclusion, representatives from financial services firms, academics, and CFP® professionals, the Advisory Group provides critical insight and guidance for the Center’s diversity initiatives. Recommendations from the Advisory Group for addressing the challenges identified through the diversity study will be presented in a thought leadership paper that will be released publicly at the Center’s Diversity Summit in October 2018. The Summit will serve to engage stakeholders throughout the profession to commit to real action to advance diversity in the profession. The Center’s diversity study is similar to research commissioned by the Women’s Initiative (WIN) in 2014 to examine why there is low representation of women in financial planning. Findings from this research have provided the foundation for WIN outreach and programming, which includes the WIN Advocate network – a group of over 400 CFP® professionals who are encouraging young women to enter the profession, and the Center’s WIN-to-WIN Mentorship Program, which has made over 1300 on line connections between women candidates and CFP® professional mentors. The findings also inspired the Center’s “I am a CFP® Pro” campaign. Launched in April 2017, it engages and encourages young people – particularly women and people of color – to consider joining the profession. Featuring three CFP® professionals as spokespeople – Brittany Castro, Rianka Dorsainvil and Justin Sullivan – the campaign works to dispel misperceptions of the profession and highlight the benefits of financial planning careers. Social media plays a central role, with CFP® professionals sharing more than 500 personal stories about why they chose to become financial planners and what they love most about their careers using the hashtag #CFPPro. The Center is also administering two scholarship programs (The Milton Stern Scholars Fund and The Deena Jo Heide-Diesslin Foundation Scholarship) designed to assist women and people of color pursue education for CFP® certification. The Center has awarded 20 scholarships to date and recently announced two new scholarship programs (the Envestnet Scholarship and the Richard B. Wagner Memorial Scholarship), which will provide even more educational opportunities for under-represented groups in the profession.
Schwab Advisor Services	Custodian	San Francisco	CA	1971	More than $200 million	There is a significant shortage of women in the financial planning industry. According to Cerulli, women comprise 15% of the financial advisor workforce, and of that population of women, only 11% are RIAs. Recognizing the urgent need for independent firms to attract and retain top talent that reflects the diversity of their client base, Schwab Advisor Services has created programs and best practices to attract more women to the industry. Schwab Advisor Services’ RIA Internship Program is a full-time, eight-week rotational program designed to prepare high-performing juniors and seniors for employment with RIA firms. Students gain practical experience in client service, custody and trading support, portfolio construction, financial planning, and more. Interns gain a solid understanding of the RIA business and Schwab’s role as a custodian, creating a pipeline of high-quality talent for the industry. Schwab aims to achieve gender parity in the internship program and uses gender neutral language in recruiting efforts. Since 2013, 84 students have completed the internship, and 31% of the students have been women. Out of the 42% of interns who have gone on to work in the RIA industry, 43% have been female. Another 16 students (44% female) will complete the internship in summer 2018, bringing the program to a total of 100 alumni. In addition to engaging college students through the internship program, Schwab Advisor Services invites students to attend industry conferences and events. In 2017, 85 students (44% women) from 13 universities attended Schwab IMPACT® in Chicago. The students attended education sessions, networking events, and a career fair with RIA firms that were hiring for internships or full-time roles. The female students participated in the Women’s Think Tank to identify barriers to women’s advancement in the industry and brainstorm realistic solutions. Schwab invited female students to attend other industry events to gain practical knowledge and network with potential employers. Schwab Advisor Services also partners with Charles Schwab Foundation to reach college and high school students through its University Grant Program. Through one such grant, Texas Tech University hosts the week-long Financial Planning Academy to introduce high school students to careers in financial planning. Of the 74 students who have completed the camp since 2016, 46% have been female. Schwab Advisor Services works independently and with industry partners to provide best practices on recruiting women to RIA firms. Schwab’s RIA Talent Advantage® Recruitment Playbook is a comprehensive guide to building an inclusive culture. Specifically, the playbook offers tips for (1) writing job descriptions, (2) sourcing and screening candidates, (3) interviewing and selecting candidates, and (4) onboarding to successfully increase the number of women and other minorities at a firm. Schwab recently partnered with InvestmentNews to publish a white paper that offers actionable guidance on advancing women in the RIA industry. The paper offers case studies and testimonials from the Women’s Think Tank at IMPACT. Schwab also joined the CFP Board’s Diversity Advisory Group to provide expertise in the development of initiatives that will increase diversity in the financial planning profession.