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Women Working in Everything
Every day, I am inspired by the women in my life. I grew up with four sisters and no brothers. My mother was my first best friend. My wife of nearly 40 years is my forever best friend. Together, we raised our two daughters with the foundation and the faith to become strong, independent women (and raised our son to respect strong, independent women). In celebration of Women’s History Month, I believe all of us—men included—can honor the women in our lives and the women in American history by supporting the positive trajectory women are taking toward a better future. Or at a minimum, by not blocking it.
Allow me to explain. Before I became the first Black president and CEO of The American College of Financial Services, I was the first Black insurance commissioner in Kentucky, the first Black president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, and the first Black person elected to New York Life’s executive management committee. When I see a woman shatter a glass ceiling, I see familiar challenges and opportunities reflected in the glass.
When I see a woman shatter a glass ceiling, I see familiar challenges and opportunities reflected in the glass.
Although our stories and our breakthroughs differ, I know firsthand what it’s like to be the “first.” But as my family name would imply (I’m the “third”), and as anyone who has been a first may tell you, we also have a keen awareness of those who came before us. And we hold a special sense of hope for whoever will come next. The first is never the only.
So when I see a woman on the path to becoming a first, I feel the least I can do is move over and let her enter traffic at her own best pace—fueled by her God-given talents, her personal drive, and her applied knowledge. Nothing should stop her.
Now I have to ask: Who or what is stopping women from entering the financial services profession? According to the latest US Census Bureau data, women make up just over 50% of the population; yet less than a third (31%) of financial advisors are women. The fact that the profession is so disproportionate seems like something’s blocking the onramp. This is why The American College Center for Women in Financial Services exists: to promote gender parity in the profession through education, research, and networking. The Center facilitates a community known as Women Working in WealthSM, which is also the name of the Center’s newsletter.
This is why The American College Center for Women in Financial Services exists: to promote gender parity in the profession through education, research, and networking.
As a brother, son, best friend, husband, father, and professional, I support women working in all disciplines; but—as an empathetic “first”—I have a special place in my heart for the women who are working in arenas that may be considered “male-dominated.” Women Working in [Construction, Engineering, IT, and Wealth], I see you!
And someone we all see lately is the contemporary basketball great, Caitlin Clark of Iowa. On February 15, Clark surpassed the NCAA Division I women’s record set by Kelsey Plum in 2017. On February 28, Clark became the top-scoring women’s basketball player, breaking the unofficial record held by Lynette Woodard of Kansas since 1981. Clark’s accomplishment also shined a spotlight on the lesser-known women’s basketball player Pearl Moore, whose all-time record set in 1979 is still higher than Clark’s but not included for comparison because it occurred at Francis Marion College, which is not NCAA Division I. What a wonderful phenomenon when the excellence of one player shines a light on another!
This month, on March 3, Clark set the all-time NCAA Division I scoring record, breaking the record set by men’s basketball player Pete Maravich of LSU in 1970. In that moment, Clark marked a spot in basketball history—not only women’s basketball history. Clark’s greatness as a player is a story of human potential, both for women and men. What a great example of where women are headed in all arenas!
In the final moments of the postgame press conference that followed, a reporter asked:
“You have now scored more points than anyone who has ever played [NCAA] Division I men’s or women’s basketball. As much as you say that record isn’t what you’re thinking about, when you hear it like that, is that going to hit you at some point?”
Clark’s answer:
“Oh, for sure. It's really crazy to think about. Honestly, if you would have told me that before my college career started, I would have laughed in your face and been like, ‘No, you're insane.’
I've always been able to score the ball, but I don’t think people really understand how many amazing players have come before me and been able to score the ball and do it at such a high rate and do it for teams that are really, really good.
And just to be in the same realm of all these players that have been so successful, whether it's Pete [Maravich] or whether it's Kelsey Plum or Lynette Woodard—all these people have just given so much to the game.
Hopefully somebody comes after me and breaks my records and I can be there supporting them. And that's what makes the game of basketball so fun.
But yeah, it'll definitely hit me at some point. Thanks.”
I can’t think of a better way to close out this blog—or this Women’s History Month in March of 2024—than to reiterate Clark’s hope for the future: “Hopefully somebody comes after me and breaks my records and I can be there supporting them.”
Whether you are breaking glass ceilings or breaking records (assets under management, revenue, or hours of CE!); whether you are playing in one division or another (wealth management, retirement, life insurance, tax planning); whether you are new to the game or at the top of your game—The College and I support you on your path to make history.
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Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Insights
Scholar Appreciation
This message has been included with the scholar’s approval. A Center for Military and Veterans Affairs Alumna Heather Caral, military spouse of U.S. Navy Active Duty, expresses her gratitude to the Center for Military and Veterans Affairs upon completion of the ChFC® program:
I wanted to take a moment to express my heartfelt gratitude for the Center’s guidance and unwavering support throughout the two years of the ChFC® program at The American College of Financial Services. I truly appreciate the impact it has had on both my professional and personal growth.
The scholarship backed by donors from the program made me feel like I had a community cheering me on every step of the way.
The accomplishment I've achieved means a great deal to me, and I am optimistic about the opportunities that the future holds. Thank you for believing in me.
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Robert Moldoff Appointed Chief Information Officer at The American College of Financial Services
KING OF PRUSSIA, PA – March 12, 2024 – The American College of Financial Services announced that Robert Moldoff has been named as Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer. In this role, Moldoff will be responsible for aligning technology strategy and operations to support The College’s Strategic Plan and vision.
"Bob's leadership and integrity, coupled with his expertise in information technology make him the perfect leader to continue to elevate and innovate information technology at The College,” said George Nichols III, CAP®, president and CEO of The American College of Financial Services. “We look forward to continuing to ensure our IT is at the forefront for higher education and the financial services professionals we serve.”
Moldoff comes to The College with over 30 years’ experience creating and leading information technology (IT) strategy, enterprise application development, IT operations, and cybersecurity. Throughout his career, he has worked as a strategic partner and trusted advisor to executive leadership, guiding design and implementation of complex technology systems.
“I look forward to working with my colleagues at The College to forward the mission of uplifting the financial services profession and society,” said Moldoff. “Technology is at the core of how we deliver value to our students and alumni, and I’m excited to continue to innovate and collaborate to support the systems that deliver our offerings.”
Prior to joining The College, Moldoff served as Chief Information Officer at CGFNS International, Inc., a non-profit serving the global healthcare market with comprehensive credentialing and assessment products. In that role, he had overall responsibility for all technology strategy, application development, security, and information technology operations. Before that, Moldoff was Director of Technology at 4R Systems, Inc., a market leader in retail inventory profit optimization. There, he managed the development, production operations, and cloud migration of large-scale analytical database systems. He also spent over 20 years in different technology roles at SCT and SunGard managing the development, implementation, and support of administrative technology solutions for non-profit higher education institutions.
Moldoff has an Executive Master of Business degree from the Fox School of Business of Temple University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Systems from Widener University. He served for nine years in the U.S. Coast Guard and is a Life Member of the Disabled American Veterans.
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ABOUT THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF FINANCIAL SERVICES
Founded in 1927, The American College of Financial Services is the nation’s largest nonprofit educational institution devoted to financial services professionals. Holding the highest level of academic accreditation, The College has educated over 200,000 professionals across the United States through certificate, designation, and graduate degree programs. Its portfolio of applied knowledge also includes just-in-time learning and consumer financial education programs. The College’s faculty represents some of the foremost thought leaders in the financial services industry. Visit TheAmericanCollege.edu and connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Discover all the ways you can expand your opportunities with us.
Contact:
Sarah Tremallo
908-967-0381 / stremallo@jconnelly.com
Lindsey Allumbaugh
678-643-1310 / lindsey.allumbaugh@theamericancollege.edu
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2024 Center for Military and Veterans Affairs Initiatives
2024 Center for Military and Veterans Affairs Initiatives
With a successful 2023 behind them, the Center for Military and Veterans Affairs is looking forward to advancing its strategic priorities and initiatives in 2024.
First, the Center will be focused on engaging more individual donors and corporate and foundation partners to advance its mission of providing scholarships to active duty, guard, reserve members, veterans, and their spouses.
The Center will continue to award scholarships for the Wealth Management Certification Program® (WMCP®) focused on transitioning personnel to the civilian sector or into financial services and its cohort program to aid in its scholars’ success.
The Center will work to host future Military Resource Group (MRG) webinars and provide educational and professional development opportunities for its scholars and MRG members at both events for the Center and The American College of Financial Services. In 2023, the Center developed a Military Consumer Financial Education Program through partnerships with military financial educational foundations and this year will work to increase participating companies.
Offers
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FinServe Ambassador Champions the Power of Independent Advisors
Along with his wife (Kennah) and two other partners (Warren and Jennifer), Parham runs Innovative Wealth Building (IWB), an RIA firm headquartered in California, MD, but with a reach that spreads across the country. It’s a successful business that operates alongside many of the giants in the financial services industry – a fact that always pushes RIAs to continually seek new ways to grow and scale. The journey between these two worlds is one that Parham himself has navigated.
“When I went to college, I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up,” he says. “I was lucky enough to land an internship at Northwestern Mutual when I was 20 and as those summer days just flew by, I realized this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”
After his experience with a large national firm like Northwestern, Parham’s professional career started out a bit smaller as a financial advisor for First Command, a boutique firm mostly serving the military community. He was eventually promoted to district manager and associate director of training, helping to welcome many other new advisors to the field, before deciding to take a leap over to Prudential, one of the largest firms in the industry.
“Working at Prudential really opened my eyes to what was out there,” he says. “At my previous company, I hadn’t gotten much of a chance to experience life outside of the fishbowl. During my time at Prudential, I learned a lot more about the industry and the vastness of the opportunities that I wasn’t even aware of. I also began engaging in more complex planning with high-net-worth clients, something I’d never gotten to do before, and I wanted more of that.”
Independence in Practice
Once his contract with Prudential was up, Parham decided to make another leap: from the corporate world to the field of independent advising. This was the genesis of IWB.
“After almost 10 years in the industry, I knew what I liked and what I didn’t like, and I knew that I could use those ideas combined with my strengths to build a financial planning utopia for my clients,” he says.
“When you’re independent, you can do what you think and know is best for your clients. Instead of having to keep your opinions to yourself and toe the company line, you’re free to chart your own path.”
The transition to independence, as Parham describes it, broke down into three core promises to the clients he worked with: better investment services, better technology, and lower fees. The first two sprung from his newfound freedom as an independent advisor to make the decisions he felt were right for himself and those he served, and the last was made possible by the lack of overhead that larger companies have to factor into their service models. While the process of building the new firm was a multi-year endeavor, he says he noticed the difference right away – as did many of his clients.
“The first sign that we were moving in a good direction was that by the time we had finished transitioning all our clients over to IWB, many of them were already recommending us to other people,” he says. “When we first started, we didn’t even have a website. Now, we get requests through it for new client introductions multiple times a week.”
However, Parham also isn’t shy about the challenges that independence brings – including a massive amount of decision-making that can sometimes be overwhelming.
“When you’re independent, you don’t have a parent company to fall back on. If things aren’t excellent, nobody’s on the hook for that but you,” he says. “It’s a big world with a lot of choices, and if you’re not careful, you can fall victim to decision fatigue. It’s like birthday shopping for a significant other: there are so many options out there, but how do you decide on the best one?”
The Armor of Knowledge
In the midst of all these choices, however, Parham says one thing has helped keep him on course: the education he received from The American College of Financial Services.
“Being an RIA instead of working for a broker-dealer is like swimming in the ocean as opposed to a pool. It can be lonely, and there may even be sharks in the water. Working with The College has shown me there are lots of people out there just like me, and has allowed me to collaborate with others in ways that have proved to be mutually beneficial for all parties.”
Parham says that he was initially self-taught when joining the industry, but began his learning journey with The College through its CFP® Certification Education Program to earn the coveted industry-standard mark. From there, he took advantage of The College’s interconnected programming to branch out to the Chartered Life Underwriter® (CLU®), Chartered Financial Consultant® (ChFC®) and Wealth Management Certified Professional® (WMCP®) designations.
“The College’s education has been like body armor for me,” he says. “The WMCP® especially gave me the knowledge and confidence to work with more up-market clients and higher-net-worth individuals I’d never spoken with before, and I’ll absolutely be a lifelong learner.”
One of Parham’s more recent acquisitions is the Retirement Income Certified Professional® (RICP®) designation, which he says has helped him focus on the critical needs of clients at or nearing retirement, including Society Security claiming, long-term care and longevity risk, asset management, and wealth transfer. However, it’s also given the tools to approach another pool of clients as well–those who may be young, but are already looking to set themselves up for the future.
“A portion of my clients are from the West Coast and the Los Angeles area–people in their 20s and 30s who may be high earners but not rich yet–and many of them don’t know that small steps today can reap big benefits for tomorrow,” he says. “Almost everyone wants to retire, and even people who don’t think they’ll be able to will usually jump at the chance if you show them it’s possible and what to do about it. The difference between having a $900,000 nest egg and having maybe more than $3 million in the bank can sometimes be as simple as a few small adjustments–and that’s the knowledge the RICP® has given me.”
Maintaining RIA Excellence in a Changing World
Building and running an independent practice is a lot of hard work, Parham admits–but when asked if he ever second-guesses his decision, his answer is a definitive no.
“Going RIA has led to an almost unbelievable improvement in my career and in my life,” he says. “If you do it right and prepare for it properly, you’re going to wonder how you lived without it. People ask me if the grass is greener on this side of the fence, and I sometimes tell them that if you go RIA, you might realize you didn’t even have any grass on the other side to begin with.”
Parham compares the business of running an independent practice with the idea of owning a home as opposed to renting one: when renting, you might not have to be as focused on all the things to do, but owning comes with a greater sense of pride along with the responsibility. He does acknowledge, though, that further change and evolution is needed both in the profession and in society.
“The RIA space is probably less diverse than the broker-dealer world, and our industry as a whole isn’t as diverse as many others,” he says. “When you look at the wealth distribution in America and the types of people who generally hold the wealth, you get a sense of why that might be, but it’s not just that; many aspects of the industry just aren’t meant to cater to certain populations who may want to get into it.”
Parham cites paid family leave as one such policy, as many companies in the financial services industry still may not offer it to their employees–especially working mothers.
“We’ve made some progress, but overall financial advising as a profession isn’t set up to accommodate many people’s lives and circumstances. As a result, the financial services industry tends to have a very high rate of attrition. We need to rewrite the rules, and that’s where the RIA space comes in. Here, I can be more flexible and do things that I believe are the best practices to attract and retain diverse talent. I can really be a part of the change.”
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Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Insights
Cohen Veterans Network
Cohen Veterans Network (CVN) was founded by philanthropist Steven A. Cohen, who made a $275M commitment to launch a network of mental health clinics in April of 2016 to serve veterans and families. CVN’s focus today is on post-9/11 veterans, active duty, and families. These areas of focus represent a concerted effort to get ahead of transitional challenges before they become chronic or acute. Each Cohen Clinic assesses veterans based on their specific needs and makes every effort to see pre-9/11 veterans based on clinician availability.
Cohen Veterans Network is a national network of mental health clinics that serves post-9/11 veterans, active duty service members (with a TRICARE referral) including National Guard and Reserves, and military family members. There is no cost for care for those without insurance and the ability to pay will never be a barrier to care at CVN clinics.1
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