This is a quick note to thank all of the attendees who came out for our WealthManagement.com Industry Awards program in late September.
The awards seek to recognize firms with specific initiatives that help financial advisors better serve their clients, be that through technology, smarter investment management, custodial services, brokerages or business-building strategies.
The turnout was fantastic. Some 400 attendees packed the ballroom of the Mandarin Oriental and we gave out close to 60 awards—in rapid order.
As our awards program evolved, we realized that the awards themselves were secondary to the real value of the event: a chance for attendees to meet, network and socialize with colleagues and friendly competitors, but also with others from completely different industries but with shared business goals of helping advisors better do their jobs.
So this year we expanded the networking and socializing opportunities around the awards dinner. We hosted four afternoon roundtable discussions in the afternoon prior to the black-tie dinner—two focused on technology and one each on marketing and asset management. We expanded the late-night networking event after the awards dinner and let guests linger in the ballroom of the Mandarin Oriental, overlooking Central Park, listening to live jazz and hopefully making connections that will bear fruit over the coming months until we do it again in 2017.
For us, we deepened our connection with the Foundation for Financial Planning and are proud to use a significant portion of the proceeds of the night’s event to support their mission and continue the good work they do providing opportunities for advisors to offer pro bono financial planning to the people most in need: military veterans and their families, victims of domestic violence, the elderly and others. As financial pressures mount on those with the fewest resources to bear them, a service like the one supported by the FFP is vital, and the effects on the lives of those touched by the advisors they work with can’t be quantified in dollars.
Thanks to all for your participation.
David Armstrong
Editor-in-Chief
