CFP Board CEO Keller sets retirement date for spring 2026

The head of the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards plans to retire in spring 2026 after nearly two decades at the standard-setting organization.

The CFP Board — which provides its marks to advisors who meet certain educational, experience and conduct standards — announced Thursday that its longtime CEO Kevin Keller will step down on April 30, 2026. Since joining the CFP Board in 2007, Keller has overseen a vast increase in the number of financial planners holding the CFP certification, generally considered the gold standard in the industry.

Roughly 103,000 planners held a CFP mark at the group's last count — nearly double the number who did when Keller started. And a record number of candidates, 10,400, sat for its exam in 2024. 

Keller also oversaw various media campaigns meant to make sure a broader swath of the public was familiar with the CFP certification and the distinctions it confers. The CFP Board ran a TV ad during the 2016 World Series and has released spots in recent years striking a humorous note and using the catchphrase, "It's gotta be a CFP."

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The organization credits Keller for overseeing the relocation of its headquarters from Denver to Washington, D.C. and the establishment of the Center for Financial Planning, which seeks to increase the number of women and minorities who are CFP holders. Additionally under Keller, the CFP Board has awarded more than $2 million in scholarships for candidates seeking its marks and set up a nonprofit group that lets the board advertise the various advantages to holding a CFP mark.

Liz Miller, chair of the CFP Board's board of directors, credited Keller with transforming the CFP Board and the financial planning profession itself.

"Under his stewardship, CFP Board has achieved unprecedented growth and awareness while elevating the standards of the financial planning profession," Miller said in a statement. "The organization is well-positioned for its next chapter of leadership and continued success."

There have been a few rough patches, however. The Wall Street Journal published an article in 2019 taking the CFP Board to task for not listing customer complaints or regulatory run-ins on a website it set up to connect clients with CFP holders. The board responded by taking steps including conducting thorough background checks of certificate holders, overhauling its sanctions and enforcement policies and providing greater detail in releases about its disciplinary decisions.

The CFP Board also embarked last year on a poorly received ad campaign meant in part to attract young people to the profession by suggesting it would let them set their own hours. Critics, though, thought the spots raised unrealistic expectations and implied planners were not committed to hard work. The CFP Board responded quickly to the complaints with revised versions of the ads.

The nonprofit organization's board of directors said it has set up a search committee and plans to engage an executive search firm to find Keller's successor. It said it will consider internal candidates and conduct a national search.

"CFP Board is stronger than ever, with robust leadership, clear strategic direction and momentum that will carry the organization forward," Keller said in a statement. "I am confident that the Board of Directors will select a successor who will lead CFP Board to even greater heights."