Ex-LPL advisor diversity chief launches firm to advance women

A former LPL Financial and TIAA executive started her own consulting firm aimed at advancing women among wealth managers and in other STEM industries.

Kathleen Zemaitis, LPL’s former head of advisor diversity and inclusion, launched Z Inclusion Consulting last month. In her roughly 10 years with No. 1 independent broker-dealer, Zemaitis helped lead a ramp-up of the firm’s efforts to increase representation of Black, Latino, other minority advisors and women.

Noting that the new firm’s mission is to boost “all communities of women,” including BIPOC, LGBTQ and veteran individuals, Zemaitis describes her primary target clients as “firms in homogenous industries and male executives.”

“Too often gender inequity has been a burden for the women's communities,” she says. “Our male colleagues may feel that their best path has been a passive stance. And in today's environment, that's not valuable.”

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During Zemaitis’ tenure with LPL, the firm started an Advisor Inclusion Council and business committees for advisors of diverse backgrounds and allies to share best practices and develop culturally relevant marketing. Lauren Taylor, who also coordinated the new programs, succeeded Zemaitis as LPL’s head of advisor diversity and inclusion.

Financial advisor Denika Tokunaga of Fulton, Maryland-based Maven Wealth Management praises Zemaitis as instrumental in LPL’s efforts. A new member of the inclusion council, Tokunaga says she was surprised and “really proud of LPL” for the way it “sprang into action” with training events, community service and an observance of Juneteenth this past summer.

“When I came to LPL, I had no idea what their stance was going to be,” says Togunaga, who affiliated with LPL in 2014 after six years with Merrill Lynch. “I've seen such significant progress in the time that I've been with LPL.”

Still, the wealth management industry has a ways to go if it will come close to reflecting the country’s population demographics. Fewer than a quarter of CFPs are women and less than 4% are Black or Latino, according to the CFP Board. Transparency is an issue as well: LPL is also one of many large wealth managers that don’t disclose data about the racial makeup of its advisor force.

Such metrics bring context and accountability to firms’ trying to boost their representation of BIPOC advisors and women, according to Zemaitis. Still, she notes, there are challenges with ensuring that the data is correct, as well as potential public fallout from such stark figures.

“Firms in all sectors are leaning in to being more transparent, which can be a bit unnerving,” Zemaitis says. “It will take leadership from firms within all STEM communities to fight for that data on behalf of their industry.”

Prospective clients of Z Inclusion range from individual advisors and entrepreneurs to large organizations, according to Zemaitis. The work starts with owning up to the problems and listening to advisors, employees and clients, she says.

“The need to make positive change in underrepresented communities has never been more important,” Zemaitis says. “If they are not equipped as inclusive leaders to create meaningful systemic change, they'll find themselves in difficult territory.”