From seeking partnerships with pro football and basketball player unions to launching internships and mentorships, the new chairman of the board of the Association of African American Financial Advisors has raced through his first three months in the role.
The organization that goes by the name “Quad-A” for short
However, soon after accepting the role, Nwasike found out that he would be looking for a new executive director as well. Quad-A chose a former LPL Financial executive named Lattisha Jackson for the role, although her current title is program coordinator as she takes a self-described effort to “learn everything” about the networking and advocacy group known for its
A few months after Nwasike became Quad-A’s chairman and hired Jackson, the two of them spoke with Financial Planning Chief Correspondent Tobias Salinger about the organization’s membership levels, its plans for expansion and how fellow industry professionals can support its mission. The conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
FP: You assumed the role of chairman of Quad-A’s board at the beginning of the year after being a board member for three years and formerly the treasurer of the organization. When did you first join Quad-A, and what has motivated you to be so involved with the organization?
Nwasike: We are an organization that's about 20, 21 years old and our founder, LeCount Davis, was very deliberate in his vision for creating an ecosystem where Black or African American financial advisors could enter and thrive. Because of his work, I got my foray into the industry about just over two decades ago. And then met Quad-A in 2017, I'd say, 2018? Tish, would you say 2017 or 2018?
Jackson: I remember it was Atlanta, so I'm going to say 2018.
Nwasike: I attended a Vision conference, met Tish, met [First Vice-Chair] Rickie Taylor, [Advisory Council member] Gerald Loftin, [former Chairwoman] Lazetta Rainey Braxton, [Quad-A member] Chloé Moore, a bunch of people, and immediately was struck that I was amongst an organization of people who looked like me and were all aspiring for the same thing, which is, you know, to essentially survive in a cutthroat industry.
Still today, in 2022,
FP: What is the current level of membership at Quad-A, and what are its goals in terms of numbers of members?
Jackson: One of the benefits of becoming a corporate sponsor for our conference this year was that we did offer our corporate sponsors memberships. So those numbers are definitely going to increase. By the end of the year, I think that we should be topping around 950 to a thousand members.
Nwasike: We're looking to grow roughly about 175%, right? And so that's where that number comes from. Our strategy was actually partnering, as Tish mentioned, with corporations in the industry who are corporate members to offer their employees complimentary membership based on their corporate members.
FP: In the
Nwasike: Lazetta is someone whose leadership I distinctly admire. I think that she's way ahead of her time in terms of leadership, and she blazed the trail for many others to follow being at the helm of the organization for seven years.
One of the first things I did as chair was to revisit the vision of the business. The team and I had a retreat, and at the retreat we discussed several things. One, what is our purpose and how are we accomplishing that purpose? A second thing that we discussed was our membership and how we are responding to our members' needs, whether they're individual or corporate members.
It gave us a great opportunity to look back and say, 'What have we learned from what we did extremely well and what we need tremendous improvement from?’ From that meeting, we established a handful of goals and so I'll just kind of rattle some of them off.
We have tripled the size of our administrative team. So we've gone from one [full-time employee] to three FTEs. We gauge FTEs as 25 to 35 hours a week. We also approached our FTEs and offered them, I would say, pretty decent benefits packages, so making employment at the organization comparable to employment at a small business, just so that we can attract the right talent.
We're fortunate to have gotten some amazing people in Lattisha Jackson and Nico Caroll, who recently just joined us. We also decided that we should clearly define how we re-engage our membership in the future. So we have revisited some programming that we offer and retooled that and are now relaunching that in the next few weeks. One of the programs that we retooled and relaunched was our mentorship committee. We re-established that in January 2022 and in partnership with Cap[ital] Group/American Funds, we're launching a six-month advisor coaching program that's free to financial advisors in the industry but essentially helping them become the best versions of themselves possible.That is actually open right now and advisors can sign up and it's free to Quad-A members.
From our perspective, we needed to kind of re-engage our body where they were, which is, 'Hey, what are you guys doing for us?' And so that's one of the first things we worked on. The second thing that we heard from our general body was, 'Hey, we've been, especially the longer-tenured advisors, we've been around for a while. What are you guys going to do to help us succeed or with succession planning?'
And so we curated and are launching a NextGen Committee sponsored by [J.P. Morgan] Chase and Morgan Stanley. We are incubating seniors and juniors, actually, at some HBCUs in partnership with [internship organization] HBCU First to actually develop a cohort of about 30 next-gen talents that we will place in internships next year, but also kind of monitor their progress. So, we’re very inspired by the Year Up [non-profit workforce development organization] model and trying to see if we can emulate that in terms of ethnic diversity squarely for wealth management within Quad-A's ecosystem. For our members that were concerned about succession planning, we are incubating the next level of financial advisor that can come out and succeed their business.
The third thing that we heard is, 'How are you helping us expand our businesses, i.e., access to more clients.' We already have, on average, about 499 unique IP addresses, hitting our website, asking for access to a Black or African American advisor through our ‘
We are seeking to partner with the NFL Players Association and the NBA Players Association to show that we are the largest ethnically diverse trade association or organization with qualified advisors that they should be doing business with, with the understanding that over 80% of the players in the NBA and the NFL are Black or African American. So essentially we're saying, 'We look like you. We understand the challenges firsthand. We are qualified. Do business with us.’ A recent survey of our membership showed that upwards of 80% of our members had some level of advanced certifications.
Then we also understand that we can't go it alone. And so we have strategic partnerships with the National Association of Securities Professionals, the Association for Wholesaling Diversity, the Association of Black Estate Planning Professionals to really wrap our hands around this ecosystem, so that we can create as a team this safe space for Black or African American advisors to enter, grow, thrive and pass the business on to the next generation when they're ready.
FP: Since at least early March, Quad-A’s all-volunteer board has been considering how to replace former Executive Director Jennifer Givens after a brief tenure in the position. What updates are you able to provide on the search for a replacement?
Nwasike: We were very thoughtful about who we wanted to lean on to help us perfect the vision. It was very destabilizing. There were reflective points where I questioned my decision to lead the organization. But I always remember something that Lazetta had always said, and it was '#DoingTheWork.' That was where my inspiration came from to approach my board and say, 'Yes, guys, I understand under my watch the ED resigned. But it doesn't have to be this way. We are stronger together, and we can grow.'
My vision is to get someone that is from within our industry, has done the work, understands, has a passion for the work and will be engaged in doing the work because Lazetta is very deliberate about her work. '#DoingTheWork' is present, continuous tense, right? I'm very grateful to my colleagues on the board. They trusted me and they gave us an opportunity to really do a deep dive search.
In interviewing candidates for the position, you know, one of the critical questions that we would ask was, 'What is your definition of leadership?' And, that's where we stumbled upon Lattisha and her definition of leadership. She said leadership to her meant 'servant leadership,' and, I'll stop there and let her finish how she wowed an entire board of people. We want her or nobody else. So I'll turn it over to her.
Jackson: I have over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry. I hold my [Series] 7 and 63 licenses and spent about 13 years with LPL Financial. And prior to that, I was with the Vanguard Group. I never became a producing advisor, but I always supported advisors in just different capacities, from moving advisors from their broker-dealers to different firms to being a relationship manager, a coach for financial advisors in my territory.
With LPL, I served as the chair of the African American [Employee Resource Group]. I also served on the Diversity Council. I conceptualized and implemented at our annual conference about five or six years ago, the first lunch meeting of the African American advisors at LPL financial. So I guess you can see a theme there of my passion for this space and in my work with LPL, I came across and discovered Quad-A. I attended my first conference in 2018. That's where Christian and I were able to meet, as well as some other individuals.
It is such a wonderful and almost spiritual experience. The camaraderie, the sense of family that you have. So, I fell in love with the organization, attended the conference in 2019, as well as worked on the conference planning committee and served on several committees as well throughout the tenure. In 2020, as a result of the pandemic, I was affected with some internal layoffs with LPL. So I took that time and, during this time, did some reflecting. I wanted to be in a space where my purpose and my passion aligned and this opportunity with Quad-A presented itself.
I wanted to come in and, not having any direct experience serving in that capacity, I wanted to learn everything. I wanted to learn from the ground up, you know, what do our coordinators do? How does the board work? I'm getting certification in nonprofit work because I really, really take this opportunity very seriously because I have such love and respect for our founder, being the first African American CFP and his vision for others to follow behind him. I think the theme last year was 'standing on the shoulders of giants,' and that's what we're doing.
So we have to basically take those sacrifices and those things that they accomplished and just take them to the next level. We have a timeframe for that to happen. I'm sure my predecessor can account to the fact that it's a heavy load, it's a heavy lift to do this work. It really is. But I am equipped with the background knowledge. I speak the language with the advisors. I've worked with advisors and with my previous work with Quad-A, it just seemed to be an almost perfect fit for me to come in and help the association with the future goals that we've set in place.
Nwasike: You hear now why, when she said 'servant leadership' and we said, 'help us understand what that is.' And she says, 'I want to start at the lowest levels in the organization, and I want to work my way to the top. And not only that, when you are ready to have me become an executive director, open the role. I want to compete with other people.' And so I'm sitting here and I'm like, 'This is confidence.' We would be remiss if we didn't take an opportunity to really explore what that definition of servant leadership looks like. And she's been on board about four weeks.
FP: Many large wealth managers sponsor Quad-A’s annual Vision Conference and other programming. This is a question that really should involve the entire industry, and I know that it really doesn’t have an easy answer: how do you balance the need for strong industry support of Quad-A’s mission against the need to hold firms accountable for their conduct toward Black professionals and clients and the financial services’ larger legacy of blocking access?
Nwasike: One of the goals of the vision of Quad-A was to create this thriving ecosystem. And I told you that we heard from our members asking three critical questions, and we've answered them in our work. But I want to come back to one of the conversations that we had on our board retreat, where we were actually revisiting the vision of the organization. The board agreed that our focus should be on bridging the economic wealth gap between Black and white America. And my challenge to my colleagues on the board, it was, can we do that in one generation by leveraging black or African American financial advisors?
Now there is
I think now it's really time for us now to work together as a coalition toward a bigger goal of creating economic sustainability for every ethnic demographic, then we can all thrive, and not worry that my colleagues who are white make
I mentioned our goal of partnering with the NFLPA. Eighty-eight percent of the players in the NFL are Black or African American, yet, when you look at the roster of financial advisors that have access to the NFLPA, 95% of them are white firms because the barrier to entry is high. And so we're reaching out to the NFLPA saying, 'Hey guys, if you understand the economics of it and you lower the barrier to entry, we have just as qualified, if not more, advisors that can manage the wealth of the same demographic that look like us that play ball. Same with the NBA. And same with the MLS and same with the MLB, right? We're making our way into the NHL, but we're in NASCAR. We're just asking for people to partner with us to help us elevate our community because we are the first line of economic sense as it relates to retail wealth and the Black community in America.
Jackson: If we execute on what Christian just said, then a lot of those advisors and planners and financial services people can then be successful in maybe independent practices. So those that have been denied entry in corporate America can then build thriving businesses that then can employ and elevate themselves.
FP: How can financial advisors, wealth management firms and other industry professionals get involved in supporting and engaging with Quad-A’s work?
Nwasike: Watch [Andy Sieg,] president of Merrill Lynch. Watch what he's done with Mother Merrill, the Thundering Herd, watch how he's engaged Quad-A at our conference every year, having his own session with his own team. I mean, he cares.
So the firms that are thinking about how they can engage, first off, take some time to reach out to Andy and see how he's engaged with Quad-A and maybe take a page out of his playbook in terms of how he engages. He shows up at our conference every year. That's a big deal. That's leadership. Other firms that are following suit very closely are Chase and Chase Wealth Management, T. Rowe Price, Morgan Stanley, obviously Fidelity as well, Raymond James, and I mean, there are a host of others. But Merrill's definitely leading that space.
The other thing that I would say firms could or should consider doing is, we are getting ready to launch the largest scholarship endowment in our history in the name of LeCount and Jewel Davis to bring in new talent into the industry. And we could use help fundraising because we want this to be deliberate and sizable as we look to bridge this racial wealth gap. Mr. Davis, as our founder, is honored, and Jewel feels the same way. And so we definitely are looking for partners. We're just asking that other firms and organizations: don't take our idea. Just partner with us so that we can lift, we can elevate.
Jackson: The third thing I would suggest is, become a member. You don't have to be African American to become a member of Quad-A, so become a corporate sponsor. If you can't become a corporate sponsor, donate. To start, you know, become a member. If you want to even sponsor some of your employees to become members, go to our website and look at our membership.
We have different levels for students. Sponsor students at a local university to get involved so they can benefit from the webinars and the meetups and the scholarships and the mentorship program that we're launching later this year. So from students to affiliates, to an advisory member, join us. Help us increase the membership. Help us, then, to increase the funds so that we can expand our reach. So those are the best ways that you can get involved. Take notes from other corporations and leaders like Merrill. Donate so that we can create scholarships to increase the number of students available to get into this financial planning industry.
Nwasike: We mentioned Chase leading our NextGen talent initiative. We mentioned Capital Group leading our advisor training. Take pages out of those organizations. [Carson Group Managing Partner of Wealth Solutions] Jamie Hopkins, the man is another gentleman that I uber-ly respect. If I could just make that word up, uber-ly. I respect him very bigly. Jamie came alongside the organization, supported the [Quad-A] Foundation, has radically transformed its look, its feel, engagement. He's reached out several times asking how he can help. What a guy, just what a leader, you know? People like that really make me feel good about doing the work of elevating.
