After two years as a virtual event, the industry's largest gathering of Black financial advisors is back in person with hundreds more attendees than before the pandemic.
The Association of African American Financial Advisors, which often goes by the nickname of "Quad-A," drew more than 450 registered guests and 20 corporate sponsors to its Vision conference in Atlanta, Chairman Christian Nwasike said in his opening remarks Tuesday morning. The numbers rose from 253 guests at the last in-person Vision gathering in 2019 in Detroit. Nwasike, an advisor coach who
With a roll call of big industry names among sponsors including J.P. Morgan Chase, UBS, Bank of America's Merrill, LPL Financial and others, Quad-A's event reflects a growing focus among giant wealth managers on hiring and supporting more Black advisors. Because
"If you feel the tug in your heart and you want to serve your fellow brothers and sisters in wealth management and financial services, we ask you to sign up for any committee that you think can leverage your talents, because we are growing," Nwasike told the group at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Downtown Atlanta.
With a theme of being "reunited" after the pandemic forced the closure of live events over two years, the conference's programming started a day earlier. Organizers held a career fair for nearly three dozen students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities and a book signing by Quad-A founder LeCount Davis and his wife, Jewel Waller Davis. In a notable contrast
"I've seen the growth and development in Quad-A, and it's an organization that represents all of us," said Keith Henry, the regional director of J.P. Morgan Advisors' New York office. "When we come together, especially at this conference, we're coming together for something bigger than ourselves."
Quad-A board members Rickie Taylor and Alleson Tate kicked off the first day of panels with their own stories of joining the organization a few years earlier. Sent to the Vision event by a white supervisor six years ago, Taylor said he didn't know what to expect. Then he met longtime LPL Financial advisor Lee Bethel, former Quad-A officers Lazetta Rainey Braxton, Gerald Loftin and James Brewer and fellow member Rianka Dorsainvil.
"What I quickly learned in about 27 seconds is, this isn't your normal conference," said Taylor, a product wholesaler who is a regional director with Retirement Plan Consultants. "Every single person that I met, number one, was excited to talk to me even though they had no idea who I was. They just saw another brown face. But I'm here. They're about their business, about giving back."
Tate, who launched Atlanta-based Avere Wealth Management last year after a decade with Goldman Sachs' Ayco Personal Financial Management, credited the organization for driving her to reach new milestones in her career. She attended her first Quad-A conference in 2019.
"At that time, I had been in the financial services industry as a client-facing advisor for about nine years, but I did not have the CFP credential," Tate said. "The room was filled with all of this excellence, all of these Black CFPs. And I was so proud. My first takeaway was, don't come back to this conference without those credentials."
The members' dedication to lifting the next generation of Black advisors showed up vividly at the career fair. College juniors and seniors spoke with representatives from firms such as Wells Fargo, RBC, Raymond James, Commonwealth Financial Network, Edward Jones and roughly a half dozen other well known companies in the industry. Quad-A provided transportation to the event and invited the students to attend it throughout the week while encouraging members to introduce themselves to the youngsters.
"We're a bridge to these faceless, intimidating firms," said Araya Mesfin, the co-chairman of Quad-A's corporate partnerships and a UBS advisor with Atlanta-based practice Mesfin Johnson & Grace Wealth Management. "We let them know that these firms are welcoming to you."
