INVEST IN WOMEN | WOMEN IN PLANNING
Women Are Changing The Face Of Advisory Firms
These amazing women have helped break through the glass ceiling in the industry . By Stacey McKinnon
IN 2018 , I ATTENDED MY FIRST INDUSTRY CONFERENCE AS a newly minted COO . I showed up at the Ritz-Carlton Dana Point with a bounce in my step and a modern red dress , excited about how the conference would help me learn and grow . But as I walked into the main conference room , I suddenly felt out of place . Looking around the room , all I saw were 80 black and blue suits with no women in sight .
I sheepishly found a table to sit at , regretting my dress selection and thinking to myself , “ Do I even belong here ?” As the sessions started , I took another look around the room and counted three other women in attendance . Maybe it was naivety , or maybe I ’ m an idealist , but I did not expect women to be “ missing ” from the executive list . Still , in that moment , I felt the importance of my presence , decided to sit tall in my seat , and owned the fact that I was at the table in a room full of men and therefore was going to be part of the change .
Fast-forward to my first speaking engagement at Bob Veres ’ s Insider ’ s Forum in 2019 , where I presented to a room of mostly female operations managers and COOs on building an operations team . The environment by this point had changed , or at least I thought it had . After the session , I was flooded with questions like , “ How do you get the men on your leadership team to respect you ?” or , “ In my role as a COO , I am treated like a glorified secretary , but I have good ideas that are going unheard . What should I do ?”
It was heartbreaking , but also a little hopeful . Just a year before , I was at a conference with almost no women ; now , there were women showing up . We just needed their voices to be amplified and respected . But I kept asking myself , “ How were we going to influence that change ?”
Today , I know the answer to that question — it happens with representation . Thinking back on the last five years , my level
MARCH 2024 | FINANCIAL ADVISOR MAGAZINE | 35