In this episode, Jamie Hopkins and Ana Trujillo Limon talk with Kate Healy, former Managing Director of Generation Next at TD Ameritrade Institutional.
Kate spearheaded diversity and inclusion (D&I) campaigns at TD to create a welcoming workplace for the next generation of advisors and their clients. She was also named “Woman of the Year” by various leading news outlets because of her advocacy, raising awareness about workplace issues, and bringing financial planning to many more people.
Kate talks with Jamie and Ana about upholding a client-first focus in financial advising, bringing flexibility in the workplace to cater to diverse talents, and utilizing metrics in elevating diversity and inclusion campaigns.
Key Takeaways
- How Kate grew her interest in finance.
- Why Kate chose not to practice as a CFP.
- How financial advisors should cater to every client decision.
- The increasing acceptance of diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
- Utilizing metrics to evaluate progress in diversity campaigns.
- Why diversity awareness isn’t just the task of HR.
- How to elevate D&I awareness in the recruitment process.
- Why create more flexibility for the minorities?
- The need for building pipelines inside firms to cater to diverse talents.
- How the shift to remote work affected firms.
- Why the client-first focus is so important.
“One of the reasons I love this career is because there’s lifelong learning. And in the D&I space it’s magnified. We just don’t know what we don’t know yet. As you peel back this onion, every time I go somewhere, I’m just learning more things that I didn’t know.” – Kate Healy
“As long as you’re starting now, you’re going to see progress. And that’s what’s important—being intentional and starting that progress. And, we all have a lot to grow into and hopefully, we’re going to get there and we’re going to keep the focus on creating a more diverse, sustainable, equitable industry.” – Kate Healy