LPL Financial Shares in the Vision, a Conference to Align the African American Advisor Community

To further LPL Financial’s commitment to embrace diversity and create a culture of inclusion—both for advisors and employees—two of the firm’s Diversity and Inclusion leaders attended the Association of African American Financial Advisors (Quad A) annual Vision Conference Sept. 9 to 11 in Atlanta. Now in its fourth year, the conference provides networking and learning opportunities for African American advisors across the nation.

LPL Assistant Vice Presidents Lauren Taylor and Theo Bowling, along with Jeff Ferguson, senior vice president, Business Consulting, and Lattisha Jackson, chair of the African American Employee Resource Group, took the opportunity to make impactful connections with others in our industry. “Diverse advisors want to know they’re not alone. They want to hear others’ success stories and talk with someone who’s had similar challenges and experiences so they can grow their business,” said Taylor, LPL Diversity & Inclusion advisor programming. “These advisors want to build a supportive network and hear ideas on how they can enhance their practice, and LPL can help with that.”

As Taylor works to increase awareness for LPL’s advisor Diversity and Inclusion programming and deepen the offering, she said talking to financial professionals about what brought them into the industry and what has impacted their success are insights that matter. Those insights enable LPL and the industry to better support advisors based on their varying experiences and needs. In fact, it’s that kind of understanding that led the firm to launch its annual Women Advisors Leaders Forum in 2016 and to develop a similar forum for African American LPL advisors in the future.

“This conference really reinforced the importance of community and connectivity, and how these elements are a foundation for impacting business growth with diverse advisor groups,” Taylor said. “Hopefully it will also help diversify and build the pipeline for the next generation of advisors to come into the industry.”

Bowling, a member of LPL’s Employee Diversity and Inclusion team, appreciated being able to build connections with the Quad A mission team and identify volunteer opportunities for LPL employees to take advantage of the annual 16 hours of Volunteer Time Off provided. He said the Quad A platform and resources will add value to the firm’s programming for employees, further positioning LPL to be able to attract and retain a culturally diverse workforce.

“LPL’s entire Diversity and Inclusion mission is thriving,” Bowling said. “This was another valuable experience that enabled us to gain and share important insights to make more positive impact on these communities, our firm and the industry.”

LPL Financial and Association of African American Financial Advisors are separate entities.

Related Links

• Diversity and Inclusion at LPL
• LPL Advisors Discuss How Diversity Helps Drive Growth