Deborah Kent
At Money Management’s Women in Financial Services Awards held last night in Sydney, Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) Treasurer and immediate Past President, Deborah Kent, was recognised as the pre-eminent woman in financial services, winning the prestigious Woman of the Year Award (the Award).
In accepting the Award, Ms Kent encouraged women to put their hands up for financial services awards, leadership roles and board positions. “We see so many finalists in many awards, who have gone on to do great things,” she said. “Put yourself up for an award, because it will take you out of your comfort zone and every time you do, you become more comfortable.”
She added, “Women are now standing up and being heard. We need more women in leadership roles, we need more women on boards. Every woman can do what she wants to do, you just have to believe in yourself, step up, and step out of your comfort zone, have resilience and be who you are. Because you are all exceptional.”
Ms Kent began working in advice in 1988 in the bank aligned model. In 1996 she founded Integra Financial Services in Parramatta which has been at the forefront of leading consumer trends in fee transparency and providing fee-for-service advice. Integra was recently admitted into The Most Trusted Adviser Group, a point of distinction awarded by leading research business, the Beddoes Institute.
While building her business Deborah has been a long serving advocate for financial advice, giving back to the profession she strongly believes can make a huge difference to the lives of all Australians. She has spent 16 years on various committees within the profession including the Financial Planning Association (FPA) where she served on their Parramatta and Sydney Chapter, National Education Committee and as Chair of Continuing Education. In 2004 she was awarded the FPA’s Distinguished Service Award.
Deborah has served as NSW State Director on the board of the Authorised Representative Association (ARA). She has been a Board Member with the Western Sydney Business Connection for 11 years, serving three of those as President, the first woman to serve in this role. In 2010, while maintaining her FPA membership, she joined the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA). In 2012 she was a finalist in the AFA Female Excellence in Advice Award.
Deborah is particularly passionate about increasing the number of women in financial advice to address the existing imbalance in the profession and to provide great advice to more Australians. In 2013, with the AFA, Deborah launched AFA Inspire, an initiative that supports, nurtures, empowers and encourages women to step up to leadership roles and especially as financial advisers. Recently Deborah launched her Dare to Dream video series aimed at women giving her insights and life experiences to help give them courage to step up in their careers. She was nominated NSW State Director of the AFA in 2013 and was elected AFA National President in 2014, a two-year term that concluded this year. At recent board elections, she was elected AFA Treasurer.
Other Awards and Nominations Deborah has received in her career include:
- 1998 Money Management Highly Distinguished Award
- 2000 Sydney Woman of the Year
- 2000 Gerald Lippman Award (AXA) the first women to receive this award
- 2012 MLC Trust in Advice Award
- 2013 Finalist Women in Financial Services Awards – Industry Advocate
- 2015 Most Trusted Adviser Network – Beddoes Institute
- 2015 Finalist Women in Financial Services – Industry Advocate
