Deborah Kent

The Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) and leading life insurer TAL have jointly launched and opened nominations for the 2014 Female Excellence in Advice Award (the Award) at the AFA Inspire ‘Stand up and step up’ event.

The Award, developed in 2011 as a joint initiative by the AFA and TAL and supported by the Macquarie Graduate School of Management, recognises and showcases the talents and contributions of women in financial advice to their profession, community and their clients.

AFA Inspire Chair Deborah Kent said the Award is another step forward in the AFA’s quest to give women the tools and the inspiration they need in order to achieve excellence in the financial services market place.

“The aim of the Award is to not only recognise women doing well but also to act as a catalyst for change in financial services and in the lives of everyday Australians,” she said.

“Attracting and inspiring women to seek senior roles, including the role of financial adviser, will eventually mean that we have more women addressing the financial situations of female Australians, especially when seeking advice about their own retirement and insurance needs.”

TAL Life CEO Brett Clark said the Award was important in raising the profile of financial advice as a career choice for women and to promote greater involvement by women obtaining financial advice and protection.

“The award is now in its 4^th year and TAL is really proud to have been part of it with the AFA.  In the initial design and thinking our ambition was for this to be much more than another award, but a wide ranging program and a reason to have an ongoing dialogue about diversity in the planning profession, and how we provide greater awareness and access to financial advice to women across Australia.”

Guest speaker and media personality Tracey Spicer hosted the launch and ‘Stand up and step up’ event. She provided insights on how to challenge the status quo, how women can ensure they have a passion and a purpose, and led a panel discussion on insights into success, leadership and what it takes to be a winner in the financial services industry.

Panellists included 2013 AFA Female Excellence Award winner, Catherine Robson; AFA Director/Treasurer and Inspire National Chair, Deborah Kent; and TAL General Manager Retail Distribution, Niall McConville.

“We are urging female advisers who demonstrate the ability to change the lives of everyday Australians, whilst also providing inspiration to other women seeking a career as a financial adviser, to apply, ” Ms Kent said.

The 2014 winner of the Female Excellence in Advice Award will be announced at the AFA National Conference on 14 October.

Macquarie Graduate School of Management is offering this year’s AFA Female Excellence
in Advice Award winner a full scholarship (valued at $12,000) to complete either a Postgraduate Certificate in Management or an Executive Education Leadership Development Program, of their choice. All semi-finalists will have the opportunity to participate in a Leadership Master Class as part of the Award Program.

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As winner, Ms Hornery has been awarded a scholarship for an executive leadership course at the Macquarie Graduate School of Management (MGSM) valued at over $5,000.

AFA CEO Richard Klipin said Ms Hornery is a role model to other female advisers in the industry and a worthy winner of this year’s award.

“As was the case last year when we introduced the Award, the entries we received from female advisers across the country demonstrate the incredible talent we have amongst women in the adviser community,” Mr Klipin said. “While selecting an ultimate winner was a difficult task, Christine personifies what this Award is all about.”

Brett Clark, CEO, TAL Retail Life, said TAL is delighted to continue the partnership with the AFA in the Award’s second year and beyond.

“We are proud to encourage and inspire women in the industry to be the best they can be,” he said. “These women are making meaningful contributions to their profession and their passion and dedication is profoundly impacting their communities and their clients.”

The Female Excellence in Advice Award was established to encourage more women to consider financial advice as a career, to champion those who excel at it and to take the first step in tackling the gender gap that exists in retirement savings, wealth protection and life insurance.

 
Judging Panel
• Richard Klipin – Association of Financial Advisers, CEO
• Brett Clark – CEO TAL Retail Life
• Aranka Nolan – National Marketing Manager – TAL Retail Life
• Babette Bensoussan – Managing Director – Mind Shifts Group
• Jenny Rickard – Associate Director – Macquarie Graduate School of Management.

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The Award recognises female financial advisers who are making a significant contribution to their profession, their community and their clients. It is an important initiative in tackling the gender imbalance that exists within the financial services industry – and in the level of female consumers’ retirement savings, wealth protection and life insurance.

It aims to:

• acknowledge outstanding achievements in the financial advice sector
• support greater participation by females in leadership roles within financial services
• encourage more females into the advice profession
• address the issue of female under-insurance and generally low level of women’s superannuation savings.

Brett Clark, CEO of TAL Retail Life, shared his vision for Award during his key note presentation:

“Welcome everyone to the 2012 launch of the Female Excellence in Advice Award.  We are proud to join with the AFA again in presenting this important Award to the financial services industry for the second year.

We value our participation in this award deeply. Together with the AFA, we launched it in 2011 to achieve largely three things; to showcase the very best the financial advice industry has to offer; to acknowledge the very real difference that the outstanding women in our industry make to people’s lives every day; and to encourage more women into our great industry.

Diversity, and the benefits of a more diverse community, is being debated at the highest levels of corporate Australia.  It is also a core part of the culture at TAL. We want to see more women in leadership roles in our business.  Why? Because we believe our business will be better for it – we will get better outcomes. 

Looking back not too long ago, our industry could rightly be accused of being a very blokey world.  There is no doubt in my mind that this inhibited the progress of industry. It limited debate, innovation and, dare I say it, trust in the industry – which resulted in limitations to customer reach. 

That is now changing. And, while there is still much more to do, there is no doubt that a better gender balance will make our industry an even better one.

Through this Award, we want to see more females participating in our industry. We also want more females leading in our industry.
In its first year, I would have to say the award was an outstanding success.  Over 100 nominations -the most for any AFA award – and the overall quality was superb.

We saw outstanding examples of high quality professional advice and the impact it had on people’s lives. We saw high quality financial advice practitioners and successful businesses.  And we also saw a considerable body of pro-bono work right across the participants in the award. 

The voluntary work was often not spoken about too much. It was typical of the attitude of many of the entrants to just get on with it, but it should be called out and applauded.

We heard, “We love our clients,” “If you don’t care about your clients, find another profession,” and other sentiments that are distinctly female in expression.  We also heard customers saying these sorts of things right back about their advisers.

We need to encourage quality female advisers who will shape our industry, give it diversity and provide a greater level of compassion and choice for clients.  We want to see more people protecting themselves and their families’ futures.  We want consumers to feel confident about the advisers they choose and the service they get.

So following a very successful first year, we are looking forward to an even bigger and better second year in working with the AFA and female advice community.

If you are thinking about getting involved, don’t hesitate. You won’t regret it.”

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