For female excellence in advice, the role doesn’t end as the client walks out the door, it’s an ongoing relationship of advice, and education that makes a difference not just on a client level, but on an industry level.

This award doesn’t just represent great client/adviser achievement, its represents a step forward in diversifying an industry. See three of the contenders for this year’s Female Excellence in Advice Awards below.

Want to be recognised for your excellence in advice?  Find out more here

Leanne McDonald
Position: Principal of Create Financial Solutions
Education: Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Banking and Finance, Diploma of Financial planning   Deakin University and Kaplan, CFP Course Completed in 2010 through FPA, SMSF, Derivatives and Gearing Courses through Kaplan completed and Collaborative Law Course in 2011.

Leanne is the founding principal of Create Financial Solutions.  Leanne is Passionate about assisting and educating her clients through each life stage. She prides herself on developing excellent working relationships with all clients, this often leads to her providing comprehensive financial advice and ongoing service.

Leanne has a high percentage of clients that are single or widowed women who seek out her advice as a female adviser.  As a result of this, she finds that female clients are the greatest referral for other female business.
Leanne is an active member of Women on the Move and Women in Business. She has also recently been placed in the Top 50 Financial Advisers for Australia in 2012 for Wealth Professional Magazine, ranked 12, including the Highest Female adviser of the top 50.

Being driven and positive about what you can achieve and share that with others is central to Leanne’s working practice.

“I am a passionate person and I enjoy discussing my successes and how to manage work/ life balances, given the number of personal challenges I’ve had over the years myself, it’s important to keep energy levels up to continue to motivate and inspire others. I encourage my staff to be honest, approachable, and hard-working and to enjoy what they are doing.”

Dianne Charman
Profile: Owner and Director of Jade Financial Group
Education: Masters of Financial Planning

Dianne Charman is the Owner and Director of Jade Financial Group.  While this is what her role says on her paper, Dianne sees her role as one to guide and mentor each person who wishes to make a difference in their life, by firstly seeking to understand their financial potential.

In the workplace Dianne acts as a mentor providing a nurturing environment for the growing potential of her team.
Dianne embraces the differences in her team and likes to lead by example. She believes that you bring people on the journey with you.  This is crucial to individual, team and ultimately client success.

Dianne is passionate about providing help for others so they can make a positive financial change in their life, and the lives of their families. As a result of this, Dianne started a not-for-profit foundation for children to start adopting money-savvy habits from an early age – ultimately aiding the developing good financial habits from the ground-up.

Christine Swanson
Position: Owner and Managing Director of Business Prominent Financial Planners.
Education: Diploma of Financial Planning and Certified Financial Planner (CFP), Australian Institute of Company Directors (MAICD), Associate Member of the FPA.

Christine Swanson is the owner and managing director of Prominent Financial Planners.  She has been building her successful business for over 25 years, and 3 years ago formed a highly successful joint venture which has won the Securitor Dealership Practice of the Year for the past 2 years.  Her workplace is also a Women Friendly Service, promoting the importance of advice to women.

Christine’s work with her clients involves a deep understanding of their personal situation which allows her to create and maintain very strong relationships. Christine believes this is not just because of technical knowledge, but also her ability to offer intuitive advice for her clients’ needs and situations.

In the worksplace, Christine works to reflect her own personal values of integrity, trust and fair play. She allows her staff to make decisions and take responsibility for their actions, rather than referral and passing on responsibility within the group.  It is encouraged that others manage their responsibilities, while taking and giving appropriate feedback along the way.

Christine plays an active role in the community and is passionate about her work with Cancer Council SA, she is an Ambassador for Cancer Council SA and coordinates the Glitz & Hammer Annual Fundraising Ball.

The post What does Female Excellence look like in 2012? Like this…#3 appeared first on AdviserVoice.

For female excellence in advice, the role doesn’t end as the client walks out the door, it’s an ongoing relationship of advice, and education that makes a difference not just on a client level, but on an industry level.

 This award doesn’t just represent great client/adviser achievement, its represents a step forward in diversifying an industry. See three of the contenders for this year’s Female Excellence in Advice Awards below.

Want to be recognised for your excellence in advice?  Find out more here.

  Christine Hornery
  Position:  CEO of the FMS Group
  Education: 2000-Bachelor of Commerce, 2001-Diploma of Financial Services (Financial Planning), 2005-Statement of Attainment AMC, 2006- Advanced Diploma of Financial Services (Financial Planning), 2006-Tribeca & SMSF’s, 2006/7-Marketing in Action & Practice Fundamentals, 2007-Certified Financial Planner Designation, 2007/8-Trinity Programme, Business Management Course, 2009-Certificate IV Financial Services (Finance/Mortgage Broking), 2010-Registered Tax Agent, 2011-SPAA Accredited SMSF Specialist Adviser.

Christine is the CEO of Financial Management Solutions (FMS), which is a three company group offering complete financial solutions to clients.  She works to provide the overall strategic direction for the company, but also to ensure a harmony with working culture too, making sure personal development standards and positive working practices are always in place.

Christine’s passionate about providing tailored advice to clients, and as one of her clients is the largest employees of women in their sector; Christine works actively to run campaigns that provide solutions to empower them so they can enjoy a secure financial future. 

Further to this, Christine is active in the industry with education; she promotes financial literacy using seminars, public speaking opportunities and is in the process of completing a series of children’s books and interactive apps.
Christine hopes that FMS will provide a legacy for generations to come to join the industry – including her grandchildren.  

  Catherine Robson
  Position: Principal Adviser Affinity Private
  Education: Bachelor of Laws (Honours), Bachelor of Arts Asian Studies ANU, Securities Institute’s Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance FPA’s CFP program. Master of Laws (Tax) at Melbourne University. Executive Certificate in Positive Psychological Coaching UTS.

Catherine is the Principal Adviser for Affinity Private. Her primary focus is to give her clients – particularly the women, the confidence they need to be in control of their finances. Her passion as an adviser is based not just on the want to contribute to client success but to provide a broader positive impact on society through her work and the flow on effect with her client’s impact – which often has a philanthropic skew.

Central to Catherine’s workplace is the belief and practice that innovation and creativity come when we are removed from the demands of the day-to-day. This means that for Catherine, every team member should have the time they need away from work to balance life commitments, whether they have family or not.

“We’re a values driven organisation, and look for other businesses to work with who share our values. We often find that the businesses we want to work with are run by women. We do not actively seek out businesses run by women, but find that we gravitate to businesses who share our values, and invariably these are business run by women. In this way we are proud supporters of meaningful and sustainable gender diversification.”

In life as in business, Catherine leads by example, and believes that success is only achieved by helping those around her succeed. 

  Deborah Kent
  Position: Director Integra Financial Services
  Education: Securities Institute, FPA Diploma of Financial Planning, CFP, Stanford University Strategic  Leadership Programme.

Deborah is the Director of Integra Financial Services. Her practice works to promote services to lawyers, especially in family law. Deborah believes that this is an area female financial planners can play a strong role in, especially with assisting women who are facing divorce. She works passionately to give newly divorced women the confidence to move on and start new lives. 

Deborah actively markets the practice to business communities, especially female members, ensuring they have their super, insurance and estate planning in place. She is extremely active with her involvement in associations within the industry, promoting the need for women on FPA chapters, and assisting in increasing the numbers of women in the industry.

Deborah is on the board of the WSBC (Western Sydney Business Connection), and has been for over ten years.  She is the first Female President of this Board and works to actively encourage more women to be involved. She actively takes a mentoring role for other women in management roles.

Deborah is passionate about promoting the role women advisers should take, and always encourages female advisers to participate in the industry.

To see the other nominees, please click here.

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For female excellence in advice, the role doesn’t end as the client walks out the door, it’s an ongoing relationship of advice, and education that makes a difference not just on a client level, but on an industry level.

 This award doesn’t just represent great client/adviser achievement, its represents a step forward in diversifying an industry. See three of the contenders for this year’s Female Excellence in Advice Awards below.

Want to be recognised for your excellence in advice?  Find out more here.

  Anne Graham
  Position:  Managing Director and Financial Planner of McPhail HLG Financial Planning
  Education: B.Bus (Acct), CPA, CPA practice program, CFP©, Grad Dip Financial Planning and Applied  Finance & Investment, LRS© accreditation with FPA, currently studying Masters of Applied Finance.

Anne is the Managing Director of McPhail HLG Financial. She is dedicated to providing a positive working environment for her team that cultivates not just a professional career path for young female staff, but one that is supportive and encouraging based on being a good role model.

“I promote greater gender diversity by being a role model – actions speak louder than words! Being the first female winner of MM planner of the year in 21 years, and adviser of the year for Securitor has given me a forum. I actively offer to speak to young female (and male) advisers and support staff, sharing experiences and being very open about my own experiences.”

Anne believes that by  providing an encouraging workplace for staff that allows autonomy and growth for the individual professionally, this in turn provides the best service and advice experience for clients.
Anne’s marketing message resonates particularly with women, where her central message to clients is about being in financial control, and her role is simply being a partner with clients and listening to their needs. 

  Adrienne Rush
  Position: Full Advice CFP Financial Planner Bendigo Financial Planning.
  Education: Diploma/Advanced Diploma in FP and CFP

Adrienne’s dedication and passion for her role has allowed her to inspire other women in joining the financial industry.

“Sharing success inspires and gives other women self-belief and confidence; it creates an understanding that if they invest in themselves and dedicate time to personal development, they will also enjoy success.”

Adrienne Rush is a successful financial planner for Bendigo Financial Planning. After holding various roles in the financial services industry, she has pursued her passion to become a Certified Financial Planner.

Her focus is not just providing financial advice, but also nurturing relationships built on trust. She works to deliver financial advice in a way that is easy for clients to relate to and understand, she aspires to build better communication on every occasion she can.  

Adrienne believes that to be a true finance professional you need more than just a well-constructed road map of financial and lifestyle goals, but you have to be comfortable with standing in your clients’ shoes and really getting a feel for who they are. 

 Deborah Heindl
 Position: Managing Director Heindl & Associates, Founder of Her Life Pty Ltd
 Education: Diploma of Financial Services

Deborah is the owner operator of two companies, Heindl & Associates and Her Life. While Deborah is dedicated to providing Risk Insurance, her main mission has been to inspire her staff in achieving their goals. She has mentored many young female advisers and believes strongly that success is about giving it a go. Coming from a place of disadvantage early on in life has given Deborah the motivation to help others focus on the solutions and not the problems.

As a founding member of Herlife, an insurance needs provider for professional women, Deborah not only has a genuine desire to help women achieve their insurance needs, she hopes to use this framework to mentor young advisers and bring more women into the financial services industry.

“The main reason I established Herlife was to act on the under insurance problem for women in Australia. For years I heard how the insurance industry was going to address the issue, and I wanted to help solve the problem. Her Life has been a huge undertaking…but I think I’m perfectly positioned to mentor and help female advisers as I have built a number of businesses from scratch in a male dominated industry, with little to no help.”

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More than 145 participants took part in the Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney master classes on 5 June, 6 June and 7 June (respectively).

The master classes were conducted by Babette Bensoussan – an internationally recognised strategy expert – who presented the following topics:

• Converting the competitive strategy – from analysis to reality
• The critical elements of a quality business plan
• Energy leadership
• Coaching and mentoring for business results.

The master classes build on the May 23 launch of this year’s Female Excellence in Advice Award, which 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
• Aaddresses the issue of female under-insurance and generally low levels of women’s superannuation savings.

The 2012 winner of the AFA Female Excellence in Advice Award will receive prizes valued at over $4600, including a certified testamur and a full scholarship to complete an executive leadership course at the Macquarie Graduate School of Management (MGSM) in Sydney.

Female advisers may self-nominate or be nominated by 31 July 2012 by visiting http://www.afafemaleadvice.com/nominate.html . The winner will be announced at the AFA National Conference in October 2012.

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The Award is a joint initiative between the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA), TAL Life Limited (TAL) and Macquarie Graduate School of Management.  The announcement was made at the AFA National Conference on the Gold Coast on 25 October. 

AFA CEO, Richard Klipin, said that in its first year, the Award, which was established to identify outstanding female advisers in leadership roles, has gone a long way towards promoting gender equity and contributing to what is a broad community debate on the issue. 

“The Award seeks to actively encourage more women into the industry so they are better represented within the ranks of financial advisers and better able to help other women secure their financial future,” he said.

Mr Klipin said it was Olivia’s high level of professionalism and absolute commitment to excellence and superior client service that marked her as the worthy recipient of this inaugural Award.

Brett Clark, CEO, TAL Retail Life, said he was delighted by the number and quality of candidates and the industry’s response to the Award. 
“TAL is seeking to encourage, mentor and reward female advisers who are excellent in their field and this Award is recognition of their outstanding achievements,” Mr Clark said. 

“We are delighted with the quality of female advisers in Australia who have taken the time to participate in this Award.  All nominees are strong contributors to the communities and are doing exceptional work for their clients.  The finalists are women who are shaping the future of financial advice and are outstanding role models for their industry.”

The six finalists were selected from across Australia following a rigorous two-month judging process.  The finalists were:

• Dianne Chalk, NSW
• Michelle Tate-Lovery, VIC
• Michelle Veitch, SA
• Olivia Maragna, QLD – Winner
• Susan Jackson, VIC
• Therese Stanton, NSW

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The Award has been established to:

• identify outstanding female advisers in leadership roles
• celebrate the high level of professionalism presently displayed by female members of our financial services community
• encourage women to choose financial advice as a career
• profile successful female advisers who bring a different approach to the profession that supports giving clients choice in advisers
• address the issues of under insurance and low levels of superannuation for women.

The six finalists were selected from across Australia following a rigorous two-month judging process.  The finalists are: 

• Dianne Chalk, NSW
• Michelle Tate-Lovery, VIC
• Michelle Veitch, SA
• Olivia Maragna, QLD
• Susan Jackson, VIC
• Therese Stanton, NSW

Richard Klipin, AFA CEO said the Award is promoting gender equity and contributing to what is a broad community debate on the issue.
“The Award seeks to actively encourage more women into the industry so they are better represented within the ranks of financial advisers and better able to help other women secure their financial future,” Mr Klipin said. 

“The Award celebrates the achievements of some truly remarkable women. The finalists will be introduced to the audience at this year’s AFA National Conference.”

Brett Clark, CEO, TOWER Australia Retail Life, said he was very pleased with the industry’s response to the Award.

“We have been delighted with the quality of female advisers in Australia who have taken the time to participate in this Award,” Mr Clark said. 

“All nominees have been strong contributors to their communities and are doing exceptional work for their clients. The finalists are women who are shaping the future of financial advice and are outstanding role models in their industry.”

The recipient of the inaugural Female Excellence in Advice Award will be announced at the 2011 AFA National Conference on the Gold Coast on 23-25 October.

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