The InvestmentNews 2023 Women to Watch Awards celebrate excellence and the women who are making a difference in our industry.
On Tuesday, Nov. 7, at Tribeca 360 in New York City, top advisors, rising stars and leaders shaping the wealth management space will come together to recognize each other’s talents and contributions. This year’s Women to Watch Awards feature a new independent judging panel and exciting award categories for organizations and professionals alike.
As part of this Women to Watch issue, InvestmentNews is proud to profile each excellence awardee in the individual categories. The winner in each category will be announced at the event.
Here are the excellence awardees in the Rising Star category:
Grace Hayden MacNaught
Financial advisor, Atlanta Planning Group
Grace Hayden believes in contributing to her community, a mindset that is supported by and informs her advisory work.
She launched the Grace Hayden Impact Scholarship at Georgia State University, a school in downtown Atlanta from which she graduated in 2015 with a degree in international economics and modern languages. She received a second degree from the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, through a Georgia State study-abroad program.
Hayden decided to give back to the school that gave her many opportunities by becoming the youngest donor to establish a scholarship there. It provides two $250 to $500 awards each semester that help buy books and finance other expenses for students studying economics, many of whom are nontraditional.
“There’s a lot of need at Georgia State for these scholarships,” she said.
A third-generation Atlantan, Hayden also raises money for local nonprofit organizations and highlights them on her platform, Atlanta Cares Radio.
“My advisory practice has allowed me to pursue my passion for stewardship,” said Hayden, who specializes in socially responsible investing, retirement and small business planning at Atlanta Planning Group. “A lot of [clients] I work with are charitably minded.”
Hayden has won several awards from Cetera Financial Group, the broker-dealer with whom Atlanta Planning Group is affiliated. She plans to double her current $150 million in assets under management to $300 million by 2026. Being a woman is an asset in the financial advice sector, she said.
“We need more female advisors because people want to work with women,” Hayden said.
— Mark Schoeff Jr.
Brittney Olinger
Advisor, Koss Olinger
After beginning her career as a bond trader on the high-yield credit team at BNP Paribas in London, Brittney Olinger decided to come home to be closer to clients.
Her time at the major European bank, where she started in 2015, taught her how to analyze macroeconomic developments. But she’s more inspired by getting to know clients on a personal level, going beyond their financial statements and figuring out what is most important to them.
That’s what Olinger’s been doing since returning to her hometown of Gainesville, Florida, in 2020 to join her family’s advisory firm, Koss Olinger. Instead of helping asset managers and hedge funds navigate credit markets, as she did in England after graduating from Oxford University, she is working with business-owner clients facing microeconomic challenges.
“We act as a source of emotional stability when big financial decisions come up for our clients,” Olinger said. “Serving as a trusted advisor who can give clear, objective advice adds immense value in those moments. Being a touchstone when they need you most is the most important thing.”
Olinger is a third-generation advisor, and Koss Olinger has many multigenerational families as its clients. One family helping other families helps build trust.
“It gives them a lot of confidence we’re going to be there for the next generation of their family,” Olinger said. “We’re often making a commitment to a family for a very long time.”
Olinger has benefitted from mentorship and advocacy from other women.
“It’s something I plan to pay forward to Koss Olinger’s future female advisors,” she said.
— Mark Schoeff Jr.
Tremaine Wills
Financial planner, Mind Over Money
Up until just a few years ago, Tremaine Wills taught math in schools, most recently in Newport News, Virginia.
That changed in 2019, when she registered with a broker-dealer, eventually opening her own registered investment advisor, Mind Over Money, in 2020.
Her background as a teacher has informed Wills’ work as a financial planner and advisor. She focuses on educating clients and connecting them to a larger vision to close the wealth gap for minorities.
Her goal? To build a movement to help 1 million families grow their invested assets to $1 million or more, even if they’re starting from zero.
Wills wants to provide financial planning, access and education from licensed professionals to the greater community that is often ignored by traditional financial services, she says.
“Our job going into [this year] is to focus on our goals,” she said in an interview with Fortune at the end of last year. “Fear, stress and worry are not invited with us on this journey.””
— Bruce Kelly
Ara Talkov
Financial advisor, Morgan Stanley
A former captain of the varsity basketball team at Columbia University, Ara Talkov is now a financial advisor at Morgan Stanley, specializing in financial planning and equity compensation planning for the next generation and women in technology.
In her first three years as an advisor, Talkov has obtained multiple designations that put her in the best position possible to help her clients achieve their goals.
“It’s not about me; it’s about the team,” she said in an interview published on a Morgan Stanley website. Talkov is a vice president and financial advisor with the Guimarin Shephard Tan Group, which manages $2 billion in client assets. The firm is based in San Jose, California, and Talkov works from New York.
She is the founder and co-chair of Morgan Stanley’s Edge Committee, a diversity and inclusion initiative, and was also selected last year as a MAKER, a peer-nominated annual program at Morgan Stanley that celebrates groundbreakers, innovators and champions of women’s achievements.
— Bruce Kelly
Ava Elkins
Financial advisor, Raymond James & Associates
After a decade in health care, Ava Elkins, a decorated competitive swimmer, took the plunge in 2020 and joined the Raymond James Advisor Mastery Program for new advisors, which lasts seven years.
“I had no experience, no licenses, no mentor, no team and no lucrative network to pull prospects from,” Elkins said. “I am a stand-alone, solo financial advisor.”
“Then the unthinkable happened: Covid,” she said. “My business plan was full of public speaking appearances. I pivoted toward public speaking over Zoom, which was received enthusiastically.”
Based in St. Petersburg, Florida, Elkins noted that she works as financial advisor to 72 families, all from creative prospecting through teaching.
“In the past two years, I have given my presentation over 200 times to varying audiences. The most impactful comment I’ve heard was from someone who took the city bus to my library presentation,” Elkins said. “The comment was, ‘I finally feel empowered to level-up my finances. Thank you for outlining the steps to make it a reality.’”
— Bruce Kelly
Arvette Reid
Client services director, Signature Estate & Investment Advisors
Arvette Reid possesses the ability to merge the worlds of finance and health care, resulting in a comprehensive and holistic approach to serving families in difficult circumstances.
It’s no wonder. Before her current role as client services director with Signature Estate & Investment Advisors, or SEIA, a registered investment advisor with $11.7 billion in client assets, Reid worked for 15 years in health care. Her focus as a professional in senior housing and health care sales spanned a number of areas including independent living, skilled nursing, and hospice services.
Reid’s experience, coupled with her Series 65 securities license, inform how she helped her firm create a new health care-driven financial plan called the Lifecare Affordability Plan. She’s based in Tysons Corner, Virginia.
Reid’s contribution to developing the Lifecare Affordability Plan and her commitment to serving families is a testament to her dedication. Her unique ability to integrate finance and health care makes her an asset to her team and the families she serves.
— Bruce Kelly
Chelsea Adams
Financial advisor, Stratos Wealth Partners
Academia had been Chelsea Adams’ career choice until she experienced the changing dynamics of university hiring over the past decade.
Adams, who holds a Ph.D. in English, realized that financial services would allow her to leverage her teaching skills while providing education to the growing number of people interested in retirement savings and wealth management.
It’s been two years since Adams joined Stratos Wealth Partners as a financial advisor. Her empathetic style has led her to work with millennials who want to establish passive income streams through rental properties, provide financial education to the local arts community and help the elderly understand and access financial statements.
A teacher first, her discussions with clients use well-developed pedagogical techniques to make people feel ready to tackle long-term financial goals.
As of June 2023, Adams is pursuing the pedagogical and technical skills to build an online financial literacy course for beginners.
— Bruce Kelly
Dana Cahan
Wealth advisor, Zuckerman Investment Group
Prior to joining Zuckerman Investment Group last year, Dana Cahan worked as an attorney. She then pivoted to being a consultant at Altair Advisers, providing wealth planning services to high- and ultra-high-net-worth families and individuals, as well as working for a commercial real estate family office and overseeing all estate planning, tax and investment decisions.
Cahan’s unique approach to client retention and maintaining strong relationships sets her apart from other advisors: she has had a 100% client retention rate since joining Zuckerman. As the only female advisor at the firm, she has built a relationship strategy on engaging the female partners in many of the firm’s top client relationships.
Cahan focuses on making wealth management approachable and understanding pain points. She is fully engaged with clients with respect to their needs and desires around capital preservation, cash flow requirements, risk tolerance, efficient wealth transfer, philanthropy and legacy.
— Bruce Kelly
How can advisors appeal to next generation of investors?