Recognizing this gap, The American College of Financial Services developed the Trust & Leadership Certificate Program, designed to equip home office leaders with the skills necessary to build and restore trust with their field force, home office colleagues, and ultimately consumers.

The program is a cohort-based model meant for 10 to 30 select leaders at a single firm working at their corporate or home office. It’s the only executive education program to address the implications of trust between home office leaders and their field force, their colleagues, and their clients.

Participants meet for 10 hours of learning either in-person, fully remote, or hybrid, with approximately five hours of pre-reading and prep time. In-person sessions can be conducted on company grounds or as part of an existing engagement opportunity (e.g., a company retreat). Summarizing their experience in the program, one leader remarked, “Understanding the different trust challenges that the groups presented will enable me to use the information when coaching my team and working with peers.“

The centerpiece of the program is a capstone project. Participants work with their peers to workshop a real-world trust and leadership challenge for review. In a final group presentation, participants offer an analysis of the challenge and a plan to address it. In doing so, the capstone enables participants to apply the insights and tools learned in the program and positions them to lead on trust within their companies.

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In this webcast, Admiral Mullen will share his personal perspectives on the skills military members, veterans, and spouses can offer to companies, how these skills can be utilized to make a positive impact on a company’s workforce, and the characteristics held by military members, veterans, and their spouses hold which can aid the integrity and sustainability of their professions.

King valued education. Indeed, he worked hard and studied for many years to become a highly educated man. After earning his Bachelor of Arts degree at Morehouse College, King went on to earn his Bachelor of Divinity at Crozer Theological Seminary, followed by his doctorate in systematic theology at Boston University.

To understand why King pursued education at the highest levels, look no further than his own writings. Toward the start of his academic journey while at Morehouse, King wrote, “Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.” (I encourage you to read King’s full article here.) Considering his perspective on education, not to mention his chosen discipline (theology), one might infer King’s experience in higher ed influenced his development as a leader, in addition to growing his knowledge base.

Like King, I have always been a believer in education. Like King, I see education as but one way to fulfill a higher calling. Many years after setting out on his journey through higher education, King would go on to say that education was not requisite for greatness. In a sermon delivered just two months before his assassination, King preached:

“If you want to be great—wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That's a new definition of greatness. [And] the thing that I like about it: by giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve…You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.”

—Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“The Drum Major Instinct,” February 4, 1968, an adaptation of the 1952 homily by J. Wallace Hamilton (full sermon here)

As educators, as students, and as proponents of lifelong learning within our domain of applied financial knowledge, what might we make of King’s stance on education? Here’s what I believe it means: Although King loved learning, he loved service even more—and the lesson is to apply education in service to others. Formal education (whether a college degree or a College designation) itself is not the key to greatness. Instead, it helps build knowledge, intelligence, and character, which, together, equip us to lead lives of service. Only then can our impact be truly great.

This holiday, let’s align our educational goals to our life goals. Let’s pursue education that builds knowledge, intelligence, and character. And let’s apply what we learn in service to others—with faith, as MLK possessed, that our lives may serve a greater purpose.

Michaela Scott, MSFS, CLU®, ChFC®, RICP® will be stepping into the role of Alumni Council President at The American College of Financial Services in 2024, taking the baton from Scott Winslow, MSFS, ChFC®, CLU®, RICP®, CCFC. Thanks to Winslow’s stellar leadership over the past few years, the Alumni Council is stronger than ever and has established a foundation for continued year-over-year success. The College believes there is no one better than Scott to continue that momentum.

New Members to the Council

Joining the new president, along with the rest of the Council, will be four new members.

Heather Welsh, CFP®, AEP®, MSFS is a vice president and the wealth planning department leader at Sequoia Financial Group, where she determines strategic direction for the planning solutions created for clients and oversees the management and career development of Sequoia’s wealth planning team. Throughout her career, Heather has been motivated by a single ambition: to make wealth planning accessible, relevant, and personalized to each individual and family she serves. She is also passionate about supporting the next generation of professionals, serving as a mentor, women’s initiative advocate, and past “Ask the Expert '' panelist through the CFP Board and by volunteering in the classroom through Junior Achievement. Her impact has been broadly recognized, as she has received the Greater Akron Chamber’s 30 for the Future award, and she was the recipient of the Women Working in Wealth Award by The American College in 2022.

Jason Austell MSFS, CFP®, CHFC®, CLU®, CASL®, RICP®, AEP®, CAP®, CHSNC®, CPFA® has over 20 years of experience working with clients in both the personal and professional markets. In addition to his many designations, Jason completed his master’s in financial services (MSFS) at The American College of Financial Services in 2017. He is a past President of NAIFA NC and has been a member since he began his career. He is also a member of the Charlotte Estate Planning Council, Society for Financial Service Professionals, and the Rotary Club of Gastonia.

Julie A. Pinkerton, CLU®, ChFC®, LUTCF® is the CEO of Evozen, LLC.  Evozen’s ClientFirstTM is the only national, fully diverse digital community that creates the right environment for people to connect in order to provide top service to their clients and solve their most challenging problems. Additionally, the ClientFirstTM community unites independent Rainmakers in insurance, investments, law, and tax as Centers of Influence. Julie is also a contributing writer for U.S. News & World Report, focusing on financial topics and she is in the midst of authoring a book, "BLINK, Because Life Isn't Neat & Clean."

Sahar Pouyanrad, EMBA, CTFA, AEP®, CEP, ChSNC® is an executive director and the West Regional Trust Team leader for the Trusts and Estates Team for J.P. Morgan Private Bank. In this capacity, she is responsible for oversight and administration of trust accounts and related services for the firm’s fiduciary clients across the West Region, with a primary focus on ultra-high-net-worth families. As the Head of New Business, Sahar is also responsible for partnering with legal, compliance, and risk to drive new business, manage risk by overseeing review of potential trust and estate opportunities, and work with senior leadership to set new business parameters relating to trusts and estates. Sahar is also an award-winning member of the Toastmasters International and a frequent speaker on trust and estate subject matters.

Mission

The Alumni Council’s mission at The College is to:

•    Identify new ways to promote student success and engagement.

•    Create a supportive community that values inclusivity and collaboration.

•    Help students meet their full potential and exceed their own expectations.

The College is sincerely grateful for the contributions of all its returning members and is excited to welcome its new ones to the ongoing effort to embody the Council’s mission in support of helping The College embody its own.
 

In business, trust is critical. In financial services, it’s even more so because of the fiduciary nature of many relationships in the industry. In their presentation, Drs. Pattit and Pattit explored the factors that contribute to the formation of trust for seven types of financial services providers.

Their analysis relied on 1,697 consumer responses to a self-administered online questionnaire. The questionnaire permitted assessment of trust levels held by: (1) consumers who had a relationship with a financial institution; and (2) consumers with no relationship, but familiarity with a particular type of service. The results show that there is a marked difference in the level of trust between the two groups for all seven types of financial services.

Investigating this “gap” further showed that the factors contributing to the formation of trust differed between the two groups. These findings offer three practical implications for financial services companies. First, companies need to demonstrate consistent values in all channels, including operations. Second, companies can be intentional about creating “experience points” for building trust. Third, companies need to recognize that bad experiences negatively affect trust and spill over into other areas.

Further insight on these recommendations for practice and the analysis behind them were presented in a poster at the 7th Annual Academic Research Colloquium of the CFP Board Center for Financial Planning on December 7, 2023, in Arlington, Virginia.

A related research brief, Pathways to Trust in Financial Services: A Closer Look, is available for download from the Center for Ethics’ website. The data explored here is applied further in the Center’s Trust & Leadership Certificate Program.