On August 19, we unveiled Four Steps Forward to publicly put our stake in the ground, and we sent out a press release that also announced The College's new Center for Economic Empowerment and Equality.

I grappled with these stark truths in the days following George Floyd’s tragic death, and I wrote about them in this blog post. I was interviewed about my experiences as a Black man in corporate America, and offered my immediate response to centuries-old racial inequality.

Those platforms advanced ideas around the need to act, and in the weeks since, The College has taken meaningful steps to discuss what an action plan might look like.

After many drafts incorporating the perspectives of College colleagues and industry veterans, I penned an op-ed in Barron’s about The College’s Four Steps Forward plan for upward mobility and wealth building in Black America.

Then, this week, The College unveiled the pillars of this plan to over 1,300 Black financial professionals at the Conference of African American Financial Professionals, held virtually this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

You can watch my keynote address and closing remarks in the videos below. This year has been fraught with many challenges, but beyond an immense wave of initial sadness, I believe the circumstances surrounding George Floyd’s death, and those that followed, have put this nation at an inflection point. The financial services industry must stand on the frontlines now to harness this moment for lasting change.

As an industry, we can repeat the efforts of the past and achieve the same insufficient outcomes, or we can find common ground around a generational cause. Please watch my remarks below, and subscribe to my blog in the upper right corner for email notifications on our progress with this plan for change that’s sustainable and generational – real impact that goes beyond nice data points to erode systemic inequalities in the Black community.

Following my thoughts on The College’s student experience, I laid out our progress on Four Steps Forward, a big, bold initiative for Black America that will serve as a model for our work with underserved and underrepresented communities through The College’s new Center for Economic Empowerment and Equality. Listen to how I and our team view the steps needed to generate the sustainable, generational change that’s been missing in Black communities for far too long.

Listen to the short interview below, and make sure to subscribe to my blog to remain on the pulse of new College initiatives.

One key step in The College’s Four Steps Forward to promote upward mobility and wealth creation for Black America is purposeful professional development, including recruiting and retention strategies and study groups that break down gender and racial boundaries to support robust dialogue in an inclusive environment.

The College’s Conference of African American Financial Professionals (CAAFP) is part of those efforts. We just held our 14 ½ annual conference – a one-day virtual event due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As we entered 2020, we knew that we wanted to continue the fellowship, mentorship, and networking beyond a few days each year in Atlanta.

So, we set out to create a robust African American Advisors Community with the tools to foster engagement, open up avenues for internships and scholarships, and announce College and industry events.

I’m so proud of what our College team, spearheaded by our Advancement and Alumni Relations and IT departments, have put together. If you attended CAAFP or are a College designation or degree holder, you can quickly join the community. If you aren’t an alum, but want to connect, please email alumni@theamericancollege.edu and we’ll set up your account.

You can also learn more about The College’s African American Advisor Scholarship Program, and support the African American Advisors Fund that seeks to expand racial diversity in financial services. Also, watch many of the sessions from this year’s CAAFP, including a fantastic panel led by McKinsey Research and some comedic relief from Sinbad.

The College’s commitment to community extends beyond racial diversity, to philanthropy, veterans and women’s issues, as well as networks for all College alumni and holders of the Chartered Life Underwriter® (CLU®) designation, one of the oldest and most respected credentials in financial services.

You can visit this College communities page and choose the communities of interest to you. I ask not just for your registration, but for your participation to promote the issues important to your business and your community. And as a reminder, if you aren’t a current or former College student, email alumni@theamericancollege.edu and we’ll help you set up an account.

By joining a network of professionals who share your passions, you’ll continue to sharpen your skills and advance the cause. Together, we are stronger!

“What The American College of Financial Services does is very important. It’s (helping) people that bring a very attractive set of experiences, expertise, values, leadership capabilities – just total backgrounds very well suited to employment in the financial world.” - General David Petraeus (Ret.) 2018 Soldier-Citizen Award Recipient

As General Petraeus highlighted, veterans have a unique set of experiences, expertise, values, and leadership traits that make them a great fit for a transition into a rewarding second career in financial services. Yet, far too often, they return home from active service without the educational and career support they need.

The American College Penn Mutual Center for Veterans Affairs does its part to aide these heroes’ transition to the civilian workforce by educating and empowering them through scholarship and applied knowledge.

These veterans receive knowledge in financial services, leadership, and philanthropic planning – an education that can help jumpstart a valuable, and valued, career in the profession.

Since 2012, The College has awarded over 500 scholarships to veterans and their spouses across 46 states, two territories, five countries, and three continents. Moving forward, The College intends to award 200 scholarships each year.

It’s important to measure our impact in raw numbers, but the most important measure of our mission to benefit society is the stories of gratitude and success extended by our scholarship recipients to the donors who supported their education. We’ve received 100s of letters expressing thanks for the financial support and the applied knowledge that has given them a leg up in their second career of service.

This year, the COVID-19 pandemic has required us to think differently about fundraising for this worthy cause. Campaign Gratitude helps humanize this mission – so you can hear how a gift and the education it offers has impacted real veterans, their spouses, their families, and their communities.

Below, you can hear Wayne Mai’s story, a 20-year U.S. Marine with a mission to bring financial education to our nation’s children. It’s a powerful illustration of the hope, passion, and purpose that a donation to Campaign Gratitude provides.

As my mother once told me, “Only what you do for others will last.” The service of our men and women in uniform will always be a part of our nation’s story. Now, I ask all of you, what will you do for them?

Learn more about Campaign Gratitude, and know that we award a full scholarship to heroes like Wayne with every $5,000 gift.

As former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once said, “The most important office, and the one which all of us can and should fill, is that of private citizen.” Wise words from a Kentucky native like myself.

Once we count the votes, what comes next? The American College of Financial Services remains focused on how governance affects wealth building, small business planning, Social Security claiming, and more.

Our expert faculty is on the pulse of market thinking – both how it’s priced into the pre-election environment, as well as how it may react to President Donald Trump’s re-election or a change in power to a Joe Biden administration. Faculty continues to assess the potential of additional fiscal stimulus, a CARES Act 2.0, and how it could impact many of the areas noted above. There’s also issues like how the next President may maintain or alter 401(k) vehicles, or how executive and legislative control may affect retirement planning. We already have a November 12 webcast on the calendar to discuss the possible effects on Social Security, Medicare, and other vital support programs. Make sure to join Adjunct Professor of Advanced Planning Steve Parrish, JD, RICP®, CLU®, ChFC®, RHU®, AEP®, American Retirement Association researcher Jack Towarnicky, MBA, JD, LLM, CEBS, and Sandy McCarthy, President of Retirement Services at OneAmerica, for this engaging discussion. CFP® and College CE are available.

The 14 ½ Conference of African American Financial Professionals (CAAFP) was an overwhelming success, shattering all records for the annual event. We're excited to announce that the largest conference of Black financial services professionals is back with more timely, relevant knowledge, including the first CAAFP breakout session, sponsored by Nationwide, on Thursday, November 19. It will feature insights on the Election from Donna Brazile, veteran Democratic political strategist, as well as Ramesh Srinivasan, Professor at UCLA's Department of Information Studies, and Director of UC Digital Cultures Lab, discussing artificial intelligence, proxy discrimination, and the Election. Sign up now.

When the dust settles, we are the educational partner with answers to your most important question: “What does this mean for my clients?”

Across 16 Presidents, The College has delivered the applied knowledge professionals need to grow their business, and their clients need to support their families and build out their retirements.

We stand ready to do that again – not just with our professional designation programs, but through webcasts, white papers, blogs, infographics; anyway we can convey the knowledge you need, when you need it.

Washington, D.C. makes law, then you’re responsible for putting strategies into place that help your clients achieve their financial goals. We’re that intermediary that synthesizes the laws, rules, regulations, and policy proposals into actionable information. It’s a great illustration of our belief that knowledge should always be at the intersection of academic and applied – rooted in theory and explained in practice.

Happy Election Day Month

Strategically, this meant a shift away from a correspondence model to an embrace of innovation complete with a new learning management system and a new Personal Pathway™ learning model that puts the student in charge of how, when, and where they learn. COVID-19 will only accelerate the transition from in-person to online education in the future, and it’s a trend The College is out in front of thanks to our investment in the student experience.

This also required us to re-think who we consider our potential student. Typically, our student has been a traditional financial professional, generally a white male. Now, through The American College State Farm® Center for Women in Financial Services and The American College Penn Mutual Center for Veterans Affairs, The College is educating and empowering the profession’s female agents, advisors, and future leaders, as well as our nation’s heroes starting a second career of service.

We are also aiming to increase industry diversity through our African American Scholarship Program and HBCU Student Scholarships, and will continue to promote leadership education and recruiting and retention efforts for Black professionals and other underrepresented groups through The College’s new Center for Economic Empowerment and Equality.

We also continue to see growth outside of financial services with an increasing number of nonprofit executives and fundraisers earning their Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy® designation. So, as you can read, our students are more diverse – by race, gender, age, and job function.

This sea change is strategic. The College is a financial knowledge institution, not a financial services institution. This opens avenues to spread knowledge to anyone and everyone who wants and needs it.

Case in point, on November 19, I’ll participate in three events: OneAmerica’s® Leading Tomorrow Speaker Series, the first Conference of African American Financial Professionals Breakout Session, and a program with The National Capital Gift Planning Council (NCGPC).

I’m honored to be part of a speaker series that includes experts on generational planning, Alzheimer’s, and IRA distribution strategies. OneAmerica® and its Chief Executive Officer Scott Davison are also passionate believers in The College, and Scott currently serves as the Chairman of our Board of Trustees. I will speak to members of the OneAmerica®  distribution network about racial and economic equality for Black America and the diversity and inclusion initiatives at the forefront of The Center of Economic Empowerment and Equality’s Four Steps Forward plan.

We successfully held a virtual version of The Conference of African American Financial Professionals this past August, and in an effort to continue the fellowship and learning beyond the event, we’re holding the first breakout session with accomplished leaders in politics and artificial intelligence. I’m proud to help introduce Donna Brazile, veteran Democratic political strategist and Fox News contributor, and Ramesh Srinivasan, Professor at UCLA’s Department of Information Studies and Director of UC Digital Cultures Lab. It should be a fantastic post-mortem of the Election and a look at how AI is influencing financial services.

Finally, I’ll speak to the NCGPC about how to harness philanthropy’s power for tangible impact. I’m currently going through our CAP® program myself because I understand the immense value  this knowledge can have on my community and The College’s efforts in this space.

Talk about a day that extenuates The College’s transformative path – conversations with agents and advisors, the Black financial professional community, and today’s nonprofit leaders. I’ll continue to spread the word of our work to benefit society, and help amplify The College’s noble cause to all it helps empower.

To end 2020, I sat down to answer four pressing questions summing up The College’s 2020. I touched on technological advances, a renewed focus on transformative e-learning, and the potential outcomes The College can foster in economic empowerment and equality.

First, I discussed the strategic sea change in The College’s delivery of applied knowledge. The two cornerstones of that strategy are Brightspace, The College’s new learning management system, and Personal Pathway™, its new learning model now available through the Chartered Financial Consultant® (ChFC®) designation and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®) education programs, as well as several courses in the Chartered Life Underwriter® (CLU®) program.

Instead of outlining features and benefits – visit the program pages above to view the highlights – I looked into the future to help the financial advisor, life insurance agent, nonprofit fundraiser, or executive leader understand what this shift in thinking and execution will mean for them.

Listen to the short interview below, and make sure to subscribe to this blog to remain on the pulse of new College initiatives.

To end 2020, I sat down to answer four pressing questions summing up The College’s 2020. I touched on technological advances, a renewed focus on transformative e-learning, and the potential outcomes The College can foster in economic empowerment and equality.

While these strategic successes are important to celebrate, they’re even more rewarding in the midst of a once-in-a-generation pandemic. COVID obviously has immediate impacts on our public health, the fabric of our communities, and the way we live. Long-term, the impacts will cascade down to the ways we learn.

The College is prepared to meet the learning needs of those who desire to absorb knowledge and pass it on to their clients, colleagues, and communities. Here are my thoughts on what’s next for knowledge delivery and how The College aims to meet the needs of the 21st-century learner. Listen to the short interview below, and make sure to subscribe to this blog to remain on the pulse of new College initiatives.

The College’s mission is to deliver applied knowledge and education, to promote life-long learning, and to advocate for ethical standards for the benefit of society (emphasis mine as I transition to my perspectives on what’s next).

Benefiting society is a noble pursuit that’s more inclusive and welcoming. One way to empower people is through the transfer of applied knowledge across a variety of topics. The College is not content sitting in a stale silo – because the breadth of needed financial knowledge is evolving. It’s not just about product solutions, but also behavioral thought. It’s not just about pen and paper, but also leveraging new technology to improve experiences.

Here are my thoughts on a few areas where The College can leverage its expertise, its industry partnerships, and its learning delivery model to make a real difference in the years ahead.

Listen to the short interview below, and make sure to subscribe to my blog to remain on the pulse of new College initiatives.

Properly aligned and applied AI can help wealth management firms adapt to changing client needs and face the competitive challenge posed by fintech companies. The American College of Financial Services is here to help with a robust resource center built to answer your pressing questions.

Visit this page to get instant access to an in-depth white paper, infographic advisor action plan, and an audio interview series with College thought leaders – hosted by fintech experts Joel Bruckenstein and Bill Winterberg.

You can listen below to my interview with Joel Bruckenstein, CEO of T3 Consulting Services.