Among a dozen individual braces in contention is the IFSE Institute Award for Financial Literacy Champion. The coveted honor goes to a financial professional who has demonstrated leadership and commitment to improving the lives of individuals and families by actively working to promote financial literacy and educate members of their community.
“This category has become a really important category where you see all these professional finalists who are willing to teach and educate Canadians,” said Elizabeth Naumowski of Caldwell Securities. “The real winners here are Canadians because they have so many resources to learn from right now.”
The Lifetime Achievement in Financial Planning Industry Award, the highest individual honour, recognizes a prominent individual who has made a significant contribution to advancing Canada’s wealth management and financial planning industry. For last year’s award winner Joss Schmidt, there needs to be a balance between engaging with stakeholders and embracing change.
“If you don’t really understand the issues or the challenges, there’s no way to come up with new ideas and do things differently,” said Schmidt, co-founder, president and CEO of NEO Group. “You have to listen, be open-minded to think out-of-the-box, and be open-minded to risks. Nothing will happen if you don’t take risks and are unwilling to accept failure.”
The event will also highlight 11 organizations that differentiate themselves in terms of technological advancement, product innovation, customer service and philanthropic advocacy. There are categories that are open not only to wealth management firms and practices, but also to the technology vendors and providers who support and elevate them to new heights.
