By taxclubadmin 
Allworth Financial, the Folsom, Calif.-based registered investment advisor with about $34 billion in assets under management and administration, has launched a firmwide initiative to accelerate the growth of its female client base and talent. Darla Sipolt, chief client officer at Allworth, will lead the initiative, called Allworth Women’s Collective.
Allworth has had other women’s initiatives over the years, including a mentorship program, but the new program formalizes the strategy across the organization. Sipolt said the Allworth Women’s Collective started as an idea of hers a while ago, as she was thinking about the number of female advisors at the RIA. Of Allworth’s 549 professionals, women represent 47% of the total, 23% of advisors and 40% of leaders with direct reports.
“I just felt like we had this untapped resource and this best-kept secret of all of this female talent that I just wanted to be connected and exposed,” she said.
Allworth will feature the Women’s Collective on its website to raise clients’ and prospects’ awareness of the firm’s female talent. The firm will also call out specific segments and specialties that may be of interest to women, such as divorcees and business owners.
The initiative will also include an internal component, including efforts to connect female professionals and facilitate mentorship for new female associate advisors emerging through the organization.
Most of the firms’ existing mentorships last a year, but this would aim to have mentors guide younger advisors through their entire careers.
“It’s like having a career coach for a younger aspiring advisor that isn’t their direct supervisor,” Sipolt said. “We have wonderful junior associate advisors who I think could really benefit from having another female career coach, somebody who’s been successful as an advisor and really just guide them along their career journey.”
Sipolt has assembled a steering committee that will serve as the initiative’s leadership body for its first year. That includes Allison Scoggin, a partner advisor in Roseville, Calif.; Barbara Healy, a financial advisor also in Roseville; Gretchen McLaughlin, a senior vice president in Denver; Laurie Ingwersen, a partner advisor in Waltham, Mass.; and Natalie Quirarte, an advisor in Folsom, Calif.
The Women’s Collective will also encompass an annual in-person event for female professionals to connect and a speaker series featuring internal and external voices. It will also aim to collaborate with firm leadership on strategic initiatives and acquisitions and expand community engagement.
“The women of Allworth have played a critical role in building the firm we are today,” said John Bunch, CEO of Allworth Financial, in a statement. “The Collective formalizes our commitment to ensuring that as we grow, we are intentional about elevating female leadership, expanding opportunity and serving women investors with the depth and sophistication they deserve.”
A number of large RIAs have been launching female-focused initiatives within their organizations.
Earlier this month, Mercer Global Advisors launched a Women & Wealth practice, a dedicated group of advisors committed to supporting female investors. In September, RFG Advisory, the Birmingham, Ala.-based hybrid RIA platform, relaunched StrongHer Money, an internal program that trains and coaches advisors on serving female investors.