Industry Leader, Financial Services | Edythe M. De Marco, Merrill Lynch/Bank of America
You can talk about how Edythe M. De Marco joined Merrill Lynch Wealth Management right out of college and founded The De Marco Group in Providence, directing a company with nearly $500 million in client assets under her management.
And that is one very interesting side of De Marco, but it is not the full story. There is much more here than the tale of a very successful business-woman, who has gone from being an entry-level employee to being recognized as a leader and a top financial adviser in the country.
“The De Marco Group has more than 110 years of combined experience helping affluent individuals, multiple generations of families, entrepreneurs, corporate executives, women in transition and members of the LGBT community pursue their financial dreams and goals in using a unique, customized, goals-based wealth-management approach,” wrote William F. Hatfield, the president of Bank of America Rhode Island, who nominated De Marco for the award.
Bank of America completed its acquisition of Merrill Lynch on Jan. 1, 2009.
De Marco is recognized as a leader at both Bank of America and in the Rhode Island community. Chances are if you name an honor or an award, she has received it. In 2016, De Marco received the Ronald McDonald House Women’s Leadership award. Barron’s has honored her on a variety of top financial advisers lists from 2009 to 2016, while Forbes put her on their Best-in-State Wealth Advisors List in 2018.
When the Los Angeles native was an undergraduate majoring in finance, she was thinking about going in another direction. Fortunately for Merrill Lynch and her clients, a paper on banking and money caught the eye of her future employer, and her brokerage career was off and running.
The learning hasn’t stopped since. Merrill Lynch and Bank of America have given De Marco the chance to expand her knowledge and move up in her career.
“I have been given a lot of opportunities to grow in the company,” De Marco said.
‘A smart leader is not the smartest person in the room.’
EDYTHE M. DE MARCO, The De Marco Group, Merrill Lynch Wealth Management/Bank of America managing director
And opportunity is something she wants to give other women in the financial-services industry, which is needed, according to De Marco.
She points to the Ram Fund at the University of Rhode Island, which sponsors an investment challenge as an example of getting more women interested in financial services.
De Marco enjoys having the opportunity to talk to and help women get into her field. Women business majors are electing to go into other fields, such as accounting, rather than a career in financial advising.
As for her own success, since moving from California to Rhode Island for her job, De Marco has been able to build her team to the point where they have been very successful in helping their clients grow their investments to retire comfortably.
“I’m able to hire really, really smart people,” said De Marco, who has a nine-member team. “A smart leader is not the smartest person in the room. They are really fabulous, great, wonderful people.”
Importantly, after De Marco hires them, she lets her staff do their jobs while making sure to communicate to them how much the company is doing.
De Marco and her team share their talents with organizations and charities as volunteers. That’s the other part of the story of what The De Marco Group and Merrill Lynch are doing in the Rhode Island community. The entire company gave 27,000 volunteer hours and $2 million in philanthropy efforts last year.
People are encouraged to do what they feel passionate about and are given the resources to help them out as volunteers. One of her employees takes homeless people out to dinner.
“They are committed to serving with a spirit of excellence and compassion,” said Hatfield.
