RBC Wealth Management financial adviser Maureen Kerrigan was recently awarded the company’s Gail Winslow Award, which recognizes women at the firm who demonstrate exemplary efforts to help attract, support and retain women clients and financial advisers.
Kerrigan, of Narragansett, was honored at the annual conference of RBC’s Women’s Association of Financial Advisors, a group for which Kerrigan had served as president from 2015-2017.
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She recently spoke with Providence Business News about the status of women in the financial advisory field.
PBN: Do you feel there are too few women in financial adviser roles in the wealth-management sector as of today? If so, why is that?
KERRIGAN: It’s a fact that the percentage of female financial advisers in the wealth-management industry has not increased relative to the percentage of women in other roles in the corporate world. I believe one of the contributing factors for this is the lack of mentors, role models or sponsors that a woman looking to break into a wealth-management career would benefit from. I have not gotten to where I am without people who believed in me, or took a risk, or were just there to encourage me when I was having doubts.
What many women might not realize is they already have the innate skills it takes to succeed in this business. Being an interested and compassionate listener, a multitasker and a problem-solver are skills that many of us have as spouses, mothers, daughters and co-workers. Balanced with the desire to work with clients to help them meet their life and financial goals has made this such a fulfilling career for me.
PBN: I see that you’ve been active in RBC Wealth Management’s Women’s Association of Financial Advisors, serving as president from 2015-2017. Why did you feel that was important?
KERRIGAN: The RBC Wealth Management-U.S. Women’s Association of Financial Advisors, now in its 28th year, is one of the longest-standing women-focused employee resource groups in the country. Serving as president was an opportunity that I welcomed and embraced because I knew what a difference WAFA can make for women at the firm.
The group aims to recruit, retain and enhance the productivity of female financial advisers at RBC WM-U.S., and provides a supportive network, education and business resources for its members. In the past two years, thanks in part to WAFA’s efforts, we’ve increased the number of female financial advisers at RBC WM-U.S. by more than 20% and doubled the number of female branch leaders in that same time frame.
PBN: RBC Wealth Management says that, as association president, you helped enact several initiatives designed to support women in adviser roles at the firm. Can you outline some of those initiatives?
KERRIGAN: As president, I realized that we needed to encourage our male partners in RBC WM-U.S. management and leadership roles to help WAFA attract and retain female advisers. To that end, the WAFA board invited a male complex director to sit on an advisory, nonvoting role for a two-year term to help bring our initiatives and objectives to our leaders at a management level. This was a tremendous success because that complex director, the only male member of the board, became our voice and a valuable resource in helping women at the firm achieve success. The most recent complex director in this role petitioned the board to extend his term because he so enjoyed WAFA’s passion and the impact the group was making. I was so pleased that prior to stepping down as WAFA president, several RBC WM-U.S. complex directors reached out to me to learn more about how they could get involved with the WAFA board in a similar way.
Additionally, the WAFA board recognized that there were many women in support roles throughout the firm who were interested in becoming a financial adviser but maybe needed encouragement or sponsorship to be able to take that next step. While I was president, the WAFA board enhanced our mentorship programs, partnering seasoned financial advisers with women taking that next step into the adviser world. WAFA also has mentoring programs for women with two to five years of experience in the industry, as well as for women who have expressed interest in moving into branch management. Each of these mentoring “circles” is run by a seasoned female financial adviser who can relate to the challenges her mentees may find themselves facing.
PBN: What still needs to be done in the wealth-management sector to support women?
KERRIGAN: There are two different ways to answer this question.
First, you can’t pick up a business magazine or industry commentary these days without reading about the anticipated transfer of wealth coming over the next few decades. The number of women who will be the beneficiaries or recipients of a significant transfer of wealth via death, divorce or sales of family businesses but are woefully unprepared to do so is staggering. Statistics indicate that many women aren’t involved with or part of conversations with their spouse’s financial adviser. Advisers need to engage, support and educate all members of the household. If a woman does not feel like the family adviser acknowledges her, or takes her questions seriously, what do you think is going to happen when the husband passes away? The assets are going to move to an adviser willing to listen, encourage, give confidence and educate that woman.
In the same way, the industry needs to continue its efforts to make this career appealing for women and recognize that diversity is needed in all levels of wealth management, including in leadership. A recent McKinsey study on “Women in the Workplace” speaks to the issue of the “broken rung,” that “the biggest obstacle women face on the path to senior leadership is the first step up to manager.”
PBN: Your daughter, Courtney Mahoney, is also a financial adviser in the Providence branch. Was there any apprehension on your part about her entering wealth management, and also working in the same branch as you?
KERRIGAN: Absolutely not! Courtney and her sister Melanie have lived every step of this journey with me. At the time I became a financial adviser, I was a single parent with a previous background as an SEC analyst for a major utility company but had sidestepped that career to raise my girls.
Both of my daughters graduated from college with degrees in finance and economics. Courtney now has her MBA, and Melanie will graduate with hers in May. I told them both early on that they needed to cut their teeth elsewhere before even thinking about working with me. I did not want any clients thinking that I was handing them something they weren’t ready for. After Courtney spent several years with various firms, she and I both realized it was a perfect time for her to transition to join my team.
She is starting her fifth year with my team this December and has made a significant impact not only working with my existing clients but also connecting with so many of my clients’ children and grandchildren.
We work very hard to not talk about work when we are together for family events, but sometimes it just happens!
