Financial services careers can take many paths

With more than 6.5 million Americans working in financial services and wealth management, there are many paths to a career in the field beyond being an advisor or a wealth manager.

Three people who took unconventional routes toward careers in financial services described their journey during the Diversitas symposium at the University of Akron.

Kate Healy is CEO of Advocate IQ, a consultancy firm to wealth managers. She was a financial advisor before moving to consultancy.

“I was an economics/finance/accounting major,” she said. “I started out as a fund accountant and eventually became a financial analyst. I started to report on sales activities of our advisors. Then I moved into the marketing department. I eventually trained and licensed as an advisor. I didn’t like the sales part of it. But I liked that advisors were creating plans to help people and their families have a better life.”

Healy described fintech as “one of the great careers in the industry.”

“When you think of the cool careers that everyone wants to get into, fintech is one of the coolest.”

Sam Calhoun, vice president of internal sales and service at Nationwide, started out in information technology. He had been an intern at Nationwide while he was in college, and returned to the company when he left IT and decided to embark on a new career. Today, he leads a team of 400 people providing sales and service support to producers, advisors and customers.

“I had a math background and entered Nationwide in an actuarial support role,” he said. “I moved into some other things in customer service, underwriting - it morphed over time. I moved into the human resource department. Then I started to get into wealth management as a profession. I explored beyond what I entered into initially.”

Calhoun said understanding the business side of insurance and wealth management helped him to understand the industry’s needs from the technology side.

Abbie Sheridan is CEO of Greenrose Communications, a public relations firm that serves people in wealth management.

Sheridan said she majored in hospitality in college, but then changed her major to public relations. After working in several PR agencies after college, she decided to focus on the niche of providing public relations for those in the advisory/wealth management profession.

“My clients are amazing,” she said. Everyone in this industry and profession is focused on helping people.”

Healy said the one thing most people don’t know about financial services is “how much we help people. At the end of the day, we’re helping real people educate their children and save for retirement.”

“It’s such a dynamic profession. To see how this industry changes and to see the relationships with people – it’s something people don’t realize.”

Susan Rupe is managing editor for InsuranceNewsNet. She formerly served as communications director for an insurance agents' association and was an award-winning newspaper reporter and editor. Contact her at [email protected]. Follow her on X @INNsusan.

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