CFP Board’s Keller on Goldfarb Case: ‘Let the Process Play Through’

“If you were the person accused, would you want more transparency?” asked Kevin Keller of the CFP Board. The CEO of the CFP Board was responding in a Thursday interview to critics, including some on AdvisorOne, who have called for more transparency in the Alan Goldfarb case.

“Let the process work its way through,” Keller (left) said, and only then, depending on the findings of the investigation against Goldfarb and two members of the Board’s ethics panel who recently resigned, would there be any possible review of the Board’s disciplinary standards and process (see original AdvisorOne story; see update provided during a Board November webinar).

Keller, who spoke during the Schwab Impact 2012 conference in Chicago, continued with comments on the three new members of the CFP Board who were elected to its Board of Directors at its Fall 2012 meeting: Blaine Aikin, the president and CEO of fi360, whom Keller called a “clear advocate for the fiduciary standard”; Professor Arthur Laby of Rutgers-Camden’s law school whom Keller noted had served for almost 10 years at the SEC and characterized as “very thoughtful and realistic; he shares the mission of the organizations”; and Thomas Nelson, president of the national anti-hunger group Share Our Strength who previously was COO of AARP, whom Keller noted was filling the public member slot on the board—“having public members in addition to practitioners brings a valuable outside perspective.”

The three new members will bring the total of board members as of Jan. 1, 2013, to 14 voting members and Keller as a non-voting member.