This is Dale Brown’s seventh appearance on the IA 25. Read his extended profiles from 2012 and 2011. Click here to view the complete list and Special Report schedule for extended profiles for each of the 2013 IA 25 honorees.
When reminded that this is the seventh year that he’s been named to the IA 25, Dale Brown was quick to give kudos to his entire team, noting that the Financial Services Institute’s success doesn’t hinge on his abilities alone. FSI’s staff, Brown said, “sets priorities and makes sure those priorities are relevant to our members.”
Indeed, since moving FSI’s headquarters from Atlanta to Washington three years ago, FSI’s membership has more than doubled—jumping from 15,000 advisor members to 35,000 today. The trade group’s budget during that time has shot up as well, going from $3.5 million to more than $7 million. FSI’s broker-dealer members now total 107.
Brown said one of FSI’s top goals this year is bringing more advisor members on board and “getting them personally involved in our advocacy mission.”
As to FSI’s other priorities, Brown said the trade group has three: opposing the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule reproposal, which is due out in July; the “continued fight” regarding advisors’ independent contractor status, with proposals at both the federal and state level that will make it more difficult for companies to classify workers as independent contractors going forward; and leveraging FSI’s existing resources to make the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority “a more effective regulator.”
Said Brown: FSI is “working on the right issues; it’s challenging, but we’re getting results.”