Meet the Winners: LUMINARIES in Executive Leadership and Dealmaking & Growth, 2021

We're pleased to highlight the advisors, broker-dealers, RIAs and others being honored this year in our pioneering recognition program.

We’re pleased to present the Class of 2021 LUMINARIES in the Executive Leadership and Dealmaking & Growth categories. This pioneering awards program honors individuals and firms driving the wealth, investment and retirement industry forward.

Please see the following features and profiles of this year’s inaugural LUMINARIES:

This year’s LUMINARIES were selected by a distinguished and diverse panel of judges from across the advice industry, as well by our editorial team. Their stories are being told in print and online at ThinkAdvisor.com in features, interviews, podcasts and other coverage. (We highlighted winners in Diversity & Inclusion and Thought Leadership & Education in our September issue.)

All members of the Class of 2021 LUMINARIES will be recognized onstage at the program’s inaugural awards dinner — set to take place Nov. 9 at the Mandarin Oriental in New York.

Mark Tibergien, one of the LUMINARIES judges, says acknowledging excellence in executive leadership is about shining a spotlight on “those who make a true impact” in financial services, which can “profoundly affect how this business is viewed” by clients, prospects and the general public.

“Executive leadership is an aspect of financial services that needs to be elevated as a respected discipline,” explained Tibergien, who was recently named by the accounting firm EY as its financial services advisor in residence. “This is especially true as we experience the fastest consolidation of this business that we’ve seen in decades, particularly at the RIA level,” he said, and also among broker-dealers.

“As firms become more complex, more widely distributed in terms of their geography and have larger populations of employees, the need for dedicated leadership, not just management but leadership — meaning those who can inspire, steer, motivate and teach others — is really critical to the business,” Tibergien explained.

At the same time, there’s “a physical limit to how much time that someone has to focus on business growth [in the financial advice industry] because they are busy with clients, so elevating [business growth] as a discipline” should be seen as a positive step, he added.

The LUMINARIES’ focus on excellence in business growth “really recognizes that we are going through another transformation … , which involves taking control of your destiny.” In addition to financial advisors, the following organizations and the programs, products and services that they offer are being recognized as part of the LUMINARIES:

(Illustrations by Daniel Hertzberg)

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