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LeCount Davis

Practice Management > Diversity and Inclusion

CFP Board Creates Scholarship Program Honoring First Black CFP

By Jeff Berman

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What You Need to Know

  • The new CFP Board scholarship program honors LeCount R. Davis, who became certified in 1978.

The CFP Board Center for Financial Planning created its first endowed scholarship program honoring the first Black certified financial planner professional, LeCount R. Davis, it said.

The new LeCount R. Davis, CFP Scholarship program was developed to support the next generation of diverse CFP professionals, the CFP Board said, noting it will assist qualified Black/African American students and professionals who are committed to attaining CFP certification and to the practice of financial planning.

The scholarship will award as much as $5,000 per student seeking to complete an undergraduate- or certificate-level CFP Board registered program, based on demonstrated merit and financial need, it said.

After completing the required education coursework, scholarship recipients will be eligible to take the CFP exam and pursue the next steps to attain certification, the CFP Board said.

Davis was an advisor for over 50 years and became the first Black person to earn the CFP certification in 1978. Before that, he started his own consulting firm in 1970, specializing in tax planning, small business management, financial planning, financial management and investment consulting.

During his career, Davis’ client portfolio included national organizations, international labor unions, pension funds, individuals, small businesses, religious organizations, investment clubs and other entities, the CFP board said.

In 2001, Davis founded the Association of African American Financial Advisors with a mission to expand the community of successful Black financial professionals.

Davis wrote an autobiography, “One Step Back — Two Steps Forward: The Dance of My Ultimate Plan,” in 2020 to further inspire and prepare the next generation of financial planners, the CFP Board said, calling its new scholarship program “yet another step forward in helping Davis fulfill his lifelong mission of diversifying the financial planning profession.”

“Everyone can benefit from financial planning,” according to  CFP Board CEO Kevin R. Keller. “If we’re going to serve the entire country, we need to look more like the clients that CFP professionals serve,” he said in a statement. The new scholarship “supports his mission and ours — creating a more diverse and sustainable financial planning profession,” he added.

Financial planning is the “solution to many of the socioeconomic problems in our community,” according to Davis. “It all starts with the knowledge of finance, and this scholarship will help students and young professionals see that you don’t have to be born with a silver spoon in your mouth to make it in this world,” he said.

More details on the LeCount R. Davis, CFP Scholarship will be available at CFP.net/Scholarships.

Jeff Berman

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