"I can remember when we thought $100 million was a big number," Dick Averitt, RJFS chairman and CEO, said today to an audience of the broker-dealer's top women advisors. "Today, 10 of the 61 Raymond James' Chairman's Council are women. That's [roughly] 15% of the council. I see no reason why women can't be 40% of the council." The Chairman's Council comprises advisors with more than $1 million in annual production.

 

Averitt noted that he has added two women to his group of 14 recruiters. Karen Schultz, vice president and director of Raymond James Network for Women Advisors, said the goal is to recruit 15% more women in the next three years. Year-to-date, the firm has added 27 women advisors and 21 women brokers. Currently, a total of 451 women advisors account for 15% of the firm's 3,080 advisory network, while 124 women brokers make up 12% of the broker-dealers' 1,062 rep force.

While the 37% growth rate for women advisors' assets is impressive (compared to women brokers' 14% growth rate,) female advisors' trailing 12-month (T-12) production and books of business are still significantly smaller than their female rep counterparts. Women advisors have T-12 of $234,958 and average assets under management of $33.4 million; women reps produced T-12 of $426,516 and an average AUM of $61.9 million.

"The most important next step is for us to help women continue to build their businesses and create unique client experiences," Schultz told the audience of more than 200 women. The do that, the company has created monthly coaching sessions, mentoring programs, and sales and marketing training. The new "Network for Women Advisors" brand and marketing brochures, ads and tools were well received at the conference. The network has its own dedicated website, training and annual conference.

"What we really need now is to figure out how to build the capacity to deal with growth," said Kay Feagles, an advisor in Canton, Ohio who grew her $500 million shop 150% last year.

--Tracey Longo