Editor's note: What follows is an interview by Paul Ellis, a well-known advisor and consultant on sustainable investing strategies, with Geri Pell, a Barron's Top 100 Women Advisor and CEO of Pell Wealth Partners, and Katherine "Katie" Burstein McGinn, an advisor at Pell's firm, that provides insight on bringing more women and millennials into financial planning careers.

Paul: Geri, you brought Katie onboard in April 2014. What was your inspiration for bringing a millennial advisor to Pell Wealth Partners (PWP)?

Geri: Paul, our industry needs two things right now. One is more women advisors. The other is more young people discovering financial planning as a fantastic and empowering career path. 

So when a colleague suggested I would be a good mentor for Katie, I saw an opportunity. I was immediately drawn to her sensibility, personality and intelligence. I was also impressed by her depth of knowledge and experience as a millennial in our industry.

Paul: Katie, you were working for Mercer when you and Geri met, correct?

Katie: Yes, I was on a global team of consultants working with institutional clients like pension funds, endowments and foundations to integrate environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors throughout their investment decision-making processes. I was used to dealing with the board of trustees and pension fund managers, but wasn’t getting to know the investor at the end of the chain and wanted to learn more.

From the moment I sat down with Geri and felt her passion for what she does, something just clicked for me. She said that to be a successful financial advisor you need to have the mind of a capitalist and the heart of a social worker.  

Geri: Even though I didn’t have a position for Katie at that time, I started talking to other leaders in our practice about how we could create one for her. I like to figure out a way to use talent when you find it rather than waiting until you need the person.

We brought Katie in for a formal interview. At that point I had to decide whether to take the entrepreneurial risk of hiring someone we didn’t need at the time, but who brought extra capabilities in the ESG market and a millennial perspective to the team.

Paul: In taking that risk, what role did you offer Katie?

Geri: She came on as an associate financial advisor on our team. This meant she could work with a lead advisor and a service manager. She now supports the lead advisor who works with our high-net-worth clients and she’s become a lead advisor in her own right.

Paul: Katie, what was it like for you transitioning from an institutional approach to working with individual clients?

Katie: I was very pleased that the skills I had developed at Mercer translated directly to the work at PWP. And because of the great people here, and extensive training through Ameriprise, I got immediate exposure to the personal financial planning process. I particularly enjoy the depth of our client relationships.

Geri: I want to stress that I’m a big believer in a period of internship when people start out as financial advisors. Before Katie was able to be in front of clients solo, she went through a process: being in the field with experienced advisors and learning through observing as well as training in the basics of financial planning. Now that she’s at the end of this process, she’s demonstrating these skills in client meetings. I think this process is necessary to establish trust between advisors and clients.

Paul: Geri, what did Katie’s ESG credentials bring to the practice?

Geri: ESG investing is an area I’ve always offered my clients. But Katie brought years of research and deeper understanding. It was like me going out and getting a Ph.D. in ESG. She knows all the players, the data, the providers of resources and products. She also helped develop an ESG marketing plan for the team and she runs the ESG discretionary product that’s available to all our advisors.

Paul: Now that other advisors in the practice have learned more about ESG investing with Katie’s help, are you seeing more interest in ESG strategies from  clients?

Geri: Absolutely. Occasionally a client asks for ESG investing on their own, but when we actively talk to people about it, a majority of our clients say, “Wow! Tell me more!” We now have a very high ESG strategy implementation rate. This enables our advisors to deepen how they talk about ESG and be more confident in our products.

Paul: Geri, now that you’re almost two years into the process of working with Katie, what advice do you have for advisors like yourself?     

Geri: First, you can’t just carve off a piece of your book and say to someone like Katie, “Take this and run with it.” You have to ground them in the experience.

Second, I believe in giving new advisors enough responsibility and independence so they can grow. Katie was promoted to team leader when we realized how process oriented she is. Katie is a talented public speaker, so we use her in seminars without my having to be there. With each advisor, you have to know his or her strengths and be there to back them up.

Katie: This approach is very empowering. It’s part of our firm culture to identify strengths regardless of position and give people the tools to use them.  

Geri: And Katie brings the insight and values of the younger generation. She connects with the children of my clients, who probably think I’m a dinosaur!

Katie: Millennials do tend to look at the world a little differently. We view our money as an extension of who we are and we see it as a powerful agent of personal and broader social change. This fits so well with the culture Geri has built  at PWP -- maybe you’re not as much of a dinosaur as you think!

Geri: You see, I’m learning too!

For Katie’s generation, finding a team to join is an excellent way for them to step into the industry, get trained and become part of a professional family. There’s so much more emotional and learning support. And doing this in an organization like Ameriprise offers leadership training as well.

What I’m really doing is helping Katie and the other advisors in my organization to be the future leaders and owners of PWP. The message in this matchup between a millennial and a wise CEO is that I have something to offer and she has a point of entry with a bright future.             

Paul Ellis founded Paul Ellis Consulting to work with financial advisors who want to integrate Sustainable and Impact Investment strategies for their clients.  Geri Pell, CFP, MBA, CDFA, Ameriprise Financial Private Wealth Advisor and CEO of Pell Wealth Partners, has been named to Barron's Top 100 Women Advisors from 2009-2015. Katherine Burstein McGinn, CFA, is a financial advisor with Pell Wealth Partners.