Daniel Moisand has officially succeeded Kamila Elliott as 2023 chair of the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards' board of directors, effective January 1, 2023, the organization said.
Elliott became the first African-American to serve as the board’s chair during 2022 after her peers elected her in 2020.
Moisand now takes the reins overseeing a professional body that certifies more than 95,000 financial planning professionals nationwide.
While he is new to the role, he is no stranger to the organization and its goals, according to Kevin R. Keller, the CFP Board's CEO.
“Dan is a longtime advocate for ethical, responsive financial planning, and he’s been a strong supporter of our work at CFP Board for over 20 years,” Keller said in a statement. “This year marks the 50th anniversary of CFP certification, and Dan’s leadership will benefit both the financial advice ecosystem and the public as CFP Board looks to the opportunities and challenges in the year ahead.”
Moisand, an industry veteran with over three decades of financial planning and investment experience, is a principal and financial advisor at Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC, which has offices in Orlando, Melbourne and Tampa, Fla. He received his bachelor of science degree in finance from Florida State University, and got his CFP certification in 1994.
As a past national president of the Financial Planning Association, as well as a trustee of the Foundation for Financial Planning from 2014 to 2019, Moisand has helped expand the industry’s influence worldwide. On behalf of the FPA, he has led delegations of financial planners to Russia, China, India and Australia. But it is his work with the CFP Board that helped shape the industry’s ethical compass.
From 1999 to 2001, he served on the CFP Board’s Board of Practice Standards, helping to draft and promulgate the first financial planning practice standards for CFP professionals. In 2008, he served as chair of the CFP Board’s Disciplinary and Ethics Commission.
Moisand will reportedly guide the organization as it initiates its first-ever comprehensive review of the CFP Board’s competency standards with the 2023 launch of the Competency Standards Commission. During his term as chair, he will also preside over the beginning of a new initiative that will focus on increasing the number of college-bound students choosing financial planning as a degree major and career path.
In an email to Financial Advisor, Moisand discussed his new leadership role further. Asked what he and his board considered their greatest challenge in 2023, Moisand cited a shortage of industry talent.
“The public needs, wants and deserves more competent and ethical financial planners,” he said. “A top strategic priority of the CFP Board is workforce development, including the promotion of financial planning as an attractive career choice.”
He said he and the CFP Board would tap all resources available to them in an effort to persuade students and working adults to consider a new career path as financial advisors, particularly people from underserved communities.
Financial Advisor asked Moisand what the most pressing issues are facing CFP advisors.
“Being a financial planner has never been more complicated,” he said in the email. “Most of the issues facing the financial planning profession are complex and will require years of effort to resolve. With that in mind, we will be working this year to enhance access to competent and ethical financial planners by continuing to increase the number and diversity of CFP professionals; to bolster our community engagement; and to continue building public awareness of the benefits of working with a CFP professional.”
The CFP Board will soon announce the members of the new Competency Standards Commission, he said. The commission will review and evaluate the CFP Board’s competency requirements for a CFP mark holder's education, examination, experience and continuing education.
“Over the course of the year, we also plan to put forth proposals for new sanction guidelines and to improve our communications about disciplinary cases by providing more detailed information,” he said.
Financial Advisor asked Moisand if he was concerned about the increasing number of younger investors choosing to manage their money without the advice of a financial professional, and if he had a plan to address the potential pitfalls of DIY investing.
“It always concerns me when people make bad choices with their money without proper training,” he said in the email. “The work of a financial planner is all about helping clients. People hiring a financial planner expect to receive advice designed to be in their best interests, not those of the financial planner. Our role as the CFP Board is to help consumers understand the benefits of competent and ethical financial planning, as well as the value of working with a CFP professional.”
Moisand said that to address the issue, the CFP Board would be launching what he described as an exciting new ad campaign in the spring.
Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, financial technology has emerged as an important tool enabling advisors to stay in communication with their clients virtually when they could no longer meet in person. Financial Advisor asked Moisand about the evolution of fintech and how it will advance to serve advisors.
“As financial planners, we use technology to create better outcomes for our clients,” he said. “But technology alone will not improve the delivery of financial advice. It's just one aspect of the financial advice ecosystem. Consumers still want a human connection when receiving financial advice. That’s why the relationship between an advisor and a client is so important. And that’s why CFP Board published “The Psychology of Financial Planning” last year—to address the inherently emotional aspects of financial planning and to give CFP professionals a deeper understanding of the behaviors and situations that technology doesn’t address.”
Although Moisand has only just begun his term, Financial Advisor asked him what words of advice he would give his successor at the end of the year.
“When I’ve been asked for advice by volunteer leaders, I tell them that leaders don’t dictate, they serve a cause,” he said. “Our work to advance the profession and provide value for financial planners is ultimately for the benefit of the public. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the CFP certification, and it's clear that we’ve come a long way in advancing the financial profession. It's my privilege to help keep this movement going.”