Three financial planning academics have been awarded the 2023 Montgomery-Warschauer Award by the Financial Planning Association for their article on African American credit that appeared in the Journal of Financial Planning in November, the FPA announced today.

Leon Chen, Sophia Duffy and Daniel Hiebert were the authors of the paper, “The Role of Financial Planners on African American Business Owners’ Personal Credit and Access to Capital.”

Chen is a professor of finance at Minnesota State University Mankato. He has published in various academic journals such as Journal of Risk and Insurance, North American Actuarial Journal, and Journal of Investing in the past 10 years.

Duffy is an associate professor of business planning and assistant vice president of curriculum quality at the American College of Financial Services. She teaches classes in business and estate planning at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Hiebert is an assistant professor of finance at Minnesota State University Mankato. He has more than 26 years of financial service industry experience, and currently also serves as the director of the financial planning program.

The Montgomery-Warschauer Award recognizes the paper published in the Journal of Financial Planning that provided the most outstanding contribution to the betterment of the profession in the preceding year, the FPA said. The award is named after the late Henry Montgomery, who helped create the Journal, and Tom Warschauer, the Journal’s first academic editor.

“The Journal of Financial Planning has served as an important platform for thought leadership for nearly five decades and has brought critical thinking to the forefront on many issues that have not been explored elsewhere,” FPA President James Lee said in a statement. “This important paper by Chen, Duffy, and Hiebert further builds on that legacy and we look forward to honoring them and their contributions at FPA Annual Conference this September where the award will be presented.”

The winning paper was selected by the Journal of Financial Planning’s Editorial Advisory Board and the Journal editorial staff.

Recognizing that small business ownership is an established method for individuals of varying backgrounds to amass significant wealth, the paper aims to assist financial advisors in understanding the challenging landscape for African American business owners, the FPA said.

The paper also provides guidance for financial advisors to improve their efficacy in assisting African American business owners in improving business outcomes, such as utilizing decentralized finance as a means for obtaining capital and mitigating the discrimination risk inherent in obtaining credit from traditional banking institutions, the FPA said.

“Small businesses play a vital role in healthy communities, and the number of Black- and minority-owned businesses has seen substantial growth before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Authors Chen, Duffy, and Hiebert identified specific challenges faced by these business owners and offered ways for financial planners to support them. Planners who serve these clients can have a profound impact on their communities as well as their individual clients,” Danielle Andrus, editor of the Journal of Financial Planning, said in a statement.