Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services has struck a partnership with a national networking association to offer peer networking and mentoring opportunities to women, who are traditionally under-represented in financial services.

Ladenburg, a publicly traded diversified financial services company based in Miami, said that its Ladenburg Institute of Women & Finance (LIWF) will partner with the W Source, a national networking organization for female professionals. The partnership will help advance female advisors’ businesses through network referrals.

Founded in 2012, the Institute of Women & Finance has helped female advisors by providing coaching and management programs and business growth support. Through its mentoring program, it has offered mentoring opportunities for both younger women advisors and career changers. The institute also hosts an annual symposium focused on developing the success of female advisors affiliated with Ladenburg’s independent advisory and brokerage firms—Securities America, Triad Advisors, Securities Service Network, Investacorp and KMS Financial Services. 

“After hearing about the W Source from one of our female advisors who just successfully launched her chapter, we are thrilled to introduce this unique business-building program across the Ladenburg community of women advisors,” said Janine Wertheim, the president of Securities America Advisors and an LIWF committee member.

Through the partnership with the W Source, Ladenburg gives female advisors affiliated with its subsidiary firms the opportunity to expand their presence in their local areas by creating networks of female professionals whose businesses complement and enhance one another, creating opportunities to bring in new clients through referrals, Ladenburg said.

The W Source, based in Santa Barbara, Calif., helps female professionals grow their businesses through networking groups of 20 to 25 professionals in local areas. The organization, which was launched in 2017, provides resources, marketing support and dedicated sales coaches that assist the women in running their local chapters.

Members include financial advisors, CPAs, attorneys and risk management specialists.

One W Source alumnus, Vickie Garcia, has been in the industry for 25 years, and has been directly advising clients since 2006. She is a financial advisor and CFP practitioner at NextBridge Wealth Advisors, a Securities America-affiliated wealth management firm in Scottsdale, Ariz., with $165 million in total client assets.

“I am very excited that the Ladenburg Institute of Women & Finance has announced this partnership with the W Source,” Garcia said in a statement. “Since I started my W Source chapter earlier this year, the first in the Ladenburg advisor community, it has been extremely gratifying to see each member’s enthusiasm about belonging to a group of successful female professionals who want to help each other’s businesses grow.”

Hannah Buschbom, co-founder of the W Source, said in a statement, “We are so excited to partner with Ladenburg Thalmann and the Ladenburg Institute of Women & Finance to further accelerate the growth of female advisors’ businesses, strengthen the bonds between women advisors within the Ladenburg network and bring more female professionals into the industry. This is a great example of putting actions behind words and our industry’s interest in growing and supporting female financial advisors.”