Longtime fiduciary advocate Ron A. Rhoades will be honored for his decades of work advocating for the investor benefits of fiduciary advice today at an Institute for the Fiduciary Standard panel discussion focusing on the current status of the fiduciary debate in the face of frenetic regulatory and CFP Board changes.

Rhoades, an attorney and associate professor of finance and the director of the Personal Financial Planning Program at Western Kentucky University, will receive the Frankel Fiduciary Prize 2020 Award from the Institute, for his pro-fiduciary influence on both the industry and regulation, institute President Knut Rostad said in a statement.

“This is a historic year for fiduciary advice regulation,” Rostad said. “The question, ‘Where do we go from here?’ has new meaning. After decades of lobbying ... core principles such as separating advice from sales and eliminating conflicts have been zapped from the rules. Instead, ideas like ‘BDs and IAs are the same,’ ‘conflicts benefit investors’ and ‘disclosures cure conflicts,’ are loudly touted. This is plain nonsense and investors know it."

The virtual presentation and panel discussion will be held today from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. ET and will be open to advisors. RSVP for a webinar link to institute staff member Darren Fogarty at [email protected].

The following panelists will be part of the discussion:

• Barbara Roper of the Consumer Federation of America.                                                                                            
• Deborah A. DeMott, David F. Cavers Professor of Law at Duke Law and chair of the Frankel Fiduciary Prize Selection Committee.
• Tamar Frankel, professor of Law, Emerita, at Boston University School of Law.                                 
• Rostad of the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard.                                                                                                       
• Luis A. Aguilar, former commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission (2008-2015).                              
• Phyllis Borzi,  former assistant secretary, EBSA, at the Department of Labor (2009-2017).                                 
• Harold Evensky, chairman, Evensky & Katz/Foldes                                                                                                 
• Dr. Indu Chhachhi, chair, Department of Finance, Western Kentucky University.                                                                                                                         

Rhoades has 30 years of experience as an attorney, and over 15 years as a personal financial advisor. He has been a “tireless advocate” for fiduciary investment advice, traveling to Washington D.C. to meet with and educate policy makers, serving on “innumerable” industry boards commissions and task forces and writing more than 230 papers and comment letters to further fiduciary understanding, Rostad said.

Rhoades has “had a direct impact on the thinking and actions of practitioners and policy makers,” said DeMott. “Ron has long been a thoughtful and effective advocate on fiduciary issues. His work reaches across the spectrum as a teacher, practitioner, and public advocate. Through his extensively developed commentary, he’s been a trusted and knowledgeable resource, placing him in a class of one as a scholar and commentator.”