News Release
CFP Board Center for Financial Planning Names Kathleen McQuiggan Special Adviser on Gender Diversity
The CFP Board Center for Financial Planning today announced that Kathleen McQuiggan – a recognized leader on the issue of gender diversity in financial services – is the new Special Adviser on Gender Diversity. In this role, she will help guide the Center’s Women’s Initiative (WIN) to address the shortage of women in the financial planning profession.
“Last year, we saw a record number of women earn CFP® certification, but the fact remains that women make up only 23 percent of CFP® professionals,” said CFP Board Center for Financial Planning Executive Director Marilyn Mohrman-Gillis. “Kathleen is a true expert on gender diversity in financial services and passionate about empowering more women to succeed in the financial planning profession. We are fortunate indeed to have someone with Kathleen’s knowledge and commitment join the Center to advance programs and initiatives that will effect real change.”
McQuiggan began her career at the financial services firm Alex Brown in Baltimore and later spent 13 years at Goldman Sachs, before departing in 2009 to focus on her passion – investing in women. She founded the consulting firm Catalina Leadership, where she began an engagement with Pax World Management and later joined the firm as Senior Vice President of Global Women’s Strategies. In that role, she was responsible for product management of the Pax Ellevate Global Women’s Index Fund and ran the firm’s Women & Wealth practice management initiative. McQuiggan currently works at Artemis Financial Advisors.
She holds a B.S. from Towson University and is currently working toward becoming a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional. A longtime advocate for advancing women in leadership, McQuiggan served on the CFP Board WIN Council since the initiative’s inception in 2013. She is also an active member of SheGives, Women Working for Oceans, Ellevate Network, Plum Alley Investments and Dartmouth Natural Resource Trust. In 2015, she was among 20 financial advisors and industry executives honored on InvestmentNews’ inaugural “Women to Watch” list.
McQuiggan takes over the role of Special Adviser on Gender Diversity from Eleanor Blayney, CFP®, who recently established the Eleanor Blayney Gender Diversity Fund in concluding her official role with the Center. Blayney will continue her involvement in the Center’s Women’s Initiative as a member of the WIN Council and as a WIN Advocate.
“Last year, we saw a record number of women earn CFP® certification, but the fact remains that women make up only 23 percent of CFP® professionals,” said CFP Board Center for Financial Planning Executive Director Marilyn Mohrman-Gillis. “Kathleen is a true expert on gender diversity in financial services and passionate about empowering more women to succeed in the financial planning profession. We are fortunate indeed to have someone with Kathleen’s knowledge and commitment join the Center to advance programs and initiatives that will effect real change.”
McQuiggan began her career at the financial services firm Alex Brown in Baltimore and later spent 13 years at Goldman Sachs, before departing in 2009 to focus on her passion – investing in women. She founded the consulting firm Catalina Leadership, where she began an engagement with Pax World Management and later joined the firm as Senior Vice President of Global Women’s Strategies. In that role, she was responsible for product management of the Pax Ellevate Global Women’s Index Fund and ran the firm’s Women & Wealth practice management initiative. McQuiggan currently works at Artemis Financial Advisors.
She holds a B.S. from Towson University and is currently working toward becoming a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional. A longtime advocate for advancing women in leadership, McQuiggan served on the CFP Board WIN Council since the initiative’s inception in 2013. She is also an active member of SheGives, Women Working for Oceans, Ellevate Network, Plum Alley Investments and Dartmouth Natural Resource Trust. In 2015, she was among 20 financial advisors and industry executives honored on InvestmentNews’ inaugural “Women to Watch” list.
McQuiggan takes over the role of Special Adviser on Gender Diversity from Eleanor Blayney, CFP®, who recently established the Eleanor Blayney Gender Diversity Fund in concluding her official role with the Center. Blayney will continue her involvement in the Center’s Women’s Initiative as a member of the WIN Council and as a WIN Advocate.
ABOUT CFP BOARD
Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. is the professional body for personal financial planners in the U.S. CFP Board sets standards for financial planning and administers the prestigious CFP® certification – one of the most respected certifications in financial services – so that the public has access to and benefits from competent and ethical financial planning. CFP Board, along with its Center for Financial Planning, is committed to increasing the public’s awareness of CFP® certification and access to a diverse, ethical and competent financial planning workforce. Widely recognized by firms and consumer groups as the standard for financial planning, CFP® certification is held by more than 83,000 people in the United States.
CONTACT
Dan Drummond, Director of Communications
202-379-2252
Mobile: 202-243-8621
ddrummond@cfpboard.org
About the CFP Board center for financial planning
The CFP Board Center for Financial Planning seeks to create a more diverse and sustainable financial planning profession so that every American has access to competent and ethical financial planning advice. The Center brings together CFP® professionals, firms, educators, researchers and experts to address profession-wide challenges in the areas of diversity and workforce development, and to build an academic home that offers opportunities for conducting and publishing new research that adds to the financial planning body of knowledge
Contact
Jessica Lewis
Communications Specialist
202-379-2256
Mobile: 301-655-0389
jlewis@cfpboard.org