WealthManagement.com announced the winners for the 2023 WealthManagement.com Industry Awards (the “Wealthies”) Thursday night during a black-tie awards gala at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York City.
Now in its ninth year, the WealthManagement.com Industry Awards is the only awards program to honor outstanding achievements by companies, organizations and individuals that support financial advisor success. This year, 91 awards were presented to 80 companies from a pool of 253 finalists.
View the list of winners
“A record-breaking number of nominations were submitted in 2023, with over 1,000 entries received from more than 400 companies,” said David Armstrong, Director of Editorial Strategy and Operations, Wealth Management Group – Informa Connect. “The Industry Awards program has significantly expanded in scope in the nine years since it began, but the mission remains the same: To recognize and celebrate the outstanding initiatives undertaken by companies and individuals that contribute to the success of financial advisors in their businesses and foster improved outcomes for their clients."
A panel of independent judges made up of top names in the industry determined the winners. The best in each category were selected based on quantitative measures of their initiatives—such as scope, scale, adoption and feature set—along with qualitative measures, such as innovation, creativity and new methods of delivery.
The awards program was expanded in 2023 to recognize organizations who are pioneering innovation in platforms for advisor support and investing, as well as direct indexing, securities-based lending, marketing automation and retirement income. And for the second straight year, individual awards paid tribute to up-and-comers at RIA firms. See the list of 2023 RIA Rising Star Honorees.
The big winners this year were Orion Advisor Solutions, earning four awards, and Cambridge Investment Research and Mercer Advisors, who each walked away with three. Other multiple winners included CAIS, Fidelity Investments, Prospera Financial Services and SMArtX Advisory Solutions. Awards were also handed out recognizing individual CEOs, CMOs, CTOs, Innovators, M&A Leaders and Thought Leaders.
Armstrong (who, as always, was the evening’s master of ceremonies, alongside Managing Editor Diana Britton; WMRE Publisher Marianne Rivera; and Mark Bruno, managing director, Wealth Management at Informa Connect) stressed how this awards ceremony is unique by recognizing those companies and individuals that help advisors better support clients.
"This year’s winners hail from various types of firms, yet they all share a common trait—they are the architects behind the programs, tools and platforms that empower financial advisors to grow their businesses, enhance client service, and elevate the financial prospects and quality of life for millions of investors,” Armstrong said.
The 2023 awards event program kicked off with senior executives at finalist companies participating in daytime CEO and CTO panel sessions, followed by technology roundtable discussions and networking at the Westin Times Square in New York City. The afternoon session was enriched with two invitation-only think tanks: The EDGE DEI&B Think Tank addressed recruiting, mentoring and empowering talent from underrepresented groups, and highlighted how participants and their organizations are successfully creating cultures of inclusion and belonging; and the RPA Edge Think Tank connecting decision-makers from across the RPA and wealth management industry ecosystems in an intimate gathering designed to help reshape the future of retirement plan advice.
More than 500 industry executives and team members from leading asset management firms, RIAs, broker/dealers, custodians, technology providers and other industry-related companies attended the evening red carpet, cocktail reception and black-tie awards ceremony at the Ziegfeld Ballroom.
During the evening ceremony, the awards program also recognized the good work being done by Foundation For Financial Planning in bringing quality pro bono financial advice to the most financially-vulnerable members of our society—including wounded veterans, domestic violence survivors, struggling single parents, people with cancer and many more.
A complete listing of the 2023 Industry Awards finalists, winners and their initiatives can be found in a special WealthManagement.com Best-of-the-Best digital edition.