Advisor nominated for award says it ‘felt like being a winner’

Ask Colleen Bell what her goals were going into 2024 and she sums it up in one word: transformation.

“It really is to continue to innovate,” Bell, president of innovation and experience at Cambridge Investment Research, said. “That is really what we're trying to do at Cambridge, and making sure that we are thinking about the future and solving for the future's needs before our advisors even know that's something we need to solve for.”

Bell, the winner of the Women to Watch Awards’ Allyship Champion of the Year award, said the focus at Cambridge is on business agility and moving the teams to be in a place where they can innovate and deliver things faster than expected.

“The world has changed,” she adds. “With the introduction of generative AI, people expect different things as we move forward, and you can get answers so much more quickly than you used to in the past. How can we leverage that to give knowledge to our associates, which makes them better, and help our finance professionals be more efficient and effective, as we're able to deliver some of this technology to them?”

As it announces the inaugural InvestmentNews Awards, InvestmentNews is highlighting several past nominees and award winners. Nominations for the awards are now open, and wealth management professionals across the country are invited to nominate someone exceptional who deserves the spotlight.

There are several nomination categories to choose from. Click here for a full rundown of the 17 award categories.

Leslie Samuelrich, president at Green Century Funds, says being nominated helped raise the visibility of the firm and let them tell the story about Green Century’s commitment to being fossil fuel-free, its strong shareholder advocacy program and unique non-profit ownership.

“Being nominated [also] brought me to the conference, where we met a new set of advisors who are movers and shakers in the field, and who are also interested in sustainable investing,” she says.

Samuelrich, who was a finalist in the Trailblazer of the Year category at the Women to Watch Awards, added that her goals this year are to dispel the myths surrounding ESG investing and make it clear that ESG data are just another way to look at additional financial risks.

Bell recalls that being nominated felt like “already being a winner.”

“It's really rewarding to think back on what I've accomplished, what I’ve done to move the industry forward and move other people forward,” she said. “That really is my goal in life: to help others. I've had a lot of help and mentorship along the way, and I always want to be able to give back the same way that I've been given.”

The InvestmentNews Awards, sponsored by InvestmentNews and organized by its parent company, Key Media, will take place Thursday, June 20, at 583 Park Avenue, New York. The schedule for the evening includes a pre-awards cocktail reception, awards ceremony, dinner banquet and a post-party celebration.