Spotlighting good work, eye on future

In this issue of InvestmentNews, we celebrate those members of our industry who have dedicated themselves to making the financial advice industry more representative. The progress on this area is tangible, which is reinforced when you look at our annual 40 Under 40 issue. Absent the efforts of the firms and individuals highlighted in these profiles today, that group of young professionals may not have gotten where they are.

Shundrawn Thomas, our Lifetime Achievement Award winner, represents much of what is good about this progress. I’ve had the good fortune to meet Shundrawn a time or two, and look forward to our Sept. 16 webcast. He brings a unique grace and style that we all can learn from. Jeff Benjamin elucidates this grace in a profile on page 8. 

“The 2021 winner of the InvestmentNews Excellence in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Lifetime Achievement Award is not the kind of person who seeks recognition for his success nor status as an African American in an industry where women and minorities in leadership are still rare,” Benjamin writes. “But Thomas appreciates and enthusiastically shoulders the opportunity to challenge the status quo, and to help make success stories like his more common.”

But even as we celebrate these accomplishments, the fight for equality is not over. News broke last week, as reported on page 3, that leaves no question that challenges remain. 

Fortunately, this is an industry that’s primarily focused on serving all communities.