The Legends of WealthTech with Noreen Beaman, Lori Hardwick, and Cheryl Nash

A startling 6.6% of Fortune 500 companies have women as their CEOs and only 23% of C-Suites are made up of women. Such statistics show that gender bias is prevalent despite increased traction and awareness around diversity, equity, and inclusion. While progress is slow, thankfully, it is not stagnant. Many businesses receive questions about the lack of diversity within their organization and what they are doing to fix it. 

In this episode, Jack speaks with three wealthtech legends: Noreen Beaman, Vice Chair Board of Directors at Orion Advisor Solutions, Lori Hardwick, Board Director at Cetera, Orion, and Cerity Partners and Board Chair at Vestwell and Docupace, and Cheryl Nash, Chief Executive Officer of Financial Supermarket at InvestCloud. The three discuss important themes that have led to their professional wins: embracing challenges, trusting your instinct, working hard, and surrounding yourself with a strong support system.

Lori, Cheryl, and Noreen talk with Jack about the evolution of their careers, their advice for women in wealthtech, and their thoughts on where the industry is headed.

Key Takeaways

• [02:47] - An introduction to Lori Hardwick.
• [04:01] - An introduction to Noreen Beaman.
• [05:39] - An introduction to Cheryl Nash.
• [07:43] -  The evolution of Noreen’s career. 
• [10:02] - How taking chances benefitted Cheryl’s career.
• [12:03] - An overview of Lori’s career.
• [15:10] - Cheryl’s advice for women in wealthtech.
• [17:02] - Lori’s professional pearls of wisdom.
• [19:15] - Noreen’s sage words for women in wealthtech.
• [24:31] - The importance of building your network to solve problems. 
• [27:20] - Lori’s view of the future of the business.
• [28:47] - Cheryl’s thoughts on the potential of the wealthtech industry.
• [30:18] - Noreen’s view on the innovation and digitization of wealthtech. 
• [32:34] - Cheryl’s key takeaway: find a support system.
• [33:20] - Lori’s key takeaway: be brave.
• [34:21] - Noreen’s key takeaway: be resilient.
• [35:21] - How Lori spends her time outside of work.
• [36:22] - How Noreen spends her time outside of work. 
• [37:48] - How Cheryl spends her time outside of work.

Quotes

[09:15] - “You need to take chances and try different things. It doesn’t mean you’ll always be successful at them, but without having those experiences, you will not really be able to move along in your career like you need to.” ~ Noreen Beaman

[16:01] - “What gets measured really gets done. You should ask that your firms are measuring diversity, not just gender, and that you reward those who take it seriously and do the right things to keep women and diverse candidates and grow them.” ~ Cheryl Nash

[33:24] - “I had someone tell me just a couple months ago, ‘you wrote your own story.  You didn't let anybody else be the author of your story.’ I really appreciated that and I want to make sure I encourage other women and men to do that as well.” ~ Lori Hardwick

Links 

• Lori Hardwick
• Cheryl Nash
• Noreen Beaman
• Orion Advisor Solutions
• Docupace
• InvestCloud

Connect with our hosts

• LifeYield
• Jack Sharry on LinkedIn
• Jack Sharry on Twitter

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