The program is designed to attract college-age women to wealth management careers in order to increase gender diversity in the industry.

“A career in wealth management provides an opportunity to positively impact people’s lives,” said Nash. “We can build a strong talent pipeline by giving young women access to more knowledge and to mentors who can help them launch careers in the industry. I plan to bring other women leaders with varying backgrounds into this initiative to enhance the curriculum with real-life success stories, and further enrich the experience for students.”

EIOC builds a bridge between colleges and universities and investment management by training talented, young individuals and positioning them for employment across the industry. The program’s goal is to train 5,000 students from multiple academic institutions across the U.S. over the next five years with online courses and training modules. Students benefit from relevant, broad-based, practical training on investment management, including goals-based wealth management, fiduciary responsibilities and investment advisory solutions. The program is made possible through collaboration between Envestnet, Fiserv, the Money Management Institute (MMI) and Wheelhouse Analytics.

The ‘Women in Wealth Management’ program will provide live streaming webinars and learning modules developed specifically for women seeking career guidance. Now being developed for the fall semester, the program is estimated to include over 20 universities by September. Cheryl Nash will lead the webinars and will leverage LinkedIn and other social networks to establish deeper connections with the Institute’s participants.

“Increasing student awareness of the opportunities in wealth management and preparing them with industry insights will help accelerate their career choices and development, as well as help firms to attract and retain next-generation talent,” said Craig Pfeiffer, advisory board member of EIOC and president and CEO of the Money Management Institute. “Cheryl’s leadership and the momentum generated by the EIOC Advisory Board will help improve the industry’s longstanding diversity challenges. The addition of Fiserv is a positive development for the future of our program, and Cheryl’s passion and energy will have a measurable impact.”

To date, EIOC has trained over 300 students from 10 universities through its learning modules and online courses. Fiserv support will help fund the development of new content, expansion of the program and scholarships for students at each participating university. Future plans for the program include an internship and resume hub that will connect wealth management firms with the students who become certified through the program.

Fiserv is a market leader providing innovative investment services solutions with more than four million managed accounts supported on its Unified Wealth Platform, representing over $1.3 trillion in assets. The Unified Wealth Platform is tailored for wealth management firms with a highly-configurable user interface and dashboard, which enables seamless workflow navigation and integrated support of all discretionary managed account programs (ETF, MFA, RPM, SMA, UMA). Large enterprises can leverage the Unified Wealth Platform to integrate front, middle, and back-office wealth management technology, while increasing automation, straight-through processing and end-to-end workflow.

In a world that is moving faster than ever before, Fiserv helps clients deliver solutions that are in step with the way people live and work today – financial services at the speed of life. Learn more at TheSpeedofLife.com.