Richard Lindquist is a Regional Business Development Manager in the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Heartland Region—nine Midwestern states that are home to over 900 Financial Advisors. Lindquist also takes a leading role in moving Diversity forward in his region as a local advocate for women and minority Financial Advisors within the Firm.

Lindquist [pictured here with Judy Halabrin, SVP, Wealth Advisor (l) and Karen Myers, VP, Financial Advisor (r)] travels throughout his region, connecting with Financial Advisors in the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney offices and laying the foundation for what he hopes will be a dynamic women’s networking organization. He is patterning his efforts on the Firm’s employee networking groups and the legacy Morgan Stanley Women’s Business Exchange (WBE).

"The WBE is a bi-annual conference of women Financial Advisors. It was a very successful program at Morgan Stanley,” he says, “and I look forward to seeing it continue in the future within the merged Firm. We are trying to create networking opportunities for our Financial Advisors at the local level.”

Planning Ahead
In fact, thanks in part to the local leadership of these legacy Morgan Stanley networking groups, his region is planning a number of women’s networking events for the fall. The first took place in Minneapolis on August 27^th, when Priya Trauber, Diversity Director for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, together with local management, hosted the first meeting of women Financial Advisors from both legacy organizations. Additional events are planned for Milwaukee, and Kansas City, Kansas. Eventually, he wants every major market in the Heartland region—including Madison/Green Bay, Des Moines, Omaha/Lincoln and St. Louis—to host similar community-building events.

“We want women Financial Advisors to know that they are not alone fighting to be successful,” he says. “We want them to know that the Firm recognizes and supports them.”

The events also will encourage Morgan Stanley Smith Barney women Financial Advisors to work collectively to enhance the Firm’s brand in the local communities. In addition, events are being planned that will allow the Financial Advisors to get to know their counterparts at some of the Firm’s business partners—the wholesalers of mutual fund companies, insurance carriers and other financial services vendors and suppliers.

And if past experience holds, Lindquist says, over time the networking groups are likely to initiate their own distinct marketing and fundraising efforts. Not long ago, in Minneapolis, for example, the legacy Morgan Stanley networking group hosted an event to support the Minnesota Lynx, the WNBA franchise based in Minneapolis. “They invited women clients to bring their daughters and granddaughters to the game,” he recalls. “It was a very successful multi-generational marketing event.”

For now, Lindquist is focusing on compiling the distribution lists for each market that will jumpstart the networking groups’ formation. Once they are up and running, though, he hopes his role will be more of an advisor or mentor.

"I work with some extraordinarily talented women," he says, "and sometimes they want to talk to someone who can offer impartial advice. The opportunity to connect with these women on a personal and professional level allows me to focus on what is truly important to each of them. These relationships are amongst the most rewarding aspects of my career."