BISA Magazine - Quarter 3, 2016 - 9

E The RIS of the Next Generation Millennials add energy and passion to advisory programs. An in-depth look at what's happening across the country to recruit younger professionals into the field. By Gina Lauer N athan Harness has been crisscrossing the country in an effort to educate and enlighten the financial services industry on millennials. "I'll probably be in front of 3,400 to 4,000 advisors this summer," said Harness, who is director of Texas A&M University's Financial Planning Program, describing his travels last summer. You might call Harness an evangelist for future young advisors. His enthusiasm is apparent as he explains the value and passion that new advisors can infuse into the industry. He knows them well: "I engage them daily, as an academic," he explained. Harness is not alone in his efforts to get the word out about the virtues of newly minted advisor talent. Luke Dean, director of the Financial Planning Program at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, spoke proudly of his graduates. In fact, the 2015 graduating class of 20 from the university's financial planning degree program had over 200 job offers. In other words, a job placement rate of 100 percent - and then some. "The industry has noticed," Dean said. "I just can't provide enough students for how many calls I get. It's a wonderful problem for students. It's a terrible problem for employers." Dean spends time every day looking for students on the university campus to attract to the financial planning major. The program currently has eight professors and 350 students - and it's growing (see sidebar on page 14). Harness's program at Texas A&M has 103 students - 60 in an undergraduate program and 43 in an extended learning program. There's an enormous demand for students there as well, he said. "I have about five jobs to every one student that's graduating right now." The BISA Diversity Committee's main focus currently is on age diversity, or the recruiting of millennials, said committee chair David L. Giertz, president of NFS Distributors Inc., a unit of Nationwide Financial. "There is a belief that millennials are diverse from a gender, ethnic and racial perspective," he said. It's a way to offset the aging financial advisor population, too. 9 BISA Magazine

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of BISA Magazine - Quarter 3, 2016