WOMEN'S INITIATIVE

NAPFA Women’s Initiative 2025 Plans
ByAlyssa Dalbey, CFP^®, CPWA^®,  and Jen Dawson, CFP^®

The NAPFA Women’s Initiative strives to attract, support, educate, and develop women as leaders within the financial advisory profession and raise the awareness of the need for more female advisors. We work toward this mission by building a community of women advisors, providing programs at NAPFA events, attracting media attention through articles in financial publications, and providing networking, advocacy, and mentorship opportunities to women. All female NAPFA members are a part of the Women’s Initiative, which is led by the Women’s Initiative Committee.

The Women’s Initiative Committee is made up of eight members: Alyssa Dalbey, Jen Dawson, Janelle Woods, Stacy Miller, Jenny Martella, Roxanne Martens, Liz Bernhard, and Laura Corbiani. In addition, the committee has three sub-committees: Membership, Scholarship, and Mentorship.

The committee has carefully mapped its strategic priorities for 2025. Some of its objectives for the year are as follows:

• Building Community: We will curate networking opportunities at NAPFA conferences, host conversation circles throughout the year, and continue to engage with members in our Facebook group, which you can find by searching for “NAPFA Women’s Initiative Community Forum.”
• Programming: We are committed to providing quality educational opportunities throughout the year by hosting conference sessions, webinars, and conversation circles, as well as writing articles. Some of the topics our committee will focus on this year include career development, with a focus on designations and certifications, navigating mergers and acquisitions and changing cultures, and supporting caregivers.
• Mentorship: The committee is continuing to offer its Mentorship Program to provide members a structured opportunity to accelerate personal and professional development through a mentor/mentee relationship with a female NAPFA advisor. The program will run from May to October. Please look to submit an application in March or plan to share with a female advisor who could benefit from the program.
• Scholarship: We continue to offer two $2,500 scholarships to female university students interested in a career in financial planning. The scholarship recipients will be announced in June. All applicants receive a complimentary student affiliate membership to NAPFA.

How to Stay Connected

We maintain a page on the NAPFA website where members can visit to stay up to date with current Women’s Initiative events. We are excited to promote NAPFA’s 2025 list of Women to Know here. You can also engage with the NAPFA Women’s Initiative by joining our Facebook group.

Alyssa Dalbey, CFP^®, CPWA^®,  and Jen Dawson, CFP^®, are the NAPFA Women’s Initiative Committee co-chairs for 2024–2025. Alyssa is a shareholder and wealth manager at Schultz Financial Group Inc. in Reno, Nev. Jen is an owner and managing director at Hemington Wealth Management in Chicago, Ill.

image credit: Adobe Stock Images