InvestmentNews’ lifetime achievement award to be named after first recipient, Alexandra Armstrong

Financial adviser Alexandra Armstrong accepted the inaugural lifetime achievement award from InvestmentNews on Wednesday, and it was announced that the annual accolade will bear her name in future years.
The founder of Armstrong Fleming & Moore Inc. was recognized for four decades of helping women plan strong financial futures and for promoting the financial advice business as a great career for women. Twenty other female financial advisers and leaders of the industry were recognized as Women to Watch at the New York luncheon.
“I have found being a financial adviser to be a wonderful profession,” Ms. Armstrong said in accepting the award. “You use your brain, you help people and you are financially rewarded.”
She urged the industry to reach out to more women and let them know how gratifying it is to help people achieve their financial goals.
“We become a trusted family friend,” Ms. Armstrong said. “We know our clients’ families as well as we know our own. We help them as their children grow, marry and have grandchildren.”
Ms. Armstrong joined the financial planning business before the industry itself really formed. In 1977, she was one of the first women in the nation and the first person in Washington, D.C., to become a certified financial planner. She opened her own firm in 1983.
During her career, Ms. Armstrong has mentored dozens of women and otherwise promoted the profession as an ideal career for women. She’s also focused her financial planning efforts on helping women, especially widows.
Suzanne Siracuse, publisher of InvestmentNews, said recognizing individuals on the Women to Watch list is meant to create an environment and culture “so young women coming into this field can see that they can do this.”
As part of the lifetime achievement award, InvestmentNews is donating $5,000 to the Foundation for Financial Planning, an organization Ms. Armstrong has supported for 20 years.