Armond Dinverno is co-founder and co-chief executive of the private-wealth-management firm Balasa Dinverno Foltz LLC. InvestmentNews spoke with Mr. Dinverno, whose company employs 35 people and manages $2.3 billion in assets, to learn how his practice has set about structuring a team of advisers to meet the needs of a modern
financial planning firm.
InvestmentNews: Does your firm have a particular specialty?
Mr. Dinverno: We serve two niches, really: One is around women in transition, including those who have divorced and widows, and then we also serve an audience of business owners.
Our firm has 13 client service teams. One of those teams specializes in catering to women in the midst of a major life transition.
IN: And how do these teams range in size?
Mr. Dinverno: From small (two or three people) to larger, depending on the complexities of the clients involved or the size of the businesses we serve. Some of the clients we serve, businesses in particular, can be pretty technically demanding, and so some of our CPAs are very technical.
IN: What is the current breakdown of your staff as it relates to professionals?
Mr. Dinverno: We have a couple of young MBAs who work on the business teams, there are nine certified public accountants, two attorneys and two certified financial analysts. We also have one adviser who has received his certified divorce financial analyst designation and a second person working toward it now.
IN: Is your firm more localized or national in scope?
Mr. Dinverno: We are principally in the Chicago area and throughout Illinois, with some clients out-of-state. As we continue to develop our specialties, though, we are attracting clients from farther afield.
IN: What do you think your firm's inclusion of a mix of finance, tax, legal experts and other specialists say about the modern comprehensive financial planning team structure?
Mr. Dinverno: Clients need someone to draw the blueprint and build the home, not simply one or the other. We are a lot about both the strategy and the execution. We are definitely a proponent of doing A to Z in terms of helping the client plan for their future goals.
IN: With your on-staff legal expertise, do you put together wills and other legal documents?
Mr. Dinverno: We don't do any documents (meaning executing the documents) but do the planning for them. We are gaining on that reputation and starting to do some advertising on that space, as well. We are hiring firms to do the actual drawing up and execution and filing of the documents. And we are looking to hire a chief marketing officer.
IN: How does your firm approach staff retention and development?
Mr. Dinverno: At BDF, our people are No. 1 because they take care of the clients. They cannot do that if they are unhappy, feel they are lacking opportunity or do not have personal goals [to work toward].
We offer them the opportunity for training, including certificates, as well as enhanced skills training, and also growing the opportunities for staff to advance within the firm. We ask people to play at their best, and so it is honing their skills and homing in on what are their personal strengths as suggested in Daniel Pink's book [“Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us” (Riverhead Books, 2011)].
IN: With such a mix of professionals, do you also find different personality types, given the clichéd behavior among some professionals? For instance, there are certain stereotypes about CPAs and attorneys.
Mr. Dinverno: [Laughs] Oh, for sure, it is very bifurcated — the roles of relationship manager and, say, some of the more technical accountants. Some are better in front of people and serving them and some are better behind the scenes. We need them all.
Just got out of an hour meeting with one of our stars and discussing what makes them happy. It's not an “A team” and a “B team,” it is an offense and a defense. How do we put the team together so that the whole team wins?
If you put your people first — we hired and did no layoffs or cuts [related to 2008], we actually expanded staff — then you pay it forward.
