At Schwab IMPACT 2026 in Boston, James Burton talks with Lisa Salvi, head of business consulting and education for Schwab Advisor Services, about how National RIA Day began. The idea came out of Impact two years ago, when a university partner took the energy of the student career fair back to campus and hosted the first RIA Day at the University of Georgia.
[00:00] This is incredible. Let's make this actually a national holiday. It's not just a moment, it's a movement, and we'll celebrate this every single year.
[00:25] James Burton: Hi everyone. Thanks for joining us. My name is James Burton from Investment News. Delighted to be at Impact 2026 here in Boston. Equally delighted to be joined by Lisa Salvi, Head of Business Consulting and Education for Schwab Advisor Services. Lisa, thank you so much for joining us.
[00:42] Lisa Salvi: Thank you so much for having me.
[00:43] James Burton: Now, I hear your team were instrumental in the new National RIA Day. Tell me a little bit about how that came about and the genesis of that idea.
[00:51] Lisa Salvi: Actually, that idea was born at Impact two years ago, believe it or not. We always have students here. You see them walking around. We have 80 joining us this year from 20 universities. And it's always so great to have students and advisors joining together.
[01:08] We have a career fair happening today where people are finding jobs. And one of our university partners wanted to bring that back to campus. So they created the very first University RIA Day at the University of Georgia. Advisors came, the students were there, they made signs. It was a huge success.
[01:28] They've now had two, and that idea started to spread organically to other university campuses where they wanted to have a University RIA Day. And we started to think, this is incredible. Let's make this actually a national holiday.
[01:45] So now we've registered a national holiday where we can all come together for the first time ever with one voice and have at least 30, maybe more, RIA Days at university campuses so more students can learn about the RIA profession.
[02:01] Advisors can go, they can meet students, and then we're going to make it even bigger than that. We're going to have people advocating at Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. The IAA will be involved with us. We have the CFP Board joining, so they have volunteers that they can activate through that network.
[02:18] We have the Foundation for Financial Planning and pro bono volunteering happening, and then we hope it grows beyond that too. Just advisors in their own communities, maybe doing financial literacy outreach, or just celebrating the fiduciary model and bringing more awareness, maybe even getting some new clients along the way.
[02:40] So we've really never had a moment to celebrate like this, and we think of it as not just a moment, it's a movement, and we'll celebrate this every single year. So really looking forward to it.
[02:52] James Burton: Sounds epic. Sounds like there's a lot to look forward to.
