PLANADVISER - Summer 2023 - 18

Cover Story
1
2
7
6
including the evolution of the CFP fiduciary standard-
most recently, in 2019, stating that CFP professionals are
committed to acting as a fiduciary when advising a client-
helps to explain why so many seek out this designation.
The board has also been a driver of diversity, equity
and inclusion in the financial space, regularly updating the
public about demographic statistics from its certification
program, along with championing a broader umbrella for
financial services recruiting and education. In 2022, the
board began doubling down on its efforts to improve DEI
with an organizational restructuring. In a decision driven
by leadership, the nonprofit decided to create two entities:
one to remain focused on CFP certification and the other
to concentrate on advancing financial advisement as a
career open to all who might like to pursue it, particularly
to groups underrepresented in the sector.
The CFP Board made headlines in January when it
announced that new structure. Now the organization is split
into two nonprofit entities under one advisory board. One
organization, the CFP Board Center for Financial Planning,
has a mission of advancing " competent and ethical financial
planning and expand[ing] CFP professional diversity for the
benefit of the public. " The second, the CFP Board of Standards,
focuses on developing and administering CFP certification.
The dual structure was created in part because the board,
as a 501(c)(3) entity, was limited in how it could promote financial
planning careers, it has explained. The new CFP Board of
Standards will be a 501(c)(6), which allows the nonprofit to
promote the benefits of a career in financial advisement.
The CFP Board made the announcement shortly after
releasing its latest diversity statistics for the CFP profession
on January 19. In that release, the nonprofit noted that the
CFP designation reached an all-time high for adding women
and racially and ethnically diverse financial professionals.
Kelli Hueler, Hueler Companies
Kelli Hueler, CEO and president of Hueler Companies was
early in identifying a key dilemma in the dawning era of
401(k) retirement saving: How can account holders ensure
themselves a steady paycheck in retirement? Today, after
more than two decades of work, her firm's Income Solutions
division stands as a leader in providing a safe and simple
platform for advisers and individuals to compare, assess and
purchase institutionally priced retirement income annuities.
Hueler began her journey in 1987, with the founding of
Hueler Companies, a data, market research and analytical
reporting firm that became a retirement industry standard.
During those years, her work in researching insurancebacked
stable value funds led her to see the need for an
affordable solution to the retirement income dilemma for
defined contribution retirement plan participants.
In 2004, she launched Income Solutions, a platform
designed to empower transitioning employees in need of
creating a personal
lifetime income stream by providing
online access to competitively bid, institutionally priced
annuities. The Income Solutions platform was made available
directly to plan sponsor clients and through nonexclusive
partnerships with financial service firms, fiduciary
18 planadviser.com | Summer 2023 | Awards & Innovation
Photography by Anthony Collins
http://www.planadviser.com
PLANADVISER - Summer 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of PLANADVISER - Summer 2023
