Presenting

54 | GRAVITAS MAGAZINE GravitasMag.com Today, A imee is a founding member of e Bellwether Group at Morgan Stanley, where she has aained the rank of Managing Director. Emphasizing the human aspect of the industr y, A imee uses her energetic personality to connect with her clients and to beer understand their personal circumstances and goals in order to develop a wealth management strateg y that gives them increased comfort. She is highly rated in the financial industr y and is consistently ranked among the top financial advisors in the nation: most recently as a Barron's Top 100 Women Financial Advisor in 2014*, Barron's Top 1,200 Financial Advisor in 2016**, and a Financial Times 400 Top Advisor in 2016***. Away from the office, A imee is a wife and mother to her eight-year-old daughter, Bella. She also is ver y involved in the community, lending her time and expertise to numerous local charities primarily focused on children and education. Earlier this year she was honored by Girls Inc. of Sarasota as the 2016 "She K nows Where She's Going" award recipient. In this GV ITAS inter view, A imee talks about her experience in the financial industr y, balancing her work and personal life, as well as her fondness for Sarasota. I understand you're a Florida girl— mostly. I was born in Boston, but we moved to Ft. Lauderdale when I was three. So, I've spent most of my life in Florida. My father ran seaports. We came down for him to run Port Everglades. I was between Ft. Lauderdale and Jacksonville for high school. I aended the University of Florida for college, and aer graduating with honors with a B.S. degree in Finance, I moved to Sarasota for my first professional career position. Once I got to Sarasota, I never wanted to leave. What was it about Sarasota that you feel in love with? I liked the community. It's such a philanthropic community—and the fact that it was close-k nit. I enjoyed the quality of life, the family atmosphere and less traffic. A lthough, it feels like we're geing a lile more congested these days. Originally, you went into banking. How did that transpire with your career? I always had an interest in math and finance. When I was in school, I originally wanted to be an investment banker. e dean of the business school was a mentor and a great help during my career development. He said, "A imee, if you want to do this, get an MBA, but get work experience first." Tak ing his advice, I came to Sarasota to start as a commercial lender for a bank. I started with Sun Bank as a management associate, focused on commercial lending and the private bank. I quick ly fell in love with the Sarasota community, which made it ver y difficult to leave to pursue an MBA . Sadly, about that time, my grandfather passed away, and I was helping my grandmother with their finances. Work ing with her during that difficult time, and really helping educate her made me realize how much I loved the personal wealth management side of finance. I k new I had found my niche. Being well equipped to provide my clients what they needed was important to me, so I focused on pursuing as much education, training and licensing to navigate the financial industr y. I also added a number of professional designations, including a Certified Financial Planner CFP ® designation, and a CIM A® Certified Investment A nalyst designation. In addition, I recently earned the Family Wealth Director designation from Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, which centers on a comprehensive approach to the complex financial needs of affluent families. I'm a self- professed fan of continuing education. Were you one of the few women in the industry when you started out? When I started at the bank, while there were many women, the wealth management roles were mostly male-based. en, when I got to Morgan Stanley, I saw a greater disparity. ere aren't many women in the industr y. A round ten percent is the industr y norm. We need to work on that because this is a great career for women. Have you had any women mentors in your career? ank fully, I have had some terrific women mentors along the way, both at SunTrust and Morgan Stanley and within the Sarasota community, who were great advocates. ey also made sure to highlight the importance of continuing that tradition. rough several financial advisor councils I've sat on and co-chaired at Morgan Stanley, I've been able to spend time focusing on improving our outreach to women across the countr y. Not just as advisors, but also, how we are approaching and how we can beer ser ve female clients. Receiving Barron's Award Key to the Cure

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