By: Deborah Johnson Wood
Many financial services firms are downsizing or laying off financial advisors, but Edward Jones is in a growth pattern across West Michigan. The company, which usually hires financial advisors to open and run their own offices, looks to expand from about 50 offices to about 75 offices from Grand Rapids to the Lakeshore.
Nationwide the company goal is for 25 percent of 2009 new hires to be women. A two-year-old program, Women’s Initiative for New Growth Strategies (WINGS), helps make women aware of financial services as a career option.
“Women know about being doctors and lawyers, but they don’t know about being financial advisors,” says Lisa Rios, leader of the local WINGS program and a 10-year Edward Jones veteran. Rios heads up the office at 4581 Lake Michigan Drive NW.
“We hold dinners and events for women, and tell them about the Edward Jones opportunities, the flexibility of the job, and the opportunity to run their own office,” she adds.
Rios, 36, and her husband, Michael, both Grand Rapids natives, moved to Georgia for five years while he was in the military and she worked as a broker in Atlanta.
“We’d come home to visit family,” she says. “There was so much development going on downtown and we love the downtown scene with the art and entertainment, so we moved back. It was just as interesting as Atlanta.”
The couple lives in Standale, but Rios says they’re downtown often: dining, going to shows and staying at the JW Marriott.
Rios agrees with Edward Jones’ studies pinpointing downtown as a preferred area for more company locations. Two offices are already in place.
“We want our new advisors to be in an area where they’ll have the highest chance of success,” she adds.
Source: Lisa Rios, Edward Jones; Nick Wasmiller, Seyferth & Associates
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Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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