We sat down with Linda to learn about her roots and how her background fit well for Premier Path’s Chief Compliance Officer and Chief Administrative Officer roles.
PPWP: Linda, similar to your own style, we’ll be direct and jump right into it for this interview. You seem to thrive in chaos and bring a level of structure and organization. Was this always the case for you?
LK: Efficiency has always been a major part of my work career. I think if you asked my past and present colleagues, they would agree that I’ve excelled in creating efficiency. I seem to be attracted to the opportunity to organize, streamline or implement an efficient process. I experience a great deal of satisfaction when I see how my organizational skills contributed to a smooth process. I have been a neat freak as far back as I can remember.
PPWP: Can you expand on that, what was your childhood like?
LK: This may not surprise you but I was very organized as a child. I am one of six, with four brothers and one sister. I’m fourth in line. My room, my schedule, my schoolwork, all were structured and tidy. And what I mean by my schedule is that I would also have quite a few side jobs outside of school and social activities to manage as well. Such as baby sitting, running errands for neighbors, and helping out my parents who were superintendents of an apartment building in Union City, NJ. My brothers would do more heavy labor things like garbage removal for the building and snow removal, while I assisted my mother with the cleaning of the building. One has to be organized to get that all in. Our family was rooted in a very strong, blue-collar work ethic. In addition to managing the building, my father worked in a factory in Weehawken, as did my mother when we were in school. We were often living hand to mouth, so it was important for all of us to pitch in. I think that work ethic, which I developed very early on, certainly carries through to today.
PPWP: We can’t agree more! Grit is a word that we would say discribes you. I’m sure we aren’t the only ones who describe you this way. Have you heard this before?
LK: I’ve worked at a number of firms prior to Premier Path; Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Alex Brown, and RBC to name a few. When I look back, in really all cases a large part of my assignment was to fix a larger issue or help install process and structure. Not always chaos but some level of commotion that needed improvement in order to take a team or branch to the next level. These aren’t projects that take days or weeks. Some processes can take a year a more, so yes you have to be disciplined and have to have grit to power through.
PPWP: Prove it.
LK: When I joined the management team for the Merrill Lynch Short Hills Complex in 2012, we were faced with some tough challenges. One of those challenges were expenses. I quickly dove in to our business reporting to see where we can make a difference and turn things around. I noticed a charge of around $150k of “fees against the branch”. Our Complex had the highest expense charges of these kind versus all others in our Market. We were dead last. My approach was to reach out to the Manager in the Complex who was sitting in the #1 spot and find out what she was doing. I quickly learned her process, improved upon it, communicated it to our Complex, provided training for the advisors and associates on how to manage the process and within a year, our Complex was sitting in the #1 spot with only $4k in fees to the branch and my colleague who shared her process, was sitting in the #2 spot. And so it goes………….
PPWP: You were at the center of the launch of Premier Path Wealth Partners. You’re the Quarterback between the FAs, the Relationship Managers and the clients. What was all of that like? Did anything surprise you during those first few months?
LK: To take part in the launch of Premier Path Wealth Partners is an incredibly humbling expeirence. For the daughter of factory workers to have such a crucial and critical position in the process is mindblowing. Here I am, at the center – your words not mine – of the inception of a wealth management firm with close to $1 billion in client assets. I think very few people from where I grew up have ended up with such an opportunity. My feelings were 50/50 nerves and excitement about the transition. I felt a great deal of pride participating in the launch of a new business. It wasn’t easy, but it was sure exhilarating.
What surprised me? Well, transitioning from one wirehouse to another is complicated enough. Transitioning from a wirehouse to an independent RIA is 10x more intense. Not only are you focused on the opening of accounts and transitioning of assets, while learning all new systems, you also have to make decisions and implement the other aspects of running a business, for example: payroll, billing, technology, trading, supplies, insurance, human resources, and compliance to name a few. It was a lot, but we got it done!
PPWP: In addition to Chief Administrative Officer, you’re also the Chief Compliance Officer. For an SEC-registered RIA, that certainly means being at the “center” of the firm from a regulator’s perspective. How does that overlay with the many other workflows you’re overseeing?
LK: The CCO role is something that requires a steady effort. We are fortunate having Dynasty Financial Partners as a strategic partner to bounce compliance questions and scenarios off of as well as the ability to connect with other firms in our Dynasty network to understand how they handle a compliance task, disclosure or risk.
When it comes to Compliance, one thing is for sure: You have to have good repeatable processes in place. Without organization, you risk missing something important. I believe this is where my operational and process skills help me and our firm with respect to CCO duties.
PPWP: You mentioned the “early weeks”. We know that’s code for a long stretch of very long days and a couple of months of 7-day work weeks, is that right?
LK: During the initial launch we worked in the office for 60 days straight. Generally 12 hours a day, 8am to 8pm but we probably overshot that more often. Sundays might have been shorter but not by much. We expected the hard work and prepared our loved ones for it as well. Nothing was a surprise, we were exhausted by the end of the day, but the progress we were making and accomplishment kept us fueled.
PPWP: How did you cross paths with what is now the Premier Path team?
LK: I was introduced to Michael Lehman and Dick Eger while at Merrill through one of the Florham Park managers at the time. They were looking for someone who can oversee their daily operations, client service and team as well as help them streamline their book of business, train new staff and solve problems. They needed someone they could trust with the day to day, so that they can focus on the clients and prospects. Having a management background gave me the leg up and our immediate connection sealed the deal.
PPWP: Tell us about your mentors, I know you credit them a lot with your trajectory.
LK: I’ve been very fortunate to have some great mentors early in my career: Linda J. Dow, Julia Hallasey and Roy Corr, are my top 3 and I credit them for their wisdom, support and confidence in me.
Linda Dow and her husband Cor were the first Financial Advisors I worked with. Linda would call me “Junior” and I met her through my mom. She was the one who not only mentored me, but showed me a few of the finer things in life to strive for. In addition to some very expensive hand-me-downs, she once gave me the keys to her Cadillac for the weekend. Little did she know it would end up in the parking lot of the Hunka Bunka Ball Room in Sayreville during a ladies night out. It was while working with her and Cor, that I got licensed and found my path.
I met both Julia and Roy while working at First Boston Securities in the early 90’s. Julia was fresh out of the FA training program and I became her assistance. She was a class act, wicked smart and had the kindest disposition. We worked together for almost 10 years. She would tell clients that she “worked for me”. She was so giving. Roy was my Operations Manager at First Boston during the same time period. He would go on to become a Partner at Thomas Weisel Partners and he recruited me into management. His confidence in me, provided me the opportunity to take on leadership responsibilities and together we built a retail NY presence for TWP.
PPWP: So let’s get to the fun stuff. You have a place in Scottsdale, Arizona. How did that come about?
LK: We’ve been visiting the 48th state for 15 years but it was 7 years ago that we bought a place. My husband Scott’s dad had passed away and left us enough to put towards a second home. We are very grateful for that gift and enjoy it as much as we can.
We like to be outside as much as possible. In AZ we are outside 90% of the time. We love cycling and hiking, and I play a lot of pickleball. The restaurants and people are just amazing.
PPWP: We have to ask this one— you love Pickleball. It’s a big part of your activity schedule outside of the office. You made it onto the podium at your hometown tournament, the Randolph Hot Slam. Is that something you anticipated?
LK: Well I anticipated playing hard, but it was more grueling than expected. We played a total of 13 games in one day. My partner Jean Marie and I are both very competitive, so there was no slacking at any point. We finished 3rd in the tournament, which we were excited about, especially given how competitive (and younger!) the rest of the teams were.
PPWP: We like to ask this question a lot: Technology has changed quite a bit over your career. How has that impacted your interactions with clients and your day to day tasks?
LK: For some clients it’s a dream and they have willingly adapted. Some still prefer to do things “old school”. Both ways are acceptable. COVID pushed people to embrace technology in order to stay connected. Facetime and ZOOM became the norm. We worked on keeping that trend going and by doing so we can connect with more clients is less time through this techonology. In the end, it is always about connecting with the clients and doing what is in their best interest.
PPWP: Thank you, Linda!