I’d like to express my appreciation to the more than 500 individuals who participated in CFP Board’s inaugural Business Update Webinar on July 9, 2008. This virtual “meeting” allowed us to update CFP® certificants and other stakeholders about CFP Board’s current activities and provided us the opportunity to listen and learn from the questions and comments submitted by the participants. I’m thankful to all who contributed to the success of this event, and offer special thanks to Stewart Welch, III, CFP®, who was a thoughtful and gracious host who didn’t avoid the hard questions. For those who weren’t able to attend, a recorded version is now available, and we expect to hold another Webinar later this year.

CFP Board is committed to establishing more effective and open communication with our stakeholders, and these Business Update Webinars are one initiative that will help us reach that goal. Another step toward our goal of reinvigorated communication is the release of additional information designed to provide a clear understanding of CFP Board’s purpose, direction and activities. Last month I introduced a new document, Purpose, Parameters and Policies of CFP Board, which combines the history of CFP Board with information about the organization’s structure and strategic plan. In this newsletter, you will find a report on the latest meeting of the Board of Directors. Early in August, we’ll release our 2007 Annual Report, which provides a review of our 2007 activities within the context of our strategic plan.

While CFP Board works to put out information we hope is helpful to our stakeholders, we need feedback from you. We invite you to communicate with the Board of Directors through our dedicated e-mail address, BOD@CFPBoard.org. And as you attend professional conferences, we encourage you to introduce yourself to members of CFP Board’s Board of Directors and share your thoughts.

As CFP Board works to benefit the public by granting the CFP® certification and upholding it as the recognized standard of excellence for personal financial planning, we understand that our goals can’t be reached without the work of CFP® professionals across the country who improve their communities by providing competent and ethical financial planning services. We look forward to enjoying more open and effective lines of communications with CFP® certificants and others who support and value the CFP® certification.

David G. Strege, CFP®
2008 Chair, Board of Directors
CFP Board

Contact CFP Board’s Board of Directors at BOD@CFPBoard.org.

CFP Board’s transition to Washington, DC has included a tremendous effort to identify and recruit a staff able to take the organization’s operations to the level that the CFP® certification deserves. It was clear to me early on that assembling a talented and professional staff was one of the most important ways we could demonstrate respect for the work of the many talented individuals who have made the CFP® certification the recognized standard of excellence for personal financial planning.

One of the first new staff positions we announced was related to public policy. CFP Board moved to the nation’s capital in large part to allow the organization to take a seat at the table where policy discussions are held. With financial issues at the center of policy debates in America, it is important that CFP Board have a voice on issues that affect CFP® certificants and the CFP® certification and that we are positioned to facilitate more effective relationships with those in positions to influence public policy. While we’ve made good progress on those fronts, our search for the right person to lead our public policy efforts has been an extended one.

I am happy to announce that Marilyn Mohrman-Gillis has joined CFP Board as Managing Director of Public Policy. Marilyn brings to CFP Board a depth of knowledge in policy, regulatory and financial affairs that, along with her extensive leadership skills and accomplishments, will be instrumental in helping drive our policy efforts on behalf of the public.

CFP Board is not a lobbying organization, but as an organization that works in the public interest, we are well-positioned to educate policy makers on the benefits of financial planning and the important benefits that CFP® certification provides to the American public. As we educate people about the ways the public benefits from the CFP® certification, we find they are impressed with the strength of the certification, as well as with the excellent work of CFP® certificants and others who support the CFP® certification. Our work in public policy will help ensure that the CFP® marks are not threatened or devalued by inappropriate regulation. We also expect CFP Board’s efforts in this area will greatly enhance public awareness and confidence in CFP® certification – results that have important benefits for CFP® professionals.

Kevin R. Keller, CAE
CEO, CFP Board
CFP Board

Like anyone coming fresh to a new profession, Trudy Turner felt a little lost at her first industry conference a few years ago. “I was kind of making it up as I went along,” says Turner, who switched to financial planning from public accountancy in 2000. At one point, she struck up a conversation with Dick Wagner, CFP®, who happened to remark that Turner, a CFP® professional with the Dallas-based firm Robertson, Griege & Thoele, was the only African-American at the event. “Why is that?” he asked.

That is a question the profession is still asking. A CFP Board survey carried out in 2002 showed that just about 5% of the almost 22,000 certificants who responded were non-white. On the consumer side, certificants who participated in the 2002 survey reported that about the same percentage of their clients were from ethnic minority groups. Yet African-Americans, Latinos and Asian-Americans collectively make up some 25% of the U.S. population.

Turner’s experience at her first conference is common among people of color, says Saundra Davis of Sage Financial Solutions in San Francisco. And it’s an experience Davis has had herself. The first step towards making that experience less common, in her view, is “not pretend it’s not there. It is there. The financial planning profession needs to reflect the communities we live in and work in. The idea is not to force diversity where it would not otherwise live, but to make room for it where it wants to and needs to be.”

Davis cites organizations like the Association of African-American Financial Advisors and the Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting and asks: “Why did [the members of these groups] feel the need to create separate organizations? We need more people of color in the profession in order to understand the diverse needs of the client population. The goal is not that all black planners have black clients and all Latino planners have Latino clients, but that all clients find the services they need in the way that works best for them.”

Davis hopes this year’s FPA Diversity Summit, for which she is vice-chair, will help meet that need. The first Diversity Summit took place in Seattle at last year’s annual meeting of the Financial Planning Association. At that event, participants defined the Summit’s (and the corresponding Diversity Task Force’s) purpose as creating “a community where all are represented and all are served.” They identified a number of ways to do this: ensure that conference programs are inclusive; establish thriving mentorship programs; and recognize inclusiveness work through professional awards and scholarships.

Some tangible results will be on display at this year’s FPA event. The Diversity Summit itself takes place on Saturday, October 4, and will focus on the discussion and development of specific strategies “to raise awareness of race, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation and, in so doing, increase professional opportunities for the widest spectrum of people.” As part of the FPA conference program, there will also be a panel session on Monday, October 6, entitled Cross-Cultural Financial Planning: Making a Business Case for Diversity. The goal of this session is to “increase comfort levels and competencies through fresh insights and tools for communication, planning, staffing and living in an increasingly diverse world.” Plans are also under way to launch a Diversity Scholarship Program, a conference scholarship directed towards applicants dedicated to and passionate about influencing the diversity issues facing the financial planning profession.

“Diversity is crucial to delivering services to the full population,” says Davis. “It’s not necessary that your financial planner is of the same ethnic background as you, but for some people it may be helpful to have that shared background. Dealing with money is difficult enough. There’s one less obstacle to overcome for clients if they can draw on a shared background.”

That has certainly been the experience of Brian Pon, CFP®, of Financial Connections Group, Inc. in San Francisco. “The Asian community doesn’t have an investment culture,” Pon says, and many Asian-Americans are “culturally not accustomed to delegating financial matters. They may also have been underserved or ill-served by financial professionals in the past. If your financial planner is a part of your ethnic culture, though, it’s easier to make that leap of trust.”

For Pon, helping clients make that leap can involve something as simple as wishing people happy Chinese New Year or chatting about the latest family banquet he’s been to. “The ease of social interaction makes clients feel more comfortable,” Pon says. But to create that ease among Asian-American clients, of course, there must first be more Asian-American planners.

According to Steven L. Sanders, CEO and chairman of First Genesis Financial Group an African-American owned firm in Newtown Square, PA, one reason there are not more ethnic minorities in the business is that fewer minorities have the financial support system to make it through the first few years of building a business. Financial services “were never presented to African-Americans as a lucrative career,” Sanders says. “This is an entrepreneurial career, and no one survives without someone shepherding them through until they can get in front of clients. People don’t need a handout, but they do need a hand. And we all need a little bit more patience until younger people get up to speed and start producing the way we would like them to produce.”

Which is why Sanders is convinced that mentoring is crucial. He currently mentors a group of about six young professionals who approached him a while back about getting together on a quarterly basis for informal chats about the industry. They meet in a coffee shop or on a conference call to discuss everything from market conditions to career advice. Sanders is an early riser, so his big test is to find out who is willing to meet him for a 6:00 a.m. breakfast. Chris Glover is one guy who passed the test. He and Sanders started talking about eight years ago, and for the past three years or so Glover has been a managing senior associate at First Genesis.

“You can’t just learn this business from a book,” says Sanders. “You have to walk with someone who’s been down that path. As a mentor, my job is to listen, to help younger people be competitive in the marketplace. The only charge is, those mentored have to turn around and do the same thing for someone else. Mentoring is a life-long pursuit. Giving is receiving.”

Louis Barajas, CFP®, founder of Louis Barajas Wealth & Business Planning in East Los Angeles, also believes that planners need to act as — and to help create — role models to enhance the diversity of the profession. Several of his current staff of six started out as interns in his firm. One young man in particular, Gilbert Cerda, did not have a lot to recommend him, at least on the surface. In high school, Cerda managed to fail five classes and get a D in the sixth. Yet Barajas saw his potential, gave him the chance to work in a different kind of environment, and he went on to graduate from USC. He’s been working with Barajas for eight years.

Helping young people like Cerda certainly helps boost diversity, but it can also help boost the bottom line. In a survey conducted by research and consulting organization LIMRA, some 44% of bilingual Hispanics said it was important that the person they worked with was Hispanic. Right now Latinos represent about 14% of U.S. population and have some $686 billion in purchasing power, according to Latino Immigrant Financial Challenges and Solutions, a 2006 white paper produced by the National Endowment for Financial Education. Barajas himself cites statistics indicating that by 2050 Hispanics will account for 24% of the U.S. population, and almost half the country’s total population will consist of ethnic minorities. That is an enormous, largely untapped market.

Barajas, the first CFP® professional from an ethnic minority to serve on the FPA’s national board, thinks it’s important to make minorities feel comfortable in the profession. He tells the story of a Peruvian woman attending her first national conference who burst into tears when she finally tracked down Barajas and his colleagues. “She was one of the few Hispanics there,” Barajas says. “She felt so excluded. We need a mechanism to bring in more diversity. We need to go out of our way to make people feel comfortable.”

“Diversity is not just a nicety; it’s a business necessity,” says Turner, who is a member of the FPA Diversity Task Force. “The demographics of the nation are changing, and they don’t look a lot like the demographics of the profession. If practitioners reflect the demographics of the populations they serve, that will certainly help, but we need more. Most current business models cater to the highly affluent. We need to develop other business models that are effective and profitable and serve more than just the affluent. Doctors, dentists and attorneys don’t just serve the top 5% of the population. Financial planners must serve every level of the population, too.”

How planners can serve every level of the population, while also building viable businesses, is the subject of next month’s article.

This is the first in a series of two articles on ethnic diversity and the financial planning profession. Next Month: Diversity and Financial Planning II: The Clients.

- James Geary

The college years are a time of new experiences and new educational challenges. One of those challenges is learning how to manage money, especially when it comes in the form of credit cards. Freshmen receive an average of 11 pre-approved credit card applications per month, offers that many cash-strapped college kids find difficult to refuse. But there is evidence to suggest that young people are passing these early economic tests.

A survey published in April by the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy found that, on average, 62% of college students correctly answered personal finance and economics questions, compared to just 48% of high school students. At a press conference announcing the results of the Jump$tart survey, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said, “In light of the problems that have arisen in the sub-prime mortgage market, we are reminded of how critically important it is for individuals to become financially literate at an early age so that they are better prepared to make decisions and navigate an increasingly complex financial marketplace.” Bronx Community College, part of the City University of New York, has used its 2007 CFP Board grant to help its students acquire the financial literacy they will need to secure their financial futures.

Almost 65% of students at Bronx Community College (BCC) have annual household incomes below $25,000; almost 40% are native speakers of a language other than English; and more than half are first-generation college students. Plus, nearly half work full-time while they are studying, and roughly half support children — all of which means that BCC students face tougher economic challenges than many other students. BCC is helping its student body, over 90% of whom are inner-city African-Americans and Latinos, meet those challenges by integrating financial planning education into the Orientation and Career Development (OCD) course required for all freshmen.

Robert DeLena, CFP®, a native of the Bronx himself, conducted a training session with eleven faculty members who teach the OCD course. During the discussion that followed, participants agreed that focusing on tools students and faculty could readily access — films, CDs, pamphlets — was the best way to supplement actual course instruction. While BCC staff were pleased with the level of interest and enthusiasm among the student body, they also recognized that additional distribution methods — such as Web-based resources and presentations at large student meetings — were needed to reach greater numbers of students.

Local CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals also came to the College to make presentations to the wider BCC community. DeLena presented a seminar entitled “Understanding Your Credit Rating: What It Is, How to Improve It, and How to Repair It.” Participants ranged from students who clearly understood the fundamentals of interest rates and credit ratings to those who had little or no credit history and wanted to know more about how to responsibly manage credit cards. Other seminars included “Smart Money Management: Simple Tips to Earn More and Save More” as well as a discussion of basic investing, retirement planning and tax savings strategies led by local CFP® professionals Michael Terry, Kathleen Piaggesi and Hiro Taylor.

“Students quickly grasped the relevance that financial education could have at this relatively early stage of their lives, promoting positive habits like retirement or children’s tuition savings, while avoiding negative ones like excessive credit card debt,” the BCC wrote in its report to CFP Board. That’s good news, since those pre-approved credit card applications are likely to keep on coming and BCC students will need all their financial smarts to continue to make the grade in an increasingly complex marketplace.

Read the original profile of Bronx Community College from the April 2007 CFP Board Report.

Download the FAQ on CFP Board's Revised Standards (PDF format)

The definition of “financial planning” in CFP Board’s revised Standards of Professional Conduct, which has an effective date of July 1, 2008 and an enforcement date of January 1, 2009, indicates that financial planning integrates the financial planning process with the financial planning subject areas. CFP Board’s recently-updated Frequently Asked Questions on the revised Standards includes responses to questions about how many steps of the financial planning process and how many subject areas can be addressed in a client relationship before it becomes a financial planning engagement.

Q31: How many elements of the financial planning process can a certificant provide without having those activities constitute “material elements of the financial planning process”?
A: The terminology section of CFP Board’s updated Standards does not define “material elements of the financial planning process.” Under the definition of “financial planning,” however, the Standards provide guidance that a certificant may use to determine when he/she is providing services using material elements of the financial planning process by considering the following criteria:

1. The client’s understanding and intent in engaging the certificant.
2. The degree to which multiple financial planning subject areas are involved.
3. The comprehensiveness of data gathering.
4. The breadth and depth of recommendations.

Using the above criteria to determine material elements of the financial planning process does not involve reviewing the six steps of the financial planning process alone. The criteria focus on the integration of the six steps with multiple financial planning subject areas. A financial planning subject area is not synonymous with a product or service module as may be used in the financial services industry. A module may encompass a single or multiple financial planning subject area(s). If a complaint is lodged against a certificant based on his/her services using material elements of the financial planning process, CFP Board will investigate the matter based, in part, on the financial planning subject areas. The use of modules may provide relevant information helpful in CFP Board’s determination.

As used in our example under Question 8 of these FAQs, if a broker who is a CFP® certificant employs all six steps of the financial planning process to recommend a brokerage transaction or a series of brokerage transactions only, the CFP® certificant would probably not be considered providing services that involve material elements of the financial planning process. The certificant, however, may inadvertently provide financial planning services if the same certificant acts in such a manner where the client reasonably believes and intends the certificant to provide financial planning. [See FAQ’s 6, 8, 18 and 32] To prevent such a situation from happening, the Standards require the certificant and the client to mutually agree upon the services to be provided. [See Rule 1.1] For a certificant who is not providing financial planning, this agreement does not need to be in writing, but it may be a helpful best practice to do so.

Under Question 8 of these FAQs, CFP Board provides an example of an activity that may be considered providing services that employ material elements of the financial planning process: conducting detailed data-gathering regarding multiple aspects of a client’s financial situation. This activity may rise to the level of material elements of the financial planning process if the certificant’s activities include the following:

• Employing multiple financial planning subject areas to analyze a client’s financial situation;
• Gathering information about a client’s entire financial situation, including goals;
• Recommending a broad financial plan requiring a depth of technical knowledge to execute the plan; and
• Mutually defining the scope of the engagement with a client where the client understands and intends to engage the certificant in financial planning.

Given the in-depth process used in this example, the above-mentioned activity would probably be considered providing services employing material elements of the financial planning process.

Q32: How many financial planning subject areas can a certificant address with a client without reaching the level of “material elements of the financial planning process”?
A: The terminology section of CFP Board’s updated Standards do not define “material elements of the financial planning process.” Under the definition of “financial planning,” however, the Standards note that certificants may determine when they are providing services using the material elements of the financial planning process by considering, among other things, the degree to which multiple financial planning subject areas are involved. CFP Board believes that services involving a single subject area alone and applying the financial planning process to that single subject area are not likely to be considered material elements of the financial planning process. However, if a certificant uses multiple subject areas and integrates those subject areas with the steps of the financial planning process at one time or over a period of time, the certificant may be providing services employing material elements of the financial planning process. It will not be considered acceptable for a certificant to employ one product or service module, as may be used by firms in the financial services industry, at a time in order to avoid having the total service provided as services using material elements of the financial planning process. Certificants should consider whether the client’s understanding and intent in engaging the certificant give the client reason to believe the services are financial planning, and certificants should also consider the comprehensiveness of data gathering and the breadth and depth of recommendations. [See FAQ’s 6, 8, 18 and 31]

For more about the revised Standards, read Frequently Asked Questions or send additional questions to CFP Board at standards@CFPBoard.org.

About the Revised Standards of Professional Conduct:
On May 31, 2007, CFP Board’s Board of Directors announced the adoption of a revised version of CFP Board’s Standards of Professional Conduct, which sets forth the ethical standards for CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals. The revised Standards become effective July 1, 2008 and apply to the more than 57,000 financial planners in the U.S. who are authorized by CFP Board to use the CFP® certification marks. CFP Board encourages CFP® professionals to begin applying the revised Standards to their daily practice well in advance of the July 1, 2008 effective date.

Report from July 2008 Board of Directors Meeting

CFP Board’s Board of Directors met in Washington, DC on July 10-11, 2008.

During this meeting, the Board approved the selection of an investment firm to provide advice for the management of CFP Board’s investments and develop an updated investment policy, and the Board was updated by senior staff on CFP Board’s operations, including reports on communications, professional review and public policy activities. Director Ted Daniels updated the Board on the progress of the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy, to which he was appointed in January 2008 by President Bush.

The Board also reviewed an exposure draft of a proposed Bylaws amendment that would provide the Board more flexibility in scheduling its elections of future Board members and Chair-Elects. A 30-day notice is required before Board action is taken on a proposed Bylaws change, and the Board expects to review the proposed amendment during its next meeting via conference call on August 11, 2008.

Harvey L. Pitt, CEO of Kalorama Partners, LLC and Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from 2001-2003, joined the meeting to present his perspective of the current regulatory structure in the financial services industry and address questions from the Board. Mr. Pitt stated his belief that the CFP® certification is the strongest credential that currently exists in the industry and applauded CFP Board’s commitment to promoting high professional standards.

In addition, the Board held a joint meeting with CFP Board’s Disciplinary and Ethics Commission (“Commission”) to discuss any amendments needed to align the Disciplinary Rules and Procedures with recent changes affecting the Commission, including changes to the oversight of the Commission and the selection process for Commission volunteers, members and the Chair position. The Board provided the Commission with historical background on the reasons for the recent changes and the Board’s role as trustee for the organization and the CFP® marks. The Board also reviewed the collaborative process that is being formalized for the CEO’s appointment of individuals to Commission-related positions. The Board solicited the Commission’s input on how best to implement the recent changes to meet the needs of the Board and the important group of volunteers that comprise the Commission. The Commission agreed to make recommendations to the Board related to Article 2 of the Disciplinary Rules and Procedures as soon as reasonably possible.

The Board’s next meetings will take place by phone on August 11, 2008, and in Miami, Florida on November 13-14, 2008, immediately prior to the Financial Planning Clinic to be held at the Hyatt Regency at Miami Convention Center.

Reports of other recent meetings of CFP Board’s Board of Directors are available at www.CFP.net/aboutus/bodmeetings.asp.

Report from July 2008 Disciplinary and Ethics Commission Meeting

The Disciplinary and Ethics Commission (“Commission”) held its mid-year meeting and hearings from July 10 to 12, 2008. The Commission considered 21 disciplinary cases, including one petition for reconsideration of the Candidate Fitness Standards for certification. Six cases resulted in the issuance of private censure letters, two cases resulted in decisions to issue public letters of admonition, and five matters resulted in decisions either to suspend an individual's right to use the CFP®, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and federally registered CFP (with flame design) certification marks (the “CFP® marks”) or to permanently revoke or relinquish an individual’s right to use the CFP® marks. One applicant for CFP® certification received a decision to delay certification for one year, and two applicants successfully petitioned the Commission to accept their applications for CFP® certification. The July Hearings also included three settlement offers: two were accepted and one resulted in the Commission proposing a counter-offer. Because the appeal periods in these cases have not expired, the disciplinary actions are not yet final. Also, the Commission reviewed one Petition for Reconsideration and Reinstatement to use the certification marks, which was granted.

At its business meeting, the Commission was joined by Alan Goldfarb, CFP®, a member of CFP Board’s Board of Directors and Chair of the Appeals Committee, who briefed the Commission on two recent Appeals Committee decisions. Director Goldfarb, who formerly chaired the Commission, also gave an update on past discussions by the Commission on the development of sanction guidelines. The Commission reviewed proposed amendments to the Disciplinary Rules and Procedures and determined that more time was needed to adequately review the proposed amendments. The Commission received a report from staff summarizing the cases that were dismissed by staff since the last hearing. Staff also began a discussion with the Commission on changes that were made to the revised Standards of Professional Conduct (“Standards”), which became effective July 1, 2008. The staff and the Commission plan to hold more discussions on the revised Standards prior to the January 1, 2009 enforcement date.

The Commission's meetings would not be possible without the help of the many CFP® certificants willing to volunteer their time and expertise. Dan Moisand, CFP® of Melbourne, Florida is the current Chair of the Commission, and Jack C. Harmon, Sr, CFP® of Atlanta, Georgia will be the Chair of the Commission in 2009. In addition to the ongoing support of the Disciplinary and Ethics Commission members, the July 2008 meeting included the assistance of Martin Siesta, CFP® of Maplewood, New Jersey; Sarah Martin, CFP® of Cincinnati, Ohio; and Cynthia Anderson, CFP® of Charlotte, North Carolina. CFP Board is grateful to these volunteers who serve to protect the public by helping to enforce CFP Board's Standards of Professional Conduct.

More than 500 Participate in Inaugural CFP Board Business Update Webinar

More than 500 people participated in CFP Board’s July 9 Internet-based virtual “meeting,” which gave certificants insights into CFP Board's current activities, and provided them with an opportunity to learn more about the revised Standards of Professional Conduct that took effect July 1. The format of the Webinar also allowed participating certificants to ask questions of the Board of Directors and senior staff at CFP Board.

This inaugural Webinar featured David G. Strege, CFP®, Chair of CFP Board’s Board of Directors, Marilyn Capelli Dimitroff, CFP®, Chair-Elect of the Board of Directors, and Kevin R. Keller, CAE, CFP Board’s CEO, and focus on CFP Board's mission and strategic direction, as well as its revised ethical standards and their enforcement. The Webinar was presented in an interactive format hosted by Stewart H. Welch, III, CFP® of The Welch Group in Birmingham, Alabama, who previously served on CFP Board’s Board of Directors and Board of Professional Review (now Disciplinary and Ethics Commission).

The Webinar included a poll of the participants’ readiness for the January 1, 2009 enforcement date for the revised Standards. The results indicated that 80% of the respondents said they were very confident or somewhat confident that they would be ready to meet the fiduciary standard by January 1.

Questions submitted during the Webinar will be answered and posted soon to CFP Board’s Web site. Information about the July 9 Webinar, including polling question results and directions for viewing a recording of the Webinar, is available at www.CFP.net/aboutus/webinars.asp.

CFP Board Names Managing Director of Public Policy

Marilyn Mohrman-Gillis joins CFP Board as Managing Director, Public Policy, effective August 18. A well-rounded policy executive with a long and distinguished public policy career in Washington, DC, Ms. Mohrman-Gillis will be responsible for developing and overseeing CFP Board’s advocacy initiatives to ensure the visibility and credibility of the CFP® certification with legislators, regulators and other policy makers.

During her 30-year career in the nation’s capital, Ms. Mohrman-Gillis has built an impressive portfolio of advocating on behalf of the American public for and with regulators and legislators. Her career includes senior positions at the Federal Communications Commission, the Association of Public Television Stations and the National League of Cities. Most recently, she was an independent consultant working extensively with non-profit organizations on public policy and governance issues.

“At a time when CFP Board’s efforts to ensure that the public has access to competent and ethical financial planning advice has never been more crucial, Marilyn brings to CFP Board a deep reservoir of knowledge in policy, regulatory and financial affairs. With her extensive leadership skills and accomplishments, Marilyn will be instrumental in helping drive our policy efforts on behalf of the public,” said Kevin R. Keller, CFP Board’s CEO.

While serving as Director of Policy and Federal Relations with the National League of Cities, Ms. Mohrman-Gillis directed policy development, federal advocacy, and grassroots mobilization for the nation’s leading association representing municipalities across the country. She also directed the NLC’s advocacy before Congress and federal agencies on a number of issues, including extensive work with tax and finance policies.

In her roles as Vice President for Policy and Legal Affairs and General Counsel for the Association of Public Television Stations, Ms. Mohrman-Gillis had extensive legal and regulatory advocacy responsibilities. She supplemented her extensive legislative experience with a key role in strategic planning for the association, its board and member public television stations.

As a supervising attorney in the Federal Communications Commission’s Mass Media Bureau, Ms. Mohrman-Gillis managed staff attorneys who were responsible for the development of broadcast and cable rules. She began her career as a litigator in the Washington, DC, office of the law firm Steptoe & Johnson.

“Throughout her distinguished career, Marilyn has demonstrated an ability to create and execute focused, coherent and achievable plans that effectively represented the interests and issues of the organizations she has worked for,” Keller said. “We are pleased to have the benefit of her talents as CFP Board moves to become an established voice for the public interest in the nation’s capital.”

CFP Board Sponsors Outstanding Paper Award at ACCI Meeting

On July 28, 2008, at the annual meeting of the American Council on Consumer Interests (ACCI) in Orlando, Florida, Tansel Yilmazer and Patryk Babiarz were honored with the 2008 CFP Board’s ACCI Financial Planning Paper Award for their paper entitled “The Impact of College Financial Aid Rules on Household Portfolio Choice.” CFP Board sponsors several paper awards each year as a tangible way of encouraging financial planning research in the academic community.

CFP® Marks in the News

David G. Strege, CFP®, CFA, Chair of CFP Board’s Board of Directors, was featured in a “10 Questions” interview in the July 2008 edition of the Journal of Financial Planning. The interview covers a wide range of topics, including the relationship between CFP Board and FPA, the state of financial regulation, CFP Board’s renewed mission statement and the value of the CFP® certification for the American public. “To state it plainly,” said Strege, “CFP Board believes the public benefits from working with CFP® professionals.”

CFP® certification was also mentioned prominently in several widely-read consumer publications during recent months.

The June 23, 2008 edition of Newsday (circulation 398,231) highlighted the financial planning profession as a “Hot Job,” noting the growth and recognition of CFP® professionals:

With people called on to cover the ever-increasing cost of college educations, figure out financial issues for aging relatives and manage their own retirement investments, the need for financial planning services is rising. At the same time, more people are going into the profession, with the number of those receiving the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ designation rising by 6 percent a year, according to the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards in Washington, D.C.
 
When it comes to passing the 10-hour exam and meeting other requirements to merit that optional but highly regarded designation, Carol Lee Roberts, managing director of education and examination for the standards board, said she sees especially fast growth in the 30- to 39-year-old age group. Of the close to 60,000 planners with such credentials nationwide, at least 20 percent fall into that age range.

In late April, the New York Times (circulation 1,120,420) urged its readers to “Pick a Planner Who Can Spell ‘Fiduciary’”:

Find out what experience and education your planner has. A minimum, say the experts, is a degree as a certified financial planner, which means the adviser has a certain level of education and experience, as well as attends continuing education classes. [CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certificants] are also bound by a code of ethics that includes fiduciary duty.

CFP Board continues its efforts to promote awareness of CFP® certification among media outlets and the audiences they serve. Those efforts are greatly enhanced by the many CFP® professionals who are engaged in their own efforts to reach national and local media with the message of the benefits of financial planning and working with a CFP® professional. We appreciate all of you who help further awareness of CFP® certification across the country through your media contacts and your involvement in your communities.

Read more notable media references to CFP® certification at www.CFP.net/certificants/marksinthenews.asp

Accomplishments of CFP® Certificants

CFP Board congratulates the following CFP® professionals on their publication and other professional activities:

Paul H. Auslander, CFP® for his recent appointment by the State of Florida's Chief Financial Officer to serve on the state's first Financial Literacy Council.

Dante Desiderio, CFP®, who provided testimony before the United States Senate Committee on Finance’s July 22, 2008 meeting, “Indian Governments and the Tax Code: Maximizing Tax Incentives for Economic Development.”

Richard S. Kahler, CFP®, ChFC, CCIM for being honored with the Financial Planning Association’s Financial Frontiers Award in the Financial Concepts category for his paper, “Who Is Planning for the Planner? – Becoming Consumers of Our Profession.”

William J. Coaker II, CFP®, CFA, CIMA for being honored by the Financial Planning Association and Janus with a 2008 Financial Frontiers Editor’s Choice Award for his article, “Emphasizing Low-Correlated Assets: The Volatility of Correlation,” published in the September 2007 edition of the Journal of Financial Planning.

Charles D. Robinson, CFP®, member of CFP Board's Board of Directors, for being honored by the Financial Planning Association and Janus with a 2008 Financial Frontiers Editor’s Choice Award for his article, “A Phased-Income Approach to Retirement Withdrawals: A New Paradigm for a More Affluent Retirement,” published in the March 2007 edition of the Journal of Financial Planning.

CFP Board welcomes information about the activities and accomplishments of CFP® professionals. If you have information you would like to share with CFP Board, please contact us at mail@CFPBoard.org.

Update on CFP Board’s 2008 Financial Planning Clinics in Washington, DC and Miami

CFP Board is pleased to announce that more than 150 CFP® professionals from the Washington area have generously offered their time and expertise to help educate the public on the importance of financial planning at the Financial Planning Clinic in Washington, DC, on September 13, 2008.

Because of the high level of response by CFP® certificants in the Washington area, CFP Board has closed its registration for volunteers for one-on-one consultations at this Clinic. We have reached the maximum number of volunteers and want to thank all the CFP® professionals who have signed up to make this event a success.

With the date fast approaching for the Washington Clinic, CFP Board is now focusing on promotional activities to extend the reach of the program to as many local consumers as possible. If you are involved with Washington-area media groups or community organizations that might be interested in promoting the Financial Planning Clinic, please contact CFP Board at clinic@CFPBoard.org or 800-487-1497.

CFP Board has formed alliances with a number of community-based and military organizations that have agreed to extend the benefits of the Washington Clinic to their constituents, including Capital Area Asset Builders and DC Saves, Urban League of Greater Washington, Latino Economic Development Corporation, National Capital Chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society, Georgetown University, Lydia’s House, Enlisted Association of Army National Guard and Department of Defense’s Office of Personal Finance and Transition.

To date, more than 50 Miami-based CFP® professionals have signed up to participate at the Financial Planning Clinic in Miami on November 15, 2008 and there is still a need for more volunteers.

CFP® certificants participating as one-on-one volunteers at the Clinic will receive CE credits for the number of hours they spend meeting with consumers. The CE credits will be allocated to the financial planning topic that volunteers address at the Clinic.

If you are interested in participating at the Financial Planning Clinic in Miami, please fill out an application form or contact CFP Board by e-mail at clinic@CFPBoard.org or by phone at 800-487-1497 with the following information:

• Name
• Phone Number
• E-mail Address
• Mailing Address
• If you are multilingual, the languages you would like to use at the Financial Planning Clinic
• The general financial planning topics you are most interested in discussing with attendees

For more information on CFP Board’s Financial Planning Clinics, visit www.CFP.net/clinic.

2008 Program Directors’ Conference: August 7-9, 2008, Washington, DC

Program Directors from financial planning education programs across the country will gather in Washington, DC from August 7-9, 2008 for CFP Board’s Program Directors’ Conference. The Conference features Michael Kitces, CFP® as keynote speaker and includes opportunities for directors of CFP Board-Registered Programs to meet with CFP Board’s leadership and discuss best practices with their colleagues.

The Conference takes place August 7-9, 2008 at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC. Read more about CFP Board’s 2008 Program Directors’ Conference, including registration details.