LeCount R. Davis, CFP® Endowed Scholarship
Building a Diverse Workforce
Created to support the next generation of diverse CFP® professionals, the LeCount R. Davis, CFP® Endowed Scholarship program will assist qualified Black or African American students and professionals who are committed to attaining CFP® certification and to the practice of financial planning. The scholarship will award up to $5,000 per student seeking to complete an undergraduate-level or a certificate-level CFP Board Registered Program, based on demonstrated merit and financial need. Upon completing the required education coursework, scholarship recipients will be eligible to take the CFP® exam and pursue the next steps to attain CFP® certification.
An advisor for more than 50 years, LeCount Davis is the first Black person to earn the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certification, becoming a CFP® professional in 1978. He had already established his own consulting firm in 1970, specializing in tax planning, small business management, financial planning, financial management and investment consulting. During his long career, Davis’s client portfolio included national organizations, international labor unions, pension funds, individuals, small businesses, religious organizations, investment clubs and other entities.
In 2001, Davis founded the Association of African American Financial Advisors, whose mission is to expand the community of successful Black financial professionals. To further inspire and prepare the next generation of financial planners, he published his autobiography in 2020: “One Step Back – Two Steps Forward: The Dance of My Ultimate Plan.” The LeCount R. Davis, CFP® Endowed Scholarship program is yet another step forward in helping Davis fulfill his lifelong mission of diversifying the financial planning profession.
The scholarship awards up to $5,000 to qualified Black or African American students seeking to complete an undergraduate-level or a certificate-level CFP Board Registered Program, either of which would qualify the student to sit for the CFP® exam. Visit the scholarships webpage to learn more and apply, or to share with students in your network.
“I’ve enjoyed a rewarding career as a financial planner since achieving CFP® certification, and I believe financial planning is the solution to many of the socioeconomic problems in our community,” said Davis. “It all starts with the knowledge of finance, and this scholarship will help students and young professionals see that you don’t have to be born with a silver spoon in your mouth to make it in this world.”
Individuals and corporations alike have contributed to the LeCount R. Davis, CFP® Endowed Scholarship in a testament to LeCount Davis’s impact on financial planning. CFP Board Center for Financial Planning would like to recognize the following donors for their outsized contributions to the LeCount R. Davis, CFP® Endowed Scholarship:
$50,000 or more
- First Pacific Financial
- Vanguard
$25,000 or more
- Alexandra Armstrong, CFP®
- AssetMark
- Cynthia L. Conger, CFP®
- The Deena Jo Heide-Diesslin Foundation
- Marjorie L. Fox, CFP®
- Charles Goldman
- Gregory D. Sullivan, CFP®