Executive IQTM by Money Management Institute hosted its first Awards and Graduation Ceremony honoring its inaugural cohort yesterday, May 26th. The winners of the program's Capstone Innovation Project were also announced at the virtual event. In collaboration with PwC and Darden, the Capstone Innovation Project was a three-month effort designed to put into practice program lessons taught the previous two terms around technology, digital disruption, leadership and embracing a growth mindset. Applying the PwC innovation prototype model, teams were tasked to identify an industry problem needing to be addressed. The model encouraged each team to be open to change, have a bias towards to creativity, an ability to think big, start small, have an unrelenting courage to challenge the norm, and be characterized by speed of thought and action.
Team Turtle Finance took home the honors with a mission to educate and connect people with core concepts of financial literacy to help them make better financial decisions for themselves and their loved ones, as well as demystify investing and the opportunities it could present. The concept is delivered through the Turtle Finance game. The members of the winning team include: Calvin DeBoer of Horizon Investments, Sarah Bratton Hughes of American Century Investments, Taneka Lawrence of Polen Capital, Lori Murphy of Hartford Funds, and Sibil Sebastian Patri of American Century Investments. The winning team is invited to attend the MMI Annual Conference in Nashville on October 19-21, where they will present to the MMI Board of Governors and host an innovation prototyping design session at the conference.
In all, 16 teams competed in the Capstone Innovation Project, and three finalists were selected. The finalists were richly praised by the judges for the quality of work and the magnitude of their efforts. The other two finalists include:
Advisor Central Team — Katy Brady of Invesco, Ashley Ferrier of PGIM Investments, and Michelle Liller of Lazard Asset Management. Advisor Central, a new digital platform that seeks to become financial advisors’ one-stop-shop for personalized content to help them build their practice. The importance of good content, the impact it has on business decision makers, and Advisor Central’s approach to providing a tool that is valuable to both Financial Advisors and Asset Managers.
FS VERSE Team — Kirsten Pickens and Ryan Robertson both of FS Investments. FS VERSE is a platform that is focused on driving diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging through virtual reality, not only to a firm, but for the betterment of the financial services industry. The goal is to use this technology to attract new talent pools and make the recruiting, hiring, and onboarding experience more collaborative and inclusive for applicants of all backgrounds.
The announcement of the winning team was made following live virtual presentations by the three teams to a panel of five judges on Wednesday, May 25th. The esteemed panel of judges included:
Richard Evans – Associate Professor at University of Virginia Darden School of Business and faculty advisor to the Executive IQ
Roger Paradiso – Global Head of Product Solutions at Franklin Templeton and MMI Board Member
Craig Pfeiffer – President & CEO, Money Management Institute
Helene Kubon Skulstad – Partner, PwC Global Data & Analytics Leader
Teams were judged on relevance to the financial services industry, business opportunity, creativity and original thought, as well as overall presentation.
On behalf of the Executive IQ program and the whole MMI community, congratulations to all graduates and the finalists and winners of the Capstone Innovation Project! To stay updated about the program, please follow Executive IQ on LinkedIn.
