TD Ameritrade Institutional’s latest hire exhibits its commitment to empower advisors with leading practice management resources.
Yesterday, news hit the wires of TD Ameritrade Institutional’s hiring of Christine Gaze as director of practice management. Gaze brings over 16 years of experience in financial services, most recently as an executive director at Morgan Stanley Private Bank.
Ms. Gaze graciously took my call this morning between sessions at the IMCA 2012 Annual Conference outside Washington, DC that she is attending. Below is a summary of our conversation.
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Christine Gaze, director of practice management for TD Ameritrade Institutional
Team Structure
Ms. Gaze will lead the advisor practice management team that is based in TD Ameritrade Institutional’s Jersey City, NJ offices.
The team consists of eight employees that Gaze says features both “Ivy leaguers” with extensive experience consulting in the financial services industry and “young guns” with an acute awareness of technology trends and broad capacity for research.
Key Initiatives
One initiative Ms. Gaze will pursue is to continue to attract advisors to the TD Ameritrade Institutional Roadmap™ business consulting program, citing recent success advisors who participated in the programs.
Roadmap users experienced nearly double the growth rate (17%) over non-Roadmap users (9%) (for more details, see this February 1, 2012 company press release).
Connecting with Advisors
Ms. Gaze and the advisor practice management team will work closely with TD Ameritrade Institutional’s strategic relationships group and its current director, George Tamer. Tamer’s team already covers much of the nation’s territory, and Ms. Gaze plans to travel and connect directly with advisors.
While it’s too early to comment specifically on other practice management initiatives, Ms. Gaze sees an inevitable convergence of practice management and technology. She highlighted how TD Ameritrade Institutional has already equipped advisors with resources such as the company’s Technology Integration Analyzer, Advisor Education knowledge center, and one-on-one coaching programs for qualified advisors.
Why TD Ameritrade Institutional?
When I asked what confirmed her decision to accept the role as director of practice management, she replied that it was the culture of TD Ameritrade Institutional and the tenure of many of its executives who are committed to the success of the company and its advisors.
Thank you to Ms. Gaze and the PR team at TD Ameritrade Institutional for providing the opportunity to connect and to share my discussion with the FPPad audience.
