Maureen Glenn of Richardson GMP is part of this year's Wealth Professional's Women of Influence.
Maureen Glenn
Vice president of tax and estate planning
Richardson GMP
Maureen Glenn has two different extremes in her personality that have set her up for success as an advisor.
“Those two extremes are the ability to be very technical and understand complex information at a deep level, but also being outgoing and charismatic with clients,” she says. “So I guess you could call me a charismatic nerd. I think the technical term is an extroverted introvert. But I think that is the real key to my success.”
After starting her career in life insurance, Glenn transitioned over to the wealth management side of the business, where she specializes in tax and estate planning.
“It was kind of a natural progression into investments,” she says. “Those two industries need to work together, but always primarily with client focus. I love working with clients face-to-face, and that’s really what’s driven me to continue in this particular industry.”
Are you seeing any improvements in gender diversity in the industry?
I’ve been lucky in my career that I haven’t really faced too much of a challenge from the gender diversity side. I always felt empowered to do as much as my male colleagues or more. I do believe the women in this industry have a great opportunity because I think my female colleagues can see that bigger picture maybe a little more naturally. I think the evolution of the industry is that we need to address th family unit and include both spouses – we’re looking after the entire family’s needs and recognizing that one person in the family doesn’t drive the whole family’s finances. I see a much broader approach to that planning, and I think that’s natural, especially when you look at it from the estate planning side of things. There’s an emotional, personal element that goes far beyond investment.
What advice would you give the next generation of female advisors?
A mentor told me, “Don’t ever assume that the other people in a room are smarter than you.” I think coming up through your career, you assume your elders have more experience and know more than you do. But I believe that you need to work hard and explore and learn more all the time. The key thing is, never assume that you know less than the person sitting beside you, but if you do know less than that person, be a sponge and soak it in and learn.
Vice president of tax and estate planning
Richardson GMP
Maureen Glenn has two different extremes in her personality that have set her up for success as an advisor.
“Those two extremes are the ability to be very technical and understand complex information at a deep level, but also being outgoing and charismatic with clients,” she says. “So I guess you could call me a charismatic nerd. I think the technical term is an extroverted introvert. But I think that is the real key to my success.”
After starting her career in life insurance, Glenn transitioned over to the wealth management side of the business, where she specializes in tax and estate planning.
“It was kind of a natural progression into investments,” she says. “Those two industries need to work together, but always primarily with client focus. I love working with clients face-to-face, and that’s really what’s driven me to continue in this particular industry.”
Are you seeing any improvements in gender diversity in the industry?
I’ve been lucky in my career that I haven’t really faced too much of a challenge from the gender diversity side. I always felt empowered to do as much as my male colleagues or more. I do believe the women in this industry have a great opportunity because I think my female colleagues can see that bigger picture maybe a little more naturally. I think the evolution of the industry is that we need to address th family unit and include both spouses – we’re looking after the entire family’s needs and recognizing that one person in the family doesn’t drive the whole family’s finances. I see a much broader approach to that planning, and I think that’s natural, especially when you look at it from the estate planning side of things. There’s an emotional, personal element that goes far beyond investment.
What advice would you give the next generation of female advisors?
A mentor told me, “Don’t ever assume that the other people in a room are smarter than you.” I think coming up through your career, you assume your elders have more experience and know more than you do. But I believe that you need to work hard and explore and learn more all the time. The key thing is, never assume that you know less than the person sitting beside you, but if you do know less than that person, be a sponge and soak it in and learn.
