(front row)
Steve Toomey
BKD Wealth Advisors
Sherman Titens
The PrivateBank – Kansas City
Mike Gerken
Waddell & Reed
Tommy Taylor
Shughart Thomson & Kilroy
Rick Homuth

Merrill Lynch
Jack Ovel
Commerce Bank (Co-Chair)

Lori Gregory
Lewis Rice & Fingersh

(back row)
Fred Dunn
Haas & Wilkerson Insurance
Dwayne White

Country Club Trust Co.
Don Hubbs
The PrivateBank – Kansas City
Mike Deardorff
RBC Insurance
Bob Rippy
Robert W. Baird & Co.
Doug Lockwood
American Century
Tim Hattey
Bank of Kansas City
Matt Wagner
Enterprise Bank & Trust

Brad Perry
Intrust Bank
Joe Williams
Commerce Bank

Mike Searcy
Searcy Financial Services
Scott Boswell
Commerce Bank (Co-Chair)
Bruce Moore
Deloitte
Clyde Wendel
UMB Bank
Dan Dechant
Morgan Stanley
Dana Abraham
UMB Bank

Jack Sutherland
Enterprise Bank & Trust
Steve Rodewald
Bank Midwest

Managing Wealth in a Wealthy World

Some twenty-five representatives of greater Kansas City’s wealth management industry met high above downtown in the board room of Commerce Bank on a stormy April morning to discuss the future of their industry and the well being of their clients.

Chairing the session were Scott Boswell and Jack Ovel of Commerce Trust Company, which sponsored the event. Also in attendance were representatives of the various sub sectors—insurance companies, law firms, trust companies, brokerage firms, financial advisors, accounting firms—that make up the wealth management industry.

This assembly was part of Ingram’s Magazine’s ongoing effort to highlight business issues in Kansas City’s greater metropolitan area. 

Although there were some interesting divisions among these groupings, and even within them, participants found enough commonality of purpose to establish some larger and highly relevant themes.

Educating the Investor

Among the many challenges cited in the opening round of discussion was that of the growing complexity of the business and the difficulty of deciphering that complexity for the client.

“What do we do as an industry,” asked Scott Boswell, “to educate the investor and make sure they are positioned for success into the future?”

As Doug Lockwood of American Century noted, his company has a separate division that prepares investor educational collateral materials both in print and online. The company has been doing that for about ten years now, as well as holding seminars “to try to help people understand the concepts of building a diversified portfolio.”

Steve Toomey, with BKD Wealth Advisors, observed that, being part of an accounting firm, 90 percent of his clients come through the firm’s internal accounting advisors. As a result, “We have spent a great deal of time educating them on what wealth management is.”