About This Episode

I attended the annual NAPFA conference a couple of week ago, which was held in Boston, where I live. One of the most important sessions featured Kevin Keller, and he spoke about the initiatives and priorities of the CFP Board. Kevin is here today, along with Tom Sporkin, to talk about those initiatives. We’ll also talk about the steps the CFP Board took following an article that appeared in the Wall Street Journal a little more than two years ago. That article cited some problems with the monitoring of infractions by advisors.

About Our Guest

As CEO, Kevin R. Keller, CAE leads CFP Board’s mission to benefit the public by granting the CFP® certification and upholding it as the recognized standard of excellence for competent and ethical personal financial planning. Since joining CFP Board in 2007, Kevin has guided CFP Board as it grew the number of CFP® professionals in the U.S. more than 50% to 90,000+, all while strengthening the CFP® certification requirements. Under his leadership CFP Board established the Center for Financial Planning which brings firms, educators, practitioners and experts together to create a more diverse and sustainable financial planning profession. He overhauled certification rules and standards requiring CFP® professionals to act in the best interest of the client at all when providing financial advice.

As CFP Board’s Managing Director of Enforcement, Tom Sporkin, JD leads a team of attorneys and legal staff responsible for a peer-review, enforcement process of the Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct that is credible to the public and fair to those whose conduct is being evaluated. Tom joined CFP Board in January 2021 after decades of experience in enforcement and regulatory compliance. He previously served at Buckley, LLP, where his practice focused on providing securities related advice to boards, executives and regulated entities. Prior to joining Buckley, he spent 20 years in the Enforcement Division of the Securities and Exchange Commission supervising investigations into all of the Division of Enforcement program areas.

Show Notes

Here is a link to CFP Board’s new strategic priorities for 2022-2026. Here are links to more information on CFP Board’s commitment to ethical standards, and its enforcement process.