Ep 399: Maintaining Company Culture More Virtually (When Scaling Past $3B AUM With 10 Office Locations) with Kelli Kiemle
Financial Advisor Success
Michael Kitces
4.8 • 696 Ratings
🗓️ 20 August 2024
⏱️ 87 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Kelli Kiemle is the Managing Director of Growth and Client Experience of Halbert Hargrove, an RIA based out of California that oversees $3.1 billion in assets under management for 75 households. Kelli uniquely spearheads initiatives at Halbert Hargrove to uphold the firm’s four core values and foster a strong corporate culture, a critical task as the company expands to 50 employees across 10 offices in the western United States. This growth makes even their in-person offices effectively 'remote' and 'virtual' relative to the leadership at the firm's main headquarters.
Listen in as Kelli shares how she has implemented effective communication and relationship-building programs at Halbert Hargrove, including biannual in-person meetings and weekly all-hands sessions to enhance accountability and integrate new hires through a formal two-year mentorship program. She discusses initiatives that reinforce the firm’s core values—like sharing 'Gladiator Stories' and 'Goofs That Give Us Guidance'—and aligns employee benefits with these values by supporting education, charitable contributions, and family care, while also managing a unique vacation policy to prevent burnout. Additionally, Kelli explains her strategic role in growing the firm’s AUM past $3 billion, utilizing external PR and SEO, and integrating sales coaching to enhance client acquisition efforts without compromising the firm’s fiduciary commitments.
For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/399
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Financial Advisor Success Podcast, where you go behind the scenes with |
| 0:07.1 | financial planner, speaker, and consultant Michael Kitsis to hear stories of how leading |
| 0:12.4 | financial advisors navigated the inevitable challenges that arise on the path to success |
| 0:17.4 | and get insight from leading industry consultants about how to break through to the next |
| 0:22.2 | level in your advisory business. And now here's your host, Michael Kitsis. Welcome, everyone. |
| 0:29.1 | Welcome to the 399th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast. My guest in today's |
| 0:34.2 | podcast is Kelly Keemley. Kelly is the managing director of growth and client experience at Halbert Hargrove, |
| 0:39.8 | an RIA based in Long Beach, California that oversees $3.1 billion in assets and our management |
| 0:44.4 | for about 750 client households. |
| 0:47.6 | What you think about Kelly, though, is how she leads efforts at Albert Hargrove to maintain |
| 0:51.3 | the firm's four core values and build a strong culture, even |
| 0:54.3 | and especially as their team has grown to 50 employees and with ongoing expansions, now |
| 0:58.8 | situated across 10 offices throughout the Western United States, which means even their in-person |
| 1:04.9 | offices are remote and virtual relative to the leadership team in the firm's main office headquarters. |
| 1:10.7 | In this episode, we talk in depth about how Kelly has worked to develop programs at Albert Hargrove relative to the leadership team in the firm's main office headquarters. |
| 1:10.8 | In this episode, we talk in depth about how Kelly has worked to develop programs at |
| 1:14.6 | Albert Hargrove to maintain communication and strong relationships across the firm and its |
| 1:18.5 | disparate offices, including by holding twice annual in-person meetings at the firm's headquarters, |
| 1:24.0 | both to discuss business and provide opportunities for more informal social interaction |
| 1:28.3 | amongst the firm's well-dispers staff. How Kelly uses weekly company-wide all-hands meetings |
| 1:34.4 | first thing every Monday morning to review key company metrics and increase accountability. |
| 1:39.2 | And How Kelly establish a mandatory two-year formal mentorship program for all new hires |
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