A company veteran will lead on recruiting more women into the firm and to the wider wealth management industry.

Recognizing a lack of female advisors in the US wealth business, RBC Wealth Management (US) has appointed Kristen Kimmell to head its advisor recruiting and field marketing business to boost addressing this imbalance. Under Kimmell's watch, the firm said it has already increased the number of female advisors by 23 per cent over the last two years, and doubled the number of women in branch director roles.

Kimmell has held senior positions in technology, credit strategy and business development at RBC for close to 25 years. She also serves as the co-executive sponsor of RBC Wealth Management’s Women’s Association of Financial Advisors (WAFA), where her focus has been on elevating the role of women in the broader wealth industry, the firm said.

“Over the past two years, we’ve established ourselves as a destination firm for the best advisors in the business who are looking for all the resources of Wall Street yet want more of a Main Street feel,” Tom Sagissor, president of RBC Wealth Management in the US, said. The firm manages $384 billion in client assets, with more than 1,900 financial advisors working in 42 states.  

Group CEO Michael Armstrong said Kimmell’s “out-of-the-box thinking” and ability to bring together teams to accomplish goals have been a recurring aspect of her work. “There is really no better person for this role,” he said.

She was behind recent efforts to launch a video series highlighting the stories of women in advisor roles and, as co-executive sponsor of WAFA, has pushed to recruit and retain female financial advisors and branch directors at a wider level.

“As an industry, it’s our duty to create a supportive environment for professionals of all backgrounds, and in turn give our clients access to advice from diverse perspectives. I’m proud to work for RBC, which has long shared in this vision and continues to walk the walk, not just talk the talk,” said Kimmell.