Company: Mowery & Schoenfeld, LINCOLNSHIRE, IL
Company Description: We are a CPA firm founded in 1996 by entrepreneurs looking for a new, more personal way to do accounting. We specialize in tax, assurance, accounting, advisory, wealth management, transaction, business consulting, international compliance, and managed IT services. We are an IPA Top 200 Firms, Inc. 5000’s Fastest Growing Private Companies, and Crain’s Chicago’s Largest Accounting Firm in Chicago.
Nomination Category: New Product & Service Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Financial Services
 Nomination Title: Mowery & Schoenfeld's Wealth Management
- Which will you submit for your nomination in this category, a video of up to five (5) minutes in length about the nominated new or new-version product or service, OR written answers to the questions for this category? (Choose one):
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the nominated video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this first question: If this is a brand-new product, state the date on which it was released. If this is a new version of an existing product, state the date on which the update was released:
April 25, 2022
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this second question: Describe the features, functions, and benefits of the nominated product or service (up to 350 words):
Total 325 words used.
In April of 2022, we welcomed our Managing Director of Wealth Management to our Firm to re-launch our Wealth Management practice, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management. What began as a team of 3 M&S partners investing in the service line and one Director of Wealth Management to manage the portfolios of our clients blossomed into a robust team with defined roles, designed to provide the caliber of white-glove service needed to grow our practice. Our powerhouse team consists of a Managing Director, focused on running the wealth management practice and specializing in providing an investment and financial planning approach to build, protect, and guide wealth. To support her, our Director of Portfolio Technologies and Client Service is responsible for helping our clients and team navigate our technology platforms and providing the day-to-day support our clients and their other advisors need. Our Director of Strategy serves to build personal connections and drive growth in our wealth management practice. Our Client Services Manager onboards new clients, tracks client activity, and manages all income client inquiries and requests to ensure timely responses and facilitate a smooth client experience.
Our wealth management team, supported by our content manager and marketing team, also re-launched a monthly content calendar, ensuring timely regulatory updates, insights, and advice reach our wealth management clients regularly. This includes in-house content development and integration with our Firm’s overall content calendar and cadence. In conjunction with this re-launch, we redeveloped our separate wealth management website, establishing a separate blog and resource center for these clients.
Another key change that came with this investment in our wealth management branch was the addition of a wealth management internship program. This summer, for the first time, we utilized our Firm’s internship program to grow our wealth management team, welcoming three interns. They gained experience in investment philosophies and portfolio management, working closely with senior members of our team to learn the ins and outs of establishing and maintaining client relationships.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this third question: Outline the market performance, critical reception, and customer satisfaction with the product or service to date. State monetary or unit sales figures to date, if possible, and how they compare to expectations or past performance. Provide links to laudatory product or service reviews. Include some customer testimonials, if applicable (up to 350 words):
Total 276 words used.
Kristy took over our Wealth Management practice in April of 2022. In 2021, after many years of working to establish a wealth practice, we had a wealth management team of four, our billings were $628,320, and our assets under management were $68,130,764 (financial figures as of the 12/31/21 year-end). In less than a year and a half, Kristy has grown this practice to a team of seven, with $1,773,624 in billings for the last fiscal year and $286,100,533 in assets under management as of December 2023.
Kristy and her team work closely with our clients to ensure their investment planning, retirement planning, financial planning, and tax minimization strategies work together to meet their long and short-term financial goals. As a Registered Investment Advisory Firm, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management goes above and beyond to protect our clients’ wealth and serve as trusted fiduciaries. Our clients’ continued investment and, most of all, their referrals to us, serve as tangible evidence of their satisfaction in our recently relaunched service line.
As an RIA firm, we are regulated by strict guidelines surrounding client testimonials, however, the truest testament to our client satisfaction has been that much of this growth has come from referrals and existing clients expanding their services with us since this relaunch. Investing in this service line has proven valuable to our clients, and we have finally realized our vision of going beyond accounting, tax, and assurance compliance to deepening our client relationships and serving as the advisors they trust to help them grow and preserve their wealth and legacies, even amid the recent state of the economy and markets.
- You have the option to answer this final question: Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 73 words used.
- Business Wire press release when Kristy McCullough signed on as Managing Director of Wealth Management in April 2022, announcing the re-launch of our Wealth practice.
- Example blog post from our content library, a valuable resource for our clients launched when we revamped the website after Kristy joined the practice.
- AT Top Firms by AUM Book, which we are proud to be included in this year after Kristy re-launched the wealth practice into success!
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