SPECIAL FEATURE Lisa Miller

A PATH OF SERVICE

Trailblazing financial advisor Lisa Miller has paved the way for women to progress in the finance industry.

BY CY WHITE

The name Lisa Miller is nondescript enough that when you come across it, nothing immediately stands out. But dig a little deeper. What you find will both astound and inspire you. Lisa “Ivie” Miller is a remarkable woman, a force to be reckoned with who’s created opportunities and incredible success in spaces where a woman’s presence was rarely considered. She describes herself as a “performance-based, results-driven leader,” and her work in the finance world certainly attests to the self-analysis. Formerly the senior VP and director of Government Relations and Education at South Texas Money Management (STMM), and now the principal financial advisor for Captrust (who acquired STMM in 2019), Miller thrives in high-stakes environments.

She’s paved the way for women to make their mark in a mostly maledominated industry. With Captrust’s Women’s Initiative, the company now employs a majority of women, 14 of whom the National Association of Plan Advisors recognized on this year’s Top Women Advisors list. It’s safe to say Miller’s influence has inspired a shift in the finance sector, and she continues to be a guiding light for women looking to find their way in the industry.

Tell us a bit about how you got interested in finance?

In 2003, when the governor’s office contacted me about the appointment to run the Office of the Fire Fighters’ Pension Commissioner, which had oversight of over $1.5 billion in pension fund assets, the aide said I needed to know about three things: the fire service, the legislative process and investments. I knew the fire service as I had worked with all of the firefighter leadership entities—the unions, the chiefs and the volunteers—as both a senate staffer and a lobbyist representing their interests. I knew the legislative process from working in and around the capitol for 15 years. However, I did not know much about finance except about balancing my checkbook and staying out of debt. I have two degrees in criminal justice management and administration and had taken both accounting and business finance classes, but outside of those, I was a social scientist. The good news is that when you work in the Capitol, you are trained to learn about many issues quickly. I took the request as a challenge, and not only learned about finance, investments, actuarial science and fiduciary duty, but I was charged with helping 280 trustees learn the same. I created curriculums comprised of topics in areas where I needed to learn, and we all learned together. My interest in retirement security and building personal wealth has continued today.

What about the landscape of your industry do you think needs to change in order for women to be better represented?

Once we can recoup from the “Shecession” where over one million women had to quit or lost their jobs due to COVID-19, we are going to have to educate our young girls and women that they can be in this business and make a good living for themselves and their families. In the next two decades, Baby Boomers are predicted to transfer over $68 trillion to their millennial successors. There is going to be an incredible need for advisors to assist with this transfer. Women are natural advisors because we have a mix of perspectives, life experiences and diversity of thought. It is estimated over 80% percent of consumers are women [Source: Catalyst], and over 40% of women are the breadwinners for their families [Source: Center for American Progress]. This industry has begun to recognize these statistics, and at Captrust, we are making great strides to recruit and retain more women advisors. As Melinda Gates says in her book The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World when talking about family planning in third-world countries, if you can get the men of the tribes engaged, there will be change.

At Captrust, more than 25% of our financial advisors are women whereas the industry average for women is 15%. We have a strong Women’s Initiative that focuses on encouraging and mentoring women to recognize their talents and help them grow and advance in the financial services industry, more specifically at Captrust. Recognizing that many women have high emotional intelligence and can listen to the wants and needs of the women who are making financial decisions for their families is an incredible recruiting tool to get more females in the investment business. The landscape of the industry not only needs to change but is changing.

Any words of advice for women who want to advance in finance?

If you are currently in this business and want to grow, ask someone you admire to mentor you. Ask if you could shadow them for a day and just watch, listen and learn. If you don’t know something, admit you don’t know and ask questions. People love to share what they know and generally are happy to share their knowledge, experience and the hard knocks along the way. My favorite quote, by Ruth Bader Ginsberg: “Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.”

Visit atxwoman.com to read the interview in its entirety.