Tag: Financial Advisors
Why Human Connection Is the Real AI Strategy with Reed Colley (Ep. 31)

Why Human Connection Is the Real AI Strategy with Reed Colley (Ep. 31)

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Summary:

In this special live episode of PRess Play: The StreetCred Podcast, Elena Krasnow sits down with Orion Advisory Technology President Reed Colley at Orion Ascent in gorgeous San Diego, California.

Reed reflects on his more than 20-year journey in wealth technology, from building Black Diamond to helping scale Summit and guiding it through its merger with Orion. The conversation digs into what makes Orion Ascent a standout event, touching on real-time collaboration, community building and a genuine commitment to listening to advisors about what drives value. Reed speaks to the importance of empowering clients through technology while keeping the human element at the heart of financial advice. He also shares key announcements from Orion at Ascent, including an expanded collaboration with Anthropic and the rollout of the enterprise version of Denali AI.

We cover:

  • What makes Orion Ascent unique and the beauty of real-time collaboration
  • The major inflection point advisor technology is facing today 
  • Centering human connection in building an AI strategy 
  • How advisors can use AI to create deeper, more powerful client relationships 
  • Reed’s personal passions and love of the outdoors
  • …and much more!

Don’t miss this conversation on how technology and human connection are coming together to shape the future of advice.

Topics:

(0:27) Welcome to this special episode of PRess Play, live from Orion Ascent

(0:42) Sunny San Diego

(1:32) Reed’s 20+ year career in wealth technology

(1:57) Building Black Diamond

(2:27) Summit’s growth and eventual merger with Orion

(3:12) An almost baseball player turned wealthtech innovator

(3:57) What makes Orion Ascent unique as an event?

(4:02) The opportunity to collaborate in real time

(4:47) How Orion is building real community

(5:27) Understanding what drives value for financial advisors

(5:52) Listening to clients in order to empower them

(6:22) A major inflection point in the technology revolution and future of financial advice

(6:32) “A little thing called AI”

(6:47) How advisors can use AI to create deeper and more powerful relationships with clients

(7:27) Focus on the human connection and lean into that as a strategy

(7:57) “If you’re not already using AI, start using it”

(8:15) Orion’s enterprise level Denali AI

(8:35) AI is a very supportive companion, sometimes too supportive

(9:20) Orion’s expanded collaboration with Anthropic, the core engine behind the Denali platform

(10:12) Creating the right structure and compliance around data

(10:47) Human-first, AI-powered

(10:59) Time for our play segment!

(11:07) What Reed would be doing right now if he wasn’t at Orion

(11:49) Reed’s favorite things to do for fun: the importance of family and spending time outdoors

(12:46) Moment of gratitude

(13:47) There’s three versions of every scenario, your version, someone else’s version and the real version

 

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About our Guest: 

Reed Colley joined Orion in January 2025 as President of Orion Advisor Technology following Orion’s acquisition of Summit Wealth Systems. As co-founder and CEO of Summit, Reed recognized the need to humanize wealth management by creating a modern, digital and mobile experience for advisors and their clients. Prior to Summit, Reed founded and served as CEO of Black Diamond Performance Reporting. He also founded calendar analytics platform Copilot, Do Something Great Today, and FlightPath Inc. Reed holds a Bachelor of Science with degrees in Engineering and Economics from Vanderbilt University, where he was a starting pitcher on the baseball team.

Publishing Tags: PRess Play, StreetCred PR, Podcast, Financial Journalism, Financial Media, Elena Krasnow, Wealth Management, WealthTech, Advisor Technology, Financial Advisors, RIA Industry, Artificial Intelligence, AI in Wealth Management, Financial Technology, Future of Advice, Innovation in Finance, Orion Ascent

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How to Have A Disproportionately Positive Impact with Shannon Spotswood (Ep. 30)

How to Have A Disproportionately Positive Impact with Shannon Spotswood (Ep. 30)

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Summary:
In this episode of PRess Play: The StreetCred Podcast, hosts Elena Krasnow and Jimmy Moock sit down with Shannon Spotswood, chief executive officer of RFG Advisory.

Shannon takes us on an incredible ride, from her early fascination with Wall Street at age 14 to the pivotal career and life decisions that ultimately led her to the helm of RFG Advisory. She reflects on learning to get comfortable being uncomfortable, her dynamic experiences across hedge funds and investment banks and the decision to step away from finance entirely before embarking on building the RIA of the future in Birmingham, Alabama. 

We cover:

  • How Shannon became so passionate about supported-independence for advisors
  • Shannon’s early formative experience working for a woman-led hedge fund
  • Her move to Birmingham, Alabama and how that led to her favorite chapter of her career 
  • What makes Shannon tick and why she loves building from the ground up
  • The importance of building a brand that is deeply tied to people’s values 
  • …and much more!

Don’t miss this captivating conversation which reveals how each of these chapters shaped Shannon’s leadership philosophy and her belief in building firms rooted in purpose, positivity and growth.

Topics:
(0:36) Meet Shannon Spotswood

(1:33) What’s for lunch?

(1:45) The most perfect homemade granola 

(2:28) A creature of habit 

(2:59) You had me at hot honey

(3:30) Saving her spirit of innovation for the business realm

 (5:42) How Shannon entered the industry

(6:10) At age 14, she knew she wanted to be on Wall Street 

(8:25) The move to San Francisco to work at a hedge fund under one of the few female-led portfolio managers 

(9:00) Learning how to trade IPOs and model companies 

(9:40) The anti-Wallstreet Investment Bank, taking Netscape public 

(10:50) Dream job came knocking in her second hedge fund job 

(11:52) Learning how to get comfortable being uncomfortable

(13:00) Hitting the wall and needing a change 

(14:00) Pivot into luxury children’s clothing 

(14:45) Moving back to Birmingham, Alabama 

(15:40) What Shannon loves about building RFG

(16:00) Whoever would have thought the RIA of the future would be born and built in Birmingham, Alabama

(17:05) The thread that knit it all together 

(17:51) What makes her tick? 

(18:44) Seeking the intangible 

(19:49) “I am either all in or I’m out”

(20:11) What it was like when Netscape went public  

(22:15) “Everyone on your team has to be a driver” 

(25:25) The importance of building a brand that people can connect with 

(25:50) What clients are looking for in their advisors 

(28:50) The biggest opportunities for advisors who want to grow in today’s environment

(29:00) “Stop undervaluing your time” 

(29:55) Michael Kitces map 

(30:42) The financial advisor’s superpower 

(33:00) Lessons for those looking to find their voice and carve out their own path

(34:00) Get over the imposter syndrome 

(36:00) Having a disproportionately positive impact on the industry, her partners and the world 

(38:10) The detriment behind procrastination 

(39:40) Mindset has a 24 hour shot clock on it

(40:45) The power of momentum 

(41:58) Time for our Play segment!

(42:35) Shannon would have run a commercial construction company 

(43:20) “I love any -ing” 

(44:16) Moment of gratitude

 

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Connect with Shannon Spotswood:

 

 

About our Guest: 

Shannon Spotswood is a 25-year veteran of the financial services industry with experience spanning investment banking, hedge fund management, professional management and business development. As CEO of RFG Advisory, she leads RFG 2.0, the firm’s fully integrated platform for independent advisors, and drives the strategic initiatives that power advisor growth. Since joining RFG in 2015, Shannon has blended her entrepreneurial background with a passion for building an innovative, advisor-focused RIA of the future—helping grow the firm from $1.2 billion to more than $7 billion in AUM.

Publishing Tags: PRess Play, StreetCred PR, Podcast, Financial Journalism, Financial Media, Elena Krasnow, Jimmy Moock, Wealth Management, RIA, RIA of the Future, Supported Independence, Financial Advisors, Women in Leadership, Shannon Spotswood, RFG Advisory

 

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Storytelling, Trust & Financial Journalism with Diana Britton (Ep. 27)

Storytelling, Trust & Financial Journalism with Diana Britton (Ep. 27)

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In this episode of PRess Play: The StreetCred Podcast, hosts Elena Krasnow and Jimmy Moock are joined by Diana Britton, executive editor of WealthManagement.com and host of the award-winning podcast The Healthy Advisor.

 

Diana shares her journey from growing up in Los Angeles to building a career in financial journalism. She reflects on her early days covering pension plans, some of the standout stories she’s covered at WealthManagement.com and why trust between journalists and publicists is essential.

We cover:

  • Diana’s early inspirations and what eventually drew her into financial journalism
  • her experience writing about defined benefit pension plans
  • the issues surrounding 403bs and their lack of regulatory scrutiny
  • analogies and insights from Philip Palaveev, author of “The Ensemble Practice”
  • her perspective on AI in journalism and whether she can spot a ChatGPT-written pitch
  • the origin story of The Healthy Advisor and its human-centered mission
  • her personal passions, including Star Wars and a childhood dream of becoming an astronaut
  • and much more!

Diana’s journey highlights the power of trust, curiosity and connection in wealth management—don’t miss it!

 

Topics:

 

(0:15) Meet Diana Britton

(1:12) What’s for lunch?

(2:49) Never heard of a boca ribeye

(4:10) In N Out Burger reviews

(6:28) Diana’s background and growing up in Palos Verdes, LA

(7:14) Three summers in Cairo working with Sudanese refugees

(8:15) Her first foray into documentary filmmaking

(9:04) Journalism school: NYU vs. USC

(10:08) Working for Institutional Investors newsletter division

(10:37) Her experience writing about defined benefit pension plans

(11:28) The bug for financial journalism that led her to WealthManagement.com

(12:10) The openness of financial advisors to tell their stories

(12:45) First week on the job…Bear Stearns went under

(14:05) 401k vs. pension plans

(15:25) What makes for a story on pension plans?

(16:22) Looking under the hood of a teacher’s defined benefit plan

(19:35) One of the most memorable stories Diana has ever covered on 403bs

(20:25) 403bs and how they escape regulatory scrutiny; how the retirement system is failing teachers

(23:00) Shout out to Tony Isola!

(23:35) Diana’s go to sources: Joe Duran, Doug Fritz, Brian McLaughlin and others

(24:28) Incredible analogies by Philip Palaveev: describing the industry as “a monkey in a banana trap”

(25:46) “The Ensemble Practice”

(26:25) What is the “banana”?

(28:10) Technology adoption

(29:02) Wealth Management’s internal AI engine

(30:55) Can you tell when pitches are written with ChatGPT?

(31:45) What makes a story stand out to Diana: “We thought it was one way, but it’s actually this way”

(35:52) Worst interaction with a PR person (it wasn’t anyone at StreetCred!)

(37:25) The importance of respecting boundaries with journalists

(38:55) Shout out to David Armstrong!

(39:52) It’s not all bad—real relationships with journalists and publicists

(40:10) The importance of trust

(43:47) The origin story of The Healthy Advisor podcast and its important human-centered mission

(45:28) Impactful episode with George Kinder “The Father of Life Planning” on the art of mindfulness

(46:35) How do you meditate?

(47:52) Time for our Play segment!

(48:09) Dreams of being an astronaut and writing a letter to NASA

(49:20) Star Wars fandom and favorite movie

(52:05) They don’t make ‘em like they used to

(54:39) Moment of gratitude for the Wealth Management team

(56:57) Thank you to our listeners!

 

Connect with StreetCred PR:

 

 

Connect with Diana Britton:

 

 

About our Guest: 

Diana Britton is the executive editor of WealthManagement.com, covering independent broker/dealers and RIAs from all angles. She’s also the host of the Jesse H. Neal Award Winning Podcast, The Healthy Advisor, focused on advisor health and wellbeing. All told, she’s been at WealthManagement for almost 15 years, and so it’s fair to say, she’s seen it all.  Diana is a Los Angeles native native, and now lives in Rocklin, California.

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