Mercer Advisors promotes Kara Duckworth to lead Client Experience

DENVER, March 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Kara Duckworth, CFP® and CDFA®, has been promoted to Managing Director of Client Experience at Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ("Mercer Advisors"), guiding the national Registered Investment Adviser (RIA) firm's broad-based efforts to enhance the client experience. This role is a need-to-have in an increasingly customer centric world. Duckworth will work with various stakeholders to define and deliver on a world-class client experience. This entails gaining deep insight on client needs and ensuring departments, such as Client Service, Marketing, and Operations work in concert to support the desired experience. With this appointment, Duckworth joins the Mercer Advisors Senior Leadership Team in strengthening the firm's full-service approach to wealth management.

"Mercer Advisors offers a multi-disciplinary standard of financial care that spans financial planning, investments, estate planning and tax with specialized expertise in each of these areas," said Dave Welling, CEO of Mercer Advisors. "The vision for this role is to ensure the client experience across all those teams is excellent and that we are all working together as one team. Kara has the proven skills to lead our teams in creating exceptional experiences for the individuals and families who entrust their financial futures to us."

Duckworth joined Mercer Advisors in 2017 as part of Duckworth Wealth Advisors. Mercer Advisors had acquired the firm she and her father, Michael Duckworth, founded in 1998. In addition to her 20 plus years serving the wealth management needs of high-net–worth individuals and families, Kara Duckworth previously worked on client experience initiatives for The Walt Disney Company.

In her newly created position, Duckworth will focus on client engagement and retention across Mercer Advisors' offices nationwide. She will continue her role as a client advisor out of the Newport Beach office, as well as leader of InvestHERS, an initiative launched in January 2018 by Mercer Advisors to bring more women into the wealth management industry and to provide a customized experience for its female clients.

"Cultivating deep relationships with clients and delivering the highest possible value to them has always been my driving passion," said Duckworth. "I'm excited to help raise the client experience bar even higher while also remaining a strong advocate for women."

InvestHERS initiative continues to grow

As chair of the InvestHERS committee, Duckworth leads Mercer Advisors' expansive efforts to more effectively attract women to wealth management, support their ongoing success, and to satisfy female investors' unique wealth management needs. InvestHERS programs include the following:

• Creating one-on-one mentorships designed to help female team members unlock their potential and advance their careers at Mercer Advisors. Mentees learn from the experiences of women in senior positions and gain additional recognition for their talents and strong performance.
• Organizing summits for women across the firm to network, share ideas, and build a stronger sense of community helping them feel more engaged and empowered.
• Offering six scholarships collectively for underrepresented students at the University of California, Irvine, and at Colorado University with the goal of building awareness of career opportunities in wealth management.
• Launching a "Women and Wealth" site that features in-depth answers to women's frequently asked questions about financial planning and related topics, profiles of Mercer Advisors' female advisors, and a range of materials designed to help women achieve their wealth management goals.

About Mercer Advisors
Established in 1985, Mercer Advisors Inc. is a total wealth management firm that provides comprehensive, fee-only investment management, financial planning, family office services, retirement benefits and distribution planning, estate and tax planning, asset protection expertise, and corporate trustee and trust administration services. Mercer Advisors is the parent company of Mercer Global Advisors, one of the largest Registered Investment Advisers and financial planning firms in the U.S. with over $15 billion in client assets. Headquartered in Denver, Mercer Advisors is privately held and has over 350 employees with locations across the country. For more information, visit www.merceradvisors.com.

Contact: Chris Tofalli
Chris Tofalli Public Relations, LLC
914-834-4334

SOURCE Mercer Global Advisors Inc.