Stephanie Condra, chief experience officer, reveals what attracted her to the firm, and what will shape her role's future direction
As one of Canada’s leading independent wealth managers accelerates towards a turning point in its growth story, the firm is pivoting its strategy with a fresh addition to its C-suite.
Last week, Wellington-Altus Private Wealth officially welcomed Steph Condra, a two-decade veteran of the Canadian wealth industry, as its executive vice president and chief experience officer (CXO).
“Wellington-Altus will soon reach a point where their future asset growth will come from an equal contribution of new advisors joining the firm and from existing advisors growing their books,” Condra (pictured above) told Wealth Professional. “That’s an impressive inflection point for a firm founded just six years ago.”
Putting advisors at the centre
Since 2017, Wellington-Altus has been turning heads with its parabolic growth, reaching $25 billion in AUM; it’s aiming to double that in the coming years. That made Condra curious about the type of leadership, culture, and infrastructure that was driving that momentum and attracting so many impressive advisors.
“When the opportunity came up, I couldn’t pass up the chance to be part of this winning team,” she says.
As Condra notes, the CXO role is a new one for Wellington-Altus, and a relatively new one to the industry at large. Aside from fulfilling a promise made by the firm last year, it’s a testament to the firm’s forward-thinking approach.
“The focus of the CXO is to support the advisor experience from the first day they walk through the doors until the day they transition their business to the right successor,” she says. “Just like advisors put the needs of clients at the centre of their business, the CXO – and the team working alongside me – puts the needs of advisors at the centre of our work.”
Condra’s recruitment at Wellington-Altus Private Wealth is also a positive step for female representation in the wealth industry. While there has been progress made over the years, there’s been precious little of it with statistics showing women still woefully underrepresented in the sector’s C-suite.
“In partnership with Women in Capital Markets, I have worked alongside industry peers to explore how to collectively address the perpetual challenge of too few women advisors,” Condra says.
“Ruth Bader Ginsberg is credited with saying, ‘If you’re going to change things, you have to be with the people that hold the levers.’ It is empowering to be in a role that allows me the opportunity to control some of those levers.”
‘There's some amazing things being done’
As she steps into her role in earnest, Condra has her eye fixed on several key trends. As one example, she highlights how across many industries, the voice of the client is becoming louder through online forums, and the advisor experience represents a natural extension to ensuring the clients’ voice is captured.
“With the creation of the CXO role, Wellington-Altus has already put the structure in place to prioritize the advisor experience,” she says. “This is especially important if clients start using a public platform to share their views on the value of advice they receive from their advisor.”
For advisors at Wellington-Altus, the new leadership appointment is certainly a welcome development.
“There's some amazing things being done to help advisors here, in regards to assisting them improve their client experience and grow their practices,” says Martin Pelletier, senior portfolio manager at Wellington-Altus Private Counsel. “I’ve really noticed the amount of resources now being put into supporting our advisers to grow organically, which I think will definitely differentiate us from our peers.
“Helping our advisors grow their existing businesses is a big priority and adding this CXO is going to be a major factor,” Pelletier says. “This will also make our firm even more attractive for those looking to make a move. Therefore, I see this as a win-win.”
“Steph has a great reputation in our industry and I was thrilled to learn that she was appointed to the new CXO role at Wellington-Altus,” said Tanya Wilson, senior wealth advisor and portfolio manager at the Gold Seal Financial Group with Wellington-Altus Private Wealth. “Our company continues to attract first-class professionals to our incredibly fast-growing firm, and Steph adds to the depth of female leadership.
“In an industry where firms often get in the way and create strain, which has certainly been my experience in the past, our management team consistently demonstrates that they are genuinely here to help us and work for us,” Wilson commented. “This is very unique in our industry.”
Looking ahead, Condra already has some thoughts on what she wants to accomplish. To make sure her impact is on point, she’s highlighting the major influence of advisor input on the future direction her role will take.
“To better understand their wants and needs, I am hitting the road to meet with as many Wellington-Altus advisors as possible over the coming months,” Condra says. “I want to hear about their journeys and the books they’ve built.”
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