Deborah Kent wins Woman of the Year
Former national president of the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA), Deborah Kent, has won the prestigious title of Woman of the Year at Money Management, Super Review, and FST Media's 2016 Women in Financial Services Awards.
Kent, who is also the owner and director of Integra Financial Services, won the biggest award of the night, which also included other categories such as Financial Planner of the Year, Superannuation Executive of the Year, Mentor of the Year, and an Industry Advocacy award.
Notwithstanding the fact that Kent showed resilience through one of the most challenging years in the AFA history, Kent was commended for being a woman of integrity with 28 years of financial advice experience, 20 of which she has spent running her own advice business.
Her nominator, MLC Advice Partnerships' practice development manager, Tanya Curtin, said Kent was a deserving candidate not only for her leadership skills, but also because she was always motivated to change and adapt herself and others for the betterment of her clients and those around her.
"Deborah has led the AFA at one of the most challenging times for our industry and during this has been subjected to criticism and trolling," Curtin said.
"However, she remains steadfast in her (and the AFA's) pursuit of the best outcomes for clients."
The Beddoes Institute director, Dr Rebecca Sheils, quoted the 2015 Beddoes Institute's Client Experience Survey, which was conducted across Integra's total active client base.
Not only did it receive a high response rate of 47 per cent, 9.1 out of 10 clients rated her for providing unbiased advice and for her technical skills, while nine out 10 rated her for formal review meetings.
"Based on these strong client ratings as well as meeting other experience and professionalism criteria, Deborah qualified as a "most trusted adviser," Sheils said.
"Deborah's clients rate her very highly, describing her as having ‘a wealth of knowledge', and being ‘very approachable and always happy'."
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