Growing up outside of Gary, Indiana, known as the “U.S. Steel Rust Belt,” Ryan Morfin, CEO of Wentworth, learned fast that education, generating wealth, and having a “servant leadership” mentality would set him up for success.
As one of the most senior Latino executives in wealth management in the United States, Morfin works with investors, financial advisors, and insurance firms. Five years ago, what started as a small acquisition grew from $10 million in revenue in 2016 to $200 million in 2021.
Morfin’s company Wentworth works with 2,200 financial advisors by providing them with the back office and operations needed to service their clients better.
But Morfin’s success with Wentworth does not just come from his business clientele or relationships; it also comes from conducting yourself according to a set of core values.
“We are a values-based organization,” Morfin told The Dallas Express in an interview. “We are very involved in the local community through philanthropic efforts and the service days our employees take part in.”
The philanthropic footprint that Wentworth operates is a large one, with headquarters in Frisco, offices in Chicago, Albany, New York, Atlanta, Scottsdale, as well as branch offices in every state of the country. The impact of how Wentworth’s employees show up in their communities is commendable.
“We support veterans, mental health initiatives, autism, the Special Olympics, women’s shelters, food banks, education, and helping nonprofits. We think time is one of the most precious commodities we all have, and it is important that the team feel it.”
He continued, “It is not about the company just writing a check and sponsoring a table at a fundraiser; what is more important is to have a team do good in the community they live in as a form of team building, and live by the values [we adhere] to as a company.”
Having values is very important to Morfin, who sends each Wentworth team member that works face-to-face with clients to the Ritz Carlton Leadership Academy. Wentworth adopted the academy’s “credo card” concept, a physical card employees carry with them as a reminder of the company’s values.
“We revisit [the credo card values] every morning,” he explained. “They remind us that [we] are a solid part of the community — to give back, go the extra mile, do the work that needs to be done.”
Morfin says this dedication to anticipating clients’ needs is central to the credo.
“Much of what we discuss within our credo is specific to the kind of pre-emptive client service [we provide]. It’s specific to understanding the needs of our clients and putting those [needs] first above all else. It is also focused on being a good leader, team member, and [involving] teamwork to achieve those values.”
Morfin’s team is well-versed, with many going on to achieve tremendous success through development and coursework.
“We are very proud of the bench that we have. We are not always happy when people leave. But I am often proud when some of the people who have worked for me in the past have gone on to go to great firms like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and private equity firms like Blackstone. We are very proud of the alumni network that we have built. We want to be one of those firms that help people launch their careers.”
Besides working with the talent already found in Wentworth, Morfin also recruits non-traditionally.
Morfin says that, although wealth management has historically consisted of older Anglo-Americans, he envisions a future for the field that includes younger millennials and Generation Z talent from underserved communities.
He says the Latino, African-American, and Asian communities offer growth opportunities as people continue to acquire wealth in new and different ways, especially in an increasingly digital world.
“If you look at where this company and industry is headed in the future, you will see an emerging middle class growing; there will be more Latino and African-American millionaires [that] need people who understand their backgrounds, their history, and their consumption profile,” he predicts.
“Everyone talks about diversity, for diversity’s sake, but what have you done to move the needle? And the answer is not very much.”
One of the ways Morfin is working to move the needle is by conducting financial literacy classes, something that he says is missing from the modern-day curriculum. When the opportunity presents itself, he goes into public schools to share his knowledge with students about wealth; he also encourages them to look into careers in wealth management.
Originally a physics major at the University of Chicago, Morfin understands that sometimes the path we think we should take is not always the best one, and guidance plays a big role in helping people find their niche.
“I thought I would be a NASA government scientist, and it turned out I got into Wall Street,” he said.
“But what I would tell you is that these communities and these kids need role models. [I tell my story] from a personal perspective saying, ‘Here is the path, here is my story, here is my journey,’ I think mentorship is very critical and bringing mentorship at scale to show kids success stories from different communities and different paths [and] give them some data points as they try [to] identify a method of creating opportunities for themselves.”
Morfin doesn’t talk about changing workforce education and then treat it as a pipe dream. He walks the walk. His nonprofit, American Innovation Centers, works with high schools, community colleges, universities, and local employers to identify short-term and medium-term ways for individuals to increase their skill set to be marketable for immediate hire.
Through American Innovation Centers, Morfin hopes to retrain the American workforce. He says the current education model does not provide people with the tools and knowledge they need to be successful in a job or career.
“We are not teaching the skill sets that employers need today for the future workforce. We are not focusing on … ‘digital vocational skills’ for students to increase their short-term household income.”
He says there is no well-known resource available for high schools, universities, community colleges, and employers to recommend when people are looking for employment information or solutions.
“Like, how do you get a Salesforce administrative license or a certificate?” he asks as an example. “There is no go-to spot [whose existence has] been communicated clearly [that tells] people, ‘You can double your household income if you do these three things.'”
Ultimately, Morfin hopes to build his nonprofit to assist the incoming workforce and help them find new careers in STEM and advanced manufacturing, thereby bringing jobs back to the U.S. that have been outsourced to other countries.
“What we learned during the [era of] COVID-19 is that the globalization that occurred the last twenty-some years was great for some people, but [the] supply chain structure does not work in times of war, pandemic, or times of international trade issues. And so we need to bring [the] supply chain back to America, Mexico, and Canada because we have to have a just-in-case supply chain,” he asserts.
“The reality is, we need more welders, more plumbers, more advanced electricians, more people that do robotics, more computer programmers, and more engineers because if we don’t do that, as a country, the economic opportunities or advantages that we have in the twentieth century will no longer be here.”
Besides building up the next leaders, Morfin runs an informative podcast called Non-Beta Alpha.
“I started it during COVID-19, really as a way to communicate to my financial advisors. But it has grown tremendously over the last year and a half. And we are now on season four. The premise is listening to conversations that a CEO of a large wealth management firm would have [with other industry leaders] to understand the ‘inside baseball’ of how conversations go in this industry or what issues we care to support,” he explains.
As Ryan Morfin looks to the future, he is also betting on Dallas.
“I think Dallas has a lot of opportunities to get organized, to bring more capital, and to create a deeper pool of opportunities for startups to [settle here]. Dallas is going to be one of the stronger performers over the next five years.” That sounds like a sound investment.
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