“How Wealth Managers Must Differentiate Themselves”

Founder and President of The Rudin Group, April J. Rudin is widely acknowledged as a top marketing strategist for the financial-services and wealth-management sectors. Distinguished by her ability to forecast and leverage critical trends, and by her expertise in digital and traditional media, she leads a firm that designs bespoke marketing campaigns for some of the world's leading wealth-management firms, fintechs, and family offices; campaigns that strengthen brand value and drive client acquisition. The Rudin Group was founded in 2008. April is recognized by Onalytica as the #1 "Influencer" in wealth management, and  regularly-featured source of expert commentary to international news and business outlets, trade publications, and broadcast media. She is an annual contributor to the Capgemini World Wealth Report; produces the CFA Institute’s Annual Outlook for U.S. Wealth Management; and speaks about wealth, next-gen, and fintech at conferences in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Africa. April is also a contributor to the Wealthtech book. April has created an extensive repertoire of thought leadership that has appeared in Huffington Post, American Banker, CFA Enterprising Investor, Family Wealth Report, Fundfire, Wealthmanagement.Com, and heads the editorial board for NexChange, a global fintech start-up based in Hong Kong and serves on the Board of MiradorLLC, a wealthtech firm providing concierge reporting for U/HNW. A member of the Private Asset Management advisory board, she also serves as a judge for the FT Wealthtech awards, Family Wealth Report’s Annual Wealth Management Industry Awards, and Canada’s Wealth Professional Awards. April is the mother of two sons who are quick to point out that they considered her an “influencer” well before Onalytica did.

Chris Patterson is the Chief Marketing & Communications Officer at Geller & Company. He has more than 25 years of experience helping organizations grow revenue, launch services, enter markets and build brands. Chris has lived and worked in several countries around the world, including the US, UK and Canada. Chris is responsible for all marketing & communications activities for Geller & Company and Geller Advisors, including media relations, digital, content marketing, sales support and internal communications. Prior to joining Geller & Company, Chris was the Chief Marketing & Communications Officer at AEGIS Insurance, a global top 10 property and casualty insurer focused on excess and surplus lines.  He was previously a Managing Director at Deloitte, where he held a wide range of roles, including: Global Chief Marketing Officer for Deloitte’s Risk practice; US Chief Marketing Officer for Deloitte’s Advisory practice; and Global Marketing Director for Deloitte’s Financial Services practice. Chris graduated with a BS from the University of Westminster (London), majoring in Social Sciences with a concentration in Economics, and earned a Master’s Degree from the University of Westminster (London), with a concentration in Services Marketing.

Paul Nobile is CMO at Artivest, a technology-led firm that is transforming the way Financial Advisors and High Net Worth Investors access, evaluate and invest in Alternatives. Paul brings more than 25 years of global marketing and financial services experience to Artivest. As a senior leader, Nobile partners with teams across Artivest to position the firm’s value proposition and implement marketing and communications programs through a range of owned, earned and paid disciplines. Prior to joining Artivest, Paul was Chief Marketing & Communications Officer at Willis Towers Watson, a leading advisory, broking and solutions company, as well as Chief Marketing Officer and Managing Director for BNY Mellon Investment Management, one of the world’s largest multi-firm asset managers. Paul also served Chief Marketing Officer & Communications Officer at Eaton Vance and before that, spent 12 years with Barclays Global Investors (now Blackrock), as Managing Director and Head of Global Brand Marketing, where he helped launch and build the iShares Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) brand across the Americas, EMEA and Asia. Paul graduated from Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, and holds Series 7 and Series 24 licenses from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).

Kimberly Beck has more than 20 years of financial services marketing experience. At Envestnet, Kimberly is responsible for leading the firm’s Wealth Solutions marketing efforts, including the firm’s Client Experience Office, product and platform marketing strategy, practice management initiatives and strategic messaging efforts. Prior to joining Envestnet in 2016, Kimberly spent 10 years at BlackRock in various product and channel marketing leadership roles, most recently as Director of the firm’s Thought Leadership and Education Programs. Before that, she worked for Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, until its acquisition by BlackRock in 2006. She started her career in the industry at Nuveen Investments. Kimberly is a member of the Money Management Institute’s Board of Governors. She is Chair of Envestnet’s Women Leaders in Finance Program and its Women’s Initiative Network. Kimberly is also a member of Cabrini University’s Communication Department Advisory Board, and has been an Adjunct Professor of Communication there. She received her MBA in Marketing from LaSalle University and her BA in English and Communications at Cabrini University.

Janet Kelly is a Director for BNY Mellon | Pershing, and leads Pershing’s Practice Management Consulting team. With over 30 years in the financial services industry, Janet has successfully engaged and inspired hundreds of individuals and teams, including financial advisors, private bankers, institutional salespeople and senior executives. These professionals look to her for guidance and advice across critical areas of managing a successful practice, client acquisition and retention strategies. Janet is known for her sales and communication skills coaching. She is passionate about making a difference by sharing the best practices, allowing financial professionals to leverage her expertise for greater confidence.
Prior to joining Pershing, Janet was a director and senior program manager for UBS, where she designed, developed and delivered programs for financial advisors, from large scale conferences and local market workshops. Janet has worked for Merrill Lynch, Shearson Lehman Brothers and several financial consulting firms. She began her career as a financial advisor at Merrill Lynch and later with Shearson Lehman Brothers.
Janet earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from The University of Texas at Austin with a concentration in Marketing.