Podcast | 03.26.25
Multi-Gen Perspectives on Hot Topics | Live at Conference
by: BISA Staff
In this episode of the BISA Portfolio Podcast, Jay McAnelly (Ameriprise Financial Institutions) and Lee Bennett (F&G Life) of the BISA Content Advisory Committee interview a diverse group of industry professionals and students on hot topics recorded live at the BISA Annual Conference.
The conversation features industry veterans Jane-ellen Porter (Wilmington Advisors at M&T), Tim Coleman (Centier Bank), Frank Rehhaut (Kinecta Wealth Management) and Kendra Cain (Arvest) as well as first-time attendee Kim Heisey (First Bank Texas) and college students Imani Washington and Jasmine Pierce, attending the conference alongside Financial Alliance for Representation and Empowerment (FARE) Executive Director Nicole Ridley.
Discussions cover emerging trends gleaned from the conference, like AI implementation, regulatory changes and strategies for aligning with Gen Z in the financial services industry.
Listen to this episode here or wherever you access podcasts.
(Above) Jay McAnelly interviews guests at the conference.
Episode Transcript
Lee Bennett
Welcome to this special edition of the BISA Portfolio Podcast. I'm Lee Bennett, channel lead and vice president of national accounts for banks and credit unions at F&G Annuities, and I volunteer as a member of the BISA Content Advisory Committee. We guide the content provided to members via our Portfolio content hub, podcast and magazine. Today, I'm live here at the BISA Annual Conference in Hollywood, Florida. I'll be chatting this morning with a few BISA members who have been enjoying their first day at the conference and are ready to experience another full day of education and networking. My first guest this morning is Jane-ellen Porter of Wilmington Advisors at M&T. She's a member of the BISA Board of Directors and is our president-elect. I believe, Jane-ellen, this is your 20th conference. On the flip side, my second guest today is Kim Heisey of First Bank Texas. This is her first time experiencing the fun we have at BISA. Welcome both. Thanks for chatting. So just a couple questions. What's been your highlight so far for the first day and a half of the conference?
Jane-ellen Porter
Yeah. First of all, I can't believe it's only been a day and a half, because there's so much information that has been offered already so far in the conference. I would say the highlight always is the networking, right. Here we are in the networking hub with all of our partners and our supporters and leadership members. And you know, this is really where the power of the association is centered. Number two is the energy, right? I've been to a few of these, you mentioned. I can't believe it's 20, but doing the math a few minutes ago, it is 20. And just every year, the energy continues to just get higher and higher and higher. I think we saw that in the kickoff yesterday with John's introduction. What an amazing job he did. And, of course, our speaker with some jazz music and talking about how we can interpret music into our business, and it's such a great way to kick it off. And then, of course, the new membership. Kim's here as a first timer, but so many new members here today and really excited to continue to network with them and and continue to grow the organization as a whole and continue to meet more people.
Lee Bennett
Kim, what were your takeaways for the first day and a half?
Kim Heisey
I can absolutely agree that the networking piece. Coming into this, I didn't know what to expect. And yes, I've gone to other events, but mostly those are sponsored by specific broker dealer groups or specific to a wholesaler. And so you're sort of honed into one group of people. And so coming into this and realizing that there was support from all these different channels, and going to the women's luncheon, I had been told that it was an amazing lunch, and I need to be there. And I'm extremely pleased that I went and honestly walking out of that, I felt like I had 150 friends, and I had 150 women supporters that I could call on at any point, whether I had personally talked to them or not. The energy, like you spoke of, you go out of there thinking I could look at our attendee list, and if I really needed to call on any single one of them with them to bounce an idea off of, or I've got an issue or something that I needed, I could. That's an amazing group of women that have an insane amount of experience and talent, and that's something to walk away with. And so that that was a highlight. Absolutely, the keynote speaker last night. I actually come from a classical music background, so I do fit in a box a lot of times, and I think it's hard to get out of that box. And I took pages worth of notes that I would like to apply immediately on how to to get outside of that and think like a jazz musician instead of a classical musicians. So I think that's hard for me personally to do, but I'm excited to do that.
Lee Bennett
Can you expand a little bit on that your ideas of getting outside your box of the classical music, the notes that you took?
Kim Heisey
And honestly, it made me nervous. It gave me anxiety, even writing it, because it's hard, it's hard to think of those things, the things that he had said about "start before you're ready." I think I never do that, right? I plan, I plan, I plan. I have the plan in place. I know how it's going to end before I ever start. Right? Honestly, writing it, it was like, "no, this is not how we do things." I have to have my entire plan in place, I have the business plan, I have all this research done, and I present that before I ever start something.
Lee Bennett
I think that's very applicable to our industry. It is very applicable, "start before you're ready."
Kim Heisey
There's a job. I can adjust as I go, but the whole "start before you're ready" was very hard. The interesting piece of "break to fix it," I think was a really, really great point. I like the idea of, instead of us waiting until something completely crashes, to finally look at it and say, oh, oh, no. What happened?
Lee Bennett
Those are both really good. Those are both great examples.
Kim Heisey
Seek the unexpected. Look at the oddball ideas. I think we tend to try to, I've been in banking now this year will be 19 years, and I've done commercial and retail, been in treasury, and done all those things. We tend to stay in our own lane. We may tweak it a little bit, but why are we looking at the, you know, oddball kind of ways to do things? Let's start thinking outside the box. Let's stand out. Let's be different. That's hard. So I'm anxious to try to think outside the box and what my team has to offer great.
Lee Bennett
Thanks to both of you for sharing. We really appreciate it. So ladies, what are some of the emerging trends and hot topics you're seeing that are influencing your current approach?
Jane-ellen Porter
There's so many options for sessions for us to attend. And I go through that schedule and say, okay, I want to spend a little bit of time on a lot of things. As Kim said, don't stay in a box here. Find different areas to grow. I think obviously a hot trend is brand new, as always, is the technology, especially AI, and how we can use AI, number one, to help us in our business without it taking over our business. And then obviously on the regulatory side, and the risk side, how do we protect against it at the same time? It's really important. So a hot topic is all of the regulatory changes. We're constantly in a changing environment. It's always great to hear how our peers are are handling that, and what the regulators are saying. And then focus. And one of the sessions yesterday was "Ask the Expert," and there was so much great information in there, but, yeah, a leading theme is planning. We keep talking about this, right? We've been talking about it a long time, and I think just as we continue to hear these sessions, there's great ideas of how to really not just implement it, but to truly execute with excellence. And continue to grow our business to be more holistic. So to me, that's kind of how I set up my schedule. But sometimes I'll hop out of one spot and go into another, so that I hear a little bit of everything so so much here to take advantage of.
Lee Bennett
Kim, anything you would add?
Kim Heisey
Those are all great points. I would say those are all the hot topics, and I would say it exactly the same way.
Lee Bennett
Perfect. Okay, thank you. Today we've heard a lot about the great education available here at the conference, and my next guest is someone who was involved in the process. Welcome, Tim Coleman, senior vice president at Centier Bank. Additionally, I'm joined by Kendra Cain, who is the chief compliance officer at Arvest and part of another BISA committee, the Regulatory Compliance Education Committee. Thank you both for joining. Just a few questions, if I may. Tim, can you give us a peek behind the curtain of some of the conference planning process? Maybe any hints for 2026?
Tim Coleman
Sure. The BISA conference planning starts basically as the conference ends. We're going to start planning for the next one. And the goal is obviously to take all the feedback we get from all of our attendees and then come up with an even better program for next year. Next year will be a new venue. It'll be a new opportunity, and we're hoping again for record numbers, but yeah, really, the great intention is give us your feedback and let us know we can build a stronger conference for the industry.
Lee Bennett
Perfect, perfect. Kendra, I'm gonna, I'm gonna ask you now, what can you tell me about the RCEC?
Kendra Cain
Sure. Thanks for having me. So the RCEC's purpose is to make sure that we're providing great compliance and regulatory content for our member firms and keeping up with the industry trends and hot topics, so that we can coordinate and create schedules and sessions that make sense for our members and that are relevant. And so we we have monthly meetings with all member firms that are allowed to come in and participate to listen to any regulatory news and updates. We also have a program, a closed door session here at this conference, which will be this afternoon, and in that session, we meet with other compliance officers, risk officers for member firms, and talk about current issues. And we also prepare for our regulatory summit in November in D.C., where we're with executives. Well, executives and compliance officers. So we do a lot of preparation similar to what you just mentioned.
Lee Bennett
Yeah, excellent. For both of you, what's been your highlight of the conference so far, and are there any takeaways you immediately plan to apply back home?
Tim Coleman
I think the biggest highlight, is always having a chance to meet with a larger peer group, and having the opportunity to sit down and just understand their experience. A lot of similarities, some differences, and then obviously the opportunity to meet with all these great sponsors and just understand their products, get to know them personally, and start to build those relationships. Always something actionable comes from this conference. I've never been disappointed. And really, that's the great intent and the great benefit.
Lee Bennett
Perfect. How about you Kendra?
Kendra Cain
I would say the same thing. There are so many great sessions and topics that are covered. The content is really good here. So I try to participate in everything that I can. So far, I've really enjoyed the women's networking luncheon, because we have a chance to sit down and talk to other ladies, hear inspiring stories, and it's all positive and upbeat. So it's a lot of fun.
Lee Bennett
Excellent. One more for you. Have you connected with anyone new this week so far?
Tim Coleman
I've had the opportunity to meet several first-time attendees. It's nice to see. It's such a great spectrum of institutions, from community banks to large national banks. We always find somebody new, and always have the opportunity to spend some quality time. Those connections you make you keep running into them year after year, and it's just great. I've met a lot of great people that way.
Lee Bennett
I think I was sharing earlier this is my 20th BISA conference, and I felt welcomed from the first time I walked in the door the first year I was here. I sincerely appreciate that. Just one last one, what emerging trends or hot topics are you seeing that's influencing your current approach? Anything you think you will be doing different, focus on a different category, a different product, something like that?
Kendra Cain
We'll be talking about that today in our session, focusing on the examination reports that the examiners put out. And what are their current topics? What are they going to be focusing on? FINRA is going to do thematic reviews this year. They've already signaled that they're going to focus on certain products. So we'll be discussing that, like RILA.
Lee Bennett
Yeah, I knew Rila was a hot topic right now and this year,
Kendra Cain
Vendor risk management. There's never a shortage of things to talk about for the regulatory compliance world. But yeah, so maybe focusing new things.
Lee Bennett
Excellent. How about you, Tim? Any any hot topics, anything you're going to jump on immediately when you get back to Indiana?
Tim Coleman
You know, we spent a lot of time yesterday in our peer group session talking about ways to find growth right? Double digit growth expectations, changing markets, changing rates. So really the focus was growth. And then the other focus, which actually took the majority of our time, was bringing young advisors in. So how do you find and train and mentor young advisors so that they can be successful in the industry? All the statistics point toward the fact that we're going to need to do that at a much more rapid pace going forward than we have historically, with some pending retirements, and just the change in the industry in general.
Lee Bennett
Would you agree that the days of just smiling and dialing 150 times a day is not going to work in this in this day and age? As a new advisor, it's got to be more of a mentorship, a sunset plan, something like that?
Tim Coleman
It's not going to work for several reasons, not the least of which is most folks don't want those calls anymore if they ever did. You've got to train them to sell it with much more of a value proposition in mind, and then obviously being cognizant of the compliance situation. You know, it's just a different world. And so finding them, bringing them in and encouraging them to stick with it over the early years. Because that's when it's probably the least fun and the hardest part.
Lee Bennett
Yeah, I started 27 years ago, knocking on doors, and I don't think that would be acceptable in today's world. I'm glad we don't do it that way anymore. Thank you both for your time today. We really appreciate it. I hope you enjoy the rest of conference.
We've all been learning a lot so far at the conference, and I'm glad to hear we're planning to carry over these takeaways when we're back home. Now I'm passing the mic over to another committee member who's doing some interviews this afternoon. Jay, over to you.
Jay McAnelly
Thanks, Lee. I can't wait to hear what your guests had to say this morning. I'm Jay McAnelly from Ameriprise. I'm also a member of the BISA Content Advisory Committee. It's now Thursday afternoon at the conference, so our members and our attendees have been very busy experiencing the concurrent sessions all morning long, and now everybody is heading into the peer interaction groups. Our first guests here are representing FARE. FARE is a partner with the BISA Black Voices Unmuted Subcommittee as a way to expand the BISA's outreach to diverse talent. This is an important goal of BISA as the industry faces a succession planning crisis, and our members continue to further their reach to clients of all backgrounds. As part of the partnership, FARE has brought two college students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Imani Washington and Jasmine Pierce, to experience a conference for the first time. All of this must be an exciting and new, maybe a little hectic for both of you. They're also joined here today by Nicole Ridley, executive director of FARE. So I have a question for you, Nicole. Can you share a little bit about the partnership? Namely, why bring two college students to this conference?
Nicole Ridley
So this partnership between FARE and BISA and the Black Voices Unmuted Subcommittee is truly significant for us, because our missions truly align about increasing the representation within the financial services industry. So by us bringing students here, it's exposure, it's access and it's showing them that they have a space within this industry. For us, it's extremely important and also special that we are bringing students from Historically Black Colleges to experience this conference. And so we're extremely grateful for the partnership and extremely grateful for this opportunity, because for us, it's about representation, it's about access, it's about connection. It's about our students having the ability to see themselves in the industry, and we're happy to expose them to that. So through our partnership with BISA, we had an opportunity to bring two students to gain some knowledge, to gain some insights, to learn from individuals here. And so I'm truly proud of these two young ladies that you'll speak with today.
Jay McAnelly
That's fantastic. And I did have a chance to visit a little bit. Sounds like y'all had a chance to go to a couple of different conferences. So maybe tell me what your experience has been so far at this conference.
Imani Washington
So my experience for this conference so far so good. I've made so many connections, and I'm seeing people that I never thought I would speak to. I'm connecting with people in different industries in the financial world that I was not interested in, but now I'm getting more of an understanding and knowledge of, and also I'm here to connect with Nationwide as well as I'll be working with them. So meeting more people in the nationwide company is actually music to my ears, and it makes me feel like I am heard and I am seen here.
Jasmine Pierce
My experience here at the conference has been, I would say, amazing, because I just seen so many people I think I would never seen before. As a marketing major, I never really was exposed to the finance industry until I was with FARE. So it's been very exciting seeing the different parts of the industry and how marketing has a role to it.
Jay McAnelly
It really is a good opportunity to have you all here, and hearing how it's impacting you all is fantastic. So I'd love to hear a little bit more about your experience, a bit more about your majors and your goals after graduation.
Jasmine Pierce
Well, I'm currently a marketing major, and I accepted a full time role at Smithfield Foods for their marketing rotational program. So I'm excited to dive into data analytics and digital marketing.
Jay McAnelly
That's the way of the future right there.
Imani Washington
I'm a graduating senior majoring in political science with a minor in financial planning. After graduation, I will be working full time with Nationwide Financial in the retirement planning department, and hopefully eventually move into their government relations department in the capital.
Jay McAnelly
You haven't graduated and you already got jobs. That is fantastic. I wish I had that; I wish I was as good as you. Okay, so let me ask you this question, Have you learned anything at this conference so far that you'll be able to take back with you to school that has influenced you or influenced your mindset?
Imani Washington
Yes, two things actually, from today, my first session with Paul Haines. He spoke about simplifying financial planning, and as a financial planning minor, that's something that my professors make it a little more complicated, and he honestly really simplified it for me. So I'm really excited to use the tools, those six steps that he had, and apply it to my financial case studies in class. And also by Kylie Murray. She had a really great session today. I actually just got out of before lunch, and she was speaking about helping your family plan and basically being ready when that time comes, if it's retirement, if it's if someone passed away, estate planning and things of that nature. And that's something as the only child that I'm ready to bring back to my mother at home.
Jay McAnelly
I love your passion about this business. That's awesome. Thank you.
Jasmine Pierce
My favorite workshop that I've been to so far was the woman's lunch, and I was really inspired, because I saw woman leaders in the finance industry, and I can imagine myself in the same shoes as them. So it's very inspired as a Black woman, especially because we don't see a lot of women leaders. So that was very inspiring for me.
Jay McAnelly
You know that lunch is just getting bigger and bigger and bigger every year. We hear it's one of the highlights of the conference. Okay, so last question, have you had any memorable interactions or networking experiences at this conference so far?
Jasmine Pierce
Oh yes, my favorite one, we just had it at the last lunch. I was with some people in the industry, and I was talking to them about the importance of marketing, social media and LinkedIn, and networking online. And a lot of them were not really up to date on it, and I was able to inform them about that topic. So I was really teaching them. Yes, it was really fun, teaching them about marketing and the importance of it. Especially as a business professional, you have to network yourself and brand yourself online.
Imani Washington
Also adding to Jasmine on that point, I was at the table with her as well. We were speaking about Gen Z and what we offer to the financial industry and learning from Gen Z, not just, coming for them and always saying they're lazy, they don't like to do their work, but also knowing that we learn from each other. It's kind of like a cause and effect. So you're learning from the older generations, and the older generations are learning from the newer generations. And it was a really good topic, and it was really great perspectives, and I really enjoyed it. And also we spoke about branding as well.
Jay McAnelly
Nicole, I'm going to ask you the same question, what are some insights or some things you've enjoyed about this conference?
Nicole Ridley
I think what I've enjoyed most about the conference is sitting back and watching Jasmine and Imani network and making those connections, standing up and asking the powerful questions. I love it when people see me and they know that I am connected with both of these two amazing young ladies, that they're like, where's Imani? Where's Jasmine? And I was like, they were built for conferences like this, so I'm sure that they are off networking. Hearing the positive feedback that I am getting from professionals. I think that that speaks volume when people talk about you in a positive light behind your back and not in front of your face. The feedback that I'm getting from these from other professionals in this space about Imani and Jasmine really brings warmth to my heart and allows me to really say the work that we are doing at FARE is having a lasting impact. We hope to next year bring more students, allow them to experience all that Jasmine and Imani had to experience throughout this last couple of days in order for us to achieve our goals of really transforming the way the financial services industry looks.
Jay McAnelly
That's awesome. Thank you all. This was a great time we spent together. Your energy is infectious, so I can see why everyone really wants to spend time with you at the conference. My next guest is a member who is also behind the process of creating this great conference as a member of the Conference Content Planning Committee. Welcome Frank Rehhaut, of Kinecta Wealth Management. So Frank, I am going to ask you a couple of questions. I'm looking forward to hearing your perspective on this. My first question is, what has been your highlight at this conference so far? Any major takeaways that immediately you could take and apply back home?
Frank Rehhaut
Well Jay, you know, there's so many takeaways. It's hard to just say that one stands out. And for me, the highlight of the conference, especially at BISA, is the people. Being able to be with other program managers, other leaders, hearing their ideas, hearing what's making them successful from day to day is one of the huge takeaways that I get from this conference year in and year out. Also hearing Rhonda yesterday at the welcome breakfast talk about the wealth and how it's no longer baby boomers, and it's Generation X that's going to take over wealth in 2025 was a huge takeaway for me, and thinking about marketing and what we do to that group of people.
Jay McAnelly
So let's expand on that, because I think when you go to all the different events, you definitely start to pick up on certain things. So what would you say are the emerging trends or the hottest topics that you're seeing that are starting to influence your current approach, or influence in our industry overall?
Frank Rehhaut
Financial planning has been brought up in every single meeting that I've been a part of at this conference, from yesterday's breakfast to the breakouts today. Even you can look at it when we heard our speaker this morning, although it was presidential, but they all had plans. And when we think about that in our world of finances, it's a financial plan and how long term care, which is another hot button that I've heard over and over throughout the conference, ties into financial planning. And when we put those things together, then we're truly taking care of our customers and our clients.
Jay McAnelly
I would tell you what, Frank, I'm hearing the same thing. It seems like financial planning is in every session everywhere. It's just the fabric I think that brings it all together. Okay, so we have record attendance this year at the BISA, but let's say there's someone that's contemplating coming. What would you say to someone that's considering attending the 2026 conference?
Frank Rehhaut
If they're considering 2026 they need to mark their calendar and make sure that they sign up right away, because it will be the best conference that they attend year in and year out. This is my favorite conference to be at because of the diversity of institutions that you get here. It's not just one broker dealer that's driving a conference. It's not just one institution that's driving a conference. You get credit unions, community banks, regional banks, all the way up to the big banks, and all of those ideas carry over to how you're going to make it for your institution. And you just don't find this type of conference anywhere else. So if you're thinking about it, do it. Sign up as soon as you can. Actually, you can become a member of BISA, because it makes it easier to be a part of the conference. That's what I would recommend. Do it today. I know you can't sign up for '26 today, but do it today.
Jay McAnelly
If you're considering coming, it really is the intersection of all the good ideas, the trends, the relationships and the connections. So Frank, thanks for being with us today. I appreciate all your comments.
Frank Rehhaut
Jay, you hit it on the head. The relationships are really what make this conference special. So thank you.
Jay McAnelly
Thank you everyone for listening. It was a pleasure spending some time with you. If you like what you heard today, please share it with your network, and we look forward to seeing you at our next BISA conference.