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LPL Financial’s strategy is simple; it’s focused on supporting its advisors so they can assist their clients. The independent broker-dealer’s goal is to become the wealth management platform of choice by 2026. That’s where Kristie Edling-Day comes in.
Leaders like Edling-Day, LPL’s executive vice president and chief information officer (CIO), are asking themselves important questions as they reverse engineer the roadmap that will take them to the desired destination. “We’re looking to find out what needs to be true about what we deliver and how we do it, and then we’re crafting the plan accordingly,” she explains.
Investors, institutions, and others turn to LPL’s network of financial advisors for investment advice, portfolio management, brokerage services, and more. The San Diego company founded in 1989 now serves nearly five million investors and 1,100 financial institutions across the United States.
What sets LPL apart from its competitors is its unique blend of research, technology, service, and support. “We deliver an astounding amount of capabilities, and we’re also enhancing the customer focus,” Edling-Day says.
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LPL is also doubling down on relationships. The company builds both credibility and trust with advisors by using data only to harness insights that lead to sound decision-making and better outcomes. LPL never sells data or monetizes partners’ clients. “We do what we do so our partners can be better at their jobs,” she says.
“Kristie exemplifies what it means to be a collaborative leader,” says Sandeep Kumar, technology consulting partner/principal at Ernst & Young LLP. “With every initiative, she brings her team together, driving transformative change. Kristie’s approach of treating everyone with equal respect allows her to foster an uncommon level of alignment and unity in our shared endeavors.”
As CIO, Edling-Day is responsible for supporting LPL’s flagship platform, ClientWorks. The intuitive system, which her team of tech pros constantly refines, is designed to make financial advisors more efficient by putting all accounts, data, and tools in one place. Using ClientWorks, advisors can manage clients, open accounts, complete trades, and handle various tasks without logging into other sites and dashboards. Simply put, LPL’s platform saves its users time, and focused advisors can repurpose those hours into building their business and serving clients’ needs.
LPL’s tech leaders are working behind the scenes to automate routine and time-consuming tasks like document imaging and account openings—but they’re not just rolling out features and releasing widgets. Edling-Day’s meticulous approach is centered on putting the precise tools advisors need directly in their hands.
“We’re looking to find out what needs to be true about what we deliver and how we do it, and then we’re crafting the plan accordingly.”
Kristie Edling-Day
The company’s road map to success continues to guide Edling-Day and those working alongside her. The stops on that map include partnering with clients in meaningful ways, focusing on the customer experience, building a robust tech platform, and communicating the value in what they’re doing so advisors can maximize the benefits.
Investing in talent and culture is another important part of LPL’s three-year strategy. Edling-Day provides formal and informal mentorship and also sponsors a women in tech employee resource group. “We are two times diverse as women in financial services and women in technology,” she says. “I want to be seen as a coach and developer of talent and honor the people that invested in me by investing in others.”
Edling-Day’s background in technology and business makes her the perfect person to build culture and drive digital transformation at LPL. She studied computer science, math, and physics at the College of Charleston and joined Vanguard in an entry-level systems engineering position straight out of college.
The South Carolina native spent the next seventeen years taking on roles of increasing importance within the mutual fund company. She was a developer, a technical project lead, a scrum master, a senior manager, and CIO. Along the way, Edling-Day completed an MBA program in human capital management.
At her core, Edling-Day is a technologist who loves business strategy. That attracted her to join LPL in a role that marries those passions. “I came to LPL because I saw how central technology was to its mission, and I knew I would have the opportunity to help other devoted leaders solve business problems with that technology,” she says.
“We are two times diverse as women in financial services and women in technology.”
Kristie Edling-Day
One other thing attracted her to the organization is its commitment to collaboration. “It is truly a ‘we’here,” Edling-Day says. “My team provides the technology, but we are working closely with the service center, the sales team, and others so we can understand their needs and they know the details of what we’re building.”
Recently, many employees at LPL came together for a summit called Extreme Leadership. Every VP and software delivery leader from LPL’s tech department were invited to spend the day talking about topics such as workforce transformation, talent management, strategic agility, and “extreme ownership.”
These summits help unite teammates around the organization’s simple, clear, and compelling goal. Together, they are following LPL’s road map to the future by doing all they can to provide the technology, resources, and services that financial advisors need to bring the best support to their clients.
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The views reflected in this article are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Ernst & Young LLP or other members of the global EY organization.
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