Methodology
Stage 1 – Nominations
The call for nominations was open to all wealth management professionals and organizations – including financial advisors, advisory brokerages, BDMs, fund providers, and service providers – from across the USA.
Nominations were accepted from December 2, 2024, to March 14, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. EST.
To submit a nomination, entrants visited the Nominate page of the website. There was no fee to submit a nomination.
Stage 2 – Research
The InvestmentNews Awards team conducted research and drew on knowledge and information gained through InvestmentNews to support and supplement nominations received and to ensure that no one deserving of recognition was missed. Excellence awardees were determined from both pools of information.
Stage 3 – Excellence Awardees
Once all nominations were considered and research was complete, excellence awardees were selected in each category (except the Lifetime Achievement category) and notified via e-mail or phone.
All excellence awardees were then invited to complete a detailed submission, providing an opportunity to address the category criteria in more detail. All submissions remained confidential unless otherwise marked and were not shared with any third parties other than the judges.
Excellence Awardees were officially announced in April 2025 on the event website and promoted in InvestmentNews magazine and online channels. Promo packages to leverage these achievements across marketing and promotions were made available for purchase.
Stage 4 – Judging
All submissions from the excellence awardees were forwarded to the independent judging panel comprising industry leaders and senior representatives. The panel assessed and voted for winners in each category according to the relevant category criteria.
Voting commenced in May 2025, and the judges’ decisions were impartial, balanced, incisive, and fair. Any judge with a conflict of interest in a category recused themselves from judging that category.
Stage 5 – Winners
Using a simple points system to aggregate judges’ votes, the excellence awardee with the top score in a category was named the winner.
Winners were announced at the awards show on June 24, 2025, and on the event website. They were also promoted in InvestmentNews. Promo packages to leverage these achievements across marketing and promotions were made available for purchase.