Corporate Roundup: Liz Davidson, Laurel Taylor Named Among Leading Female Founders
Inc. Names Liz Davidson, Laurel Taylor Among Leading Female Founders
Business media company Inc. Magazine this week named two leading retirement plan industry experts among its 2025 Female Founders 500 list.
Liz Davidson, founder and CEO of Financial Finesse, along with Candidly Founder and CEO Laurel Taylor, were among the top business leaders disrupting the financial services sector.
Davidson founded Financial Finesse, an independent provider of workplace financial coaching, in 1999 with aims to make unbiased financial guidance accessible to all investors. Today, Financial Finesse reaches 2.5 million employees across over 20,000 employers.
“Being named to the Inc. Female Founders 500 list is an honor and a reminder of how far we’ve come,” says Davidson. “The goal has always been to help the underserved and knowing we’re achieving that—whether by investing in closing the racial wealth and financial wellness gaps with culturally relevant coaching and content, helping employees reduce harmful financial stress, or empowering employees to maximize their benefits—is incredibly rewarding.”
Candidly, an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven student debt and savings optimization platform, was founded in 2016 after Taylor found herself struggling over accumulating student loan debt. The platform builds employee benefits solutions that help workers pay down their debt while saving for long-term needs like retirement.
Since its inception, Candidly has worked with distribution partners including Empower, intellicents, Lincoln Financial Group, Vanguard, and other firms.
“Being named to Inc.’s Female Founders 500 reinforces what drives our impact at Candidly – the power of building from lived experience. Having carried six figures of student debt myself, I understand firsthand the weight of indebtedness that millions face daily,” said Taylor. “This recognition celebrates not just my journey but our team’s relentless pursuit of transforming financial futures through AI-powered solutions that make the complex simple. We’re not just building technology. We’re creating pathways from debt to wealth for hardworking Americans of all ages and wages, with urgency and purpose.”
Carson Group Taps CTO
Carson Group this week appointed Ramesh Vaswani as chief technology officer (CTO). In this role, Vaswani will be responsible for developing and executing Carson Group’s technology strategy and aligning the company’s business and technology goals.
“We are delivering industry-leading technology solutions to support our advisors, and we’re thrilled to have Ramesh join the team to bring the required experience, expertise and diligence to accelerate on the delivery of that vision,” said Dani Fava, chief strategy officer at Carson Group.
Vaswani, who comes from Envestnet, brings over two decades of experience in technology leadership and has spent his career leading digital transformation, product leadership, and executing global technology strategies across the financial services sector.
“We can all agree that technology is changing the way we operate, and investors expect their advisor to be up to date on the tools that make their experience the best it can be. We’re constantly thinking about how we can make it easier for our advisors to best serve their clients, and we recognize the tremendous role technology plays in this mission,” said Burt White, CEO of Carson Group.
Vaswani added, “I’m energized to be joining Carson Group at this pivotal moment in the company’s growth trajectory. I’m passionate about aligning business and technology to drive results and I see an incredible opportunity to integrate technology in a way that promotes growth and creates ease and confidence for our advisors.”
Carson Group manages more than $41 billion in assets and serves more than 51,000 client families among its advisory network of 150+ partner offices, including more than 50 Carson Wealth locations.
Apollo, Athene, Announce Investment in Lifetime Income Tech
Apollo, Athene, and Motive Partners have announced the purchase of ARS, a guaranteed lifetime income solutions and technology provider for the defined contribution (DC) market.
ARS has created a multi-carrier technology, Lifetime Income Builder, to offer guaranteed lifetime income features within the DC market, including directly into target date fund (TDF) products.
“ARS’s technology for the defined contribution market will redefine the way Americans use guaranteed income to retire with certainty,” said Jim Belardi, CEO of Athene. “With ARS, we have a platform to deliver next generation target date fund solutions that are needed to drive better retirement outcomes.”
According to a release, the investment in ARS was made by the acquisition of all outstanding shares by a new entity owned by Athene and funds advised by Motive Partners. ARS will continue to operate independently as it seeks to scale its multi-carrier offerings across the defined contribution ecosystem. Lifetime Income Builder technology is currently powering the State Street GTC Retirement Income Builder Series and is sponsored by Global Trust Company.
Edward Jones Introduces Private Client Service Capabilities
Edward Jones is launching Edward Jones Generations, the firm’s first private client services offering for U.S. high net worth clients.
Designed to meet the specific needs of those with a minimum of $10 million in investable assets, Edward Jones Generations offers advice, planning, products and services. Edward Jones Generations will be available to select clients in the second quarter of 2025 and will expand more broadly in 2026.
The model includes a team of home office professionals and tax and legal representatives from EY and Husch Blackwell working alongside financial advisors and client support team members to deliver ongoing financial planning and execution. Clients will receive “in-depth advice backed by a suite of solutions tailored to their unique needs, such as cash flow analysis, trust and estate considerations, philanthropic strategies, and business owner planning.”
The tax and estate planning services offered to Edward Jones Generations clients, in conjunction with EY and Husch Blackwell, will include comprehensive analysis, advice, estate planning documents and tax filing preparation. In addition, clients will have access to an expanded network of third-party referrals to support specific situations, including real estate transactions, specialty insurance, family governance, business owner succession and executive health screenings.
High net worth clients also have access to the Edward Jones Trust Company and the Client Consultation Group. The Edward Jones Trust Company provides service options based on current and future estate planning needs and works in partnership with a client’s financial advisor and local professionals. Through the firm’s Client Consultation Group, high net worth clients have access to advanced consultation capabilities and support for episodic needs. Specialized areas of support include retirement income planning, tax-sensitive portfolio construction and business sale/succession considerations.
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