Cetera’s Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer and Chief of Staff, Chantalle Couba, recently joint a podcast, Cannon Curve, hosted by Phil Buchanan of Cannon Financial Institute. They discussed the importance of diversity and inclusion in the financial services industry, and how fostering greater opportunity for all isn’t just the right thing to do — it’s also key to driving growth.
One of Chantalle’s biggest strengths lies in providing diverse and evidence based solutions for complex problems. She is not afraid to confront difficult topics if they help create advancements for vulnerable or underserved parts of the population. Chantalle works toward creating a safe professional space for women, and diversifying work places and institutions.
Chantalle Couba — an authentic voice for change — is an executive-level advisor with considerable experience serving clients in financial services, human resources, healthcare, risk, and regulatory compliance.
“Ultimately I am a lover of understanding people more deeply. I have been trained to do that in my professional and academic life. Anything that I can learn — if I were selling anything, or thinking about delivering anything to a customer, if I can understand their needs more distinctly, personally, I would be interested. Maybe I can be accused of being a nerd, or loving to understand other people more deeply. But really that is the frame when we talk about diversity at Cetera or even the industry itself. I am unapologetic about being pro-humanity and everyone having equal rights. I think that our leadership, most of our employees and advisors all believe the same. However, it is also a commercial imperative and we don’t have to shy away from that. We talk a lot in diversity about the elephant in the room. To be able to say that this is a commercial imperative — whether we talk about the changing demographic of advisors or potential clients and customers in the US, the fact of the matter is, I grew up in this field being told that it’s coming. The change is coming. Now where we are as a country, society, we are at a point where the change must finally come. It’s a good time to think about how our firms address that, what does it mean to the profession of helping people prepare for successful lives.”
About Chantalle Couba: Chantalle is a motivated executive-level advisor with substantial in-house and advisory financial services experience within various industries within private equity investing. As a creative solution-oriented person, Chantalle is an expert of framing ambitious challenges into opportunities, creating organic growth for organizations. Also a leader in diversifying the workforce, Chantalle serves on the board for the nonprofit organization INROADS, and founded Namaste Consulting. All three organizations efforts go toward breaking barriers and giving diverse talent opportunities.
