CEO Shannon Spotswood.
Courtesy of RFG Advisors
Firm: RFG Advisory
Name: Shannon Spotswood
Location: Vestavia Hills, AL
Team Custodied Assets: $5.8 billion
Background: Shannon Spotswood grew up in Seattle after being born in Nashville and knew from an early age she wanted a career on Wall Street. By the time she was 14, she had asked her parents for a subscription to The Wall Street Journal. After double-majoring in economics and political science at the University of Arizona, she moved to San Francisco to pursue finance. Her early roles included investment banking at Volpe Brown Whelan, where she worked on the Netscape IPO—the first internet IPO—and portfolio management at Symphony Asset Management, where she spent six years running long-short equity strategies. Following Symphony’s acquisition by Nuveen and the turbulence of the 2008 financial crisis, Spotswood took an unusual detour, co-founding Busy Bees, a children’s clothing company that was later spotlighted by Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop. “I literally went from like the tallest building in San Francisco to upside-down boxes of infant clothing in a garage,” she recalls. After eventually relocating with her family to Birmingham, Alabama, she returned to finance in 2015, joining RFG Advisory. She spent nine years as president before becoming CEO in 2023.
Building Relationships: Spotswood emphasizes that RFG is designed to serve independent advisors: The firm now partners with 65 advisors serving about 20,000 clients nationwide. “We provide services for the full family, and that usually includes next-gen beneficiaries, and sometimes even the great-gen beneficiaries,” she says. Preparing for the coming generational wealth transfer is a major emphasis. Through its programs like Stronger Money, the firm equips advisors with coaching, event support, and marketing automation aimed at engaging women investors and next-gen clients. “Whether an advisor wants to serve athletes, women or pre-retirees, it’s about flexing this totality of resources so they can thrive in their business and love it, as opposed to barely surviving,” Spotswood says.
Competitive Edge: Spotswood describes RFG as a “premier destination for advisors who want to be independent.” Advisors own their brand and client data, while RFG provides the infrastructure—technology, compliance, marketing, and investment management—to support growth.
Market Outlook: RFG’s Chief Investment Officer Rick Wedell expects a relatively calm environment through the end of the year. “Obviously all eyes are on unemployment, inflation, and the Fed’s response to it,” he says. “While the most recent rate cut demonstrated deference to the job market, we believe the Fed will continue to be very data driven in their approach to interest rate policy and would not put too many eggs in any particular policy basket.”
Best Advice: “A growth mindset is essential to thriving, and there’s a 24-hour shot clock on it,” says Spotswood. “You have to recommit yourself every single day.”
