Black Diamond nabs a Schwab veteran as it gears up for new service approach

Brooke’s Note: Black Diamond has earned a reputation for technological innovation on behalf of RIAs. But no matter how good your technology is, you’ll have trouble winning converts if they have any fears about clean, quick data transfers. Now the Jacksonville, Fla.-based company is launching an innovative service approach to be sure that happens. The hire of a Schwab veteran was a piece of the puzzle in making this happen.

As part of its Blue Sky launch, Black Diamond Performance Reporting has made a key hire from the talent pool of Schwab Advisor Services.

The Jacksonville, Fla.-based portfolio accounting software company hired Nancy Ma-Apfel as its director of client service. Blue Sky is the name of Black Diamond’s newest software release.

She left Schwab’s Orlando service office on June 11 and joined Black Diamond on June 15. Ma-Apfel was a 14-year Schwab veteran and senior manager who oversaw a team of service people who managed the accounts of 17 RIAs in the New York metro region with a combined 28,000 subaccounts and $25 billion of assets. The RIA practices managed between $500 million and $3.5 billion.

Ma-Apfel says that handling Schwab’s most upscale advisors – with issues ranging from timely funding of grantor retained annuity trusts [GRATs] to getting wire transfers executed – has prepared her well for her new job.

“The segue into Black Diamond is that it’s focused on service,” she says.

Buzz

The confidence expressed by some of the Schwab clients in Black Diamond and the “buzz” she is hearing in the industry about the company helped convince her to make the intra-Florida career move, Ma-Apfel adds.

“It gave me a lot of confidence,” she says. Ma-Apfel is the 64th employee hired by Black Diamond and the company’s growth continues to be financed out of its own cash flow. She is the second former Schwabie hired by the company. Black Diamond hired Dave Welling, a former Schwab executive, earlier this year to be its chief solutions officer. See: Former Schwab RIA veteran lands with Black Diamond

Ma-Apfel is the right person for the service job, according to Reed Colley, CEO of Black Diamond.

Reed Colley is loading up his
company with service personnel.

“She has over 14 years experience in building and managing service teams and working with advisors to help them serve their clients and improve the efficiency of their operations,” he said in a release. “Nancy will play a key role in helping advisors on their path to greatness by enhancing and expanding our ability to serve sophisticated, growth-oriented advisors.”

Doubling size of service team

Specifically, Black Diamond is doubling its client service team from eight to 16 people and Ma-Apfel will oversee that process.

The need for the bigger team is part of the company’s Blue Sky initiative, which launched on June 21. The expanded services include adding new teams of expert consultants in the areas of transition support, performance history and client reporting. Of Black Diamond’s 64 employees, about two-thirds of them work in a service or operational support capacities, according to Welling.

Ma-Apfel takes the position vacated by Elizabeth Knight who assumed a newly created position responsible for overseeing a new team of specialists assigned to make certain that RIAs’ performance history transfers cleanly and efficiently from the prior software provider.