One woman's journey from Whole Foods to Edelman Financial

Brooke’s Note: RIAs keep luring away talent from big corporations but most of them are either banks or brokerages. In this case it’s the high-end supermarket chain, Whole Foods. Sarah Kenney says her experience there made her interested in people’s relationship to their money. Certainly, she has gained insight about the spending habits of high-net-worth individuals at the store chidingly dubbed, “Whole Paycheck.”

Sarah Kenney can easily rattle off the most popular organic foods at Whole Foods, but decoding financial acronyms like DRIP is taking some getting used to for the 48-year-old entrepreneur.

Kenney, a veteran communications director who worked at Whole Foods for 10 years, was hired a few weeks ago by one of the nation’s largest RIAs – Edelman Financial.

“It may seem kind of nutty,” she acknowledges. “But Ric Edelman definitely thinks outside the box and is interested in diversity. I’m looking at things with a fresh eye and I’m completely excited about this opportunity.” See: Barron’s top advisor shares the secrets to his success with rapt RIAs at TD event .

The transition from talk of butternut squash, goat cheese and sun dried tomatoes to ETFs, 401(k) plans and 529 plans will certainly be a learning curve, but Kenney appears to be a quick study.

Acronym soup

True to her foodie background, Kenney describes herself as being on an “acronym diet” and carries her faithful notebook everywhere jotting down financial acronyms. Most recently, she mastered DRIP – a Dividend Reinvestment Plan.

Kenney left Whole Foods in 2009 to help care for an ill relative and did consulting work until she began working fulltime for mortgage lender Fannie Mae last summer. While there, she helped work on the mortgage relief program.

“It was great experience,” Kenney says. “I loved the subject matter and what we see in the mortgage world is how people’s mismanagement of money can have a huge ripple effect,” she says.

While at Whole Foods, Kenney led communications and media relations activities for the Mid-Atlantic Region during a dramatic growth spurt for the company in which her region doubled in size to 35 stores and $1 billion in annual revenue.

In the process, Kenney became intrigued by people’s spending habits.

“It doesn’t seem like a natural segue way,” she says. “But when you are in retail it’s all about people’s relationship with money. I was really intrigued by the dynamic of how people choose to spend or save.”

And of course, Kenney says, food and money are two of the most important factors in people’s daily lives.

Learning curve

After working at a rapidly growing company, Kenney says she’s ready to lead communications for Edelman’s firm, which is also in rapid expansion mode. She will be providing internal and external communications for the company and also intends to provide communications to clients in addition to her work with the media.

Earlier this spring, Edelman began spreading his massive brand on public television in a series of financial educational shows titled “The Truth about Money.” Edelman’s firm has more than 14,000 clients with some 22 advisory offices and he intends to open nearly a dozen more this year. His publicly held parent company, Sanders Morris Harris Group, which has $17 billion in client assets, has renamed itself under the Edelman banner. See: Radio-star RIAs drive giant growth at national chains one $400,000 investor at a time .

“We are committed to acquiring outstanding talent and not afraid to do so from outside the financial services industry,” Edelman said in a statement. “The addition of Sarah helps us deliver best-of-class service to our clients, and we are very happy she has joined us.”

For her part, Kenney has been reading Edelman’s books and has found them helpful. She intends to continue to study up on financial lingo and is confident she’ll have it down pat in no time.

“I want to hang out with the cool crowd and throw in some acronyms,” Kenney says.