After receiving her MBA, Geri Eisenman Pell spent seven years in corporate finance — which, for her, was long enough. Instead, she says, “I wanted to help individual people with personal finance to achieve their financial goals,” explains Pell, who did turns at General Foods, Hoffmann-La Roche, and Bristol Myers before launching Pell Wealth Partners, a franchise of Ameriprise Financial, 33 years ago. With offices in Rye Brook, Manhattan, and Highland Mills, NY, Pell’s company currently employs 18 people and boasts a 15-year compound annual growth rate on assets under management of 19%.
Now part of the vanguard (Pell has made Barron’s list of America’s Top 100 Women Financial Advisors for the past 11 years and has appeared on CNN, CNBC, NBC Nightly News, and Fox Business News), Pell’s foray into the private wealth sector revealed she was at odds with the status quo. “When I started, it was a very dark-leather, serious, male-influenced business. I saw an opportunity to create a nurturing practice, where I could help create peace of mind for people on their journeys to financial success,” says Pell, whose firm was recognized last year by InvestmentNews as one the “Best Places to Work for Financial Advisors.”
That sense of calm is first projected by Pell Wealth Partners’ Zen-like office space and thoroughly maintained by Pell’s professional constancy. “Clients need me most when the markets are volatile or when they’ve lost their jobs,” she explains. “That’s when I’m at my absolute best. My team and I never lose focus or the ability to strategize and figure things out.”