DALLAS, May 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- At its annual Advisor Summit this week, Envestnet, Inc. (NYSE: ENV) introduced the new Essential Advisor™ Certification Program and Essential Advisor™ Awards. Designed in partnership with Cannon Financial Institute, Inc., the Essential Advisor™ program arms financial advisors with the tools they need to help clients navigate financial decisions through every stage of their lives. The Essential Advisor™ Awards recognize financial advisors who embody the values detailed in The Essential Advisor:  Building Value in the Investor-Advisor Relationship, an insightful handbook for advisors looking to navigate the changing face of financial services, co-authored by Envestnet President Bill Crager.

"We're thrilled to be kicking off these Essential Advisor™ focused programs," said Bill Crager. "In our view, the essential advisor for today and in the future will be one who leverages the best technology to deliver the desired level of personal attention to each client, big or small, as they continue to scale their practices."

The Essential Advisor™ Certification Program features intensive in-person training with Phil Buchanan, CWS^®, CFP^®, Executive Chairman of the Board for Cannon Financial Institute, and a highly respected wealth management expert. In addition, the program provides interactive online training led by Cannon experts, and a capstone project focused on helping financial advisors build a business plan based on their unique value proposition. This comprehensive program will help participants articulate the return on advice they are delivering, build and communicate a distinctive value proposition, utilize technology and data to clarify financial challenges and implement a service model that saves time and resources.  

To accompany the Certification Program, Envestnet also unveiled the recipients of its first annual Essential Advisor™ Awards at an awards ceremony on Wednesday, May 3, during the 2017 Advisor Summit. Recipients include:

• Bill Schiffman, Schiffman | Grow & Co: As President and Co-Founder of Schiffman | Grow & Co., Bill focuses on bringing all aspects of a client's financial world together, offering what he calls "The Holistic Advantage.^TM" A firm believer in utilizing technology to streamline his practice's operations and focus on forming and maintaining trusting client relationships, Bill taps into his wide array of credentials to serve as a single expert resource, unifying client needs across tax planning, investing and business consulting.
• Mehul Mistry, Secure Planning Strategies: In his role as a Senior Advisor, Mehul is dedicated to comprehensive wealth management planning, helping clients with short- and long-term planning goals. With more than 15 years of industry experience, his expertise lies in assisting families with special needs children, helping create the unique estate and financial plans these families require. Mehul also specializes in multi-generational planning, and is committed to helping second and third generations of clients make sure younger family members start and practice the principles of sound financial planning.
• Kyle Imhof, Clintsman Financial Planning: Serving as Director of Technology, Kyle is passionate about building strong relationships with his clients in order to help them to define and achieve their life goals. Kyle also oversaw the implementation of the Tamarac Advisor Xi suite, as Clintsman Financial Planning's connected portfolio and client management platform, and derives great pleasure from his and his colleagues' ability to deliver prudent, timely advice to clients in the most hectic of times due to the accessible information the suite provides.

Award recipients were selected by a panel of Envestnet executives after evaluating qualitative and subjective surveys and nominations from Regional Directors. These financial advisors were awarded for embodying the values detailed in The Essential Advisor. For more information on all the Essential Advisor offerings, visit www.envestnet.com/essentialadvisor.

As Envestnet expands its resources to empower financial advisors, the company is also focused on helping to identify the future pool of essential advisors. The Envestnet Institute On Campus program (EIOC) seeks to train and position college students to launch careers in the wealth management industry. Students are provided foundational training on asset and wealth management through a self-paced eLearning environment. EIOC has trained more than 300 students, and is now offered at 17 universities. For more information on the program, visit www.envestnetinstituteoncampus.com.

About Envestnet
Envestnet, Inc. (NYSE: ENV) is the leading provider of intelligent systems for wealth management and financial wellness. Envestnet's unified technology enhances advisor productivity and strengthens the wealth management process. Envestnet empowers enterprises and advisors to more fully understand their clients and deliver better outcomes.

Envestnet enables financial advisors to better manage client outcomes and strengthen their practices. Institutional-quality research and advanced portfolio solutions are provided through Envestnet | PMC, our Portfolio Management Consultants group. Envestnet | Yodlee is a leading data aggregation and data analytics platform powering dynamic, cloud-based innovation for digital financial services. Envestnet | Tamarac provides leading rebalancing, reporting, and practice management software for advisors. Envestnet | Retirement Solutions provides an integrated platform that combines leading practice management technology, research, data aggregation, and fiduciary managed account solutions.

More than 54,000 advisors and 2,500 companies including: 16 of the 20 largest U.S. banks, 38 of the 50 largest wealth management and brokerage firms, over 500 of the largest Registered Investment Advisers, and hundreds of Internet services companies, leverage Envestnet technology and services. Envestnet solutions enhance knowledge of the client, accelerate client on-boarding, improve client digital experiences, and help drive better outcomes for enterprises, advisors, and their clients.

For more information on Envestnet, please visit www.envestnet.com and follow @ENVintel.

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SOURCE Envestnet, Inc.