The Kelowna Chamber of Commerce has launched its “40 Under Forty” for 2020. The chamber is now calling for nominations.
This is the Kelowna chamber’s sixth year of searching for the city’s high achievers and bringing their stories to the public.
BDO Canada LLP will make up the independent panel of judges.
There will be a wrap-up celebration for recipients once the program has concluded.
Kayla was raised in the Okanagan and co-runs an award-winning financial planning practice with her mother. Kayla holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business (BBA) specializing in finance, is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and at the time she wrote the exams she was the youngest CFP at IG Wealth in the country. She is a Registered Retirement Consultant (RRC) and is enrolled in the Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) designation trending to become the one of the youngest CLU’s in Canada. Kayla gives back to the community through her advocacy work with the Financial Advisors Association of Canada (Advocis) as well as her work with the Lake Country Rotary.
Kayla and her mom (her business partner) run seminars in the community for financial literacy for seniors. They were recently honored by the not for profit Women In Leadership (WIL) and in November of 2019 they spoke at a WIL event on the topic “Women in Wealth” that empowers women to take control of their finances. Kayla has also spoken to the Women in Science and Engineering students at UBCO where she talked about financial literacy to over 150 female students. Kayla is apart of the leadership council at IG Wealth Management. She was chosen (as well as 15 others in the country) to be interviewed by the Senior Vice President of IGM on her thoughts on the industry, the IG Wealth Management’s direction, and what they can improve on. In 2019 Kayla was named Young Entrepreneur of the Year by the Lake Country Chamber of Commerce and was United Way’s honoree at the philanthropy day lunch that recognizes donors who make an impact in the community.
The industry uses a lot of paper which Kayla finds quite wasteful, so she created a sustainable initiative where when she takes on a new client, she plants 2 trees.
Kayla has achieved the distinguished Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation. The process in which it takes to complete the CFP typically takes 3-4 years, whereas Kayla finished in 2 years and became the youngest CFP at IG Wealth in Canada and 22nd youngest in the industry.
Kayla has won six awards in her first two years of business. In her first year she won the “Practice Growth Award” twice, that is given to a tenure Year 1- 4 consultant. She also won a “Spirit Award” twice that was voted on by her peers. This award is given to the person who helps grow the culture within the workplace and Kayla has shown tremendous leadership and has stuck to her values in doing so. Her team this year was first in British Columbia.