Inclusivity and diversity have been woven into Brio Financial Group’s DNA from the start in 1999, as two of its three founding partners were gay. The firm became experts in LGBTQ financial and tax planning before same-sex marriage became legal. “We figured out how to work in the system that wasn’t built with us in mind,” said Brandon Miller, the only co-founder who is still with the firm. The San Francisco-based RIA has many clients — gay and not gay — who choose not to marry and need assistance to make estate planning work. Miller estimates about 80% of the firm’s clients are nontraditional, including those who are divorced, single, blending families, etc. “They come to us because they know we’ve dealt with this kind of stuff before,” he said. “We understand the high level of trust that it takes for someone to openly discuss unusual needs, such as a sex-change operation.”
Half of the employees are women and about a quarter are ethnically diverse. Over the next five years, the firm wants to bring on more women and men of color and hopes to add employees who have additional language skills, such as Mandarin and Cantonese.
Contact Jake Zalewski at jake@briofg.com to learn more about Brio’s diversity and inclusion initiatives.
— Liz Skinner