Where More Work Remains to Be Done for Women in Financial Services: F2's Liz Fritz

Liz Fritz, co-founder  and chief commercial officer of the financial technology consulting group F2 Strategy, has advocated for the industry to “build a culture of space, tolerance and capacity for women to perform at their best as caregivers and business leaders.”

She’s recommended that firms give employees remote work options and put in place other family-friendly policies. They should also “lead by example in expressing their tolerance for employee’s many roles outside of their jobs” and offer women access to support groups and mentoring opportunities, as well as professional development and transparency on salaries.

In addition, Fritz has called on the industry to embrace the notion of “women supporting women,” an approach fully embraced at F2 Strategy, whose leader Doug Fritz was recognized as a ThinkAdvisor LUMINARIES winner in 2021.

ThinkAdvisor recently asked Liz five questions about where the firm and wider industry are today with respect to women, technology and inclusion. Here are her thoughts.

Where is the wealth management industry in terms of its employment of women? 

Liz Fritz: I think the wealth management industry has made further strides than fintech if you look at the available statistics. According to the Fintech Diversity Radar 1000 Index, of the 2,167 fintech founders they surveyed, 131 were female.

I knew as a female co-founder of F2 Strategy that I was a trailblazer, but that statistic certainly is humbling and shows we need to do better. The index also found that women make up less than one quarter of the fintech C-suite.

But overall, in financial services, there is still work to be done, and as shown in my recent progress report, we at F2 Strategy are doing our part to increase gender equity in the industry.

How did F2 Strategy get to 50/50 in its female/male ratio, and how long did it take to reach that milestone?

We’ve been fortunate to have hired within the last year several incredibly talented females including Pam Turner, Michelle Vine, Katie Delwiche, Anita Wong, Carissa Turnell, and Lisa Ascher. As a 22-employee wealthtech management consulting firm, we achieved gender parity within the last year.

We were able to do this because when Doug and I founded our firm back in 2016, our hiring objectives were to hire and develop a diverse, creative and humble group of experts in their field. And as a mission-driven firm that places a great emphasis on corporate well-being and family first, that resonates with people and encourages top talent to apply.

How does your Girls Who Code partnership fit into this focus for F2 Strategy?

Ever since we founded our firm, increasing diversity within wealthtech was important to Doug and myself. And as a woman in fintech, it’s particularly important to me.