Don't Pick Up Other People's Trash with Heather Fortner, SignatureFD
Summary:
Are you walking around with a bag full of other people’s opinions about who you should be?
On this episode of Don’t Do That, Kelly Waltrich sits down with Heather Fortner, CEO of SignatureFD, for a refreshingly honest conversation about authenticity, leadership, and the messy reality of balancing it all. Heather shares her journey from trying to be everything to everyone to embracing her quirky, authentic self, and why that shift has made all the difference in her leadership and life. From juggling an 8-year-old and 3-year-old at age 50 to building a marketing-forward wealth management firm, Heather doesn’t hold back on the real challenges of modern leadership.
Kelly and Heather cover:
01:07 The evolution of SignatureFD’s “Net Worthwhile” messaging and philosophy
03:09 Heather’s approach to authentic social media and family storytelling
06:36 How showing up in the hard moments defines leadership
08:21 The importance of speaking truth with love
09:50 Why this business comes down to hiring people you relate to
10:58 Heather’s philosophy on marketing patience and long-term investment
12:00 The “fail fast, pivot fast” approach to business experiments
14:52 Why marketing is always the first thing cut (and why it shouldn’t be)
16:10 The importance of being accountable to growth metrics
17:31 Building true marketing funnels and infrastructure in wealth management
18:45 Learning from industries outside professional services
19:56 Heather’s powerful “Don’t Do That” – don’t pick up other people’s trash
22:25 How to distinguish between valuable feedback and head trash
24:08 The importance of being “inwardly sound” and knowing yourself
25:06 Using trusted advisors to reality-check feedback
26:32 The “moat” concept: Controlling what gets across your emotional drawbridge
30:47 How men and women handle criticism differently
32:50 The moment Heather realized she needed to model better self-talk for her daughter
35:00 Real examples of industry trash that successful leaders face
36:33 Why we’re all taking off the orange vest and putting down the trash picker
Connect with Kelly Waltrich:
Connect with Heather Fortner:
About Our Guest:
Heather is the Chief Executive Officer and Chair of the Board of SignatureFD, an integrated and comprehensive wealth management firm with offices in Atlanta, Georgia and Charlotte, North Carolina, recently named to the Inc. 5000.
During her twenty-year tenure at the firm, Heather has created and executed strategies that have exponentially grown SignatureFD’s AUM from $250M to over $7B. Her ability to combine strategic oversight in alignment with financial goals and enterprise risk mitigation has led the firm to maintain enterprise valuations, annual growth rates and client retention rates that consistently exceed industry averages. Deftly combining head and heart, Heather integrates operational excellence with strategic innovation and shepherding growth and scale in teams and organizations. Beyond operational expertise, Heather leverages her graduate degree in professional counseling to help uncover and connect people’s passions and talents to build teams that deliver excellent and inspiring client experiences.
Her unwavering commitment to leading and building teams that exhibit excellence in leadership with heart has garnered her national recognition. Among these accolades, Heather was awarded CEO of the Year by Wealth Management Magazine in 2023*. She was selected to the Leadership Atlanta Class of 2023 and named to the Titan 100 List* in both 2023 and 2024. Heather is recognized as a thought leader in the ever-changing landscape of wealth management and has been widely sought after for her expertise. Her writings have appeared in the likes of Inc.com; she has captivated audiences at large- scale speaking events, and she has been published as a reviewer of the industry book, “G2: Building the Next Generation.
Heather deeply values service to the industry and community and has extensive board experience, including the TD Ameritrade Operations Panel (2013 – 2016), Charles Schwab’s Technology, Operations and Service Advisory Board (2018 – 2019) and the Orion Advisory Board (2012 – 2017). She currently serves on the Fidelity RIA Leader’s Council, the Goldman Sachs Advisor Solutions Panel, and as a member of the Advisory Board for Mammoth Investors.
She is a longstanding advocate of DEI initiatives both at SignatureFD and within the wealth management industry broadly. Her focus on empowering women to take on leadership positions has helped SignatureFD achieve an 80% female executive leadership team. Her belief that every person has a purpose in life, to which wealth properly aligned can help support, is the cornerstone of SignatureFD’s client promise, Net Worthwhile®.
Heather received her bachelor’s degree in Finance from Kennesaw State University and earned a master’s degree in Professional Counseling from Georgia State University. She is a graduate of the Schwab Executive Leadership Program and the G2 Leadership Institute.
Prior to her role as CEO, Heather served as Chief Compliance Officer, President, and Chief Operating Officer of SignatureFD, during which time she led the development of the operational platform and technology stack that helped fuel the firm’s double-digit growth year-over-year.
Heather lives in Kennesaw with her husband and two daughters, Oakley and Willow Grace.