Kara Murphy, President and Chief Investment Officer of Kestra Investment Management, shares her remarkable journey of building a $4.3 billion investment platform from the ground up in just three and a half years. Drawing on her unique background in international relations, Kara brings a strategic perspective that goes far beyond traditional investment management.

In this conversation, Kara reveals her blueprint for successful platform building: identifying advisor pain points, creating scalable solutions, and leveraging technology to enhance rather than replace the human element.

The discussion explores how Kara is helping solve the industry's most pressing challenges: the advisor shortage, succession planning gaps, and the need for greater efficiency. She demonstrates how AI tools are already transforming advisor productivity in note-taking, document analysis, and marketing, freeing professionals to focus on what matters most: client relationships. Kara also addresses the persistent opportunity for greater gender diversity in financial advisory and why she remains exceptionally bullish on financial services as a dynamic, entrepreneurial career path for the next generation.

Takeaways

• Strategic platform building starts with listening. Kara built Kestra Investment Management by identifying advisor pain points, determining what could be taken off their plates, and focusing on scalable solutions rather than manual processes.

• Diverse experience creates better leaders. Kara's background in geopolitics, fundamental research, and wealth management gave her a unique perspective on markets, client needs, and business building that traditional career paths might miss.

• Channel distinctions are becoming irrelevant. The convergence of wirehouses, independent broker-dealers, and RIAs reflects what clients have always wanted: trusted advisors who care about their financial goals, regardless of operational structure.

• The advisor shortage requires multifaceted solutions. Success demands better succession planning programs for founding advisors (G1s), comprehensive training for next-generation talent (G2s and G3s), and AI-driven efficiency tools that help fewer advisors serve more clients effectively.

• Investment opportunities exist beyond the obvious. While AI stocks have dominated headlines for three years, Kara sees compelling value in mid-caps, industrials building AI infrastructure, and international markets with attractive valuations and emerging growth catalysts.

• AI amplifies advisor effectiveness without replacing relationships. Early adoption in note-taking, document analysis, and marketing demonstrates how technology handles administrative work, allowing advisors to dedicate more time to the human connections that build trust and deliver value.