This week on Standard Deviations with Dr. Daniel Crosby, Dr. Crosby is joined by Shannon Spotswood. Shannon Spotswood is a 25+ year industry veteran in financial services with an outstanding reputation built on leadership roles in professional management, investment banking, hedge fund management and business development. At RFG Advisory, Shannon oversees all aspects of RFG 2.0, a fully integrated platform designed for independent financial advisors and the implementation of strategic initiatives contributing to advisor success. Joining RFG Advisory in 2015, Shannon recognized the opportunity to combine her entrepreneurial experience with her passion to build an innovative, advisor-focused RIA of the future. Under Shannon’s leadership, RFG Advisory was named Best Places to Work for Financial Advisors in 2021 and 2022, and a Finalist for the InvestmentNews Innovation Awards 2021 and WealthManagement.com Non-Custodial RIA Support Platform in 2020 and 2021. In 2021, RFG Advisory also received two ThinkAdvisor LUMINARY Awards in Thought-Leadership and Education. Financial Times named RFG Advisory a Top 300 RIA out of 13,000 firms in 2020. Shannon was named 2020 Women to Watch Honoree by InvestmentNews and received industry-wide recognition for StrongHer Money, a turnkey education and advisor referral platform focused on empowering women to live financially fearless. She was also a Finalist for Advocate of the Year by Women in Asset Management in 2021. Shannon’s career is characterized by a blend of leadership, vision and grit. Before joining RFG Advisory, Spotswood served 20 years in San Francisco, working as an Investment Banker, Hedge Fund Portfolio Manager and Entrepreneur. For 10 years Shannon worked at Symphony Asset Management, an $18 billion hedge fund acquired by Nuveen Investments in 2001 where she spent six years as the Portfolio Manager of a long-short equity hedge fund. Before that, she worked as a Research Analyst/Trader at EGM Capital and an Investment Banking Analyst and Associate in M&A at Volpe, Brown Whelan & Co, a technology-focused investment bank. Shannon earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Political Science from the University of Arizona. She currently serves as the Chairman for the Birmingham Education Foundation and serves on the Advisory Board of Alabama Futures Fund, an early-stage VC fund. She enjoys spending time with her three teenagers and husband, entertaining, outdoor sports and daily rides on her Peloton.