Chicago Hosts WIIN Conference 2026 to Empower Women's Leadership

Association of African American Financial Advisors (Quad-A) will host the 2026 Women's Impact Initiative Network (WIIN) Conference on June 24-25, 2026, at Renaissance Chicago Downtown hotel. It will be a two-day event featuring women leaders, financial advisors, corporate executives, and emerging professionals to discuss some of the primary issues and opportunities that will impact women’s leadership, wealth building, career development, and happiness in the workplace.

With the theme of “Pathways & Power: Women Reimagining Work, Wealth & Wellness”, this conference is particularly timely for the financial sector, as it continues to face the challenges of workforce development, representation of women in leadership roles, and talent pipeline issues. Over 200 participants are set to join discussions about enhancing women's voice and leadership within finance and driving economic empowerment and career advancement.

WIIN’s objective for the Conference is to give participants a range of practical solutions, insightful networking, and access to industry leaders driving change in financial services. The sessions will include keynote presentations, panel discussions, and leadership-focused conversations to help participants learn how to build wealth, advance their careers, create inclusive workplace cultures, and focus on wellness.

Key Highlights

• Leadership strategies for advancing women across financial service.
• Wealth-building insights supporting long-term economic empowerment goals.
• Workforce solutions addressing talent development and retention challenges

The conference will feature a distinguished lineup of speakers, including Sheena L. Gray, Chief Executive Officer of Quad-A; Minda Harts, bestselling author, workplace communication expert, and keynote speaker; Kelly Keith, CFP®, Executive Director at J.P. Morgan Wealth Management; and Nicole James Gilchrist, Vice President at Thrivent.

Major financial institutions will join the event, such as J.P. Morgan Wealth Management, Wells Fargo Advisors, RBC Wealth Management, Ameriprise Financial, Edward Jones, Invesco and Morgan Stanley. Their involvement reflects the trend of greater industry attention to building greater pathways for women to thrive in leadership and advisory opportunities.

Celebrating the significance of the conference, Sheena Gray, the CEO of Quad-A, highlighted the need for more visibility of women in the domains of financial decision making.

“If the people who are most affected by the wealth gap aren't in the rooms where financial decisions are going to be made, then we can't fix the wealth gap”, Sheena said. The WIIN Conference aims to empower women with the relationships, strategies, and opportunities they need to be successful in their careers while creating more inclusive leadership pipelines within organizations.

Attendees will discuss all of this and more throughout the event, learning about leadership development, strategies for building wealth, workplace culture, career advancement, wellness, the future of women in financial services and much more. The WIIN Conference provides a national forum for discussion and solution by providing a platform where the industry can discuss and act on meaningful solutions to attract, develop and retain the best talent.

Media is invited to participate in the conference, interview speakers and participants, interact with Quad-A leadership and take photographs and videos of the conference.

Quad-A's work continues to leverage its role in advocating, educating, developing leaders and building partnerships to expand representation, access and opportunity in the financial services sector. The organization continues to make a positive impact in communities throughout the country by enhancing the financial workforce pipeline and increasing access to trusted financial advice and guidance.