“We’ve had great representation among wirehouses and in the product community, and while independent advisors are starting to know about what we offer, they aren’t really clear on how we’re different from other associations,” said Walters, who took over IMCA’s top job on 1 March, succeeding Dede Pahl.

Boosting the appeal and visibility of IMCA’s three-year old Certified Private Wealth Advisor designation is another priority for Walters.

“We’ve been rather quiet so far and wanted to make sure we got the offering to the level we wanted before promoting it to the marketplace,” said Walters, who had been the association’s deputy executive director. “But we’ve begun to push more aggressively now.”

IMCA is in discussions with all the major wirehouses about offering CPWA courses to advisors in the firms who work with clients over $5 million, Walters said.

While reaching the scattered independent advisors will be more challenging, Walters expressed confidence that it could be accomplished by marketing at conferences, ads in trade publications and word-of-mouth.

“Advisors are a pretty connected group,” he said. “They tend to listen to each other, and when the CPWA becomes part of the buzz, we will see the numbers come on.”

The designation costs approximately $7,500, covers a wide range of wealth-related topics including estate planning, charitable giving and closely-held businesses and involves six months of self-study, a week of classes at the University of Chicago and a three hour examination.

Seventy advisors have enrolled for the September 2010 CPWA class, double the previous year’s class. And last November’s advanced wealth management conference drew 455 attendees, up 38 per cent from the year before.

This year’s conference will be in San Francisco 8 and 9 November and IMCA’s national conference opens 17 May in Orlando.

Wealth managers have expressed particular interest in behavioral finance, retirement and tax planning and tax efficient investments, according to Walters.