Meet Paula Hendrickson | Senior Vice President, NFP Retirement

We had the good fortune of connecting with Paula Hendrickson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Paula, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
I am been called a risk taker and I really never thought as myself like that but looking back over my career I have taken many risks. In getting my first job in retirement, I took a risk telling the hiring manager that I could slow pitch on her softball team. I was a college athlete and figured it couldn’t be that hard and I would have my brothers teach me. I continued to take risk as I progressed in my career, raising my hand to take on additional tasks, sometimes not knowing how but had confidence I could figure it out, asking questions, developing mentors, self-learning through trial and error. Most people change jobs to get a pay increase, every time I made a move, I took a pay cut understanding the upside opportunity. Most recently, I moved from a high paying Director role managing a team of 9, to a sole advisor, with zero revenue or clients. My role was to build a team in the West for NFP. In the last 4 1/2 years the Colorado retirement team has grown to 4 advisors and zero revenue to over $2million in revenue and 50+ clients.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
When I got my first job at a bank in a training program for bankers, I began as a teller. I did not want to be a banks so looked for opportunities within the bank and applied for a position in investment and trust on the retirement team,, basically fell into retirement and loved it. As a college athlete, I understood hard work and time management and wanted to progress in my career as a retirement advisor. I took on additional responsibilities and began climbing the ladder. I got married and ultimately had three children. I had the largest portfolio on the team and wanted to move into sales or management. At the time, I had a woman boss, and she took me aside and told me that I had hit the ‘glass ceiling’. She proceeded to explaing to me that she had purposefully decided not have children, so she was promotable and with three children I was not. It was a turning point for me. I attended an industry luncheon shortly thereafter and sat next to my soon to be new boss and mentor, Bryant Reber. I was driven to prove that women in finance can have it all, children and a successful career. I worked harder and smarter to have time for my family and take great care of clients and drive new business opportunities. I had a great support system, my husband was very supportive. It is important to create that support and work to achieve a good balance. I have shared with my two daughters and son that to succeed in life, you must wake up early, set your intentions, have integrity and be genuine, care about others and always be thankful for all the blessings in your life.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Colorado is a great place to hang out for a week… so many good restaurants and places visit. If it were the summer, Red Rocks concerts are unbelievable, and we would definitely take in a concert with dinner in Morrison ahead of time. I love Golden, potentially have breakfast at Bonfire Burrito, followed by a walk along Washington street hitting all the great boutiques and walking/tubing the river ending at the Golden Mills for a brew and good food hall. Golden Brewery is a fun time as well… so much in Golden. Completely different, would be a similar day in Cherry Creek.

Paddleboarding and golfing in the summer could fill up a couple of days… great courses and lakes!

Fall calls a trip to the mountains to see the colors! Grabbing a couple of RZRs and venturing out with a picnic would be a great Fall day

Winter calls for a ski trip! I love Steamboat and has the ski area, the cute town and Strawberry Park hot springs.

They need to stay longer than a week!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I had a great mentor early in my career, Bryant Reber, President Reber/Russell. He provided guidance, opportunity and valuable support. The confidence I had early in my career was because I knew he was always there. Being a woman in finance was sort of lonely in that there were very few women in the retirement industry. I remember taking my mother to a Plan Sponsor Awards event where we were being recognized as a Top Retirement Team and she noticed there were no other women in the room. Having a male mentor, learning from him and having his support is the reason I have been successful. I would not be where I am without Bryant Reber and him giving me the opportunities, guidance and tough love. I am forever grateful to him.

Website: https://www.nfp.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paula-hendrickson/