Recent Recognition

Awards Criteria

Awards, rankings and/or recognition by unaffiliated rating services and publications: are absolutely not indicative of GWS’s future performance, or any future performance pertaining to its clients’ investments; should not be construed by a client or prospective client as a guarantee that they will experience a certain level of results if GWS is engaged, or continues to be engaged, to provide investment advisory services; and should not be construed as a current or past endorsement of GWS by any of its clients.  Rankings published by magazines, and others, generally base their selections exclusively on information prepared and/or submitted by the recognized adviser.

 

InvestmentNews Best Places to Work for Financial Advisors — 2023

Participating organizations must complete a two-part process to be considered for inclusion on the list. The first part consists of evaluating each registered company's workplace policies, practices, and demographics and is worth approximately 25% of the total evaluation. The second part consists of an employee survey to measure the employee experience and is worth approximately 75% of the total evaluation. The combined scores determine the top companies and which companies are included on the list. Best Companies Group (BCG) manages the overall registration and survey process and also analyzes the data and uses our expertise to determine the final rankings.

Bethesda Magazine Top Financial Professionals — 2022

In summer 2022, Bethesda Magazine sent a survey to hundreds of financial professionals in Montgomery County and Upper Northwest D.C. asking, "If you had a close friend or relative who needed financial planning advice, and you could not handle the case yourself, to whom would you refer them?" The 2022 list represents those who earned the greatest number of endorsements from their peers. Individuals were not allowed to nominate themselves. Bethesda Magazine fact-checked all nominees before notifying them that they were going to be listed in the November/December 2022 issue. There is no fee to be named one of Bethesda Magazine's Top Financial Professionals.

Expertise: Best Financial Advisors in Washington, DC — 2023 (March, July), 2021 (January, February, April, May, June, August, September)

Each month, Expertise researches more than 60,000 businesses to help customers find the best-qualified professionals for their needs.

Custom tools and resources are used to analyze publicly available data within a given business category and geographical area. Contact and license information is verified to assure selected candidates are actively doing business and are in good standing in their communities.

Next, in-house software grades each business across the following selection criteria:

• Reputation: A history of satisfied customers giving excellent recommendations
• Qualifications: Established in their industry with licensing, accreditations, and awards
• Experience: Masters of their craft, based on years of practical experience and education
• Engagement: Approachable and responsive to clients and available for new business
• Professionalism: Dedicated to providing consistently quality work and impeccable customer service

Finally, the best are hand-picked through a manual review to verify each company on the list is truly one of the best.

Washington Business Journal Best Places To Work — 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015

Rankings were determined by Omaha, Nebraska-based Quantum Workplace and are based on each company's score on an employee engagement survey. To qualify for the small company category, firms must have between 10 and 24 local employees in the Washington region. Quantum queries, evaluates and scores participating companies in categories ranging from team effectiveness, trust in senior leadership and alignment with company goals.

Inc. Best Workplaces — 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017

To be eligible for Inc. Best Workplaces awards, companies must submit an application, complete the Quantum Workplace employee survey, and meet each of the following qualifications:

• Be independent (not a subsidiary or division of another company)
• Be based in the United States
• Have at least 5 permanent employees
• Have been in business at least 2 years
• Have total annual revenue less than $1 billion

Washingtonian: DC's Best Financial Advisers — 2022, 2021

The Washingtonian surveys hundreds of area financial professionals during the preceding 4-6 months prior to publishing the award. The 2022 award was published in March 2022. The 2021 award was published in January 2021.

Fee-only advisers include certified financial planners who do not accept commissions or referral fees. To arrive at the names of the area’s 201 top financial advisers—the fee-only financial planners, fee-based advisers, estate attorneys, tax accountants, and insurance advisers marked with a “best adviser” tag—the Washingtonian distributed surveys to hundreds of people who work in the local financial industry, asking them whom they would trust with their own money. Washingtonian also did their own research, consulting industry experts and publications. The “best adviser” names on this list are the people who received the strongest recommendations.

Washingtonian: 50 Great Places to Work — 2019, 2017

To put together our list, we first released an application that any organization could fill out, asking about such measures as healthcare and vacation benefits, staff turnover, and charitable outreach. Then we surveyed a sampling of each applicant's staff. The 7,500 employee surveys we received were largely what determined our 50 winners. After all, a company may offer amazing benefits on paper, but it's not a great place to work if staffers aren't happy there. Once all the survey data was in, it was analyzed by Leora Lawton of TechSociety Research in California, who also designed the survey. We compared like with like: small workplaces with other small workplaces, information-technology firms with other IT firms, and so on.

In all, nearly 200 companies participated, and the competition was tough—employers don't go through the process if they don't believe they're a great place to work. Still, if a company isn't listed, it doesn't necessarily mean it's not a great workplace—it could simply mean it chose not to apply.

Financial Planning Association of the National Capital Area: Planner of the Year Award — 2018

The Financial Planning Association (FPA) award recognizes the achievement of a financial planner who:

• Promotes the financial planning profession,
• Does a considerable amount of community and charitable work,
• Has gained media recognition,
• Is a strong mentor,
• Is innovative with financial planning techniques and practice management,
• Has received individual or firm recognition, and
• Is a current FPA member.

This award was open for submissions for the entire year of 2018.

AdvisoryHQ: 10 Best Financial Advisors in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia — 2018

AdvisoryHQ developed a breakthrough "Top-Down Advisor Selection Methodology" that is based on a wide range of filters including fiduciary duty, independence, transparency, level of customized service, history of innovation, fee structure, quality of services provided, team excellence, and wealth of experience. Data was gathered from March 2017 through March 2018.

Financial Advisor: America's Top RIAs — 2022, 2015

Award criteria included: assets under management, growth in assets, assets per client, growth in assets per client and the percentage change in number of clients. Surveys were collected from the end of March through mid-April.

NorthernVirginia Magazine: Top Financial Professionals — 2022

Methodology: To compile the Top Financial Professionals listing, we sent surveys to all Northern Virginia financial professionals, asking them to recommend other financial professionals whom they would refer to friends and family. Surveys were open from March 6 through April 14 and those on the listing received the most nominations. Although some Top Financial Professionals winners choose to advertise in the magazine, they cannot pay to be included on the list. This listing and the advertising section are separate entities.