This past Saturday, along with 100+ clients, we celebrated one of our team members Malissia Johnson. After 25 remarkable years, Malissia will be retiring as founder of Emerald Spectrum Advisory at the end of this year. Julia Humphrey, her long-term team member, will be the lead advisor in HIG’s Nashville office. 

Malissia established her firm in 1998 with a vision to provide an extraordinary planning experience while making each client feel like family. Over the past quarter century, she has succeeded by exceeding clients’ expectations and putting their interests first. Her legacy will live on through the many clients whose financial lives she has impacted and through the exceptional team she has cultivated. 

While we will miss her wisdom and caring nature, we know she has more than earned this next chapter. Malissia’s retirement party was a time for friends, family, team members, and clients to come together to reminisce, express gratitude, and wish her the best in her well-deserved retirement. The night was filled with good food, music, and many stories that exemplify her incredible 25-year journey. We had a blast this special evening honoring an extraordinary woman, her career, and, most importantly, the relationships she’s built.

Cheers, Malissia! 

In case you are not a subscriber to the St. Louis or Nashville Business Journals, we are sharing the story here because we think you might like to see the coverage of our big Nashville news shared in last month’s newsletter.

I have exciting news to share. We are expanding our team and geographic reach with a new partner in Nashville, Tennessee. Read the press release here.

We are honored and excited to join forces with Malissia Johnson and her team at Emerald Spectrum, based in Brentwood, Tennessee. From the first time we met Malissia (President and Founder), we knew we were talking to our kind of person, someone we’d like to work with in the future. What did we notice?

They care about serving clients in an unusual way.

They care about clients more than their own interests.

They care beyond a spreadsheet and a quarterly performance report.

They care the way we care at Hill Investment Group.

I know a lot of financial planners and advisors, but few have the character and dedication we see in Malissia’s team. Malissia has helped her clients plan for their ideal future, and we’re thrilled to be a part of her plan for her next chapter.

I’m confident we’ll be better together.

For our current clients, you can be excited about this announcement too, as we are incredibly sensitive and careful with growth. The shareholders of Hill Investment Group will always prioritize our clients over profits. Planned and controlled growth is a critical element of what keeps and attracts top team members at all world-class organizations. Maintaining our values and team culture are equally important. As I’ve previously mentioned, because of our partnership with Focus Financial, we have institutional resources and leverage to bring to our team and clients. A boutique firm with big resources is a winner for our clients and us!

With the addition of any new team members, we always look to enhance our capabilities for you, and we believe the skills that Malissia and her team bring will directly benefit you. In addition to enhancing our existing team, Malissia’s team adds services that were missing in our current offering, including enhanced wealth planning. Stay tuned. 

Finally, here’s Malissia in her own words: 

“My favorite part of the wealth management business is the deep, uniquely personal relationships I have with my clients,” said Malissia Johnson. “As I got to know the Hill team, I found that they had a similar sense of care and an uncompromising fiduciary commitment to their clients, truly living by their mantra “take the long view.” Our shared ethos gave me great comfort that joining Hill was the right next step for my clients and team, allowing them to benefit from Hill’s robust resources and ensuring that they will be well served for generations to come.”

That’s a perfect fit.

Music City, here we come!

Matt