YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
Tell Dana Havens “no,” and it’ll only encourage her.
Taking an interest in the financial industry soon after graduation from Drury University, Havens was hired as sales associate for A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. During her interview, she was told financial advisers were not needed – but she knew better.
“They, at the same time, were recruiting financial advisers, which were men,” Havens says of the hiring practices of 1994. “I knew that I was going to be an adviser. … When I decide that’s what I’m going to do, that’s what I’m going to do.”
In four years, she nearly doubled the firm’s book of business to about $1 million from $600,000. In 1997, she became a nationally registered adviser and, in 2017, branched out with two partners to form Affinity Wealth Partners.
Drawing on her experience, she now makes it a point to mentor future advisers.
“I think it made me stronger and more determined. I like to win,” she says. “It was worth it.”
Missouri State University’s science building, built in 1971 and formerly called Temple Hall, is being reconstructed and updated.