CAROLINE LAIACONA: I didn't know what I didn't know. I would have been dead in the water not knowing that this was something that our firm needed to do.
My name is Caroline Laiacona. I am the Chief Operations Officer here at Diazo, LLC. We are an SEC-registered RIA firm here in Henderson, Nevada. We started the company in November of 2022, and have been on the Schwab platform since January of 2023. We currently have five employees, three of whom are advisors. Our lead advisor has been in the financial services industry for over 20 years.
I found out about the Schwab Cybersecurity cohort through the lead advisor who suggested that I look into it. We were still in the throes of, you know, learning the Schwab platform, learning the processes, and monitoring our TOAs. It was really the last thing I wanted to do. However, I thought it was important that I take a look at it.
What I found very interesting was it doesn't matter how large your firm is or how small your firm is. This is a requirement. This is important. There are cyber attacks that go on every day. And it is important to know what's going on, to know how to deal with the situation, how to inform your clients, and just stay on top of it, it's ever evolving.
I think the most enjoyable part was getting it done. I felt like I actually accomplished something, knowing the outcome was going to benefit both our clients and our firm.
I felt that there was synergy with the participants. We all had similar challenges, and knowing that we were all going through the same thing was valuable to me.
It was a really dynamic environment. The conversations flowed naturally, and that allowed for understanding. And everyone was encouraged to share their thoughts and experiences, and that gave the participants insight on the subject matter at hand.
It was overwhelming in the beginning, but once, you know, if you just start reading through the assignments, you know, pull up the Reference Guide, watch the videos, it makes it more digestible. And we were constantly reminded by all of the people that were helping that they were there to help us.
My suggestion is take your time. Make sure that you're understanding what you're doing. It really makes you think about what you don't know and where your firm needs to be in regards to cyber attack prevention. I found the program immensely helpful. So now I just go into the Executive Roadmap once a month, I go to my touch points. I see if there's any adjustments that need to be made, and I feel pretty good knowing that now I'm in maintenance mode.
I came into this with an open mind, a little overwhelmed, but with an open mind, and I was able to get through it, in spite of us being new with the firm and still having to learn everything. It's been invaluable.