Anne Clarke Wolff spent more than 30 years at global corporate and investment banks before starting her own firm.
She realized, in her most recent role at Bank of America in 2020, that she had seen more women in investment banking in 1989 when she started her career at Salomon Brothers than at any point since.
"I couldn't see leaving the industry in worse shape than when I started," she said. "That was my call to action."
Wolff launched her own investment bank, Independence Point Advisors, in November 2021. It is one of the few female-owned investment banks with a comprehensive range of services, including mergers and acquisitions advisory and private capital raising.
Wolff owns the majority of the company. A friend and colleague from Salomon Brothers, Terri Lecamp, serves as managing partner and helped get Independence Point Securities, the company's broker-dealer, approved by FINRA in May 2022.
The goal is to build what Wolff calls the "impact investment bank of the future."
IPA offers capital markets advisory and underwriting services and assists with M&A and strategic capital raises. The firm also provides advisory services in environmental, social and governance.
"The thread that pulls [all these services] together is this thesis around impact," said Wolff. "Part of why we like the word impact better than focusing on ESG is because we find that companies move very quickly to make commitments, but haven't focused on the downstream benefits of those commitments."
IPA helped raise $400 million for RPower, a distributed power generation company, in April 2023. The firm was also involved in the initial public offerings for Kenvue, a consumer health company spun off from Johnson & Johnson, in May 2023 and Mobileye, a developer of advanced driver-assistance systems, in October 2022.
As it builds its client base, the company is also making strides in assembling a team. One challenge is convincing women to leave cushy Wall Street jobs, even if they want to try something different.
"The trickiest thing for me in building the firm is that the vast majority of women are inherently risk averse," said Wolff. "They are clearly not happy where they are and they know their firms aren't letting them rise to their full potential. But whether they are willing to articulate it directly or not, they are risk averse. They like the security of a big base salary. A number of them are struggling with, 'Am I ready to bet on myself that I can succeed outside of these massive bank platforms?'"
Wolff has recruited 27 employees, who are spread across the country. "We made a deliberate decision that it was about exceptional talent, not forcing people into midtown Manhattan five days a week," she said.
About two-thirds of them are women.
"Some people said to me, why don't you make it all women?" said Wolff. "My comment was, all women are no better than all men. We are committed to sourcing and building the next generation of diverse talent."
IPA's value of diversity also plays into its full name, Independence Point Advisors.
"I did not want to use my name since we are building a constellation of talent, not a star system," said Wolff. "I liked the notion that we provide independent advice. We have a point of view. We are not going to tap dance just to tell a client what they want to hear."
At the same time, "it's not a coincidence that I also like IPA beer," she added.
