Join Myah Moore Irick (MA ’06) for an interactive discussion with TC Trustee Charles Desmond on owning your wealth journey and building financial confidence. Myah will share financial tips and strategies on how to plan for life’s unexpected adventures, while staying focused on your long term goals and your personal values. She will also share her own experiences with striving to do well while also doing good–by building her own team, challenging norms in financial services as a woman of color, and educating others on impact investing and how to be an informed consumer.
Myah Moore Irick joined Merrill Private Wealth Management in 2020 to found the Irick Group. She focuses on providing wealth planning strategies to successful individuals and families navigating sudden wealth. Myah possesses a deep understanding of the psychology of wealth: the challenges that executives, individuals, seasoned professionals and even up-and-coming athletes face when making decisions about their financial futures. With this knowledge, Myah is able to help her clients identify what they really want their money to do for their lives, families and communities – and then create a wealth plan for achieving that. For Myah, being a great advisor means going above and beyond the numbers. It means being a resourceful collaborator and trusted advisor, who digs deep into how their clients approach saving, spending and sustaining wealth. It means coming up with creative strategies to help them achieve their unique ambitions. And it means utilizing the vast resources of her firm to maximize their financial potential, provide for their loved ones and help them give back to their communities.
Myah serves on the boards of the Carnegie Science Center and the Energy Innovation Center Institute. Her experience as Miss Oregon (with the Miss Universe Organization) in 2003 inspired her ongoing commitment to promoting educational opportunities for women. Previous to joining Merrill, Myah was an Executive Director at JPMorgan Private Bank and also worked at PNC Wealth Management. Myah received a B.A. from Lewis & Clark College, an M.A. from Teachers College- Columbia University, and a joint international M.B.A. with honors from Brown University and Instituto de Empresa.
Charles “Charlie” Desmond presently serves as the CEO of Inversant (since 2016), the largest parent-centered children’s saving account initiative in the Commonwealth. He is the past-chair of the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education and was a higher education policy advisor to former Governor Deval Patrick. In many and varied roles, he has been at the forefront of educational access, retention, and college completion issues for low and moderate-income citizens here in the Commonwealth and across the nation. A Fulbright Scholar and philanthropic leader, he has been a tireless advocate for increased attention, support, and engagement with programs serving at-risk children, adults, and the communities in which they reside. He is Chair of the University of Massachusetts-Boston’s Board of Visitors; he also served the University as Associate Chancellor and as Dean of the College of Public & Community Service. He earned his Education Doctorate in instructional leadership from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and his Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology from Northeastern University. He has received numerous honors and awards from local and national organizations and he is the recipient of three Honorary Doctoral degrees bestowed by Framingham State University, Westfield State University and the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. He is a twenty-one year member of the Danvers Human Rights and Inclusion Committee and President of the Friends of the Danvers Human Rights and Inclusion Committee. He is a past Chair of Building Bridges Through Music in Lynn and his current roles include service as a Trustee of Teachers College, Columbia University; Senior Fellow of the New England Board of Higher Education; member of the North Shore Medical Center Board of Trustees; and Chair of the Advisory Board of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst College of Education. He is on the Advisory Board of Murphy, Hess, Toomey & Lehane, LLP, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., and a decorated veteran of the U.S. Army, receiving both Silver and Bronze stars. He visits Selma, Alabama annually to honor the Civil Rights Movement past and present during the re-enactment of the Bloody Sunday march.
