Maggie Rapplean gave birth to her son Roman in June 2023, made partner at Moneta in Dec. 2023 and graduated from UMSL with her MBA in May 2024. (Photo by Derik Holtmann)

Maggie Rapplean is a goal-oriented person. That mindset is one of the reasons the two-time University of Missouri–St. Louis graduate has been so successful in her career as a financial advisor, and it’s also one of the reasons that running is so appealing to her.

Finish the 5K. Finish the 10K. Finish the half-marathon. Set the goal, accomplish the goal. A couple years ago, she set two very big life goals.

“I wanted to grow my family, and I also wanted to pursue partnership,” she said. “So I pursued partnership while pregnant.”

Daunting challenges individually, no doubt. Simultaneously? Downright formidable.

But Rapplean was determined, and to the surprise of exactly zero people who know her, she accomplished both goals. Her son Roman was born in June 2023 – joining her daughter, Maddy, and oldest son, Chase – and she was approved as partner by the board at Moneta Group Investment Advisors on Dec. 13.

“My personality, I was satisfied with making partner for about a week and then started to set new goals to help more people and grow my practice,” she said. “Because now I have two people on my team who rely on me, so we have to continue the momentum, grow the business and give them career paths.”

One huge element of Rapplean’s path to partnership at Moneta – along with expanding both her client base and team, exceeding her clients’ financial expectations and passing other required metrics along the way – involved getting her MBA from UMSL’s College of Business Administration.

“I wanted to have a full scope,” Rapplean said. “I’ve always focused on finance. I’m really good with numbers, but I wanted a broader scope of business. The MBA really got me out of my comfort zone in a lot of areas. The leadership, entrepreneurship and management courses, I really needed to be functional for where I’m at today. The marketing class with Professor Tessa Garcia-Collart was great and gave me new skills I needed to market my practice effectively.”

Rapplean earned her BS in accounting and finance from UMSL and felt prepared by that experience to transition naturally into a job at Wells Fargo Advisors. A few years later, choosing her alma mater for graduate school was an easy decision.

“I’ve always been a big proponent of UMSL’s business school,” she said. “Professor David Beverly’s courses were awesome. We’ve got a great relationship that I know will be lasting. He taught me to code and write programs, things I’ve never had exposure to, but I grew from that. It was really challenging and interesting, and I feel like I’ve got a broader perspective now.”

She also had a companion for most of her online program.

“My daughter Maddy sat next to me working on my laptop frequently,” Rapplean said. “She would fall asleep on me on Sunday nights. I was honest with my professors about all my responsibilities outside of school, and they were so supportive. Sometimes Maddy was on my lap for Zoom calls, because that’s just what I had to do. I strive to set a good example for my children and show them they can accomplish whatever they are willing to work for.”

Rapplean completed her MBA this May – no, Maddy didn’t get a mini-MBA for sitting on her mom’s lap during all those classes – with a perfect GPA. With her driven personality, anything less wouldn’t have been acceptable. That accomplishment is even more impressive considering that her mom, Lynn Badolato, passed away at the end of January, a few weeks after Rapplean started her final semester and a little more than a month after she made partner.

Her mom was her biggest cheerleader and a big influence on her career path. Rapplean’s dad, Gary, died of cancer when she was just 9, and watching her mom have to deal with the financial aspects of life without any training in that area was a big reason Rapplean chose a career in finance. She credits her mom’s experience as an ER nurse with helping her understand how compassion can be such an important factor for a financial advisor.

“As I took more interest in this career, I realized that my life experiences actually help me have a lot of empathy for my clients,” she said. “I can relate to them and kind of do some storytelling, so they understand the importance of financial planning. Going through everything I did with my mom – I had to put her in independent living, and I served as her power of attorney – gave me that experience. I have a lot of aging clients now, and I help them communicate with their kids. Communication is the key to estate planning, so as hard as my experience was, it makes me better at what I do.”

Those empathetic traits Rapplean learned from her mom have helped shape her life away from the office, too. Fitness has always been a big part of her life, and she loved how the Girls on the Run St. Louis program encouraged girls to get involved and gain confidence and independence as part of the running community. Rapplean started as a “sparkler” – her job was to run with the girls and provide lots of energy, encouragement and motivation – and now she’s on the board of directors.

She does not lose sight of the parallels between running and building her career as a financial advisor — the determined mental approach needed to overcome the challenges and achieve the rewards.

“Without question,” she said. “That’s kind of my whole view on life. I look at them the same way. I’ve got a lot of grit and a lot of perseverance, and I just stay focused on the long game, and I don’t really get thrown off by much.”

Set the goal, accomplish the goal.

And speaking of setting goals, this week, Rapplean is helping to raise money for Girls on the Run by summiting not one, but two mountains in Colorado – Mount Massive (14,429 feet) and Mount Elbert (14,439) – as part of the 14er Challenge. Another difficult quest, but she’s approaching it the same way she approaches every challenge in her life and her career.

“You have to have a lot of perseverance,” she said. “I didn’t have a family member or somebody that passed down business to me. I started from scratch. This is a very male-dominated industry. It’s not that easy to come into a room where there’s not many like you. But it has gotten a whole lot better. You can’t be what you can’t see.”

She pauses.

“And that’s why, too, with getting the MBA, I hope to show other women that it’s good to pursue business and finance. It’s a great career.”