2025 Most Influential Women: Stephanie Hurt

Stephanie Hurt is miles from the gravel road where she grew up with a leaky roof and no air conditioning. The only financial people she knew were the nice bank tellers in her rural town. Now she manages or advises on more than $1 billion in client assets.

“In this role I am building and providing ongoing management of investment portfolios intended to fund philanthropic, retirement, legacy, business and other financial goals,” says Hurt, director of Forvis Mazars Private Client. “My role in my clients’ lives allows them to focus on their business, profession or enjoying retirement rather than having to concern themselves with building and maintaining their investment portfolio.”

The path to her position was self-directed. Hurt attended a small K-12 school that at one point struggled to maintain its state accreditation. Determination and strong ACT scores landed her a four-year, full-tuition scholarship to Missouri State University.

“I knew I wanted to earn a college degree, even though I would be the first person in my family to do so, and navigated the college application and admissions process largely on my own,” Hurt says. “I worked all four years of college and made sure I took enough college hours … to finish in four years because that was the limit of my scholarship.”

Encouraged to apply for an investment internship during her college years, Hurt discovered an aptitude for finance and her future career.

Hurt spent almost five years at U.S Bank – starting with $25 million in assets under management that grew to $150 million – before joining Forvis Mazars in 2007. In addition to managing or advising on more than $1 billion in assets for more than 200 families, trusts, charitable organizations and corporate clients, Hurt is one of seven members of the firm’s investment committee, which sets the investment strategy for more than $10 billion in assets.

Having earned the designation of chartered financial analyst, which requires passing three exams: a point of professional pride.

“[It] was one of the most difficult things I have ever done and has been foundational to my career,” she says.

Hurt serves on MSU’s Finance, Economics and Risk Management Advisory Board and Community Foundation of the Ozarks’ Investment Advisory Board. She’s also a member of the Rotary Club of Springfield, for which she is the program chair.

Having grown up in a different world than the one she now inhabits gives Hurt a view into what it’s like when clients end up with more financial resources than they expected.

“I can relate to their experience and help them grasp what they have, how to process it and how to even dream bigger than they thought possible before.”