Hockaday Builds Education-First Approach to Alternatives Marketing

Sydney Hockaday, managing director, marketing at Concorde Investment Services, is working to make alternative investments easier for financial professionals to understand and use.

Hockaday has worked on both the investment sponsor and broker-dealer sides of the industry. Before joining Concorde, she managed marketing for about 90 investment offerings at Capital Square. Those offerings covered nearly 100 commercial real estate properties and about $7 billion in transaction volume.

She joined Concorde in March 2025 as director of marketing. At the time, the firm needed a more unified brand, clearer communications procedures and marketing support that could scale across its broker-dealer, registered investment adviser and insurance divisions.

Hockaday rebranded Concorde, refined its messaging and created a communications plan with clearer internal and external processes. She also launched a marketing services partnership with an outside firm, giving Concorde’s independent financial professionals resources they would otherwise have to find and manage on their own. In addition, she expanded the firm’s social media and public relations work and led the launch of a new website.

Concorde President and CEO Danielle Delongchamp said Hockaday expanded the position “far beyond the original job description.” Eight months after she joined, the firm promoted her to managing director. She now oversees communications, brand development and strategic planning across all three divisions.

Her most consequential project was restructuring Concorde’s strategic partnerships program, which had centered on events. Hockaday turned it into a year-round platform that connects sponsors with advisors through education. The change carried risk, because sponsorship revenue mattered to the firm and established partners were used to the old structure.

Hockaday listened to partners, expanded their benefits and tied the program more closely to advisors’ educational needs. Seven key sponsors increased their support, and Concorde exceeded its $1.4 million sponsorship revenue goal for the first time in company history.

She is also building an educational content library and modernizing Concorde’s digital resources so advisors have steadier access to timely information.

Hockaday’s work extends to ADISA, the trade association for the alternative and direct investment industry. She chairs its Marketing and Communications Committee, serves on its rebranding committee and is co-chairing its 2026 Annual Conference and Trade Show, which draws more than 1,000 attendees. Her experience leading rebrands at Capital Square and Concorde feeds directly into the association’s rebranding work.

At ADISA’s 2025 Spring Conference, Hockaday and a colleague received the Best Session Award for their panel at the 2024 Annual Conference. She also mentors three emerging professionals.

Hockaday believes the growth of alternatives depends less on creating more products than on building a better-informed network around them. In her view, advisors are more likely to evaluate and use alternative investments appropriately when they have clear education, accessible resources and ongoing relationships with knowledgeable sponsors.