Paul H. Heckler
Paul Heckler measures his success one family at a time. It is, after all, how he built Yosemite Capital Management into a successful wealth management firm with 200+ clients (whom he calls family). Having grown up in New England as one of seven children, family is important to Paul. And, whether it is his team of advisors, client families, or his own family, Paul’s believes—people matter.
As the Co-Founder, Managing Director, and CCO of Yosemite Capital Management, Paul oversees the asset management services, integrated wealth planning, and compliance for the firm. His goal when starting the firm in 2001—with the vision and commitment of six of his career colleagues (now silent partners)—was objectivity. He and his partners set out to lead clients with a three-pronged approach—putting the clients’ interests first, providing honest and objective advice, and delivering solutions in an open architecture (i.e., without conflicts of interest).
Paul is keenly aware of the trust his clients show by putting YCM in charge of their personal finances. He reciprocates this trust by using well defined processes, talented people and a team approach—creating a unique institutional experience for individuals. He then expanded YCM’s expertise to include Integrated Wealth Planning to address the comprehensive needs of YCM’s clients.
Paul also believes that what makes their approach unique is not only the personal care and attention they have with every client, but the conversations they have early in the process, that help to create a shared vision, goals and objectives.
Paul came to California to attend a tennis tournament. The short story is, he’s been here ever since. He received a scholarship to USC and was recruited for an internship as a Financial Advisor with Morgan Stanley. Paul worked to build his personal practice, managing multimillion-dollar portfolios for institutional accounts. Within two years, he would be a Senior Portfolio Manager at Prudential-Bache (now Wells Fargo Advisors) where he was among the earliest adopters of one of the industry’s game-changing paradigm shifts—from the traditional commission-based fee structure to a fee-based asset management structure.
Paul’s sense of attentiveness and putting clients first was proven to be successful, and he left Prudential to follow his friends and former colleagues to UBS-Paine Webber. As a Senior Portfolio Manager, Paul gained recognition for his instrumental role in building up its equity portfolio management program. After five years, he left to take on a new challenge as a senior-level portfolio manager in the fee-based asset management program with First Union Corp. It was here that he distinguished himself as a premier portfolio manager, and the first in company history to have two office locations—Newport Beach and Pasadena—to serve his loyal clients.
Paul would tell you that he owes his success to USC, where he was offered an opportunity that led him to where he is today. “That people went out of their way—it really resonated with me,” says Paul, and this became the foundation upon which Paul has built his career and Yosemite Capital Management.
Paul holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from University of Southern California and has served as a Member of its Board of Directors for the School of Gerontology since 2005.
Paul strongly believes in work-life balance because of his passion for his family (wife Lynn and their two boys, Paul Jr. and John). He loves to play tennis—and also enjoys cars, reading business journals and autobiographies, architecture, real estate, and mathematics.
