UBS Strengthens Los Angeles Private Wealth Management Business With Four Financial Advisor Hires
UBS has expanded its private wealth management presence in Los Angeles with the appointment of four experienced financial advisors who have joined the firm’s Private Wealth Management office in the city.
Pasha Azad, Dayne Crist, Steven Summerhays and Koby Dardashti have joined UBS as part of Lumina Wealth Partners at UBS. The team previously worked at Bernstein Private Wealth Management and brings extensive experience advising high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients.
The group is also supported by four client service professionals, adding further depth to the team’s ability to deliver personalized wealth management services.
The arrival of Lumina Wealth Partners represents another step in UBS’s efforts to strengthen its presence among affluent clients in the Los Angeles market. The team works with a diverse group of clients, including entrepreneurs, founders, business owners, senior executives, artists, entertainers, professional athletes and multigenerational families.
Its advisory approach focuses on helping clients manage the financial opportunities and challenges that come with significant wealth. Areas of focus include investment strategy, business sales and other liquidity events, philanthropy, wealth planning and the transfer of assets between generations.
Expanding UBS’s Los Angeles Wealth Management Capabilities
Los Angeles is home to a broad concentration of entrepreneurs, business owners, entertainment professionals, athletes and families with substantial wealth. These clients often have financial circumstances that extend beyond traditional investment management.
For business owners and entrepreneurs, for example, a company sale can create a major liquidity event that requires careful planning. Decisions surrounding investment allocation, taxes, estate planning, philanthropy and intergenerational wealth transfer can become increasingly important after a business transaction.
Professional athletes and entertainers may face similarly complex financial circumstances, including irregular income, short career windows, business ventures, endorsements and long-term wealth preservation needs.
The Lumina Wealth Partners team is positioned to advise clients across these different circumstances, with a focus on creating long-term wealth strategies rather than addressing individual financial decisions in isolation.
By joining UBS, the team gains access to the firm’s broader wealth management capabilities and resources, which can support clients across investment management, lending, banking, planning and other financial needs.
Leadership Welcomes the New Team
Kate Daniels, Senior Market Director for Los Angeles Private Wealth Management at UBS, welcomed the four advisors and their support team to the firm.
“We are excited to welcome Pasha, Dayne, Steven, Koby and the entire Lumina Wealth Partners team to UBS,” Daniels said.
She highlighted the team’s reputation for maintaining strong client relationships and providing thoughtful advice while operating with an entrepreneurial mindset.
According to Daniels, the group’s arrival comes at an important point for UBS’s Los Angeles operations as the firm continues to expand collaboration across its businesses.
“They have built a highly respected practice grounded in deep client relationships, thoughtful advice and an entrepreneurial approach,” she said.
Daniels also pointed to UBS’s new Los Angeles location as an important part of the firm’s strategy to bring together different capabilities and professionals in the market.
The new facility is designed to make it easier for teams across UBS to collaborate and coordinate resources for clients with increasingly complex financial requirements.
Lumina Wealth Partners Based in Century City
The newly formed Lumina Wealth Partners team will operate from UBS’s new Los Angeles location at 2000 Avenue of the Stars in Century City.
The facility brings together more than 225 UBS employees representing several parts of the organization.
These include professionals from UBS Private Wealth Management, Wealth Management and the Investment Bank, along with municipal traders and more than 20 consultants.
Bringing these groups together in one location is intended to encourage greater connectivity between UBS’s different businesses.
For wealth management clients, such collaboration can provide access to a broader range of expertise when their financial needs extend beyond portfolio management.
For example, a business owner preparing for a company sale may require investment advice, financing solutions, capital markets expertise and wealth planning. Similarly, a multigenerational family may require investment management alongside estate planning, philanthropy and succession strategies.
The new office is designed to support this type of cross-business collaboration while creating an enhanced environment for both clients and employees.
Pasha Azad Brings More Than 15 Years of Experience
Pasha Azad joins UBS as a Managing Director and Private Wealth Advisor.
He brings more than 15 years of experience advising entrepreneurs, founders, artists, entertainers and multigenerational families.
His client work has focused on helping individuals and families navigate the financial complexities that can accompany substantial wealth.
Entrepreneurs and founders, in particular, can face unique financial challenges because a significant portion of their net worth may be tied to a privately held company. When that business grows, receives outside investment or is eventually sold, the resulting change in financial circumstances can require a significant restructuring of the client’s overall wealth strategy.
Azad’s experience with these client groups is expected to complement UBS’s existing private wealth management capabilities in Los Angeles.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and business administration from the University of San Diego.
Dayne Crist Adds Business and Athlete Expertise
Dayne Crist joins UBS as a Managing Director and Private Wealth Advisor.
His practice focuses on business owners, senior executives, athletes and entertainers, particularly those navigating major wealth transitions and liquidity events.
Crist’s background includes professional and collegiate athletics. He was a starting quarterback at the University of Notre Dame, giving him firsthand experience with the professional and financial environment surrounding high-level sports.
His experience working with athletes and entertainers can be particularly relevant in Los Angeles, one of the world’s largest centers for entertainment and professional sports.
Athletes and entertainers may experience significant changes in income over relatively short periods. Effective financial planning can therefore involve balancing current financial opportunities with long-term wealth preservation.
Crist earned a bachelor’s degree in business management and consulting from the University of Notre Dame and a master’s degree in sports management from the University of Kansas.
His combination of financial advisory experience and sports-related background adds a specialized perspective to the Lumina Wealth Partners team.
Steven Summerhays Focuses on Investment and Legacy Planning
Steven Summerhays joins UBS as a Financial Advisor and brings more than a decade of experience working with high-net-worth families, athletes, business owners and executives.
His advisory work includes investment strategy, legacy planning and philanthropy.
For wealthy families, investment management is often closely connected to longer-term objectives. Clients may need to balance portfolio growth with capital preservation, charitable giving and wealth transfer between generations.
Legacy planning can also become increasingly important as families seek to establish structures that allow assets to be transferred efficiently while aligning with their broader family goals.
Summerhays’s experience in these areas adds another dimension to the team’s capabilities.
He is also a former professional athlete and earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Notre Dame.
His background in finance and athletics provides an additional perspective when working with clients whose careers or businesses involve complex income and wealth considerations.
Koby Dardashti Brings Local Market Knowledge
Koby Dardashti joins UBS as a Financial Advisor.
He advises high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families, with particular experience working with business owners, entrepreneurs, professional athletes and entertainers.
As a Los Angeles native, Dardashti also brings familiarity with the local market and its diverse business and professional communities.
Los Angeles has a unique wealth landscape that spans entertainment, technology, sports, entrepreneurship, real estate and privately held businesses. This diversity creates demand for advisors who can understand the different financial circumstances associated with these industries.
Dardashti earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance from the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin.
His experience complements the other members of the Lumina Wealth Partners team, particularly in working with entrepreneurs, business owners and individuals with significant wealth.
Supporting Entrepreneurs and Business Owners
One of the team’s core areas of focus is advising entrepreneurs and business owners.
For these clients, personal wealth and business wealth are frequently closely connected. A company may represent a significant portion of a founder’s net worth, making decisions about growth, financing, succession or a potential sale especially important from a personal financial perspective.
When a business is sold, the owner’s financial situation can change dramatically.
A successful liquidity event can create substantial investable assets, but it can also introduce new questions about portfolio diversification, income generation, estate planning, philanthropy and wealth transfer.
The Lumina Wealth Partners team aims to help clients address these issues as part of a broader financial strategy.
Serving Athletes and Entertainers
The team’s expertise also extends to athletes and entertainers, two important client segments in the Los Angeles market.
Professionals in these industries often have financial lives that differ from those of traditional salaried employees.
Athletes may generate substantial income during relatively short careers, while entertainers can experience significant fluctuations in earnings depending on projects, contracts and other professional opportunities.
Financial planning for these clients may therefore involve preparing for income variability, building long-term investment strategies and establishing wealth structures that can remain effective after a career transition.
The team’s experience working with athletes and entertainers positions it to address these specialized requirements.
Supporting Multigenerational Wealth
Another key area of the team’s practice is working with multigenerational families.
As significant wealth passes from one generation to another, families may need to consider how assets will be managed, preserved and transferred.
Investment strategy, philanthropy and legacy planning can all become important elements of these conversations.
For families with substantial assets, wealth management can involve more than simply managing an investment portfolio. It can include helping family members understand financial responsibilities, establishing long-term goals and developing strategies for transferring wealth across generations.
The Lumina Wealth Partners team’s experience with multigenerational families is therefore aligned with the broader needs of UBS’s private wealth management clients.
A Broader Institutional Platform
Joining UBS gives the team access to a broad institutional platform and a network of specialists across multiple financial disciplines.
This can be particularly valuable for clients whose financial needs evolve over time.
An entrepreneur may initially require investment management but later need assistance with financing or a business transaction. A professional athlete may require wealth planning during a career and then need assistance transitioning into business ownership or another professional field.
Similarly, a multigenerational family may require investment management, philanthropy and wealth transfer strategies simultaneously.
The ability to connect clients with specialists across a large financial organization can help advisors address these changing requirements.
The new Century City location is designed to facilitate that connectivity by bringing professionals from UBS’s Private Wealth Management, Wealth Management and Investment Bank businesses together.
Strategic Significance for UBS
The addition of Lumina Wealth Partners reflects UBS’s continued focus on expanding its wealth management capabilities in important US markets.
Los Angeles offers significant opportunities because of its concentration of high-net-worth individuals, entrepreneurs, business owners, professional athletes and entertainment professionals.
The market also contains a growing number of clients whose wealth is connected to privately held businesses, technology companies, creative industries and professional careers.
Adding an established advisory team with experience serving these groups can strengthen UBS’s ability to compete for relationships with sophisticated wealth management clients.
The combination of experienced advisors, specialized expertise and UBS’s broader platform is intended to provide clients with a comprehensive approach to managing significant wealth.
The arrival of Pasha Azad, Dayne Crist, Steven Summerhays and Koby Dardashti marks a significant expansion of UBS’s Los Angeles Private Wealth Management team.
Operating as Lumina Wealth Partners at UBS, the group brings experience across entrepreneurship, business ownership, executive wealth, professional sports, entertainment and multigenerational family wealth.
The team will be supported by four client service professionals and will operate from UBS’s new Century City location, which houses more than 225 employees across several UBS businesses.
The new office is intended to foster collaboration between wealth management professionals, investment banking specialists, consultants and other experts, potentially giving clients access to a broader range of resources.
For UBS, the addition strengthens its presence in one of the most important wealth management markets in the United States. For clients, the combination of specialized advisory experience and access to UBS’s broader capabilities could provide additional support for managing complex financial decisions.
As wealth creation continues to evolve across entrepreneurship, business ownership, entertainment, sports and other industries, demand for sophisticated wealth management services is likely to remain strong.
With the addition of Lumina Wealth Partners, UBS is positioning its Los Angeles operation to address these increasingly complex requirements while expanding its ability to serve clients through major financial transitions, investment decisions, philanthropic initiatives and the transfer of wealth from one generation to the next.
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