Experience

David has been a wealth advisor for more than 35 years and moved his team to UBS in March 2016.  He began his professional career in 1982, obtaining his CPA and working as an auditor and tax accountant with Price Waterhouse in Chicago.  From 1985 to 2008, David was a financial advisor with Smith Barney, Inc., where he held various titles including: Senior Vice President, Senior Investment Management Consultant, and was a member of the firm’s Chairman’s Council from 1990 until his departure in 2008. In 2008, David joined Credit Suisse Private Bank as a Director and principal of the Hirsch-Kelly Group.

David earned his MBA from Northwestern University’s J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management and a Bachelors of Science degree in Accountancy from the University of Illinois. He is also a graduate of the IMCA Certified Investment Management Analyst Program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and the Charter Private Wealth Advisor Program at University of Chicago. From 1993 to 1996 David was a Kellogg National Fellow with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. He was one of 50 selected from a pool of more than 800 applicants to go through this three year interdisciplinary leadership program. He dedicated three months a year for three years and used his $36k grant to study “what motivates people to be philanthropic.”

In 1994, David was recognized by Crain’s Chicago Business as one of the “40 under 40” and by Registered Representative Magazine in 1995 as one of the country’s “Outstanding Brokers.” In 2000, he received the John Stanford Education Heroes Award from the U.S. Department of Education. The Illinois CPA Society recognized David with its Distinguished Public Service Award in 2005. In 2009, he finished the Wisconsin Ironman Triathlon and received the Man of Distinction Award from Theta Xi National Fraternity, the second person in the fraternity’s 145 year history. He was also a 2012 recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.

David is the founder of Illinois Fatherhood Initiative, the country’s first state wide non-profit fatherhood organization, whose mission is connecting children and fathers by actively engaging fathers in the education of children. In 2007, IFI recognized him as one of three Fathers of the Year.  He is also founder of the 21^st Century Dads Foundation, which produced the Dads Honor Ride 2015 a 2,300+ mile bicycle ride from Santa Monica to Chicago and DHR16 a 1,400 mile bicycle ride from Boston to Chicago.  In addition to completing both rides from start to finish, he also authored the book 21^st Century Dads: A Fathers Journey To Break The Cycle Of Father Absence.

David is currently a director of the Barrington Area Community Foundation; a member the University of Illinois Foundation President’s Council, Union League Club of Chicago, Illinois CPA Society, AICPA, Theta Xi National Fraternity, the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite Valley of Chicago, Investment Management Consultants Association (IMCA) and PADI. He was formerly a member of Habitat for Humanity’s International Board of Advisors, the Chicago Police memorial Foundation advisory board and a charter member of The Chicago Community Trust Young Leaders Group and Fund.

David and his wife Peggy, have one grandchild, five adult children and live in Barrington Hills, IL. His interests include reading,
underwater photography, fishing, and endurance sports.

James has been a wealth advisor for 19 years. He began his career in the financial services industry at Smith Barney and has been a principal of the Hirsch-Kelly Group from the beginning. In 2008, the Hirsch-Kelly Group moved to Credit Suisse Private Bank and then again in 2016 to UBS Financial Services. He earned his undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

James and his wife Chrissy have four children ages nine and under: daughter Whitney, and sons Max, Anders, and Myles. He enjoys spending time with family, skiing and music.