Building relationships. Empowering access.

Affluent entrepreneurial founders and families want bespoke solutions to address their challenges and opportunities. I help navigate these choices.

Families (as is the marketplace) are dynamic and have evolving wealth accumulation, preservation and allocation issues. This is especially true when the primary income and wealth assets are operating businesses and/or portfolios of real estate. Founders’ and families’ want to be able to achieve clarity of their vision. This is to facilitate key constituents from the family as well as their other strategic advisors tapping into UBS’ capacity to establish long-term liquidity and legacy strategies. These include the establishment of a family wealth-centric cornerstone – the family office.

For over three decades, I have worked with entrepreneurs and families helping them steward their wealth. This is achieved by sharing uncommon knowledge; leveraging relationships; facilitating next generation family member learning; and mindful of risk while culling the most preferable legacy and liquidity options.

I see myself as your resource providing advice on timely opportunities and solutions through the UBS platform and the numerous partnerships we have formed with like-minded service providers.

Start the conversation

Pursuing your goals together

Our mission is to provide quality strategies customized to your needs. Our goal is to be your primary source of financial advice. To this end, we concentrate our efforts on developing long-term relationships through a commitment to quality client service.

Michael Quaranta

Vice President–Wealth Management

Wealth Advisor
View bio
- AK
- AZ
- CA
- CO
- FL
- ID
- IN
- KS
- MD
- MN
- NC
- RI
- SC
- TN
- TX
- UT
- WA
- WY
Michael works with families of significant wealth and select CPA firms in an integrated fashion; focusing on helping them develop stronger, more productive, more valuable, more profitable relationships, with their very best clients.

The team focuses on providing Certified Public Accountants, as well as multi-generational families, a virtual on-demand back office experience in all aspects of designing, analyzing and illustrating complex, inter-related life situations. His objective as a financial professional, working through—not around the CPA is to provide thoughtful advice regarding any financial issues that may arise. CPAs and clients appreciate the fact that the work is in the relationship, not the relationship is in the work. With accessibility to the expansive resources within UBS, as well as third parties industry-wide, his team is not only well-positioned to provide objective, unbiased advice, but to directly access and execute solutions with efficiency and ease.

Michael began his wealth management career in 1986, all with UBS at the La Jolla office. He is one of a select number of UBS Financial Advisors who have earned the designation of Wealth Advisor.

Prior to starting his career in wealth management, Michael invested five years with Xerox Corporation as an account representative relationship manager, building trust that traveled vertically in all account relationships.

Michael earned his B.S. in business administration from California State University Fullerton College of Business and Economics. He holds the Series 7 and 65 securities licenses as well as a life insurance and long term care license.

Outside of the office, Michael supports the Move-Your-Feet-Before-You-Eat Foundation and the National MS Society in San Diego County. He lives in Carlsbad with his wife, two children and three dogs.

CA License # 0A34576
- California State University - Fullerton - College of Business and Economics, B.A. Business Administration
- Wealth Advisor
Multi-generational families

Financial planning

Business owners

Legacy planning

Family Offices

Lending services

1200 Prospect Street
Suite 100
La Jolla, CA 92037
Albert Schombs "Al"

Senior Client Associate
View bio
- CA
- FL
- NY
- WA
Albert Schombs ("Al") joined Quaranta Wealth Partners in 2021 as the team's Senior Registered Client Service Associate. He has a combined 20 years of experience that includes working for both UBS and Merrill Lynch in their New York and San Diego offices. Al has extensive knowledge of Financial, Forex, and Commodity markets, including precious metals, and holds both the Series 7 and 66 FINRA licenses.

Al's career began with Merrill Lynch in New York City in 2000, after attending Dowling College on Long Island, where he landed a position with a prominent team in their flagship office on 5th Avenue. He relocated to Southern California in 2012 and now resides in the Kensington neighborhood of San Diego. In his spare time he enjoys traveling, cooking, winter sports, and flying light aircraft.
1200 Prospect Street
Suite 100
La Jolla, CA 92037
Austin Gilbertson

Wealth Planning Associate
View bio
- AK
- AL
- AR
- AZ
- CA
- CO
- CT
- DC
- DE
- FL
- GA
- HI
- IA
- ID
- IL
- IN
- KS
- KY
- LA
- MA
- MD
- ME
- MI
- MN
- MO
- MS
- MT
- NC
- ND
- NE
- NH
- NJ
- NM
- NV
- NY
- OH
- OK
- OR
- PA
- PR
- RI
- SC
- SD
- TN
- TX
- UT
- VA
- VI
- VT
- WA
- WI
- WV
- WY
Austin Gilbertson joined Quaranta Wealth Partners in 2023 as the team's Wealth Planning Associate. He has 3 years of experience working for UBS in New York City and San Diego. Austin assists the team in providing comprehensive financial planning services to their clients. He is currently finishing his MBA at Pace University in corporate finance. He also holds both the Series 7 and 66 FINRA licenses.

Austin's career began with UBS in New York City in 2021. While attending Pace University in New York, he interned with a team in our flagship office at 1285 Avenue of the Americas. He relocated to Southern California in 2022 and now resides in the La Jolla. In his spare time, he enjoys traveling, basketball, and spending time with friends and family.
1200 Prospect Street
Suite 100
La Jolla, CA 92037

Casey Verst

Executive Director

Senior Wealth Strategy Consultant

View bio

Introduction
Casey works with high net worth clients to help develop estate plans that achieve personal goals, while simultaneously leveraging their gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemptions to preserve and protect family wealth. Casey also helps review clients' current estate plans and coordinates with clients' advisors to ensure each client's estate planning goals are being achieved in a tax efficient manner.

Professional History
Prior to joining UBS, Casey practiced law with the law firm Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP in Los Angeles, CA, focusing on estate and tax planning for high-net worth individuals.

Education
Casey received his B.A. in Political Science from UCLA, and his J.D. from UC Hastings College of the Law.
Lisa Snyder

Executive Director

Wealth Planning Strategist

View bio

Current role and areas of expertise

Lisa is a Wealth Planning Strategist for the West Division. In this capacity, Lisa is responsible for providing Financial Advisors and their high net worth clients with unbiased, product neutral, advanced planning strategies, design and implementation. As an advanced financial planner, she provides expertise in the following areas:

Estate and multi-generational planning
Retirement income and cash flow analysis
Business continuity and succession planning
Retirement plans and employee benefits
Risk and liability management planning
Charitable giving strategies
Executive compensation and benefit strategies

Professional history

Lisa is a former estate planning attorney with more than twenty years of experience in financial services. Her focus has been helping clients successfully plan for wealth preservation, estate transition, philanthropy and generational prosperity. She has also been a featured speaker at national conferences and regional events, including Hawaii Tax Institute and Delaware Bankers Trust Conference. Prior to UBS, Lisa was Chief Learning Officer at the Institute for Preparing Heirs and Legacy Strategist at First Republic Bank.

Education and personal information

Lisa has a Juris Doctor from Tulane Law School and a Bachelor of Arts from Ohio University Honors Tutorial College. Lisa and her wife, Kimberlee, reside in Los Angeles. They love the Dodgers, a good road trip and the LA Phil at the Hollywood Bowl. Lisa also enjoys Stephen King novels, 70’s music and a perfectly brewed iced tea.
Shawna Hamilton

Senior Strategist

Family Advisory and Philanthropy Services

View bio

Professional History

As a Senior Strategist, Shawna co-leads Family Advisory and Philanthropy Services for the West Division. Shawna works closely with advisors to support families on achieving their goals in optimizing money, centering values, and living their philanthropic intent. The Family Advisory and Philanthropy Services team serves as a thought partner to advisors and their exceptional client families on wealth transitions, family governance, family office strategies, and philanthropy.

Shawna joined UBS in 2021 from Pacific Foundation Services where she was a Senior Program Officer and Philanthropy Advisor. Before that, Shawna had two roles within Silicon Valley Community Foundation. The first was in fundraising, the second was guiding a global Habitat for Humanity grant program and providing advisory support to Cisco Systems' employees worldwide. Prior to her service in philanthropy, Shawna lived in New York, spending time at a hedge fund and co-launching an Ethiopia-based education nonprofit.

As a native of Santa Barbara, California, Shawna’s family spans across the West. She is an active volunteer to several community organizations and lives in San Francisco.

Education
Shawna received a Master of Science in Nonprofit Management from The New School, and a Bachelor of Science in International Business from California State University Northridge.

Michael Quaranta

Vice President–Wealth Management

Wealth Advisor
View bio
- AK
- AZ
- CA
- CO
- FL
- ID
- IN
- KS
- MD
- MN
- NC
- RI
- SC
- TN
- TX
- UT
- WA
- WY
Michael works with families of significant wealth and select CPA firms in an integrated fashion; focusing on helping them develop stronger, more productive, more valuable, more profitable relationships, with their very best clients.

The team focuses on providing Certified Public Accountants, as well as multi-generational families, a virtual on-demand back office experience in all aspects of designing, analyzing and illustrating complex, inter-related life situations. His objective as a financial professional, working through—not around the CPA is to provide thoughtful advice regarding any financial issues that may arise. CPAs and clients appreciate the fact that the work is in the relationship, not the relationship is in the work. With accessibility to the expansive resources within UBS, as well as third parties industry-wide, his team is not only well-positioned to provide objective, unbiased advice, but to directly access and execute solutions with efficiency and ease.

Michael began his wealth management career in 1986, all with UBS at the La Jolla office. He is one of a select number of UBS Financial Advisors who have earned the designation of Wealth Advisor.

Prior to starting his career in wealth management, Michael invested five years with Xerox Corporation as an account representative relationship manager, building trust that traveled vertically in all account relationships.

Michael earned his B.S. in business administration from California State University Fullerton College of Business and Economics. He holds the Series 7 and 65 securities licenses as well as a life insurance and long term care license.

Outside of the office, Michael supports the Move-Your-Feet-Before-You-Eat Foundation and the National MS Society in San Diego County. He lives in Carlsbad with his wife, two children and three dogs.

CA License # 0A34576
- California State University - Fullerton - College of Business and Economics, B.A. Business Administration
- Wealth Advisor
Multi-generational families

Financial planning

Business owners

Legacy planning

Family Offices

Lending services

1200 Prospect Street
Suite 100
La Jolla, CA 92037
Albert Schombs "Al"

Senior Client Associate
View bio
- CA
- FL
- NY
- WA
Albert Schombs ("Al") joined Quaranta Wealth Partners in 2021 as the team's Senior Registered Client Service Associate. He has a combined 20 years of experience that includes working for both UBS and Merrill Lynch in their New York and San Diego offices. Al has extensive knowledge of Financial, Forex, and Commodity markets, including precious metals, and holds both the Series 7 and 66 FINRA licenses.

Al's career began with Merrill Lynch in New York City in 2000, after attending Dowling College on Long Island, where he landed a position with a prominent team in their flagship office on 5th Avenue. He relocated to Southern California in 2012 and now resides in the Kensington neighborhood of San Diego. In his spare time he enjoys traveling, cooking, winter sports, and flying light aircraft.
1200 Prospect Street
Suite 100
La Jolla, CA 92037
Austin Gilbertson

Wealth Planning Associate
View bio
- AK
- AL
- AR
- AZ
- CA
- CO
- CT
- DC
- DE
- FL
- GA
- HI
- IA
- ID
- IL
- IN
- KS
- KY
- LA
- MA
- MD
- ME
- MI
- MN
- MO
- MS
- MT
- NC
- ND
- NE
- NH
- NJ
- NM
- NV
- NY
- OH
- OK
- OR
- PA
- PR
- RI
- SC
- SD
- TN
- TX
- UT
- VA
- VI
- VT
- WA
- WI
- WV
- WY
Austin Gilbertson joined Quaranta Wealth Partners in 2023 as the team's Wealth Planning Associate. He has 3 years of experience working for UBS in New York City and San Diego. Austin assists the team in providing comprehensive financial planning services to their clients. He is currently finishing his MBA at Pace University in corporate finance. He also holds both the Series 7 and 66 FINRA licenses.

Austin's career began with UBS in New York City in 2021. While attending Pace University in New York, he interned with a team in our flagship office at 1285 Avenue of the Americas. He relocated to Southern California in 2022 and now resides in the La Jolla. In his spare time, he enjoys traveling, basketball, and spending time with friends and family.
1200 Prospect Street
Suite 100
La Jolla, CA 92037

Casey Verst

Executive Director

Senior Wealth Strategy Consultant

View bio

Introduction
Casey works with high net worth clients to help develop estate plans that achieve personal goals, while simultaneously leveraging their gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemptions to preserve and protect family wealth. Casey also helps review clients' current estate plans and coordinates with clients' advisors to ensure each client's estate planning goals are being achieved in a tax efficient manner.

Professional History
Prior to joining UBS, Casey practiced law with the law firm Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP in Los Angeles, CA, focusing on estate and tax planning for high-net worth individuals.

Education
Casey received his B.A. in Political Science from UCLA, and his J.D. from UC Hastings College of the Law.
Lisa Snyder

Executive Director

Wealth Planning Strategist

View bio

Current role and areas of expertise

Lisa is a Wealth Planning Strategist for the West Division. In this capacity, Lisa is responsible for providing Financial Advisors and their high net worth clients with unbiased, product neutral, advanced planning strategies, design and implementation. As an advanced financial planner, she provides expertise in the following areas:

Estate and multi-generational planning
Retirement income and cash flow analysis
Business continuity and succession planning
Retirement plans and employee benefits
Risk and liability management planning
Charitable giving strategies
Executive compensation and benefit strategies

Professional history

Lisa is a former estate planning attorney with more than twenty years of experience in financial services. Her focus has been helping clients successfully plan for wealth preservation, estate transition, philanthropy and generational prosperity. She has also been a featured speaker at national conferences and regional events, including Hawaii Tax Institute and Delaware Bankers Trust Conference. Prior to UBS, Lisa was Chief Learning Officer at the Institute for Preparing Heirs and Legacy Strategist at First Republic Bank.

Education and personal information

Lisa has a Juris Doctor from Tulane Law School and a Bachelor of Arts from Ohio University Honors Tutorial College. Lisa and her wife, Kimberlee, reside in Los Angeles. They love the Dodgers, a good road trip and the LA Phil at the Hollywood Bowl. Lisa also enjoys Stephen King novels, 70’s music and a perfectly brewed iced tea.
Shawna Hamilton

Senior Strategist

Family Advisory and Philanthropy Services

View bio

Professional History

As a Senior Strategist, Shawna co-leads Family Advisory and Philanthropy Services for the West Division. Shawna works closely with advisors to support families on achieving their goals in optimizing money, centering values, and living their philanthropic intent. The Family Advisory and Philanthropy Services team serves as a thought partner to advisors and their exceptional client families on wealth transitions, family governance, family office strategies, and philanthropy.

Shawna joined UBS in 2021 from Pacific Foundation Services where she was a Senior Program Officer and Philanthropy Advisor. Before that, Shawna had two roles within Silicon Valley Community Foundation. The first was in fundraising, the second was guiding a global Habitat for Humanity grant program and providing advisory support to Cisco Systems' employees worldwide. Prior to her service in philanthropy, Shawna lived in New York, spending time at a hedge fund and co-launching an Ethiopia-based education nonprofit.

As a native of Santa Barbara, California, Shawna’s family spans across the West. She is an active volunteer to several community organizations and lives in San Francisco.

Education
Shawna received a Master of Science in Nonprofit Management from The New School, and a Bachelor of Science in International Business from California State University Northridge.

Connecting you to the deep resources of UBS

By seeing the big picture, we provide access to the global platforms and the financial and intellectual strengths of UBS’s experts in Wealth Management, Asset Management and our Private and Investment Banks.

Multi-generational families

Managing your wealth goes beyond managing your money. By actively listening, we’ll discover what’s important to you and each generation of your family. We will work together to develop a comprehensive plan to help you achieve your goals, wherever you are in life.

Our planning process begins with a series of meaningful conversations. We then work with you to establish a financial plan that prioritizes your objectives.

A lifetime financial strategy. Our goals-based approach to planning can help you see the connections between each area of your financial world. By developing, adjusting and monitoring your plan, we strive to optimize your strategy to help ensure we keep pace with fluctuating markets, changing tax laws and your evolving family needs.

Safeguarding multigenerational wealth. As a multigenerational team, we understand the connections between wealth and family. We’re committed to helping each generation prepare for the responsibilities that come with significant wealth through education, advice and networking opportunities.

The resources you need. We are trusted by our clients to work directly with their accountants and estate attorneys, whether we’re helping with tax planning or advising on the most prudent strategies for building a legacy.

Entrepreneurs

We can introduce you to the right investment relationships as well as innovative yet pragmatic solutions.

Pre- and post-sale planning. When it's time to exit a business, we can help from the initial stages of assessing ownership structures to evaluating financing solutions to facilitating the sale in accordance with your goals.

Succession and estate tax planning strategies. The decision to exit a business is often very personal and complex. Using efficient tax structures, such as trusts and philanthropic vehicles, we can facilitate your wealth preservation and legacy goals.

Business community network. We can give you access to key specialists in private equity, M&A advisory services as well as third-party referrals within the industry.

Certified Public Accountants

We work with select CPA firms to help empower more productive relationships with their clients. We off er the backoffi ce services of a virtual Family Office to enhance their capabilities and collaboratively off er access to global resources and solutions.

Virtual Family Office services. Families with significant wealth demand a flexible, customizable service platform, along with a broad array of Family Office-like resources. We provide a dedicated solution to bridge the generations within a family in order to create continuity and deliver a structure that is focused on preserving wealth and creating opportunities.

Estate, philanthropy and taxes. As your clients look to plan their estate or build their legacy, our team will work with you to provide family members with education on philanthropy and participation strategies for the next generation. In that way, you care for future generations and charitable organizations with the least possible tax impact and expense.

Family

Services at work on your behalf

Wealth planning

Wealth structuring
Trusts
Wealth transfer strategies
Estate planning strategies
Income tax
Charitable planning
Gifting
Estate tax funding
Retirement planning
Insurance and income protection

Family Advisory

Educational programs
Family governance
Family meeting facilitation
Family office governance

Philanthropy

Philanthropy strategy and governance
Mission-aligned investing
Strategic giving vehicles
Global philanthropic community

Business

Investments

Tailored investment solutions

Investment advisory
Asset management solutions
Capital markets
Alternative investments
Portfolio analysis and simulation
Risk management strategies
Concentrated stock services
Stock option strategies
Restricted securities

Credit and liquidity solutions

Mortgage solutions
Securities-based lending
Real estate financing¹
Asset-based financing¹

Global Research

CIO Wealth Management Research
Investment Bank Research

Our wealth management process

Focused on your goals. Planning for life.

Discover. Learn about you.
Analyze. Review assets and risks.
Plan. Develop your financial plan.
Implement. Put your strategy in place.
Monitor. Communicate, report and optimize.

Resources for Business Owners

Backed by the strength of UBS

A global leader in wealth management

^$3.9 trillion

In invested assets globally
As of 12/31/2022

51 countries

Our global footprint

Global leader

UBS is a world-leading wealth manager

Building relationships. Empowering access.

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Pursuing your goals together

Michael Quaranta

Albert Schombs "Al"

Austin Gilbertson

Casey Verst

Lisa Snyder

Shawna Hamilton