Experience

Thomas Nieto is a Co-Founder of Spyglass Hill Advisors, where he is a Managing Director and a Private Wealth Financial Advisor in Newport Beach, California. Tom works closely with clients to identify their needs, provide advice and guidance, and coordinate unified action with a team of locally based specialists.

Prior to joining UBS, Thomas worked as a Private Client Advisory for 25 years in Bank of America’s Private Bank (formerly U.S. Trust), where he helped add value to high-net-worth families. He also worked within Security Pacific National Bank where he participated in the creation of their Private Banking Group. Also, during his tenure there he worked in the Commercial Banking Group where he traveled globally to lead the acquisitions of foreign banks and oversaw evaluating and risk rating the firms largest corporate/real estate and capital market exposure. He earned his B.A. from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

Thomas is a former board member of the Blue Ribbon Committee at California State College at Fullerton, as well as the Orange County Performing Arts Business Partnership. He is also a former Executive Board Member with United Way.

Thomas and his wife Marsha live in Newport Beach. During the weekend, he enjoys playing golf, as well as taking scenic walks along the coast. He also loves spending time with his two adult sons and three grandsons.

David Louis Levine is a Private Wealth Advisor and Senior Vice President at UBS, and one of the four principal advisors of the Spyglass Hill Advisors team. While he works with individuals to help cultivate their wealth, he has a broad array of certifications in private wealth, portfolio investment management, retirement plan consulting, exit planning strategies and overall financial planning. His true strength has been in his collaborative efforts to help create personalized solutions to pursue the financial needs of the clients his team serves.

David takes time to get to know his clients’ needs, desires and concerns, while balancing risks and returns, and maximizing efficiency. With the wisdom of someone who’s weathered the ups and downs of the markets during more than three decades of financial advisory experience, he helps his clients make investment choices, take tumult in stride and look beyond the day’s noisy news.

David embraces innovation to benefit his clients and their families, quickly and diligently upgrading his skills as needed. In addition, he taps into UBS Private Wealth Management resources to engineer personalized solutions and bespoke advice. He works with clients in a collaborative manner and uses the firms open architecture to provide individually tailored solutions. He loves crafting a truly personalized wealth management plan for each client and sharing his honest, unbiased advice.

Before joining UBS in 2007, David worked at American Express Financial Advisors.

David has been recognized as a Forbes Best-in-State Wealth Advisor five years in a row from 2020-2024.

The Forbes rating is compiled by Shook Research and awarded annually in April based on information from a 12-month period ending June of the prior year. Eligibility is based on quantitative factors and is not necessarily related to the quality of the investment advice. For more information on third party rating methodologies, please visit ubs.com/us/en/designationdisclosures.

Tim Thatcher is Senior Vice President–Wealth Management at UBS and a partner on the Spyglass Advisors Team.

Tim specializes in Financial Planning – working with corporations, C-suite executives and their families, coordinating decisions across relationships, and acting as a Financial Quarterback to be an extension of all service providers.  Tim’s comprehensive approach throughout his career integrates company benefits, retirement planning, asset management and estate planning to assist clients with their complex needs.

After obtaining his business degree in Finance, Tim has enjoyed developing trusted relationships with clients and their families and the rewards of helping them protect and grow their wealth.  Tim is known for his ability to look at a problem from many angles, communicate a range of options and make clients feel heard and comfortable.  The personal relationships are everlasting and his clients become an extension of his own family. 

Prior to joining UBS in 2012, Tim worked in the Financial Planning Division of Goldman Sachs for six years in both Orange County and the Greater Detroit area.  Tim was born and raised in the Midwest, where he graduated from the College of Business at Michigan State University, with a degree in Finance.  An active and avid sports fan, Tim currently resides in Orange County with his son London and is forever loyal to Detroit sports.  He has been named a Forbes Best-in-State Next-Gen Wealth Advisor twice, a designation for up-and-coming top advisors under age 40.

Fred Grand is a Senior Vice President and Private Wealth Financial Advisor at UBS with Spyglass Hill Advisors in Newport Beach, Calif.

Fred is responsible for providing high-net-worth individuals, families, business owners and institutions with customized wealth strategies, financial planning and access to lending solutions. He leads a team of experienced professionals from multiple disciplines who work in concert to uncover potential efficiencies.

Fred enjoys helping clients streamline the complexities that often come with significant wealth. His tenure in financial services has provided him with deep relationships in professional communities and a vast network of contacts. This connectivity allows him to support clients in their efforts to preserve, grow and transfer wealth effectively.

Prior to joining UBS, Fred was an advisor at Bank of America (formerly U.S. Trust), assisting high-net-worth clients and catering toto middle market companies and their owners. He served as an investment banker and CPA advising on mergers, acquisitions, and financing.

Fred began his career as an auditor for PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), where he was a consultant to Fortune 500 companies, private equity firms and hedge funds. Originally from Southern California, he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accountancy and financial planning from the University of San Diego. Prior to his employment at UBS, he was also an adjunct professor at his alma mater, teaching finance and accounting.

Outside of work, Fred enjoys spending time with his wife and three daughters in many recreational activities, including tennis, golf, skiing, cycling and relaxing on the beach. He also volunteers in his community.

John Hurford is a Senior Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager at UBS in Newport Beach, California. In this role, he is responsible for creating and maintaining personalized investment solutions by utilizing a broad range of wealth management services including financial planning and wealth strategy. This includes assisting clients establish goals and objectives, work towards developing overall strategy, formulating and implementing potential solutions, and conducting reviews to help clients monitor progress toward reaching the goals. In addition, he supports clients in navigate through changing market environments to provide guidance in the areas of asset allocation, derivative oriented strategies, tax-minimization strategies, and risk-based strategies.

Prior to UBS he was a Senior Portfolio Manager at Bank of America (formerly U.S. Trust). He managed portfolios for both institutions and individuals. He was one of the founding members of the national model portfolio program as head of fixed income research. Additionally, he  was one of the Lead Portfolio Managers for the Private Bank’s flagship global equity portfolio, Global Opportunities Portfolio (GOP), which had $1.2B in AUM. This strategy was in the top quintile over past 10 years among global equity strategies including hundreds of outside managers (i.e. third party SMA’s and mutual funds).

Prior to joining Bank of America, John worked as a consultant  at LPL Financial working with financial advisors to create and develop customized asset allocations in accordance with the client’s financial goals. He earned his Master’s of Financial Engineering from UC Berkeley – Haas School of Business and Bachelor’s of Business Administration from the University of San Diego. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

In his free time, John enjoys spending time with his wife and two sons. During the weekends John is an avid surfer, Olympic weightlifter, and an aspiring barbeque pit master.

Laura has been working in the financial services industry for over 19 years. She oversees client administration and client operational support. Laura attended the Academy for Business Careers and Post University. In her personal life, she has four children; Kaitlynn, Andrew, Julia, and Megan. Laura is an avid reader and loves spending time traveling and at the beach. She resides in Shelton, CT with her husband, John.

Laura Holland is the Team Administrator for Spyglass Hill Advisors at UBS in Newport Beach, California.  In her role she coordinates the client team and in-house specialists to deliver a high-touch client experience that is customized for each client’s unique situation.  Laura organizes a strategy-based approach for our clients across investment management, credit, wealth structuring, trust and estate planning services, philanthropy, and private banking.

Laura enjoys learning each client’s unique story, which helps the team better understand their history and future goals and objectives. This knowledge enables Laura to utilize her extensive professional experience and desire for excellence to serve clients with a holistic approach and properly deliver the necessary firm resources.

Prior to joining UBS, Laura was a Private Client Manager at Bank of America Private Bank, in Newport Beach.  Laura has over 30 years of experience in financial services and gained a well-rounded background having worked in various roles serving high-net-worth individuals and institutional clients.   

Laura currently lives in Rancho Mission Viejo and enjoys the outdoors, cooking and spending time with family.