Our People:

We are only as good as our people, and we have been fortunate to have recruited and retained individuals of excellent ability, skill and experience. Many firms in our industry experience significant turnover, but our staff averages over ten years of service, with some individuals having served for over twenty. This means that the people clients work with at the firm understand their situation and can provide knowledgeable support.

Partners:

J.M. Forbes & Co. is a limited liability partnership of three partners, each overseeing a designated group of clients, but familiar with all and each contributing from domains of specific strength in business operations, investments, trusts and other areas. The current partners are as follows:

Jeff Bernier received his MBA in Finance at Boston College, after early work in mutual funds at Scudder, Stevens and Clark.  Following a graduate school internship in private equity he moved into the oversight and management of increasingly large pools of capital, first at John Hancock, and then at MetLife. He joined JMF in 2015, leaving the position of Head of Investments for MetLife Advisors, LLC. Jeff is a Certified Investment Management Analyst, a Certified Trust and Financial Advisor and is a member of the Investment Management Consultants Association, the Boston Security Analysts Society, the Boston Economic Club, and the CFA Institute.  He also serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Forbes House Museum.

Paul Elias completed graduate work in science at Harvard and then moved into business management in a series of small science-related service companies. Paul joined JMF in 2005, and is a Certified Trust and Financial Advisor (CTFA and Series 65). He has taken a special interest in updating the firm’s internal systems, communications and service offerings.  Paul participates in the Boston Family Office Group, serves as trustee managing the historic Charles Street Meeting House, where the firm is located, serves on several boards including the Coalition for Buzzards Bay and is a life-long client of the firm.

David Warner took a degree in finance at Boston University and worked his way through all the departments in his family’s regional bank before becoming an investment manager at State Street Bank where he chaired the strategy committee. Moving on to Bank of New England, he managed an investment group and the bank’s Small Cap Equity Fund. Since arriving at JMF in 1989 Dave has led our investment activity. He is an active board member of the Cambridge Trust Company and the Gloucester Maritime Heritage Center.

Administration:

Paul Kendrigan brings deep experience in financial controls and operations to his function as Chief Compliance Officer and head of Account Management. The three account managers, Tim Green, Scott Smith and Andy Robberson, each handle transactions and specific projects in assigned client accounts. Each brings depth of knowledge to account administration; Operations for Tim and Andy, and Estate Administration for Scott.  While she manages many of our office systems, Project Manager Nyana Simpson (pronounced “Nana”) also manages multiple aspects of our client communications.

Investment:

Tom Brosnan (CFA, CMT, CTFA, MBA) is our Senior Manager for Investments.  He and Portfolio Manager Ben Waddicor divide responsibility for the investment of individual portfolios under the oversight of partners Dave Warner and Jeff Bernier. A special relationship with the Cambridge Trust Company allows JMF to participate as part of their substantial investment group, consisting of seven analysts working on a broad range of equities and fixed income securities.

Tax:

Linda Leahy (Masters of Taxation) manages our tax group, bringing experience from some of the top Boston accounting, investment and law firms, special skills in multi-jurisdiction tax matters, and expertise in the management of tax groups. Leah Duffield provides support to the tax group by maintaining and orderly workflow through the busy tax season. Eva Alpert’s law degree and CPA complement her stint as an IRS auditor, her special skills in real estate and her years of professional experience preparing tax returns of all sizes and complexities. Brian Chirco also brings a law degree to his tax preparation work, in addition to a specialty in estate administration questions, related lifetime planning, and extensive experience in family-office settings.

Accounting:

Controller Jeanne Gould has a Masters of Finance and manages the accounting and human resources functions for the firm, for various of the Elizabeth Islands and for a number of foundations and other entities. Bob Goodnow and Barbara Fitzgerald  support Jeanne in these functions.