71 West Capital Partners has officially launched as a full-service registered investment advisor following the departure of longtime UBS Financial Services executives Denis Cleary and Greg Devine. The new firm, headquartered in Boston with a second office in Los Angeles, marks a significant move within the wealth management sector as the co-founders leverage independence to expand capabilities for ultra-high-net-worth clients across the United States.
Cleary and Devine previously led one of UBS’s most significant and fastest-growing private wealth practices, overseeing approximately $6 billion in client assets across 35 states. Their transition to establishing 71 West Capital Partners reflects a strategic step aimed at providing more flexible, customized, and sophisticated wealth management services to entrepreneurs, business owners, senior executives, families, and philanthropic organizations.
Cleary will serve as CEO from the Boston office, while Devine will manage the Los Angeles office. The firm has selected BNY Pershing to support custody, clearing, and related infrastructure.
The two advisors bring nearly two decades of partnership, dating back to their time at Goldman Sachs, which began in 2006. Their move to UBS in 2020 resulted in one of the industry’s most successful practice transitions, with the team recovering 100% of its prior revenue within a year. Since that transition, the business has doubled its assets under management and its forward-looking revenue run-rate.
Cleary previously worked as a corporate attorney and later served as Executive Director of a major private operating foundation before being named Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, where he became widely recognized as one of the industry’s top advisors. He later continued his leadership trajectory at UBS. Cleary is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross and Boston College Law School.
Devine began his wealth management career in 2004, following a stint in Silicon Valley’s technology sector. His background in the tech industry helped develop a client base focused on high-growth entrepreneurs and their families. He relocated to the Los Angeles area in 2016 to support the team’s expanding West Coast presence and was named a Managing Director at UBS in 2020. Devine holds a B.A. from Boston College and an M.B.A. from the University of Notre Dame.
The new RIA also includes team members Abigail Harris, Matthew Kirshner, Chris Carbone, William Corman, Spencer Danziger, and Nolan Morr, all of whom bring extensive expertise and continuity from past collaborations with Cleary and Devine. The firm’s launch was supported by transition consultant Fusion Financial Partners and legal counsel Patrick J. Burns, Jr., Esq.
71 West Capital Partners aims to combine the scale and sophistication of a global financial institution with the flexibility and agility of an independent boutique, offering bespoke wealth management services to some of the nation’s most sophisticated ultra-high-net-worth clients.
