UBS has hired financial advisors John Pham and Jimmy Yip for its Palo Alto and San Jose offices in California, expanding the firm’s wealth management presence in Silicon Valley.
The team joins UBS from Merrill Lynch and will join the UBS San Francisco Market, led by Market Executive Emily de la Reguera. The advisors will report to Silicon Valley Market Director Jacqueline Kehoe.
Pham and Yip bring experience serving executives, entrepreneurs, business owners, working professionals, and families in one of the country’s largest concentrations of technology wealth.
Their addition supports UBS’s continued expansion in Northern California, where the firm’s wealth management business works with clients whose financial needs can include concentrated stock positions, liquidity events, business ownership, estate planning, investment management, and multigenerational wealth strategies.
Pham brings more than 22 years of experience advising Silicon Valley executives, entrepreneurs, and families.
His wealth management approach focuses on understanding a client’s complete financial situation and developing personalized strategies designed around long-term financial objectives.
For entrepreneurs and executives, those considerations can extend beyond traditional portfolio management and include equity compensation, privately held company interests, tax considerations, liquidity planning, and strategies surrounding major corporate transactions.
Yip has worked in financial services since 2004 and uses a goals-based approach with working professionals, business owners, and families.
His practice focuses on understanding clients’ objectives, concerns, and financial priorities before developing customized investment and wealth management strategies.
Yip earned a bachelor’s degree in business marketing from San Jose State University.
Pham and Yip are being joined at UBS by Client Associates Leslie Vinoya, Kimberly Russell, and Randall Bane.
The broader team’s move gives UBS an established advisory group with experience serving clients in the Silicon Valley market rather than building a practice from scratch.
Kehoe also has an existing relationship with the advisors from her previous tenure at Merrill Lynch.
UBS said the trust and working relationships Kehoe developed with the team were important factors in their decision to join the firm.
The recruitment reflects the ongoing competition among major wealth management firms for experienced advisors serving high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients, particularly in regions where business ownership, technology compensation, private company equity, and entrepreneurial wealth create more complex planning requirements.
UBS is one of the world’s largest wealth managers and combines financial advisory services with global investment, asset management, lending, and investment banking capabilities.
For advisors serving technology executives and founders, access to a broader institutional platform can be particularly relevant when clients require services spanning investments, lending, liquidity management, family wealth planning, and access to global markets.
UBS reported approximately $7.3 trillion of invested assets as of the second quarter of 2026. The Zurich-headquartered company operates in more than 50 markets globally and also maintains asset management and investment banking businesses.
The Silicon Valley appointments follow other recent recruiting and office investments by UBS Global Wealth Management in the United States.
The firm’s expansion strategy includes adding experienced advisory teams while strengthening regional leadership and providing those teams with UBS’s global wealth management infrastructure.
For Pham and Yip, the move provides access to that platform while allowing the team to continue focusing on personalized financial advice and long-term client relationships.
Their arrival also adds to UBS’s ability to serve the distinctive wealth management needs of Silicon Valley, where entrepreneurs and executives can face rapidly changing financial circumstances tied to private company funding, public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, stock compensation, and other corporate events.
KEY QUOTES:
“We are thrilled to welcome John, Jimmy, and their team to UBS. John and Jimmy have built an exceptional team grounded in thoughtful advice, deep relationships and an unwavering commitment to their clients.”
Emily de la Reguera, Market Executive At UBS
“Their experience serving the unique needs of Silicon Valley executives, entrepreneurs and families, together with the strength of our global wealth management platform, makes them an outstanding addition to UBS and an important part of our continued growth in the region.”
Emily de la Reguera, Market Executive At UBS
“I have had the opportunity to work alongside this team and witness firsthand their dedication to delivering outstanding client service and fostering long-term relationships.”
Jacqueline Kehoe, Silicon Valley Market Director At UBS
