Our founder, John Murray Forbes (1813-1898)
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 four 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 (CIMA®) professional, a Certified Trust and Fiduciary Advisor (CTFA) and is a member of the Launchpad Venture Group, the Boston Economic Club, the Boston Committee on Foreign Relations, the Investments and Wealth Institute, the Boston Security Analysts Society and the CFA Institute. He currently serves on the Board of Overseers and Finance Committee for Historic New England and is a member of the Board of Directors for the Cohasset Conservation Trust.
Following her graduation from Harvard, Beth Colt started her career in finance at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette working in mergers and acquisitions. After several years in finance in New York, she transitioned to the business side of the entertainment industry in Los Angeles with leadership roles in independent film and television. In 2008, she launched a real estate investment company, and since 2019 has served on the Board of Trustees at Martha’s Vineyard Bank. Beth joined JMF in 2020, and is a Certified Trust and Fiduciary Advisor (CTFA and Series 65). Leveraging her experience in business development and management is her focus at the firm. She also serves as a corporator at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
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 Fiduciary 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.
Bracken Hendricks (Series 65) holds a masters degree from the Harvard Kennedy School, and has worked at the White House Office of the Vice President and in the U.S. Department of Commerce, NOAA. He came to JMF in 2022, after a decade of experience as a financier and business owner, where he directly structured over one hundred million dollars of debt and equity investment in clean energy infrastructure and other real estate assets. He has served as an advisor to philanthropic funds and impact investors, developed bond financing programs with local government, and influenced federal energy, tax, and economic stimulus legislation. He is also the co-author of a book on the business opportunity of solving climate change with Washington State Governor Jay Inslee.
Administration:
Paul Kendrigan (CFIRS®) brings deep experience in financial controls and operations to his function as Chief Compliance Officer and head of Account Management. The four account managers, Scott Smith (CTFA), Andy Robberson (CTFA), Ben Popowich, and Matt Donato (CTFA) handle transactions and projects in assigned client accounts. Each brings depth of knowledge to account administration including Operations and Estate Administration. While she manages many of our office systems, Project Manager Nyana Simpson (pronounced “NaNa”) also manages multiple aspects of our client communications and compliance.
Investment:
Tom Brosnan (CFA, CMT®, CTFA, MBA) is our Senior Manager for Investments. He and Portfolio Manager Ben Waddicor (CMT®, CIMA®) divide responsibility for the investment of individual portfolios under the oversight of 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:
Kelly Turner (CPA, BA and MA Finance) manages our tax group, bringing experience from her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers and with special strengths in family-owned entities, trust and partnership issues, real estate, and corporate taxation, and expertise in the management of tax groups. 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. Supporting Tax as well as overseeing the office administration, is Jacqueline Morales.
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. Barbara Fitzgerald and Jennifer Motay support Jeanne in these functions.