Tim is currently the Director of New Business Lines and serves as Chair of Aspiriant's Board of Directors. From 1991 – 2009 he was Chief Executive Officer of Aspiriant and of one of its predecessor firms. He has nearly 40 years of experience in the personal financial and investment planning profession. Tim has advised a select group of corporate executives, professionals, and business owners throughout the United States and overseas since 1973. Before founding Kochis Fitz, the predecessor firm to Aspiriant, in 1991, he was National Director of Personal Financial Planning for Deloitte & Touche (1985 - 1991) and before that for Bank of America (1981 - 1985).
Tim has had a tremendous influence on the development of the planning profession through his service in professional and educational bodies. In 2006, he was awarded the inaugural Charles R. Schwab Impact Award for outstanding individual leadership in the independent advisory profession and the University of California Berkeley Business School Extension has created an annual award for teaching excellence in his name. In 2007, Barrons ranked him fifth in its inaugural listing of the “Top 100 Independent Advisors” in the U.S., and the San Francisco Business Times ranked him first among the top 25 independent Wealth Managers in its 2007 and 2008 listings. Financial Planning Magazine has just listed him (for the second time) as one of his profession’s “Movers and Shakers”.
His current professional activities include:
- Chair of the International Advisory Panel for the Financial Planning Standards Council of China.
- Member of the Advisory Board of CCH Financial and Estate Planning Reporter.
- Member of the San Francisco Estate Planning Council.
- Director (Hon.) of the Japanese Academic Society for Financial Planning.
Past responsibilities have included:
- Chair of the Board of Directors of the Financial Planning Standards Board, the international CFP® certification authority.
- Chair of the Board of Governors of the Foundation for Financial Planning.
- Chair of the International CFP® (Certified Financial Planner) Council.
- President of the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, the US CFP® certification authority.
- Chair of the Board of Examiners of the CFP® Board.
As chair of the Board of Examiners, Tim was responsible for supervising the creation of the examination now used throughout the profession to qualify Certified Financial Planner® candidates. In addition, he was a co-founder of the Personal Financial Planning Program at University of California-Berkeley, one of the first accredited financial planning programs in the United States, and where he taught for 18 years. Tim now serves as the Honorary Chair of its Advisory Board.
Tim has long been acknowledged as one of the key leaders of his profession. He was named Financial Planner of the Year in 1987 by the San Francisco chapter of the then I.A.F.P. (the precursor to the Financial Planning Association). He has been included in Worth Magazine's list of the country's Best Financial Advisers each year since the list was initially published in 1994. Tim edited, and along with his colleagues at Kochis Fitz, co-authored the book, Wealth Management, A Concise Guide to Financial Planning and Investment Management for Wealthy Clients (now in its second edition, 2006). Tim is also the author of the book Managing Concentrated Stock Wealth: An Adviser's Guide to Building Customized Solutions (June 2005). He is frequently quoted in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and many other publications and is a sought-after speaker for financial and investment forums throughout the world.
Tim earned an undergraduate degree from Marquette University in 1968, a law degree from the University of Michigan in 1973, and an MBA from the University of Chicago in 1979. Tim served in the US Army from 1969 to 1971 including a tour of duty in Vietnam where he received a Purple Heart for wounds received in action.
His civic involvements include membership on the Boards of the Asian Art Museum, Dominican University, Asia Foundation and San Francisco Bay Keeper.
