Alpa PatelAlpa Patel

Managing Director, Wealth Planning and Advice

Alpa Patel is a Managing Director and the West Coast Head of Wealth Planning and Advice for the J.P. Morgan Wealth Management division of J.P. Morgan. In her role, she provides leadership and guidance to financial advisors and their clients across a wide array of planning strategies including trusts and estates, taxation1, business succession, philanthropy, stock option planning, retirement and education. Alpa draws on her extensive background to educate clients, share insights, convey best practices and impart thought leadership ideas that inform the development of tailored and individualized plans. The author of numerous white papers, she is skilled at explaining sophisticated issues in a structured and well-reasoned manner. Alpa believes that the careful consideration of wealth planning strategies should function hand-in-glove with investment management to help address the totality of each client's financial picture. In addition to English, Alpa is fluent in both Hindi and Gujarati. She is a graduate of San Francisco State University and holds a B.A. degree in Broadcast Communications. Alpa earned a J.D. degree from Golden Gate University School of Law on a merit scholarship. She holds an LL.M. degree in taxation with honors from the same institution and is a member of the State Bar of California. Alpa served at leading law firms as an attorney focused on corporate and charitable formation and on tax and estate planning for high-net-worth individuals, trust and estate litigation and forensic accounting. In 2004, she segued into financial services at Credit Suisse as the West Coast Head for their Wealth Planning Group, and was a frequent presenter to Silicon Valley corporate executives and charitable institutions and presented at Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit on the topic of "Women, Wealth & Children". Alpa moved to Barclays as a Director in its Wealth Advisory Group and transitioned with her team to Stifel upon their acquisition. She joined J.P. Morgan in 2017, drawn to the firm's mission to provide holistic wealth management.