Mr. Zarifes is a Managing Director and the Director of Wealth Management at Whittier Trust. He is also a member of the Whittier Trust Company Board of Directors and the firm’s Executive Committee. He has over 30 years of experience working with ultra-high net worth families and individuals. Peter is responsible for the strategic development and implementation of the firm’s wealth management platform, which includes: investment management (public securities and private alternative investments), estate and tax planning, trust services, philanthropic advisory, family office services and real estate. He is a frequent public speaker on the topic of wealth management for attorneys, CPAs and business owners, and a contributing author to several national publications.
Before joining Whittier Trust, Peter spent over a decade at Bessemer Trust, where he was a Managing Director and Head of the Los Angeles office, where he was responsible for the firm’s investment and wealth management business throughout the western United States. Prior to that, Peter spent 11 years as a Principal at Desmond, Marcello & Amster, where he specialized in the valuation of privately-held companies and intangible assets for mergers and acquisitions, estate planning, marriage dissolution and litigation. He is a contributing author to several books and publications on business valuation and has qualified as an expert witness on the topic. Peter began his career in the Audit Department at Price Waterhouse.
A native Southern Californian, Peter received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Claremont McKenna College, where he graduated magna cum laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and Omicron Delta Epsilon honor societies. He received his Master of Business Administration degree from the Harvard Business School, with concentrations in Finance and General Management.