About Us
You’ll find that most Licensed Professional Fiduciaries have come from other fields of work. Some come from social work, some from elder care fields, some from medical fields, some from financial management and some from the legal field just to name a few. Since a fiduciary is called upon to deal with legal, medical, financial, end of life, and other unique matters there is no specific prior experience that makes a person more or less qualified for this profession. What is required is maturity, extensive life experience, an ability to work with all types of people, an ability to be compassionate, and probably most important of all, a desire for lifelong learning. Many of the client cases we take on have some similarities, but every case has unique components that require creative solutions and flexibility in the execution of our responsibilities.
Our team comes from varied professional backgrounds and reasons for joining the fiduciary field, but one thing we all have in common is a passion for the work and a dedication to providing the best care to our clients.
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Susan W.
“When I’m not working you can find me taking my camel, Gus, for a walk.”
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Katie M.
“When I’m not working, I can be found jumping for joy at Stonehenge!”
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Shelby T.
“When I’m not working I can be found getting ready for the Kentucky Derby!”
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Suzi P.
When I’m not working I’m getting in some trout fishing on my camping trip.”
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David Hanks
“When I’m not working I’m kayaking and crabbing off the coast of California.”
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Christy S.
“When I’m not working I can be found on a motorcycle trip with my husband.”
Meet Our Team
OWNER & LICENSED PROFESSIONAL FIDUCIARY
David Hanks, MBA
I’m a father of two daughters and have been married since 1984. Over 40 years, my career has taken me into several industries including food manufacturing, semiconductor manufacturing, transportation/logistics, and real estate. I’ve managed departments with up to 250 employees , budgets exceeding $15 million, and assets exceeding $100 million.
I’ve been a Licensed Professional Fiduciary for 15+ years and I started my professional fiduciary practice in 2007. My journey first began back in the late 90's when my wife and I performed a fiduciary role, both financial and medical, for her grandfather who suffered from Alzheimer's disease, which included meeting all the progressive needs for housing, personal and medical care, management of his financial affairs, and end of life decisions that accompany this very difficult disease. And later we performed the same fiduciary roles for her mother and father who both eventually passed away from terminal illnesses. Like many family members in our society we took these loved ones into our home until they either passed away or their care requirements exceeded our ability to meet their needs without help.
Education and Licensing: BS in Business - University of Colorado; MBA - Saint Mary's College; California Licensed Real Estate Broker; California Licensed Professional Fiduciary - Lic # 237
FIDUCIARY ACCOUNT MANAGER
Katie M., MBA
I grew up on the East Coast and have lived all over the US. I am the proud mother of three grown children and held several jobs in corporate America before coming to work for NCF.
I joined North Coast Fiduciary in early 2011. Providing fiduciary services to our clients comes naturally to me, having served as POA for Healthcare and Finances and Trustee for my elderly parents for over ten years. I took responsibility for the management of their finances and investments, the payment of bills, managed their rental property and the sale of their house, the resolution of legal issues, their housing, their long term care insurance and claims (working for years to recover funds due to them), the hiring and supervising of care services, their medical affairs, and the medical advocate role during their hospital stays. I worked very closely with their doctors and attorneys. When my parents passed away, I performed the administration of the trust and their personal property until fully distributed to heirs. In these roles I was able to protect them from a variety of financial elder abusers that routinely prey on our society's most vulnerable.
I thoroughly enjoy being a part of North Coast Fiduciary and feel that we serve a very important role in providing care for our clients financially, legally, medically, and personally, and protect them when they are not able to protect themselves. I know it gave my parents comfort to know someone was looking out for them, and that’s what we do for our clients.
Education: BA in French - University of Minnesota; MBA - Thunderbird Graduate School of International Management; Certificate - Cours de Civilisation Francaise a la Sorbonne; Business Administration Degree - Katharine Gibbs School, Boston.
FIDUCIARY ACCOUNT MANAGER
Susan W., BA
I spent the last 40 years living abroad (Caracas, Paris, Dubai, Germany) before moving back to my birthplace, Walnut Creek, in 2018. I’m fluent in Spanish, French, English, and Italian, with some conversational German. My childhood living abroad helped me adapt to and understand different cultures, lifestyles, and people.
I spent 17+ years working for various divisions of the New York Times before joining NCF in 2019. My first fiduciary exposure was after my father passed away in 2018. I was named as Trustee of my father’s trust, and like most people thrust into this role, I didn’t know much about the process of settling an estate. I hired an experienced Probate Attorney who helped me navigate the entire legal process with the unique complexities of my father’s businesses in both the US and France. I found the work of a Trustee both challenging, complex, and interesting, and as a result, I decided that I wanted to become a Licensed Professional Fiduciary. I plan to take the California Professional Fiduciary licensing exam.
In my current role I’m involved in every aspect of our client’s finances, care, and medical needs. At NCF I’ve been impressed with everyone’s work ethic, the strong values they live by, the passion for the work that they do, and the way they work as a team to support the needs of the clients. I count myself fortunate to work with this group of people doing important work for our community.
Education & Certifications: BA in International Communications, Minor in Politics - American University of Paris; Completion of the UC Riverside Professional Fiduciary Management Certification Program; Member of the California Professional Fiduciary Association
MEDICAL CASE MANAGER
Shelby T., BS
Prior to moving to California I lived in 8 different states.
A family “rescue mission” led me to the fiduciary field. In 2018, my husband and I became aware that his father was the victim of horrendous elder abuse so we moved from L.A. to Berkeley, obtained restraining orders against the abusers, and my husband became temporary conservator, and later special administrator, of my father-in-law’s person and estate. My father-in-law was suffering from end-stage dementia and was totally helpless. In spite of that, he had rare occasions of clarity that impacted me the most, such as saying to us, “Thank you for saving my life, I love you”. We cared for him 24/7 for 8 months until he passed away, and then arranged for his burial with full naval honors in the national cemetery as a WWII and Korean War veteran. Later my husband sued the perpetrator for elder financial and physical abuse, which embroiled us in a vast amount of paperwork and continual court hearings. I’ve always been a helper by nature and although my original plans were derailed by M.S., I aim to be of service to the elderly and adults with disabilities in need by becoming a Licensed Professional Fiduciary. I’m honored and excited to be a part of the North Coast Fiduciary team!
Education & Certifications: BS in Human Services with Specialization in Counseling from Southwestern A/G University; Member of American Society on Aging; Member of the California Professional Fiduciary Association
HUMAN RESOURCES, PAYROLL, CORPORATE ACCOUNTING
Janet H.
I’ve raised two daughters, have been married since 1984, and am a lover of all animals. When I’m not juggling the demands of two businesses I love traveling with my daughters to far away places like the grounds of Versailles Palace outside of Paris.
I spent 40+ years working in the recycled material industry, starting first as an employee, and later running my own company called North Coast Fibers. My first experience with the work of being a fiduciary was in serving the needs of my mother, father, and grandfather when they could no longer care for themselves, alongside my husband, David. After this experience my husband and I looked into becoming Licensed Professional Fiduciaries and not long after, David got his Fiduciary License. Together, we opened North Coast Fiduciary as a DBA under the North Coast Fibers corporate blanket in 2008.
My many years of running North Coast Fibers brought with it all the experience and infrastructure needed to run the business side of a successful fiduciary practice. Today, I support the business in a number of staff roles including Human Resources, Payroll, Corporate Accounting, and Corporate Tax. When needed I have also stepped in to support the practice as an interim Medical Case Manager. The experience of managing the medical needs of my mother and grandfather coupled with being their advocate in the medical and care facility environments provided me with the necessary experience to do the same for our North Coast Fiduciary clients. This is extremely fulfilling work and I feel fortunate to be involved in a profession that is so needed as our population (including myself) continues to age.
ACCOUNTS PAYABLE & VENDOR MANAGEMENT
Christy S.
When I am not working at NCF, I’m enjoying my real passion which is being with my grandchildren. I’m blessed with 9 beautiful grandchildren who all love taking photos sitting on grandma's lap. Have you ever try to get 9 kids to sit still long enough to take a picture? Any job is easy compared to that.
I’ve been working at North Coast Fiduciary since August of 2022 so I guess you could say I’m the "new gal". Prior to NCF, I spent 22 years working in the Tractor Parts Industry and if I never see another tractor transmission again it will be too soon. I never even knew there was such a business as a professional fiduciary, but I am seeing every day the issues that our team has to deal with and it has been very eye opening. Just in my short time here, there have been end of life challenges for clients, incidences of financial elder abuse where we have had to intervene, squatters in houses we have had to evict, and generally just a lot of clients who really need help in dealing with their day to day challenges of managing their medical and financial affairs. It is nice to be a part of a group that actually helps our vulnerable and aging population.
ACCOUNTING
Suzi P.
I grew up in the Bay Area, have one son, and have been married to my current husband since 2018.
I came to North Coast Fiduciary with 30+ years of accounting experience working with small and medium size business owners to help them with General Accounting, Tax Filings, and Payroll. I was originally referred to NCF when I was hired to support them with their corporate accounting function and to prepare a large number of Client Court Accountings they were required to prepare annually for all of their cases. Accountings for Conservatorships, Trusts and Estates are quite different from traditional business accounting so there was a slight learning curve at first, but I quickly became an expert in the preparation of these documents to conform with the Probate Code requirements and the Court. I enjoy doing these types of accountings because they are so different from the other 80% of the work I do for other companies.