Our team consists of experienced professionals, each with over 30 years in the investment and wealth management industry with leading national private banks, national trust companies, and national boutique investment managers.
Our clients enjoy direct servicing relationships with our experienced members and representatives.
The principals of the firm have a substantial portion of their personal net worth invested in the same strategies the firm offers to clients.
President and Founder
Mr. Sutherland founded Strategic Probability Partners at the end of 2014, after a corporate career spanning over 30 years in leadership positions with leading national investment advisory firms and trust companies. He has extensive experience over this entire period assisting high net worth individuals and families with their investment planning , estate and fiduciary planning , wealth transfer and transfer tax planning , insurance , and private banking needs and requirements. As a result, he possesses a unique breadth of experience, insights, and judgement gained over many years.
Upon retirement from his corporate career at the end of 2013, he spent the majority of 2014 commissioning Ned Davis Research, Inc. to independently conduct and blindly back-test a prescribed discipline and approach to asset allocation. The results of this research were compelling, both as to consistency and magnitude. The discipline and tools emanating from this significant custom research effort now form the basis of the inputs which guide the tactical asset allocation component of the firm’s core wealth investment strategy.
From mid-1999 until his retirement at the end of 2013, Mr. Sutherland held a number of different Executive positions with Mellon/BNY Mellon including: Vice Chairman of the Wealth Management Division of the parent company; National Director of Portfolio Management; Executive Director of the Eastern US; and President of the Southeast US region. In all capacities, he was a key contributing factor in defining best practices, and directly participating in the activities that drove double digit sales, revenue, and profit growth.
From mid-1996 to mid-1999, he served as a Financial Advisor for Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. , generating and serving significant relationships with high net worth individual, families, foundations , and retirement funds. This period, both at Bernstein and in the markets at large, had a material impact on his views of money management approaches and practices.
For 14 years, from mid-1982 to mid-1996, Mr. Sutherland held several sales, sales management, and general management roles with Northern Trust Bank of Florida, the last being Senior Vice President and Director of investment Management and Trust Services. During this period of explosive growth for the firm, he was a member of the internal Board of Directors for the Florida subsidiary, a member of the strategic planning process for the Florida subsidiary, and a member of the parent company’s National Marketing Committee.
Mr. Sutherland began his career in 1979 with Arthur Andersen & Co. as a staff consultant in the Management Information and Consulting Division, and also served as a brokerage consultant with Connecticut General Life Insurance Company prior to joining Northern Trust in 1982.
Mr. Sutherland received his Bachelor of Science degree from the Indiana University School of Business in 1979. He enjoys golf, tennis, swimming, classic wooden boats, and his circle of friends and valued relationships gained over many years. He, and his wife Lori, have focused their charitable interests over the years on gap educational financial assistance for well deserving, economically challenged students who have demonstrated commitment, citizenship, and achievement in their early academic endeavors.
Chief Operating Officer
David Williams is an experienced wealth management professional with a deep and diverse skill set, acquired through multiple roles with increasing responsibility and complexity over twenty years in the financial services industry. David is a results-oriented, problem-solving manager who thrives in a dynamic, challenging environment.
David has extensive experience in wealth management in the areas of:
David held several positions with BNY Mellon and Mellon for over 15 years in Boston and South Florida. Most recently, David was the Chief Administrative Officer for the Southeast Region of BNY Mellon Wealth Management, where he was responsible for oversight of all daily business operations for 7 offices in Florida and Georgia, with approximately 125 staff, $8.8 billion in assets under management (AUM) and annual revenues of $65 million.
David’s broad range of responsibilities as Regional CAO included: functioning as Regional Information Risk Officer, Business Resumption Planning Officer, KYC/AML Liaison and Facilities Liaison, interim portfolio Team Leader, audit lead, member of multiple national committees, Subject Matter Expert (SME) regarding Wealth Management policies, procedures and best practices, including internal and external systems applications, processes and workflows.
Between 2004 and 2008, David served as Business Planning and Project Manager for Craig Sutherland in his national roles, where David provided strategic business planning, project and operational management support. David’s range of responsibilities included: acting as senior liaison for National Director and as National Administrative Coordinator, project management oversight for several projects, Integration Project team member for merger between Mellon and Bank of New York in 2007, and research, analysis and resolution of internal and external service and procedure issues for senior management.
David began his career with Mellon Private Asset Management in South Florida as a portfolio officer from 1999 to 2004. David managed private client relationships to establish and implement portfolio strategies based on individual client objectives, and proactively addressed clients’ investment, financial and wealth management needs. He directed daily management and administration of $50 million of investment portfolios for high net worth individuals, trusts and retirement plans, and assisted a Senior Portfolio Officer with daily administration and management of an additional $250 million in client relationships. David was temporarily assigned to other offices several times to assist senior management and to on-board and train new staff, while continuing to manage his existing book of client business.
From 1996 to 1999, David served as a Financial Advisor Associate with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., where he was responsible for daily management and administration of over $200 million in private client assets, including all aspects of client servicing, and daily interaction and problem solving with clients, referral sources and high net worth prospects. He provided service and support functions, including equity and fixed-income portfolio analysis, investment planning and asset allocation analysis, account creation, maintenance and administration, as well as presentation creation. David began his career with Fleet Finance, followed by several years each with A.A. Friedman & Co., as a sales and credit officer, and with Enterprise Rent-a-Car in several South Florida locations.
David received a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications from Cornell University in 1989, with a major in advertising and public relations and a minor in business management and marketing. He is active in his local community of Pelham, NH, where he manages the Challenger Division of Little League baseball for children with special needs, and as a youth lacrosse coach. David enjoys lacrosse, ice hockey, alpine skiing, photography and a large circle of friends. He is on the Board of Directors of MetroLacrosse, a Boston-based non-profit organization whose mission is to foster positive life enrichment, character development and healthy life choices among urban youth and teens through lacrosse. David is also charitably involved with Special Olympics, educational organizations, and organizations that support our military veterans.
Managing Director
Ms. Sutherland is an accomplished finance executive who began her career working with wealthy families in early 1986. Since that time she has had extensive experience: working with a variety of investment platforms, meeting the challenges of fiduciary requirements, implementing estate and transfer strategies, working in conjunction with tax and legal advisors, and understanding and addressing the personal issues that contribute to every family’s unique investment and wealth plan.
In addition, she has held significant corporate positions that required management of a sizable number of employees in multiple offices, significant revenue and profit goals, and responsibility for directing substantial advertising, marketing and charitable budgets.&
Ms. Sutherland received her BSBA from Boston University School of Management and her MBA from the University of Miami. The majority of her MBA was obtained thru the Saturday Executive Program while she was working full time at the Xerox Corporation. Shortly before obtaining her MBA she was approached by the Northern Trust Bank of Florida to become the first woman sales advisor in the Florida Headquarters.
For ten years, from mid-1986 to mid-1996, in her career at Northern Trust she advanced from a sales advisor to Sales Manager and Marketing Director for Northern Trust Bank of Florida in Palm Beach County. She was part of a team sent to the Palm Beach operation of Northern Trust to “re- direct” the business toward a more profitable and stable entity. The decisions made and skills obtained with this assignment were formative. Additionally, she was also required to use her skills to develop, maintain and retain clients at this crucial time. This provided exposure to multiple complex wealth strategies and gained knowledge of a variety of investment managers from across the country that all reside in Palm Beach.
In 1996 Ms. Sutherland left Northern Trust to establish an office for the New York investment firm of Neuberger Berman. At that time Roy Neuberger, the founder, was still working at the firm – which was still a private entity. Her exposure to the vast resources and talent of Neuberger Berman served to take her understanding of the investment landscape to the next level. This combined with her knowledge of fiduciary strategies and her focus on her clients’ individual needs came together to form the foundation of her expertise.
In 2000, Mr. and Mrs. Sutherland were married and relocated to Boston. Ms. Sutherland eventually joined State Street Global Advisors in their storied Private Client Group which had been serving the original successful merchants of Boston since the early 1900’s. The client base of State Street had changed with the extensive M&A activity in Boston fueled by the technology boon. These entrepreneurial clients added another layer of knowledge with regard to their unique exposure to their own firms and planning strategies.
In 2003, State Street spun off their Private Client Group which was acquired by the US Trust Company – then owned by Charles Schwab. At this time, Ms. Sutherland was asked to manage the group she had joined and became responsible for Sales and Marketing for the New England Region. Her responsibilities were to oversee a significant revenue and profit goal and advertising marketing and charitable contributions budget for the region. She also became responsible for a number of sales teams spread across a variety of offices.
Ms. Sutherland left US Trust in 2006 to attend to matters relating to her own family as a result of the death of her father. She re-emerged for a short time in 2007 at SCS Financial a newly formed Multi Family Office Firm in Boston. She resigned her position at SCS due to a diagnosis of Breast Cancer. In 2009 the Sutherland’s returned to Florida.
Ms. Sutherland has been active in a variety of charitable and non-profit organizations over the years. Currently she is selectively involved in a variety of causes supporting animal welfare and gap educational funding for those in need of a “hand up”.