Mark Philibosian, CFA, MBA

The Person on Your Side of the Table

Mark Philibosian

Founder, Fairway Trust Support

For my entire career, I’ve been the person clients rely on to get complex things done efficiently and accurately.

A Background Built for Every Part of the Process

Trust Administration Requires Breadth and Depth

Investments

I hold the CFA charter and spent years in institutional asset management at BlackRock — giving me a real, technical understanding of the investment accounts a trust often holds.

Real Estate

I’m a CA licensed real estate agent. When a trust holds real property, I understand appraisals, comps, disclosures, and the sale process firsthand — not secondhand.

Complex Project Management

My MBA from UCLA Anderson (top 2% of my class) and over a decade in Management Consulting at EY leading large, multi-workstream transformation engagements taught me how to run exactly the kind of multi-institution, multi-deadline process that trust settlement demands.

Communication

Years of working across institutions, attorneys, and financial professionals have taught me how to translate technical detail into plain language. I’ve led presentations for C-suite executives at national companies and billion-dollar investment funds. That same skill works both directions — I connect fluently with the professionals managing the technical pieces, and just as clearly with the beneficiaries who simply need to understand what’s happening and why.

A Bit More About Me

Santa Barbara Roots, a Global Perspective

I grew up in Goleta and have deep roots in this community — something that matters when I’m working with local families through what’s often a personal and emotional process, not just a transactional one. I studied in New Zealand and Hong Kong, and have since worked across India, Cambodia, Australia, and Bangladesh — experience that’s given me a genuine comfort operating amid complexity, ambiguity, and unfamiliar systems, wherever they show up. I’ve also worked internationally with the nonprofits COAF and ATEC, work that shaped how I think about service, responsibility, and showing up for people during difficult circumstances.

I’m married to my wife, who spent 12 years teaching elementary school in Santa Barbara — work that takes a particular kind of patience, care, and commitment to showing up for people. We have two young children, and this community is genuinely home for us.

Important to Know

What I Am — and What I’m Not

I’m not an attorney, CPA, or licensed fiduciary, and nothing I do replaces the advice of the trustee’s own legal and tax counsel. Those professionals typically bill by the hour — which can make costs unpredictable and, in some cases, create little incentive to move quickly. I work differently: for a fixed fee, agreed to upfront, which means my incentive is aligned with getting the trust settled efficiently, not with running the clock. I work as administrative support to the trustee, at their direction — helping them execute their responsibilities efficiently and with a clear paper trail, while they retain full decision-making authority and legal responsibility for the trust.

Mark Thomas Philibosian | CA DRE# 02250320 | CFA ID# 198678