Vista Q&A with Mark Bates

What drew you to wealth management?

I enjoy helping people, so having the ability to create a beneficial and lasting impact on clients’ lives is really fantastic and important to me. Secondly, the ever-changing financial markets fascinate me and provide continual learning opportunities.

What do you enjoy most about Vista?

Our great clients, my talented coworkers, and our collaborative & engaging atmosphere. We work hard here, yet we still have fun and enjoy ourselves. I wake up every day excited to head into work.

What do you feel is the biggest value Vista brings to its clients?

Our ability to provide truly comprehensive wealth management and advisory services – there is very little that we cannot do for our clients. The lasting and harmonious relationships we create with our clients is something we are all very proud of.

Which quality makes you best suited to provide wealth management services?

My intellectual curiosity mixed with my dogged desire to always deliver 100% effort and top-notch results.

If you could play any character from a movie, whom would it be?

William Wallace in Braveheart. His unwavering courage to fight for his people’s rights, honor and land in the face of certain death was extremely noble and honorable. He also had amazing hair and wore sweet face paint.

What's the most influential book you've read and why?

Caught Inside by Daniel Duane. It’s a memoir of his year spent surfing the northern California coast and it helps remind me to appreciate the small details, routines, and minutia in life.

Who in history (living or not) would you most want to meet?

Ernest Hemingway, Jim Morrison, and Albert Einstein would make for a great dinner party. Ernest would regale us with his stories of past exploits in Italy, Paris, Key West, and Cuba, Jim would mesmerize us with his shamanic dancing and fiery poetry, and Albert would enlighten us on the mysteries of the universe.

Mark Bates joined Vista in 2013 with over eight years of financial services experience.

Prior to joining Vista, he spent five years at a boutique multi-family office working with ultra-affluent families and individuals.

Mark works with clients in all of the Vista offices, but spends the majority of his time in our San Francisco office.

Mark graduated Cum Laude in Economics from the University of St. Thomas, in St. Paul, Minnesota. He enjoys road cycling and kiteboarding. Mark is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional and a Certified Private Wealth Advisor® professional.