The West Arc Wealth Management Group at Morgan Stanley

Michael started with EF Hutton & Co in 1981, the predecessor to Morgan Stanley and is currently a Senior Vice President, Family Wealth Advisor with Morgan Stanley, Wealth Management in Valencia, CA.

The team offers a broad range of investment strategies and wealth management services to affluent individuals, families, business owners and foundations. As an essential resource to their clients, the team provides extensive oversight to the complex financial affairs of managing wealth for multiple generations.

A keen understanding of a client’s life priorities are at the forefront of every client interaction. Michael excels at helping clients identify their long-term financial goals and values in order to determine an appropriate course of action to achieve their desired outcomes. The group’s comprehensive planning approach includes personalized advice on specific investment strategies while effectively working with clients to help manage both their assets and liabilities.

He and his team have maintained a long history of client loyalty and satisfaction and are committed to delivering the high level of service their clients demand. The team also collaborates with clients' CPAs, Estate Planning Attorneys and other trusted advisors for a simplified experience to help clients more effectively achieve their long-term financial objectives.

Michael was born in Santa Monica and grew up in Woodland Hills, CA. He attended College of the Canyons and then transferred to California State University Northridge. Today, Michael resides in Santa Clarita, CA with his beautiful spouse Melina.

Michael has found great pleasure in giving back to the community. Over the last 40 years, Michael has sat on the board of many non-profits organizations. Santa Clarita Rotary Club, SCV Chamber of Commerce, College of the Canyons Foundation, Michael Hoefflin Children’s Cancer Foundation, Child & Family Mental Health Center and Barlow Respiratory Hospital. Michael was also appointed to three terms as a Planning Commissioner for the City of Santa Clarita and is the former Trustee for College of the Canyons, which he served as for over 12 years.

In 2006 Michael was named Santa Clarita Valley Man of the Year.

Charlie Lowe is an Executive Director, Financial Advisor, Family Wealth Director, Senior Portfolio Manager, and Global Sports and Entertainment Director with The Lowe Group at Morgan Stanley. As co-founder of the Forbes Best-In-State Wealth Management Team (2024-2026), she brings decades of experience and some of the industry’s most prestigious credentials to her work advising ultra-high-net-worth individuals, families, and institutions — including athletes, entertainers, entrepreneurs, hospital foundations, and nonprofit organizations.

A graduate of Pepperdine University with an MBA in finance, Charlie has built a distinguished career spanning decades of leadership in private wealth management. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, she held senior positions at UBS, Merrill Lynch, and Wells Fargo. Throughout her career, she has built a reputation for delivering advanced wealth strategies to clients with highly complex financial lives, and her work has earned national recognition, including back-to-back placements on Forbes list of Best-In-State Women Advisors in 2024-2026.

Today, Charlie is directly involved in every aspect of the team’s wealth management service — from macro-level asset allocation, investment planning, and multi-generational estate design to liquidity management, advanced tax strategies, insurance architecture, and philanthropic structuring. Her guidance is particularly sought after by executives and entrepreneurs with concentrated equity positions, for whom she engineers sophisticated, tax-aware diversification plans that often incorporate charitable remainder trusts, lead trusts, and other long-horizon planning vehicles that can help diversify holdings and build tax-efficient retirement income. Charlie also serves as a trusted advisor to multigenerational families, philanthropic foundations, and nonprofit institutions with long-term investment mandates.

In her role as a Family Wealth Director at Morgan Stanley, Charlie offers bespoke solutions tailored to meet the complex needs of ultra-high-net-worth families across multiple generations. She provides strategic guidance to her clients on effectively growing, safeguarding, and transitioning their wealth. As a Senior Portfolio Manager, Charlie crafts discretionary portfolios precisely aligned with each client’s cash flow dynamics and legacy ambitions; while her elite Global Sports and Entertainment Director designation reflects her ability to address the unique needs of high-profile clients navigating complex, variable income streams. As an Alternative Investments Director, Charlie provides eligible individuals and institutions access to world-class investment strategies spanning private equity, real assets, private credit, hedge funds, and digital assets.

For every client, she drives a holistic wealth planning process with relentless precision, delivering a truly unparalleled, white-glove experience to help clients preserve capital, create meaningful impact, and navigate the demands of generational wealth with clarity at every stage.

Outside the office, Charlie is an accomplished endurance athlete who has conquered marathons, Spartan races, and the summit of Mount Whitney — the highest peak in the contiguous U.S. As a committed mentor and advocate, she invests in the next generation of women leaders through organizations like The W Source^® and other initiatives empowering women and girls. In her free time, Charlie actively participates in her local community, supporting impactful causes such as Food Share, Habitat for Humanity, and Life Animal Rescue.


2024-2026 Forbes Best-In-State Wealth Management Teams
Source: Forbes.com (Awarded 2024-2026). Data compiled by SHOOK Research LLC based on 12-month time period concluding in March of year prior to the issuance of the award. (https://www.morganstanley.com/disclosures/awards-disclosure)

2024-2026 Forbes Top Women Wealth Advisors Best-In-State
Source: Forbes.com (Awarded Feb 2024-2026) Data compiled by SHOOK Research LLC based on 12-month period concluding in September of the year prior to the issuance of the award. (https://www.morganstanley.com/disclosures/awards-disclosure)

2026 Forbes Best-In-State Wealth Advisors
Source: Forbes.com (Awarded April 2026) Data compiled by SHOOK Research LLC based for the period 6/30/24-6/30/25. (https://www.morganstanley.com/disclosures/awards-disclosure)

Patrick Lowe is an Executive Director, Financial Advisor, Senior Portfolio Manager, and Global Sports and Entertainment Director with The Lowe Group at Morgan Stanley. As co-founder of the Forbes Best-In-State Wealth Management Team (2024, 2025, 2026), he brings more than 25 years of experience advising ultra-high-net-worth individuals, families, and institutions — including athletes, entertainers, entrepreneurs, hospital foundations, and nonprofit organizations.

After beginning his career at Salomon Smith Barney, Patrick went on to join UBS, Merrill Lynch, and Wells Fargo before returning to the Morgan Stanley platform. At the firm, Patrick earned the elite title of Global Sports and Entertainment Director — reflecting the depth of his experience and understanding of the unique challenges clients face when managing significant wealth and narrow windows for earnings. Over the years, his dedication to client success has earned him national recognition, including being named to the Forbes Best-In-State Wealth Advisors list in 2021, 2022, 2024, 2025, and 2026.

As a Senior Portfolio Manager, Patrick focuses on The Lowe Group’s discretionary investment strategy; delivering bespoke, tax-aware portfolios designed to evolve alongside the needs of each client. His broad proficiency spans the nuanced financial lives of ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families — particularly those with complex balance sheets or concentrated, unpredictable income streams, such as professional athletes, entertainers, and entrepreneurs. As an Alternative Investments Director, Patrick provides eligible individuals and institutions access to world-class investment strategies spanning private equity, real assets, private credit, hedge funds, and digital assets. Blending disciplined portfolio construction with advanced planning around retirement income, liquidity, insurance, and philanthropy — he and the team help manage risk and grow wealth with purpose over many decades and multiple generations.

Outside the office, Patrick channels his drive into endurance sports, scuba diving, and photography — and he’s never far from a bass guitar. A man of faith and service, Patrick volunteers through his local church and supports a variety of Southern California causes alongside Charlie. Together, they live in California with their two sons, Brandon and Matt.

2024 - 2026 Forbes Best-In-State Wealth Management Teams
Source: Forbes.com (Awarded 2024, 2025, 2026). Data compiled by SHOOK Research LLC based on 12-month time period concluding in March of year prior to the issuance of the award. For criteria & methodology, go to (https://www.morganstanley.com/disclosures/awards-disclosure)

2021, 2022, 2024, 2025, 2026 Forbes Best-In- State Wealth Advisors
Source: Forbes.com (Awarded 2021, 2022, 2024, 2025, 2026). Data compiled by SHOOK Research LLC based on 12-month time period concluding in June of year prior to the issuance of the award. For criteria & methodology, go to (https://www.morganstanley.com/disclosures/awards-disclosure)

Drew currently serves as a Financial Advisor and works closely with clients to help them develop financial plans, covering every aspect of their financial needs. Some of the other responsibilities Drew also takes on are:

- Retirement planning
- Education funding
- Asset allocation guidance
- Access to professional Investment Managers
- Alternative investments.
- Specialized guidance on concentrated stock positions
- Estate planning
- Investment banking needs.

Morgan Stanley has been Drew’s home since 1996 and prior to coming to Morgan Stanley he worked for American National Bank in Chicago and at The Chicago Board of Trade.

Outside the office Drew loves teaching young students about finances and has volunteered for the Junior Achievement of Southern California for many years. He is very passionate about swimming and as a masters swimmer, has held numerous age group world records and been named All-American twice. Drew attended the University of Arizona, receiving his bachelor’s degree.

Drew holds his Series 3, 7, 31, 63 and 65 licenses.

Stephen Wright takes a multigenerational approach to developing strategies for clients’ investment, estate planning, philanthropic, and lending needs. Stephen is also a Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor who understands the unique needs of those looking to plan for retirement and a Certified Financial Planner to help create a well thought out plan in order to track and achieve your financial milestones. The diverse group of clients he serves also includes corporate executives, business owners, and real estate developers.

Stephen has over 12 years of experience working with affluent clients. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley in 2022, Stephen was a Senior Financial Consultant at E*TRADE, where he delivered solutions and constructed tailored investment plans to help clients reach their financial goals. He actually began his wealth management career at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, shortly after earning a B.A. from University of California, San Diego in 2008.

Stephen is a volunteer at the Michael Hoefflin Foundation, a non-profit organization that assists local families who have children diagnosed with cancer. As a result of Stephen's involvement within the Santa Clarita Valley and it's neighboring communities, in 2024, he was recognized in the Santa Clarita Valley’s 40 under Forty. Stephen and his wife, Lindsay, live in Pacific Palisades with their two daughters, Emma and Pippa.

Cynthia Lemus is a Senior Client Service Associate. With more than two decades of experience in the financial services industry—most of it at Morgan Stanley—Cynthia plays a pivotal role in delivering the team’s signature white-glove service to a select group of ultra-high-net-worth families, entrepreneurs, and entertainers.

Cynthia began her career in 1998 at Smith Barney. Over the years, she has also held roles at Well Fargo before joining Morgan Stanley. Her depth of experience across both client service and operational support makes her an invaluable resource to clients and colleagues alike.

As a trusted point of contact, Cynthia combines professionalism and empathy to provide an exceptional client experience at every turn. She supports a wide range of critical needs, including account openings, transfers, reporting, and time-sensitive inquiries. Known for her responsiveness and attention to detail, she brings a calm, solutions-oriented approach to even the most complex service requests — helping ensure clients feel cared for and connected.

Outside the office, Cynthia is just as committed to showing up for the people around her. As a mother of two and stepmother of six, she’s a natural listener and multitasker — skills that translate seamlessly into her work. Whether she’s managing logistics behind the scenes or guiding clients through a time-sensitive need, Cynthia brings a rare blend of heart, precision, and professionalism to everything she does.

Stephanie Krueger is a Portfolio Associate and Financial Planning Specialist. Since joining the firm in 2017, she has focused on delivering thoughtful, responsive service while helping clients feel empowered and informed throughout their financial journey.

Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Stephanie earned her Bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She also brings a background in operations management, where she developed her strong foundation in process optimization, team collaboration, and systems oversight—skills that continue to influence her client service approach today. She holds both the Series 7 and Series 66 licenses and actively engages in the firm’s professional development and strategic training initiatives.

Stephanie plays a key role in deepening client relationships and supporting the overall planning and investment efforts. She partners closely with the team’s Financial Advisors to help execute client service strategies and ensure a consistent, high-touch experience. Whether she’s assisting with account management, onboarding new clients, or preparing reports and planning materials, Stephanie brings a meticulous attention to detail and a sincere commitment to excellence.

Outside the office, Stephanie is an avid traveler who finds joy in exploring new places — especially those with breathtaking outdoor views. A lifelong learner, she’s always up for a great book, and has recently discovered a love for wine tasting, which she enjoys sharing with friends and family.

Mark began his journey with us as an intern in January 2025 and has since progressed into the Registered Client Service Associate Role. As a Client Service Associate, Mark provides comprehensive support to meet key client needs, ensuring an outstanding experience. Mark assists clients with account openings, transfers, reporting, and time-sensitive inquiries.

Mark graduated from UCLA in June of 2025 with a degree in Economics and a minor in accounting. He has also successfully obtained both the Series 7 and 66 licenses, which further enhances his ability to serve our clients effectively.

Outside of work, Mark enjoys traveling, spending time with friends and family, and watching his favorite sports teams - especially the LA Kings and Chicago Bears.