About

Highland Capital was built from the ground up to assist institutional investors and fiduciaries manage their investments with rigor and integrity. No hidden fees. No conflicted advice. Through principled conduct and uncompromised advocacy, we help clients navigate a complex financial landscape confidently.

William S. Small

Bill Small is a co-founder & Principal of Highland Capital Advisors, LLC., a Registered Investment Advisory firm.

Prior to forming Highland, Bill was a Director for Merrill Lynch’s Retirement Capital Strategies Group. In this capacity, Bill managed a multi-office team of Consultants and Relationship Managers that advised some of Merrill’s largest plan sponsors (over $50 Billion in combined plan assets). He was also responsible for the group’s business development efforts, and for setting the strategic direction for the defined benefit business.

Bill has extensive experience with all forms of qualified & non-qualified retirement programs and related financial management matters.

Bill received his Bachelors Degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from Central Washington University. Bill is a Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA), an Associate in the Society of Actuaries (ASA), an Enrolled Actuary (EA), a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries (MAAA) and has held a variety of security licenses.

Richard C. Wyman

Rick Wyman is a co-founder & Principal of Highland Capital Advisors, LLC., a Registered Investment Advisory firm.

Prior to joining Highland, Rick was the Senior Vice President, CFO and a Principal of Wurts & Associates. Rick has over 22 years of investment experience working with institutional investors primarily located up and down the West Coast. While at Wurts & Associates, Rick worked with a broad range of clients, including endowments and foundations, Taft-Hartley plans, public funds, hospital and corporate plans. Rick continues to work with clients to develop and implement investment strategies including asset allocation studies, manager searches, performance measurement and various technical projects. Rick has worked with many of the regions most recognizable firms.

Prior to his full-time involvement as a Consultant at Wurts & Associates, Mr. Wyman was responsible for all the mutual fund and separate manager search activity and pioneered the manager search process used by the firm’s in house research team. He has personally conducted over 250 investment manager and mutual fund searches on behalf of clients.

Rick earned his undergraduate degree in Mathematics and Accounting from Ohio Wesleyan University. Rick is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA-inactive), a member of the Washington State Society of Certified Public Accountants (WSCPA), a member of the Western Pension Conference and has held a variety of security licenses.

Randall L. Doser

Randall Doser is a Senior Consultant and Equity Partner of Highland Capital Advisors, LLC and has over 20 years of experience.

Prior to joining Highland in 2010, Randall was Vice President at Compass Advisors, LLC where he consulted to institutional and high net worth investors and provided technical expertise to the company’s fund of funds affiliate.  Prior to Compass, he spent three years as the Manager of Benefit Investments inside the Treasury department of Freightliner LLC, overseeing the company’s $1B portfolio of pension, 401(k) and retiree medical assets.  Earlier in his career, Randall worked at Watson Wyatt and Howard Johnson & Company where he provided consulting and valuation services to a wide variety or plan sponsors.

Randall graduated in 1990 with highest honors from Oregon State University with a B.S. in Mathematical Sciences.

Randall is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA), a Chartered Financial Analyst charter holder (CFA), an Enrolled Actuary (inactive) and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries.  He has a strong background in the mathematics of finance and extensive experience in the legal and accounting aspects of benefit plan liabilities and assets.

Randall provides technical expertise across all of Highland’s practice areas.

Dave Rowe

Dave is a Senior Consultant and Equity Partner of Highland Capital Advisors, LLC and has over 25 years of experience.

Prior to joining Highland in 2012, Dave was a Managing Director for Northern Trust and Prudential Financial where he directed Northern Trust’s defined contribution consulting practice, was responsible for investment and total retirement outsourcing business development in the Western U.S. and managed a white label total retirement outsourcing solution for Russell Investments.  He also held investment advisory positions at Kibble & Prentice and Arthur J. Gallagher.

Dave’s experience provides valuable perspective to organizations seeking to grow and protect wealth through prudent standards of conduct.

Dave received his mathematics degree from the University of Washington and earned his Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA) designation from the Investments and Wealth Institute formerly known as the Investment Management Consultants Association, Certified Pension Consultant (CPC), Qualified Plan Administrator (QPA) and Qualified 401(k) Administrator (QKA) designations from the American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries (ASPPA). Dave has held a variety of securities and insurance licenses.

Dave is the former President of the ASPPA Benefits Council of the Great Northwest, former Vice-President and Finance Committee Chair of Washington’s National Park Fund and former Board Member and Program-Chair of the Seattle Chapter of the Western Pension & Benefits Conference.

Dave Mann

David is a Senior Consultant with Highland Capital Advisors, LLC having joined the firm in the fall of 2017.

Before joining Highland, David was Director of Account Management for ClearPoint Financial where he was responsible for retirement plan investments, plan design strategies, fiduciary guidance, asset allocation evaluation and participant education programs. He has also worked with leading national recordkeeping firms such as Prudential and Principal guiding them in special projects leadership, marketing, service and sales management roles.

Serving retirement plans since 1995 David has experience from both the advisor and record-keeper perspective providing valuable expertise to individuals and organizations through prudent standards of conduct.

David received his Bachelor of Arts degree in marketing from Loras College and a Master of Business Administration from Keller Graduate School of Management in Chicago. He has also earned his Certified Plan Fiduciary Advisor (CPFA), Qualified Pension Administrator (QPA), Qualified 401(k) Plan Administrator (QKA) from the American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries (ASPPA) and the Accredited Investment Fiduciary (AIF) designation from the Center of Fiduciary Studies. David has held a variety of securities and insurance licenses.

David currently serves on the board of directors of the ASPPA Benefits Council of the Great Northwest as the Continuing Education chair.

Chaoyan (Jessica) Wang

Jessica is an Investment Analyst with Highland Capital Advisors, LLC, having joined the firm in the fall of 2020. She works with the Director of Research and senior management to generate quarterly financial reports and analysis. She believes that no details are too small, and it would be an honor to manage the burden of clients’ financial stress.

Before joining Highland, Jessica was a Home Lending Assistant for JP Morgan Top 3 Home Lending Team in the U.S.A., where she was responsible for preparing reports, pipeline management, and analysis of clients’ data. Jessica has also worked with Clemenger Consulting on marketing, strategy, and reporting research during her time in Australia.

Jessica holds a Master of Management degree from the University of Melbourne, a major in Marketing, and a Bachelor degree from Peking University Health Science Center.

Craig Watkins

Craig Watkins is a Senior Consultant at Highland Capital Advisors, LLC., a Registered Investment Advisory firm.

Prior to joining Highland, Craig has held positions with PNC Financial, Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, Prudential and Morgan Stanley. Craig has focused his career on working with institutional clients. This focus has primarily centered on retirement plans (DB, DC and NQDC), endowments, foundations, captive insurance companies, corporate assets and family offices.

Craig received his Bachelors Degree in Business Administration with a focus in Finance and Entrepreneurship from Oregon State University. In addition Craig has a Bachelors Degree in International Business and studied at Vienna University of Economics and Business. He is a Certified 401k Professional (CKP(R)) and Certified Plan Fiduciary Advisor (CPFA (R))  and has held a variety of security licenses.