Zachary Ashbee: Managing Partner/CEO, Dauphine Capital

Helping clients navigate financial decisions and create a legacy

by Lindsay Mott Fletcher
photography by Stephen Savage

With more than 25 years in the financial services business, Zachary Ashbee enjoys forming relationships with his clients and helping them achieve and manage their goals. After spending the majority of his career working with Wall Street mega firms – as a managing director and senior portfolio manager at Wells Fargo Advisors, Morgan Stanley and Smith Barney – in 2024, he co-founded Dauphine Capital with his father, J. Erskine “Erk” Ashbee, out of a desire to focus on clients and their needs as opposed to serving a corporate mission.

Born and raised in Mobile, Zachary Ashbee graduated from the University of Alabama and was a proud member of the Crimson Tide football team under coach Gene Stallings. Ashbee said he credits his grandfather, Dr. E.E. Ashbee, as being the inspiration and “founder” of Dauphine Capital: “He was investing in the market and collecting dividends long before his contemporaries. He taught my father and later taught me the importance and power of compound interest, and the wisdom of maintaining a disciplined investment plan.”

As Dauphine Capital hits the one-year mark, Ashbee (ZA) took the time to talk with your author (LMF) about the decision to found this firm, its success and growth and what he is looking to in the future.

LMF: In the last year, you split from Wells Fargo to start Dauphine Capital. Can you tell me more about this decision? Looking back, are you happy with it?

ZA: Leaving Wells Fargo and starting our own firm, Dauphine Capital, was a move we had been contemplating for a while; however, we had to be able to look our clients in the eye when we told them that this would be a home run for them long term. This couldn’t just be about us – it had to be a positive change for our clients. Better service, better technology and access to cutting-edge investment opportunities coupled with a trusted custodian were all imperative if this was going to happen. After several years of due diligence, we were able to put together the partnerships that allowed us to accomplish all of that. We opened our doors in July 2024 and began the task of onboarding our clients and haven’t looked back. It was a true whirlwind; however, our team worked tirelessly, and our clients were so supportive and eager to make the move. That was the true blessing of the entire process. It’s a very humbling experience when the families and businesses you’ve worked with for years are so supportive and excited for you. We were literally overwhelmed by their response.

LMF: You co-founded Dauphine Capital with your father. Do you think the family element provides an added benefit to either your clients or yourself?

ZA: My father and I have been working together for 26 years – I joined his already successful wealth management practice back in 1999. It’s been special working alongside him all these years. He’s still active in day-to-day operations, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Our business is truly a family business because so many of our clients are multi-generational. We now serve the grandchildren of clients that my father worked with in the early 1980s. So much of what we focus on with our clients is not only their current financial situation or retirement, but it’s their legacy. How can we plan to leave a meaningful impact for their children and grandchildren? I think that focus has been one of the cornerstones of our success.

LMF: Tell me a little bit about your team at Dauphine Capital.

ZA: We currently have a two-member support team. Marilyn Baggett, who started her career in financial services with EF Hutton, is our operations manager. She has been with us for more than 13 years. We would not have done this without her approval, and I’m pretty sure many of our clients would have felt the same way. Anna Tapia serves as our client relationship manager. She is the newest member of the team and plays a key role in building out our service model. That was one of the keys: We had to be able to up our service game, and the added capacity that Anna affords us and our clients has been critical in doing just that.

“I tell them all the time –let me be the one who lies awake at night – that’s what you pay me for. I want
them to feel confident that we have them prepared for the future and prepared to leave a legacy they can take pride in.”

— Zachary Ashbee, managing partner/CEO, Dauphine Capital

LMF: Who are your main clients, and what sets your firm apart from others in the industry?

ZA: Our multi-generational client base is comprised of mostly individuals and families, and they are spread across 17 states and four continents. The world is not short on financial advisors or investment firms, and we are aware of this. The last thing we wanted to be was just another firm. You must be different in today’s competitive environment, so we differentiate ourselves in three distinct ways. We:
• Strive to provide “Ritz-Carlton” service.
• Create a process whereby the client is focused on what is controllable – which is their behavior when it comes to investing and how they act and react to the noise of the daily news. We call this part behavioral investment counseling.
• Adhere to our “golden rule” of investing – simply put, we invest our own capital in the very same way we invest for our clients.

LMF: What are the biggest challenges you are facing in today’s market, and how do you guide your clients through them?

ZA: I think the biggest challenge we face in today’s market is the onslaught of 24/7 news and specifically 24/7 financial news. I tell people all the time: Go and watch 30 minutes of financial news and tell me what you learned. You’ll learn that nobody really knows what they are talking about. I don’t say that to sound arrogant; I say it because it’s a fact. You’ll see three to four “experts” who all have conflicting opinions. No one can predict markets – that’s why it’s so important to have a plan and stick to it … remember the behavior counseling part. Dad has quipped for years, “You need to watch more sunsets and less financial news.” And he’s spot on.

LMF: Has technology or AI impacted your business? Do you use any specific tools or platforms to stay ahead of market trends?

ZA: We all know that technology has impacted almost everything we do – sometimes for the better and sometimes not. Our industry is no different, and this became a key factor in our decision to open our own firm. The behemoth investment houses can’t adapt and change as fast as technology changes. It takes them years to pivot because of their size and the amount of money they would have to spend. Being what I would call a boutique allows us to be selective and adaptive to new technologies and advancements in the industry. If we see a tool that can help us and benefit our clients, then we add it to our arsenal. This was not an option in our former lives, and it had gotten to the point where it was hindering our ability to provide that best-in-class experience.

LMF: What role does your firm play in the local community?

ZA: One of the things that we are most excited about is to be able to be more involved in our local community. We might have clients spread across the country; however, Mobile is our hometown, and we can’t wait to be more plugged in. Having the autonomy to now choose for ourselves who and what we support only adds to that excitement. We are all outdoors people, so we have naturally been drawn to Mobile Baykeeper and their efforts. Our office being in the downtown community has opened our eyes to the Downtown Mobile Alliance, and we are looking forward to supporting them, as well as our arts community. Mobile is blessed to have such an impressive arts offering, and we are excited to be a small part of that.

LMF: What do the next few years look like for Dauphine Capital?

ZA: The past year has been a blur; however, we couldn’t be happier about our current situation, and we are thrilled with the prospects the future holds. Growth is the focus of any small business, and we are no different; however, we want to be smart and targeted when it comes to our growth. Our name means something, and we are not going to grow just to grow. We are in preliminary discussions with other like-minded individuals in the area and plan on having an Eastern Shore location soon. Ideally, we would like to have a regional/bay area footprint, and I could see us expanding north and west within the region.

LMF: What does success look like for Dauphine Capital and yourself, today and moving forward?

ZA: Success for Dauphine Capital and for our team is simple: We want our clients to be relaxed and confident in their plan and our strategy for executing it. I tell them all the time – let me be the one who lies awake at night – that’s what you pay me for. I want them to feel confident that we have them prepared for the future and prepared to leave a legacy they can take pride in. That’s all that matters in the end.