John P. Durham, J.D., LL.M.

John P. Durham founded Valen Private Capital after more than two decades advising families whose wealth had outgrown the assumptions on which it was built. He works with a small number of multigenerational families, executives, and business owners on the decisions that significant wealth forces but rarely simplifies — how to hold it, how to pass it, and how to keep it from quietly reshaping the people who inherit it.

John’s practice is built around taxable portfolios. He combines a quantitative investment process with a macroeconomic overlay, with after-tax return as the measure that matters. His legal and tax training shapes the work directly: estate structure, entity choice, and the tax consequences of every trade are part of the portfolio decision, in coordination with each client’s legal and tax advisors. 

Before founding Valen, John spent more than twenty years at Merrill Lynch, most recently as Senior Vice President and Senior Financial Advisor, where he built and led a practice serving ultra-high-net-worth families. Earlier in his career, he served as Vice President at Coho Partners, a registered investment advisory firm in Berwyn, Pennsylvania; held investment positions at Delaware Investments in Philadelphia; and served as Vice President and General Counsel of CCS, a health services company. 

John holds a Juris Doctor from Delaware Law School and a Master of Laws in Taxation, with an Estate Planning Certificate, from Villanova University School of Law. He graduated cum laude from Arizona State University and completed executive education at The Wharton School. John is an inactive member of the Pennsylvania Bar and was admitted to the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States. 

Valen Private Capital is registered as an investment adviser with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Registration does not imply a particular level of skill or training.