Forty Under 40: Max Mahler

Max Mahler was working on an MBA at the University of Arkansas when he was recruited to Wells Fargo Advisors in 2011. The company offered to help pay for graduate school.

The Fayetteville native is a senior member of a team of four financial advisers who manage more than $1.2 billion in assets. He joined the team in March 2014. Each team member manages less than 100 clients.

Over the years, Mahler has received multiple Forbes accolades, including No. 1 in Arkansas on the 2022 Top Next-Gen Wealth Advisors Best-in-State list, Best-in-State Wealth Advisors in 2023, and helped the team earn the inaugural Best-in-State Wealth Management Teams in 2023.

“I’m proud of the team we’ve built,” he said. “I feel like I’ve got the dream team around me. The team we’ve cultivated over time has unintentionally become the highlight of my career.”

His sense of responsibility to his team and clients motivates him to succeed. He noted that early in his career, a mentor told him never to stop trying to be qualified for the job. In 2015, he became a Certified Financial Planner.

In graduate school, he served on the business planning team that helped to create Springdale-based biotechnology company Now Diagnostics.

“I was at the office on a weekend with two of my other friends, and we cold-called the company in Canada that Now Diagnostics ended up buying,” he said. He earned his MBA in 2013.

Mahler also co-founded the nonprofit Spark Foundation, which has raised more than $2 million for area schools and promotes active lifestyles. And he helped Friends of Gulley Park raise $1.1 million to obtain 13 acres of parkland to preserve Gulley Park in Fayetteville.

Mahler enjoys cycling and running. In December, he completed his fifth marathon.