Our team

We realize in addition to our financial management experience, independent advice and investment resources, the foundation to building client trust is achieved in personalized service and responsiveness.

Take a look at our profiles below to learn more about the professional experience of our broker and staff. Then when we meet, you can get to know us.

Michael J. Passage

Chairman & CEO

Michael J. Passage established Passage Wealth Advisors in 2006 in order to better provide quality investment services to his clients. Mike has been successfully providing sound financial advice since 1983, when he joined Kidder Peabody, a major national brokerage firm. He became a Vice President of Kidder in 1988. At Kidder Peabody, Mike helped build the PRIME (Portfolio Review & Investment Management Evaluation) consulting group on the West Coast. When Kidder Peabody merged into PaineWebber in January, 1995, he became a Vice President of Investments.

In 1996, Mike joined Oppenheimer & Co. as a Vice President. He became a Director of that firm, providing investment advice to a wide array of clients for nearly ten years, until he established Passage Wealth Advisors.

Mike works with high net worth individuals, business owners, family offices, foundations, retirement plans and corporations to service their investment needs.

Mike’s mission statement is brief and to the point: “To provide investors the best quality service and potential return on their investments based on their risk parameters”.

Prior to joining Kidder Peabody, Mike consulted for six years with security brokerage firms on their organizational and executive search needs. In the mid-1970’s, Mike was Controller and Vice President of Finance for two major real estate development and construction firms.

Mike also worked for Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration, International Division. Mike’s first exposure to the financial industry was as a financial analyst for The Swiss Bank Corporation in Geneva, Switzerland.

This broad business background, prior to becoming a financial advisor, has enabled Mike to quickly understand the complicated needs of sophisticated clients and provide top quality service to them. Mike holds Series 3, 7, 24, 63 and 65 securities licenses. He is also currently licensed as an Investment Advisor Representative through First Allied Securities, a Registered Investment Advisor.

Mike earned his B.A. from the University of Washington, where he majored in Economics and Marketing. He earned his M.B.A. from Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration, concentrating in Finance.

Mike is a well known speaker in seminars for investors, lawyers, and CPAs.

He received recognition in Seattle Magazine as a “Five Star – Best in Client Satisfaction Wealth Manager” in 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011.

Five Star Wealth Managers do not pay a fee to be included in the research of the final list. The overall survey score reflects an average of all respondents and may not be representative of any one client’s evaluation.

Mike has been active with many non-profit organizations. He has been President of the Harvard Business School Alumni Association in Washington, Vice President of Development for the Seattle Symphony Orchestra Board, and has served in leadership positions for numerous not-for-profit boards, including the Boy Scouts of America locally.

A fourth generation Washingtonian, Mike was raised in Yakima, and now lives in Seattle with his wife, Laura. Mike is an avid boater and an aging skier.

Laura Stone Shifflette

Vice-Chairman & COO

Laura Stone Shifflette helped establish Passage Wealth Advisors in 2006, and today provides investment and wealth management services to the firm’s clients, with an emphasis on providing comprehensive, customized solutions which accurately reflect each client’s individual circumstances. She has been involved in the investment business for nearly fifteen years.

Laura works with high net worth individuals, business owners, family offices, foundations, retirement plans and corporations, and specializes in helping clients manage challenging and complex financial issues.

Prior to her involvement in Passage Wealth Advisors, Laura was president and owner of Shifflette & Associates, providing general strategic & business consulting to a broad array of clients.

In 2003, she was tapped to serve as Interim Executive Director for Washington Wins!, a joint effort between media partners and WSA (formerly the Washington Software Alliance), spearheading the feasibility study of a program to combine grass-roots democracy with economic development efforts in the State of Washington.

Prior to her consulting work, Ms. Shifflette spent 17 years in the transportation business as a owner and senior executive of several companies, which encompassed two turnarounds and one startup. Her responsibilities have included: oversight and negotiation of a leveraged buyout and subsequent turnaround; strategic and financial planning, setting policy, monitoring of strategic business units, contract negotiation, litigation, insurance, information technology, human resources, spearheading of initiatives, and administrative and financial functions, including oversight of eight outlying offices.

She also represented her company on the board of directors of the industry national trade association and in congressional lobbying efforts in Washington D.C. She was the first female vice president in one $100M private corporation.

Prior to this, Laura was part of a “turnaround team” for a small tug and barge company, and helped return the virtually bankrupt company to operating profitability. This followed her early years at a $1B privately held marine transportation company holding increasingly responsible positions and participating in operations in Western Alaska, Hawaii, and Prudhoe Bay.

Her solid business background enables Laura to more readily comprehend the sometimes complex needs of her high net worth clients and to assist them more efficiently.

Ms. Shifflette holds a designation as a Certified Wealth Strategist ®), as well as her Series 7 and 63 securities licenses through First Allied Securities.

She received recognition in Seattle Magazine as a “Five Star- Best in Client Satisfaction Wealth Manager” in 2010 and 2011.

Laura was born in Paris, France, graduated from Lakeside School in Seattle, Washington, earned a B.A. from Pomona College, Claremont, CA., in International Relations, and an MBA from City University. She also attended L’Université de Paris: La Sorbonne, l’Institut des Études Politiques, IPFE. Ms. Shifflette is fluent in French.

Her leadership roles in community service and professional organizations have included: Executive Committee & Board of Trustees, PONCHO; Executive Committee & Board of Trustees, Seattle Symphony; President Seattle Symphony Volunteers; Lakeside School Board of Trustees and Planned Giving Advisory Committee; President, Lakeside Alumni Association; President, YWCA Endowment Guild; Member, Seattle Chamber of Commerce Quality Task Force & Roundtable; Lobbyist, Women in Mining, Washington DC; and Board of Directors, American Waterways Operators, Arlington, VA. She sits on various committees at the Rainier Club and Seattle Yacht Club.

Laura, a third generation Seattleite, lives in northeast Seattle with her husband, Michael Passage, and their cat, Emily. They are avid boaters, and own an award-winning classic 1926 wooden powerboat, Faun. She enjoys boating, skiing, bicycling, tennis, running, snowshoeing, swimming, and scuba diving. She is an avid reader and traveler, a passionate gourmet cook, wine devotée, and an erstwhile acrylic painter.