Team

Jim Best is a Financial Advisor with Wells Fargo Advisors in Columbia, South Carolina, where he serves individual and institutional clients, helping them achieve their goals for financial success. He has more than 30 years of experience in financial services.

The Columbia native began his career in 1994 at First Union with the Capital Management Group in the Trust Department. In 1998, joined Merrill Lynch to head up its Trust Department in South Carolina. He joined Wachovia Securities (now Wells Fargo Advisors) in 2001 to work with the Trust Company.

In 2007, Jim decided he wanted to grow his own advisory practice and so became a financial advisor. Jim earned Platinum Council* status in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022.

A portion of Jim’s business is institutional (non-profits, foundations and endowments), while a large percentage is focused on individual retirement planning and income planning. He also works with high-net-worth individuals on wealth transfer strategies and estate planning.

Jim earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of South Carolina and graduated from the Cannon Trust School in 1995.

He has lived in Columbia his entire life. When he’s not working, he likes spending time with his family — his wife, Rebecca, and their two young adult children, daughter, O’Neal, and son, Rence. Jim also enjoys hunting, fishing, boating and playing an occasional round of golf.

Jim is passionate about giving back to his community. He serves as Chairman of the Prisma Health Midlands Board of Directors and President of the Trinity Episcopal Foundation in Columbia. He is past President of the Board of Directors for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Columbia. He is a past board member of the Kanuga Conferences Endowment Board in Hendersonville, North Carolina, and a past board member of the University of South Carolina Young Alumni Board.

Jim is a graduate of Leadership Columbia and Leadership South Carolina. He and his family are also active members of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Columbia.

^{*The Platinum Council (previously known as Premier Advisor) distinction is held by a select group of Financial Advisors within Wells Fargo Advisors as measured by completion of educational components, business production based on the past year, and professionalism. Additional criteria, best practices and team structure, may also be used to determine recipients.}

James (Jay) Pulliam, CFA®, is a Financial Advisor with Wells Fargo Advisors in Columbia, South Carolina. He has more than 40 years of experience in financial services and enjoys putting them to use serving individual investors and helping them save and plan for retirement. With a broad array of company resources —including research analysts and economic and market experts — he can help clients make informed investment decisions based on their specific needs and goals.

The Columbia native started out working as a certified public accountant before becoming a financial advisor and joining a legacy Wells Fargo firm nearly 30 years ago.

What Jay really appreciates about his role as financial advisor is witnessing his clients reap the rewards of their hard work and planning. He’s been at it long enough to see dreams come to fruition. Kids going off to college. Parents retiring. Legacies created. It’s rewarding work.

Jay’s personal philosophy can be summed up in four words. Do the right thing. At work and in all aspects of life, doing the right thing is always the right thing. It might not be apparent right away, but in the long run it’s true.

Jay earned his Bachelor of Science degree in accounting University of South Carolina. He has also earned the right to use the Certified Financial Analyst designation.

Leslie Plowden is a Senior Registered Client Associate at Wells Fargo Associates in Columbia, South Carolina, where she enjoys getting to know clients and delivering top-tier service. She brings to her work more than 35 years of financial services experience.

Leslie got her start — just before the 1987 stock market crash — in Charlotte, North Carolina, at First Tryon Securities, which was later acquired by Bank of America. She worked “the cage,” the section of a firm’s back office where funds are received and disbursed. She also helped hire and train brokers and support staff. She returned to South Carolina and for 10 years was at Wachovia Brokerage Services, working on the trading desk for the discount brokerage side of the firm. Then for 15 years she worked at BB&T and Synovus Securities before joining Wells Fargo Advisors in 2017.

The Greenville, South Carolina, native earned an associate degree in marketing from University of South Carolina. She holds FINRA Series 7, 63 and 65 registrations as well as her insurance license. She is wrapping up a three-year term on Wells Fargo Advisors’ Client Associate Advisory Council, in which she and other Client Associates share best practices and strategies.

Leslie’s career has suited her perfectly. She likes helping people. She likes finding solutions to puzzles and she’s really good at math.

Along with her extensive experience in financial services, Leslie carries with her a ready smile and a positive, can-do attitude. In fact, her personal philosophy is that a positive attitude makes everything and everyone better. That outlook has served her well in other aspects of her life. Leslie is a two-time breast cancer survivor. While she has no immediate plans to retire, she knows that when she does, she will volunteer at the medical facility where she was treated and for other cancer-related causes.