Sydney Woodward Expands YeskeBuie Pro Bono Program

Sydney Woodward, a financial planner at YeskeBuie and a 2026 rising star in financial planning, led creation of a firm-wide pro bono program and serves as president of the Financial Planning Association’s San Francisco chapter. Her work focuses on expanding access to financial advice for underserved communities.

Woodward grew up in a lower-middle-class family and discovered financial planning while taking a finance class at Virginia Tech. She has six years of experience in the field. Her first role was at a wealth management firm near Chicago that served families with disabled children. She joined YeskeBuie in July 2021 and soon began organizing volunteer planning and community outreach efforts.

At YeskeBuie, Woodward built a pro bono program that now includes every member of the firm’s financial planning team, according to Lauren Mireles, co-CEO and chief operating officer. Mireles described Woodward as a go-getter who helped formalize the firm’s volunteer planning work and integrate it into regular practice. Woodward worked with the Foundation for Financial Planning on case studies in 2024 and 2025 that document her approach to building firm-wide pro bono offerings; those materials have been presented to audiences nationwide.

Within the FPA San Francisco chapter, Woodward first served as director of pro bono before being elected chapter president. In those roles she organized annual events that provide free, no-strings financial planning to local residents who lack access to paid advice. She also led YeskeBuie’s financial literacy initiative with Junior Achievement, teaching high school students in Northern California topics such as budgeting, saving for college and long-term planning in under-resourced classrooms.

Woodward represented YeskeBuie at FPA California’s Advocacy Day in Sacramento, meeting with legislative staff to discuss K‑12 financial literacy, title protection for financial planners and protections against elder financial abuse. Those meetings are part of her work on policy and public education alongside direct client service.

Woodward recalled that her upbringing shaped her interest in the field: “I grew up in a family that was lower middle class, and so the examples I had for a job were more about money.” She added that the client-focused nature of financial planning matched her desire to help others: “Service and curiosity and vulnerability and trust-building fit with what it means to be a good financial planner.”

Colleagues point to Woodward’s organizational impact at YeskeBuie. Mireles noted the firm now involves every planner in pro bono work and said Woodward has expanded those efforts to the wider team. Woodward’s record includes hands-on client work for underserved households, classroom teaching on financial basics and advocacy on policy matters that affect access to advice.