FOXcast

The issues that come up in a family office or family enterprise are unique to each family and are rarely discussed in a public forum. In this podcast, Family Office Exchange reveals some of these issues in discussions with family office subject matter experts, family members, and trusted advisors. The podcast gives the listener a taste of how having a FOX membership can transform the way families and their trusted advisors approach ideas like philanthropy, governance, investing, and more.

Managing the Complexities of Private Family Estates Jennifer Laurence 04/24/2025

Advancing the Holistic Measurement of Impact Strategies with Volker Then 04/17/2025

Advancing the Holistic Measurement of Impact Strategies with Volker Then Today, I have the pleasure of speaking with Volker Then, an independent Senior Impact Analyst who is launching a start-up company on Comprehensive Impact Measurement together with a coalition of impact partners. From 2022 to 2024, Volker was Founding Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Executive Board of Fondazione AIS (Advancing Impact and Sustainability) in Bologna. Earlier in his career, Volker was Executive Director of the Centre for Social Investment at Heidelberg University for 15 years and also served as Director Philanthropy and Foundations at the Bertelsmann Foundation. He is a former member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the OECD’s Global Action “Social and Solidarity Economy” and served on the National Advisory Board of the G7-Social Impact Investment Task Force. Impact is a big word nowadays – maybe even a buzzword – and people in our space are using it broadly and frequently. But it’s not clear that everyone has a clear shared definition of the term. Volker provides his definition of “impact”, especially as it relates to enterprise families and the objectives they set for themselves with regard to fulfilling the purpose of their wealth and their family capital. One of the greatest challenges, and opportunities, in the world of impact is the measurement of the effectiveness and outcomes of impact initiatives. Volker talks about the latest thinking and work that is being done in this area, especially the thought leadership and development he has been spearheading in his prior role at Fondazione AIS and now in his current venture. Volker offers his tips and suggestions for enterprise families who are just starting or are early in their impact journey, focusing on what he recommends they do to get better educated and equipped to realize their impact ambitions. He then turns to enterprise families who are more advanced and have a developed impact framework and strategy, sharing his advice on what they can do to further the reach and consequence of their impact programs and strategies. Don’t miss this enlightening conversation with one of the foremost thought leaders in the realm of impact definition and measurement. /episode/index/show/familyoffice/id/36204575

Nurturing Family Culture Through Spirituality with Chris Koenemann 04/10/2025

Designing Cutting-Edge Compensation Plans for Top Family Office Talent with Bruce Benesh 04/03/2025

Designing Cutting-Edge Compensation Plans for Top Family Office Talent with Bruce Benesh Today, it is my pleasure to speak with Bruce Benesh, Managing Principal at Benesh Consulting Group. Bruce has more than 40 years of experience in executive compensation, tax planning relating to compensation arrangements, and international human resource consulting. He formerly served as the national partner- in-charge of the Human Capital Services Practice at Grant Thornton, and prior to that was the partner-in-charge of Arthur Andersen's Americas Human Capital Services Practice. Bruce, along with his firm Benesh Consulting Group, is a distinguished and generous advisor member of FOX, and we are fortunate to have his expertise available to our membership community. Bruce begins with an overview of the family office executive compensation landscape today. He describes the current state of affairs in the space, the established practices, and the latest trends pertaining to compensating key staff at family offices. Bruce then talks about some of the challenges family offices are facing when looking to create total compensation structures for their key employees and executives, highlighting the issues they struggle with the most. Bruce has worked with dozens, if not hundreds, of family offices over the years, helping them design attractive and effective compensation packages for key hires. He summarizes some of the best practices he has observed most frequently and would recommend to our listeners. Beyond hiring a compensation expert with experience in the family office space, such as himself, Bruce provides a summary of the other resources and practical tools family office owners and leaders should be aware of that can help them understand, plan, and design best-in-class compensation structures. Do not miss this highly relevant and instructional conversation with one of the foremost thought leaders and practitioners in the family office compensation space. /episode/index/show/familyoffice/id/35990630

Fostering Family Unity and Collaboration Through Philanthropy with Betsy Erickson & Joseph Brooks 03/27/2025

Fostering Family Unity and Collaboration Through Philanthropy with Betsy Erickson & Joseph Brooks Today, it is my pleasure to speak with Betsy Erickson & Joseph Brooks, Co-Heads of Family and Individual Services at Arabella Advisors, a leading philanthropy services firm supporting individual, family, institutional, and corporate donors worldwide. Prior to joining Arabella, Betsy worked for eight years in the nonprofit sector with groups focused on cancer research. She provided independent consulting services to national and regional nonprofit organizations such as CureSearch National Childhood Cancer Foundation, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Prior to joining Arabella, Joseph led the philanthropic advising team at the Greater Milwaukee Foundation and was a fundraising strategist for Marquette University and the country’s largest HIV/AIDS service organization. Betsy and Joseph, and their firm Arabella, are valued Advisor members of FOX, and we are privileged to have their knowledge and expertise in our membership community. The role of philanthropy within enterprise families is evolving – in some cases, philanthropy becoming the primary activity of the family enterprise. Betsy and Joseph talk about what is happening today in the world of family philanthropy and highlight the latest trends that have been shaping the space over the recent years. These trends are inevitably affecting the role and design of the family office. Betsy and Joseph explain how family offices are transforming to respond to the importance of philanthropy and how they should be redesigned to support the family’s evolving needs and activities. Arabella Advisors has put forth a body of thought leadership on the barriers to philanthropy that constrain enterprise families. Betsy and Joseph provide an overview of the most common barriers families face and how they can practically overcome them. Philanthropy is often one of the most common activities families undertake together after they have evolved beyond being fully focused on their business – and as a result, it often is the training ground for other joint activities by the family. Betsy and Joseph share their views on the role of philanthropy in helping families work together and its broader practical implications on fostering lasting collaboration and unity among family members. Don’t miss this highly informative conversation with two of the leading experts and advisors in the realm of family giving and philanthropy. /episode/index/show/familyoffice/id/35893140

Exploring Primary and Secondary Residences in the Swiss Alps with Cassandra Levene 03/20/2025

Preserving Family Values Through the Power of Stories with Kasia Flanagan 03/13/2025

Preserving Family Values Through the Power of Stories with Kasia Flanagan Today, it is my pleasure to speak with Kasia Flanagan, founder of Everyday Legacies, a boutique personal history firm. Kasia and her team help high-net-worth families capture the experiences, values, and wisdom that define their legacies. Through bespoke memoirs, family story books, and legacy films, they help clients create lasting qualitative assets that complement their financial wealth and preserve their true legacies. Kasia is an award-nominated historian, entrepreneur, and keynote speaker specializing in legacy preservation for exceptional individuals and families. Kasia and her firm, Everyday Legacies, are a Specialist Advisor member of FOX, and we are happy to have her expertise and thought leadership within our membership community. Kasia’s mission is to help families preserve and grow their qualitative wealth, primarily through the power of storytelling, and she talks about why the family story is possibly its most powerful capital and how shared stories strengthen and enrich the family and its individual members. Kasia describes the prevailing practices today among families who are looking to pass down their shared stories and legacies, highlighting the best practices and areas where there is room for improvement – where families could do better with this important dimension of their accumulated wealth. Kasia and her firm have formulated a clever and compelling tagline: “Preserve your values, not just your valuables.” She shares her view on how families can and should be doing that and lists many of the practical tools and mechanisms she recommends to families, family offices, and their outside advisors. Kasia also speaks to the families who are not yet ready to work with a specialized advisor, such as Everyday Legacies, and offers a broad array of DIY tools and readily accessible resources they can rely on. Please enjoy this highly instructive conversation with one of the leading practitioners in the family history and values preservation space. /episode/index/show/familyoffice/id/35672400

Uncovering Underutilized Resources and Capital within the Family with Kevin Quinn 03/06/2025

Uncovering Underutilized Resources and Capital within the Family with Kevin Quinn Today, I have the pleasure of speaking with Kevin Quinn, founder and president of Legacy Counsellors, an estate and business planning law firm serving successful individuals and families throughout New England. Kevin is a former Fellow of the Esperti-Peterson Institute and a member of the WealthCounsel, LLC, and a former member of the National Council on Planned Giving and the Connecticut Planned Giving Group. He is a co-founder of the Wealth Legacy Development Project, an organization dedicated to helping non-profit organizations develop planned giving programs. Kevin is the founder and an instructor of the Wealth Strategies Institute, a professional education institute that provides continuing education to certified public accountants, certified financial planners, attorneys, development officers, and insurance professionals. Kevin focuses his practice and work with families on the goal of “maximizing the utility of everyone in the family”. He talks about the meaning of this objective and how he approaches it in practice with UHNW families. Kevin describes the outcome of his work with families often being that they together identify underutilized resources and capital within the family and redeploy those in a timely, effective, and collectively fulfilling ways. He describes how this happens, where this pent-up energy is usually hidden within families, and how they can unlock it. Kevin created an intergenerational family wealth program, which he named “My Family My Wealth” that helps families structure a process to collectively talk about and share their abundance. He walks us through this program and highlights how it creates value for enterprise families. Another practical resource Kevin has formulated and recommends to families is the “Top 5 Ways to Use Your Family Wealth to Help Your Family Flourish”. He shares with our audience this framework and its components, and highlights how families can benefit from it. Enjoy this informative conversation with a successful practitioner in the UHNW family wealth space. /episode/index/show/familyoffice/id/35561125

Utilizing PPLI Policies to Optimize Financial Outcomes for UHNW Families with Michael Liebeskind 02/27/2025

Utilizing PPLI Policies to Optimize Financial Outcomes for UHNW Families with Michael Liebeskind Today, I’m excited to speak with Michael Liebeskind, founder and principal at Golconda Partners, an independent firm that serves as a guide and service platform for ultra-affluent clients who are seeking to effectively navigate the sophisticated and financially powerful applications of life insurance and annuity investment account policies. Michael started his career with the accounting firm of Coopers & Lybrand and today is the founder of several operating businesses in the financial services space. He is a member of the New York State Society of CPAs, the Estate Planning Council of New York City, The Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), and the Yale Insurance Study Group. Michael and his firm Golconda Partners are valued advisor members of FOX, and we are very fortunate to have their knowledge and expertise as part of our membership community. In today’s conversation, we focus on the topic of private placement live insurance (or PPLI) and the many ways enterprise families and their family offices can deploy this versatile tool. Michael starts us off with the basics, providing an overview of how PPLI works and why wealthy families should consider exploring PPLI policies. There are multiple ways PPLI can create value for wealthy families, and Michael goes over the different use cases and strategies families and family offices can pursue to deploy PPLI, either as a traditional life insurance product or as a vehicle to optimize returns, wealth transfers, or income. Michael offers some practical tips for UHNW families, family office professionals, and external family wealth advisors for how to best leverage PPLI policies. He then covers the common cautionary tales and watchouts, describing what could go wrong and sharing his insights on the what families and their advisors should beware when utilizing PPLI policies for the different risk management and tax optimization use cases they can serve. Don’t miss this highly instructive conversation with one of the best recognized PPLI experts and insurance entrepreneurs in the UHNW space. /episode/index/show/familyoffice/id/35466790

Discovering a Better Way to Motivate the Next Generation with David Yeager 02/20/2025

Discovering a Better Way to Motivate the Next Generation with David Yeager Today, I have the pleasure of speaking with David Yeager, professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and cofounder of the Texas Behavioral Science and Policy Institute. David is best known for his research conducted with Carol Dweck, Angela Duckworth, and Greg Walton on short but powerful interventions that influence adolescent behaviors such as motivation, engagement, healthy eating, bullying, stress, mental health, and more. David recently published his latest book “10 to 25: The Science of Motivating Young People: A Groundbreaking Approach to Leading the Next Generation―And Making Your Own Life Easier” which quickly became a national bestseller. Here’s a universal truth: Parents and leaders alike constantly worry about their next generation – are they ready, are they responsible, will they be able to make it on their own, etc. It’s a tale as old as time. David shares his views and research on what is going on there and why that dynamic is so universally present across time, cultures, and socio-economic contexts. This dynamic repeats itself again and again, and so many parents and leaders fall into this trap repeatedly. But is there a solution? Is there a better way to interact with and motivate young people, and if so, what is it? David illuminates these questions from the perspective of his life’s work and his most recent research. One critical and powerful practical tool David talks about in his book is language and communication style. David shares his observations on the importance of language and how parents and leaders can communicate more effectively with the younger generation. An important practical topic David emphasizes to parents and leaders is the very real and notable rise in stress and anxiety among young people. He provides his insights into what both next-gen members and the older generation and those in positions of power should know and be doing to manage and alleviate this rising and damaging trend. Enjoy this informative conversation with a leading researcher, adviser and best-selling author in the field of next-gen engagement and motivation. /episode/index/show/familyoffice/id/35369425

Creating Optionality with Global Residence and Citizenship Programs with Basil Mohr-Elzeki 02/13/2025

Empowering Rising-Gen Owners with Cutting-Edge Technology with Alexandre Lin 02/06/2025

Empowering Rising-Gen Owners with Cutting-Edge Technology with Alexandre Lin Today, I am delighted to speak with Alexandre Lin, co-founder and CEO of SumIt Software, a simple, yet sophisticated solution for complex family office accounting. Alex is a second-generation leader of his family's real estate ventures in France and China, and he now dedicates himself to SumIt. Before founding SumIt, Alex was an active investor, advisor, and partner in multiple entrepreneurial ventures, and a management consultant with IBM and Kearney. Alex and his family office are an associate member of FOX and SumIt Software is a FOX technology partner, and we are thankful to have his expertise as part of our membership community. As a G2 rising family leader, Alex has first-hand experience with the challenges of family transitions and of rising-gen members taking over responsibility and control of their family enterprise. He shares his views and experiences with this intergenerational transition process and the factors that make it challenging for the incoming younger generation. One of the key challenges Alex believes G2 leaders face is the ability to make good decisions, especially in the face of incomplete information and fragmented data. He elaborates on this issue, shedding light on the reasons why next-gen owners are challenged by poor visibility and bad data. Alex founded SumIt Software out of frustration with existing solutions he tried to deploy for his own family office. He talks about the specific challenges he encountered and the practical solutions he set out to create with his product. Looking ahead, Alex provides a vision for how technology solutions for the family office space will develop, and offers practical tips for family owners, family office professionals, and wealth advisors on how they should think about and prepare themselves for the changes that will impact the tools they will need and use in their family offices and firms. Enjoy this illuminating conversation with an entrepreneurial G2 owner, technology founder, and forward thinker in the family office technology space. /episode/index/show/familyoffice/id/35175400

Architecting Trust Documents to Reinforce the Family Vision and Well-Being with Kim Kamin 01/30/2025

Architecting Trust Documents to Reinforce the Family Vision and Well-Being with Kim Kamin Today, it is my pleasure to speak with Kim Kamin, partner and Chief Wealth Strategist at Gresham Partners LLC, an independent multi-family office serving about 120 separate families nationally. At Gresham, she leads the development and implementation of estate, wealth transfer, philanthropic, educational, and fiduciary planning activities. Kim is an adjunct professor at Northwestern University Law School and is on the faculty for the University of Chicago Business School in executive education. She is on the UHNW Families & Family Offices Committee of the Trusts & Estates Magazine Editorial Advisory Board and is a Regent for the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, Past President of the Chicago Estate Planning Council, Planning Chair for the annual ALI-CLE Large Estates program, and Estate Planning & Legal Issues Domain Chair for the UHNW Institute. Trusts are one of the most popular estate planning vehicles, especially in the US and a few other international jurisdictions, and Kim shares her views on how and why trusts came to be so widely used to plan and execute intergenerational wealth transitions, and how trust documents and the associated estate planning strategies evolved in the past few decades. We are at the outset of the “Great Wealth Transfer” and trusts – both ones that have been in place for decades and ones that are being newly created – are once again at the center of wealth planning conversations. Kim offers her thoughts on some of the current trends and developments in estate planning and how thinking and usage of trusts is changing or evolving. One practical advice Kim puts forth is to pay attention to the “the small things” when creating or working with trusts and estate plans, and highlights some of the frequently neglected details our listeners should be mindful of. Another valuable tip Kim recommends is to draft trust documents for flexibility. She talks about what that entails and what both wealth owners and family advisors in our audience should consider to be able to make better use of trust documents and other estate planning tools. You would not want to miss this conversation with one of the most knowledgeable, respected, and active thought leaders in the family wealth and estate planning space. /episode/index/show/familyoffice/id/35081245

Propelling Family Impact with Builder Capitalism with Dave Furneaux 01/23/2025

Propelling Family Impact with Builder Capitalism with Dave Furneaux Today, I am delighted to welcome Dave Furneaux, Founder & CEO of BlueIO, an innovative, mission-driven builder capitalist investment company. Dave is a co-founder and investor in a number of innovative companies, such as Blaze (acquired by Akamai), Cybersaint (a leading Cyber Risk Management company), Greenlight Biosciences (EPA approved breakthrough RNA bio-chemical platform for clean food), Lufa Farms (a leading agricultural technology company), Lumicell (an FDA approved platform for Cancer therapy) and Virsec (a breakthrough cyber protection company). He has been a driving force behind many breakthrough technology, health, and food companies as a founder, operator, investor, and active board leader. Some notable examples include Watchfire (acquired by IBM), Skystone (acquired by Cisco Systems), Application Security (acquired by SingTel) and Aironet (acquired by Cisco Systems). Earlier in his career, Dave founded and led Kodiak Venture Partners, which went on to invest in and build companies such as Appnexus (acquired by AT&T), Channel Advisor (NYSE: ECOM), Extreme (acquired by Microchip), Enfora (acquired by Sierra Wireless), IM Logic (acquired by Symantec) and WHERE (acquired by Paypal). David believes, and we at FOX agree, that families are uniquely positioned and endowed to create, build, and innovate by putting their family capital, their entrepreneurial spirit, and creativity to work to solve the big problems our world is facing. He talks about why he has this conviction, how he sees it play out today, and why and how families play this key role in innovation and building new solutions and products. The topic of our conversation with Dave is encapsulated in a relatively new term: “Builder Capitalism”. Dave defines Builder Capitalism for our audience, describes the tenets of this investment philosophy, and outlines the mindset and skills it requires. He also paints the picture of how Builder Capitalism is manifested in reality through the activities and behaviors of entrepreneurs. Dave offers many practical tips and suggestions to the different market players who are interested in Builder Capitalism, starting with what investors need to know or do if they want to participate in this movement and allocate their capital (financial and non-financial) to Builder Capitalist ventures. He also provides his advice to entrepreneurs and founders who share this belief system and see themselves and their startups as members of this Builder Capitalism economy. Finally, Dave offers his insights into the resources available to both investors and founders to become better educated about Builder Capitalism and to be better connected into the emerging ecosystem of this rising entrepreneurial movement. This is a must-hear conversation with one of the leading thought leaders, practitioners, and innovators in the Builder Capitalism movement, who is also a family principal and leader of his own multigenerational entrepreneurial family. /episode/index/show/familyoffice/id/34967125

Advancing of the Role of the Fiduciary in Service of the Family with Sophia Ruffolo 01/16/2025

Advancing of the Role of the Fiduciary in Service of the Family with Sophia Ruffolo Today, I am delighted to welcome Sophia Ruffolo, General Counsel and Head of Compliance for the Zell Family Office, a division of Chai Trust Company, LLC. With over 20 years of experience in Estate and Tax Planning, Investment Management and Fiduciary Oversight, Sophia is a seasoned leader in law, fiduciary risk management, compliance, and governance. Sophia is a member of the Board of Directors and Audit Committee of Metropolitan Family Services and co-founder of femmebought, a social enterprise dedicated to supporting women-owned businesses and promoting gender equity in the global marketplace. Sophia and the Chai Trust Company are long-time valued members of FOX and are very generous and insightful contributors to the FOX community. In the family wealth and family office space, most of the advisors and family office professionals serving multigenerational families are acting in a fiduciary role on behalf of their clients. Sophia talks about what it means to be a fiduciary and how this concept and its practice have evolved over the recent decades and years, as families and the world around them have evolved. One challenge fiduciaries and their clients face is an ever-changing external environment and an ever-evolving and more complex families and family enterprises. Sophia shares her thoughts on how fiduciaries can keep things evergreen in the face of all this change and disruption – how they should think about the design of their role and how they perform their duties day to day in service of the family. Sophia offers some practical suggestions and tips for advisors, and especially those in a fiduciary role, to ensure they are fulfilling that role in the best possible way for the families they serve. She then tuns her focus on the clients themselves and provides useful advice for family principals on how they can best engage with their fiduciary advisors to ensure the family goals are achieved and the family and its members are happy and flourishing in the long run. Don’t miss this deeply insightful conversation with a uniquely experienced expert and family office professional serving one of the most prominent and sophisticated enterprise families in the US. /episode/index/show/familyoffice/id/34885385

Empowering Women as Wealth Owners and Family Office Professionals with Janet Arzt 01/09/2025

Overcoming Founder Paralysis in Enterprise Family Transitions with Dennis Passis 01/02/2025

Leveraging SMAs to Execute Data-Driven Alternatives Strategies with Christopher Volpe 12/26/2024

Protecting Families as They Divide Estates and Personal Property with David MacMahan 12/19/2024

Protecting Families as They Divide Estates and Personal Property with David MacMahan Today, I am pleased to welcome David MacMahan, founder and president of FairSplit.com. Over the past twelve years, David has worked with families dividing estates and is now widely recognized as the leading industry expert on estate division of tangible assets. He is often hired to serve as Administrator of the FairSplit process, but also as an independent third-party mediator to help keep tensions down between family members and reduce the pressure on executors of the estate, by providing an independent, third-party role and the experience to help guide the family members and executor or trustee. David focused his entrepreneurial creativity and energy onto the field of estate distributions or dividing personal property among heirs after their parents pass. He shares the reasons that made him focus on this space and describes are the challenges that exist with dividing personal property among inheriting relatives. David shares his insights on how estate distribution works today, what the common methods families use currently to divide personal property, artifacts, heirlooms, etc. among themselves, and what the tools are emerging that help this process. The company David founded, FairSplit, created a technology-enabled set of tools to help families, as their marketing tagline says, “Divide Things, Not Families.” He talks about the FairSplit solution, its components and functionalities, and how families and their advisors can make use of it. Finally, David offers some pointers as to some of the other resources, knowledge libraries, or tools available to families, family offices, and family advisors to assist them with estate distribution processes and help them avoid the pitfalls and potential conflicts that can arise during these emotional undertakings. Enjoy this fascinating conversation on an important and overlooked area of estate planning and family transitions. /episode/index/show/familyoffice/id/34530015

Harnessing Polarities and Both/And Thinking to Help the Family Thrive with Betsy Miller 12/12/2024

Harnessing Polarities and Both/And Thinking to Help the Family Thrive with Betsy Miller Today, I am pleased to welcome Betsy Miller, Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School. Betsy teaches leadership development, change management and negotiation skills, and her research and writing focus on Polarities (“Both/And” thinking), which is the study of opposite forces that need each other to succeed. Betsy’s 25-year career has spanned positions in federal and local government, defense and plaintiff law firms, and academia. Through 2023, she was Chair of Cohen Milstein’s’ Public Client practice, where she represented state Attorneys General as their lead outside counsel in investigations and litigation involving large-scale consumer fraud and privacy violations, including the national opioid litigation that delivered more $25 billion in relief, and the $2.2 billion resolution of federal and state litigation against the largest credit rating agencies for their misconduct in connection with mortgage-backed securities. Betsy was the 2021 recipient of the Givens Visionary Award from The National Law Journal, was awarded a Wasserstein Fellowship by Harvard Law School, and was named Special Advisor to the Commission on Women in the Profession by the President of the American Bar Association in 2023. Betsy offers an introduction to the idea of and a high-level overview of these concepts and the science behind them. There are numerous such baffling polarities in the family enterprise and family office world. Even the name “family office” is a bit of an oxymoron encapsulating the polarities it contends with. One common polarity of diametrically opposed forces enterprise families experience is the importance of preserving and growing the family capital vs. putting it to work to make a positive impact. Another one is the tension between the desire to learn from and build on the wisdom and success of the older generation vs. the need to empower the rising generation to chart their own course. Yet another is the tug of war between the mission of the family office to steward and invest the family’s financial capital vs. its role to educate and educate the human capital and ensure family members are happy and fulfilled. Besty shares her thoughts about these and similar polarities that affect enterprise families and provides some insight into how to best think about and deal with them. A great practical tool Betsy offers is the that helps people visualize the polarities they are facing and understand and manage both the benefits and the overuses of each extreme end of the polarity continuum. She talks about this tool, how it can be used to not only understand the opposing forces and tendencies, but also to harness the benefits of each extreme while minimizing the counterproductive overuses. Betsy also describes some of the other practical and educational resources she recommends to those who wish to learn more about polarities, become better equipped to spot them, and develop their skills at applying a Both/And Thinking approach in their interactions with their fellow family members or with their family clients. Do not miss this illuminating conversation with one of the leading researchers and educators in the field of polarities and Both/And thinking. /episode/index/show/familyoffice/id/34412610

Utilizing Operational Liftouts to Build an Agile Family Office with John Castrucci & Ben Berger 12/05/2024

Utilizing Operational Liftouts to Build an Agile Family Office with John Castrucci & Ben Berger Today, I’m excited to speak with John Castrucci, National Director of Family Office Advisory Services at the Global Family Office Enterprise Division of RSM and Ben Berger, Partner and Family Office Enterprise Markets Leader at RSM. John has 10+ years of experience at a Big 4 Accounting firm as a practicing family office tax and family office advisory services national director and more than a decade at Private Wealth Management and Multi-Family Office institutions as regional managing director overseeing wealth strategists. Ben is on RSM’s Global Family Office Advisory Board, and has served families and family offices, addressing their full range of needs, including tax, operations, and technology since 1995. John, Ben, and their firm RSM are valued advisor members of FOX, and we are fortunate to have their expertise as part of our membership community. John and Ben work with many family offices to help them design and implement the best operational structure for their needs. They talk about what they are seeing in the marketplace, including how family offices are being structured today, what kind of complexities and challenges they are facing, and how are they addressing them. One growing trend John and Ben highlight among single-family offices is the rise in operational and functional lift-outs. They define what lift-outs are, and describe when they make sense, how they work, and why they are increasingly common among single-family offices. One practical suggestion John and Ben offer for family offices is to create an operational roadmap as a tool to understand where they are and where they need to go to meet the family’s needs. They explain how this self-assessment and road-mapping process work and what its benefits are for family office leaders . John and Ben also suggest that family offices conduct a thorough and systematic cataloguing and design of the services they provide to family members and the family enterprise, and also determine how these services will be sourced – i.e., in-housed, outsourced, co-sourced, etc. They elaborate on this best practice and explain how family offices should strive to apply it. Don’t miss this highly relevant conversation on a topic of high interest to families and family office leaders with two of the leading experts on the subject in our industry. /episode/index/show/familyoffice/id/34301940

Navigating Intergenerational Discourse on Marriage and Relationships with Cassindy Chao & Shannon Lundgren 11/27/2024

Navigating Intergenerational Discourse on Marriage and Relationships with Cassindy Chao & Shannon Lundgren Today, I am pleased to welcome back to FOXCast Cassindy Chao and Shannon Lundgren, co-founders of Boutique Matchmaking, a high-end personal advisory practice that provides curated matchmaking, date coaching, and strategic consulting for multigenerational families of wealth. Cassindy and Shannon, and their firm Boutique Matchmaking, have been part of the FOX community as official marketing partners for the past year, and we are thrilled to have their expertise available to our FOX members. In this episode, we tackle the topic of marriage and how it is handled among multigenerational enterprise families today. The commanding majority of never-been-married adults say they would like to get married someday, and probably all single people are hoping to at least find their soulmate. Parents often care about this topic at least as much as their single children do, and both generations want to see the other find happiness. Cassindy and Shannon share their experience on how families approach this important subject and describe the major shifts in norms, beliefs, and attitudes towards marriage among families of wealth. Last time we spoke, we talked about the cloud that often hangs over the topic of romantic relationships and nuptial happiness, but this seems to be changing – people are increasingly open about acknowledging the importance of romantic relationships and nuptial happiness and are willing to utilize all the tools at their disposal to find the right person. Cassindy and Shannon talk about how family members – both young and older ones – can get the sophisticated help and best resources available to them in their quest for romantic happiness and a lifetime partner. One practical consideration for multigenerational families is how the family’s values can or should play a role in the process of educating and helping younger rising-gen members find their romantic partners? And conversely, there is the reality of different perspectives that exist among generations, and the likelihood that the younger generation might have different worldviews or even values. Cassindy and Shannon offer some tips on how to manage this reality and rising complexity. Finally, Cassindy and Shannon provide their advice and suggestions for parents who want to give their input on their children’s choice of a romantic partner, while at the same time, ensuring that both parents and adult children can set healthy boundaries regarding dating advice and involvement. Enjoy this insightful conversation with two of the most experienced professionals on a topic of high importance for all members of multigenerational families. /episode/index/show/familyoffice/id/34179420

Balancing Privacy and Purpose in the Family’s Public Relations Strategy with Kristen Oliveri 11/21/2024

Balancing Privacy and Purpose in the Family’s Public Relations Strategy with Kristen Oliveri Today, I am pleased to welcome Kristen Oliveri, editor of Crain Currency, a family office publication for families managing wealth and legacies. Kristen has built a successful journalistic career in the wealth-management and family-office space by creating exciting content, establishing business connections, and curating high-touch, content-driven events. Prior to Crain Currency, she held a number of content and editorial roles, including Director of the Family Office Institute and Content Director of the Family Office Network at Institutional Investor. Family offices and the media are not exactly a match made in heaven. Kristen leans on her ample experience over the past couple of decades, to describe how enterprise families and family offices have managed public relations and their interactions with the media, especially given the natural tension between their significant presence in and impact on their communities and their desire for privacy and discretion. With younger family members starting to play a role in multigenerational family enterprises, attitudes to the media are changing and so is the family’s tolerance for their presence in the public eye. Kristen shares her views on how families’ preferences and interactions with the public have evolved in recent years. Kristen has had great success working with families and helping them share their stories in a fair, nuanced, and complete way, without betraying the privacy and safety of their individual family members. She offers her advice and suggestions for enterprise families who are either being thrust into the public discourse by exogenous factors or are considering a more proactive stance toward their public image – or even intentionally developing a family brand. Kristen also has some tips and suggestions for the reporters and media outlets who are increasingly focusing their attention on multigenerational families and their enterprises, philanthropies, and family offices. She provides practical advice to journalists looking to cover enterprise families and their impact on society, the economy, and the world. Enjoy this informative conversation with one of the best recognized and prolific journalists in the family office and family wealth space. /episode/index/show/familyoffice/id/34097891

Coaching Enterprise Families to Achieve Long-Term Success with René Sonneveld 11/14/2024

Coaching Enterprise Families to Achieve Long-Term Success with René Sonneveld Today, I am excited to speak with René Sonneveld, a Leadership and Family Business Coach and Honorary Consul General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Uruguay. René a has rich history as Managing Director, CEO, and Chairman at Fortune 500 companies and family-run businesses across four continents, and he now leverages this vast experience to coach leaders and corporate teams. Besides leadership and family enterprise coaching, René is deeply committed to sustainability. He aims to create a green hydrogen supply chain from South America to Europe. Throughout his career, René has served many multigenerational families and has found that often, as he puts it, there’s “an elephant in the room” that gets in the way of families collaborating effectively and achieving their goals. He talks about what “the elephant in the room” is and how to best approach it and, eventually, dispense with it. René eventually discovered coaching and dedicated his life to this noble calling. He shares his beliefs on why coaching is the best tool to empower families to succeed and how it helps eliminate “the elephant in the room” that holds them back. One technique René deploys in his coaching work is what he calls “the icebreaker”. He describes how it works and what the benefits families and family enterprises can reap from this practical tool. Families and family enterprises are complex organisms, commonly involving a great number of players who are entangled in complicated and often emotionally charged relationships. These can include family leaders, blood family, children, in-laws, advisors, to mention just a few key constituents. René offers his advice on when to bring in whom in the coaching process with the family in order to achieve the best results. Enjoy this insightful conversation with a world-renowned leadership coach and family advisor. /episode/index/show/familyoffice/id/33931602

Serving Multigenerational Enterprise Families in Türkiye with Özge Doğan 11/07/2024

Serving Multigenerational Enterprise Families in Türkiye with Özge Doğan Today, I have the pleasure of speaking with Özge Doğan, Founder of Karman Beyond, Türkiye’s first independent multi-family office. Karman Beyond is a boutique advisory service for leading families in Turkey (and beyond) and Özge manages all the relationships with the firm’s client families. Özge is a next-gen member of a prominent Turkish family enterprise, and she founded her multi-family office firm in response to her own family’s wealth management needs – and the lack of an available solutions in Türkiye. We start with a quick overview of family enterprises and family wealth in Türkiye and Özge describes the most common profiles of enterprise families in the country, as well as the most pressing needs and challenges faced by enterprising families, and how are they dealing with these challenges. Özge outlines the current context of the family wealth and wealth management industry in Türkiye, and she talks about the ecosystem of family wealth advisory firms, service providers, and peer communities that serve multigenerational Turkish families. One practical advice Özge offers to Turkish families – which is probably relevant across other cultures as well – is to understand and embrace the next-generation mindset, including the generational differences in values, preference, investing styles, etc. Can you talk about that and how families can successfully apply this mindset. Another practical reality for families in Türkiye, and all over the world, is their increasing interest and exposure to global assets and jurisdictions, including investing, operating, and relocating across multiple geographies globally. Özge shares her views on the client needs and behaviors she is observing, and offers her recommendations for the knowledge, services, and resources families should seek to be successful in their global strategies. Please enjoy this enlightening conversation with a young rising-gen owner and founder of the first multi-family office in Türkiye. /episode/index/show/familyoffice/id/33830532

Investing in the Flourishing of the Entire Enterprise Family Ecosystem with Scott Peppet 10/31/2024

Investing in the Flourishing of the Entire Enterprise Family Ecosystem with Scott Peppet Today, I am delighted to welcome Scott Peppet, President of Chai Trust Company, the private company that administers trusts established for the benefit of members of Sam Zell’s family and that serves as the Zell family office. Scott was a Professor of Law at the University of Colorado from 2000-2018, where he focused on bargaining and dispute resolution, transactional law, and the complexities of multigenerational family enterprises. He is also an ordained priest and transmitted Soto Zen teacher in the related lineages of Kobun Chino Otakawa and Keibun Otakawa. He practices at the Hakubai Zen Center in Boulder, CO. Scott is a good friend of FOX, and he and the Chai Trust Company are long-time valued members of FOX and are very generous and insightful contributors to the FOX community. Throughout his career, Scott has seen and participated in his fair share of enterprise family journeys and has had the opportunity to observe and synthesize what it takes for families and their family offices to be successful. He shares his views and accumulated wisdom on the subject of what it takes for a family to be successful in the long run. We at FOX think and talk a lot about the concept of time capital – how we all deploy our most precious and finite asset. Scott points out that a simple yet powerful way to assess and guide the strategic role and effectiveness of a family office is to look at how it allocates and spends its resources – especially, how the family office leaders and employees spend their time. He describes the importance of – and potential cognitive dissonance associated with – how family office time capital is managed and expended. One practical suggestion Scott offers to families and their family offices is to invest in cultivating, educating, and engaging the whole ecosystem of human and intellectual capital that serves the family – not just the family members, but also the family office employees, and even all the external advisors who are integral to the family enterprise. To up-level and educate an entire system is such a tremendous undertaking and families are not the only ones who can and should lead and invest in it. All the other participants in the ecosystem also have a part to play. Scott provides his views on what family office executives and employees, as well as external advisors, should do to ensure the entire enterprise family ecosystem is flourishing. This is a must-hear conversation with one of the most prominent and celebrated thought leaders, practitioners, and enterprise family leaders in the family wealth and family office field. /episode/index/show/familyoffice/id/33703617

Generating Positive Impact Through the ACT Deposit Program with Brian Argrett 10/24/2024

Generating Positive Impact Through the ACT Deposit Program with Brian Argrett Today, I’m excited to speak with Brian Argrett, Chair of the Board Directors and President and CEO of Broadway Financial Corporation and its banking subsidiary City First Bank, the largest Black-led minority depository institution (MDI) in the nation. Impact investing is an increasingly important topic for enterprise families and family offices. Our conversation today focuses on a truly unique and attractive avenue for positive impact available to enterprise families and family offices, which is made possible thanks to the Advancing Communities Together Deposit Program, or ACT – an innovative program that provides an easy and fully insured way for family offices to invest their excess cash directly in the financial institutions dedicated to lifting up communities in need. Brian describes the greater goals of the ACT program, why it is needed, what the issues or challenges it is meant to address, and what opportunities it is designed to unlock. The ACT Deposit Program was launched in the summer of 2024 by the national trade associations representing Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs). Brian explains how the ACT program works and defines the role of CDFIs and MDIs in delivering the intended impact and benefits of the program. He shares his views on why this program has strong appeal to family offices and enterprise families. Delving into the practical details of how the ACT program functions, Brian details the mechanics of the program, including some of the key elements family members and family office executives should be aware of, such as minimum deposits, interest rates earned, minimum maturity, etc. Brian also talks about what families and family office leaders can do to get involved with and take advantage of the ACT program. He offers an overview of existing resources and tools for them to get educated and ready to participate and contribute to the positive impact of this program. Enjoy this timely and informative conversation with a leading champion of the ACT program and long-time thought leader and practitioner in the impact banking space. /episode/index/show/familyoffice/id/33599987

Catalyzing Family Member Engagement with Impact Strategies with Jason Ingle 10/17/2024

Catalyzing Family Member Engagement with Impact Strategies with Jason Ingle Today, I am delighted and honored to welcome Jason Ingle, founder and Managing Partner of Third Nature Investments, an integrated impact capital platform investing in the most promising innovations to address urgent and massive challenges we face within our most critical earth systems. Jason is a 5th generation member of the Ford family. He currently serves as the board chair for the family office and as a member of the investment and governance committees and is also a member of the family council and previously served as the chair, and he serves as a board director of the Ford Fund, the philanthropic arm of Ford Motor Company. Jason is a founding member of The ImPact, a membership network of family enterprises, including family offices, foundations, and businesses, that are committed to making investments with measurable social impact. The Enterprise Family/FO space is full of important and sometime baffling polarities – one prominent one is between promoting the “togetherness” of the family as a whole while concurrently enabling the “individuality” of each family member. Jason talks about how his family, and himself personally, dealt with this polarity of togetherness vs. individuality and found the right balance. FOX research among rising-gen family members shows that finding their role in the enterprise, and by extension their purpose more broadly, is a top priority – and often a pain point – for emerging family leaders and younger family members. Jason’s journey took him from being less involved and connected with the family enterprise to eventually playing a key role in the governance and leadership of the family. He shares how his journey unfolded and what he learned from it. One significant outcome of Jason’s personal journey within his family enterprise was his discovery of impact investing – and impact more broadly – as a core value and purpose to which he concluded he wants to dedicate his time, attention, and capital. He shares how that process worked and how he landed on this most important point of relevance to himself personally. Jason offers his suggestions and practical tips for family leaders and family members who are thinking about effectively catalyzing their rising-gen members and getting them more actively involved in the work and life of the family as a shared enterprise. Impact is possibly the most important priority and objective most enterprise families arrive at. Jason provides his suggestions for family members who are looking to either start their impact journey or become more involved in the global impact movement. He also describes the organization he is part of – The ImPact – and how families can get involved, contribute, and benefit from it. Don’t miss this unique conversation with a prominent family leader, philanthropist, entrepreneur and impact investor who is an active and generous member of the FOX community. /episode/index/show/familyoffice/id/33503627

Protecting the Security of All Forms of Family Capital with Dale Buckner 10/10/2024

Protecting the Security of All Forms of Family Capital with Dale Buckner This week, I am pleased to welcome Dale Buckner, CEO and President of Global Guardian, a leading provider of best-in-class security, medical and travel-related solutions. Dale is a decorated Combat-Commander with multiple combat tours and classified operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Colombia, Haiti and Cuba and executed deployments to Russia, El Salvador, Honduras, Chile, Panama, Kuwait, and Qatar. He is a thought leader in the industry with recent features on CNN, Politico, NPR, The Hill, Bloomberg, Forbes, and other major media outlets. Dale, and his firm Global Guardian, are Premier Risk Management Resource Partners of FOX and we are excited to have the unique expertise they bring to our membership community. Having been involved in managing global security risks for the better part of 2 decades, Dale offers his analysis of how the threat environment has evolved for multigenerational enterprise families over the past 20-30 years. We are in a global environment punctuated by domestic polarization, regional conflicts, more frequent and destructive natural disasters, to name just a few of the major disruptors impacting families. Dale shares his views on the top threats that enterprise families and their family offices face today. The most common risk management tool families rely on is insurance. But how much can insurance actually do to mitigate the most significant risks families face? Dale goes over the limitations and loopholes of insurance coverage that families and family office need to be aware of. Technology now permeates everything the family office does, which both fuels remarkable advancements of productivity, speed, and quality of services the family can benefit from, but also creates significant new risks. Dale describes the current state of digital risks and cybersecurity for family offices and the families they serve. This is a highly insightful and instructive conversation with a deep expert, hands-on operator, and thought leader in the field of security and risk management for enterprise families and family offices. /episode/index/show/familyoffice/id/33406292

Helping Enterprise Families in Transition Flourish with Stacy Allred & Holly Isdale 10/03/2024

Helping Enterprise Families in Transition Flourish with Stacy Allred & Holly Isdale This week, I have the pleasure of speaking with Stacy Allred & Holly Isdale. Stacy is a Managing Director and Head of Family Engagement and Governance at J.P. Morgan Wealth Management. She serves on the faculty of the UHNW Institute and teaches for the Investment & Wealth Institute® (CPWA®) program. Holly is the founder of Wealthaven, a family office consulting firm she founded in 2010 after 20-plus years on Wall Street. She is also a Senior Advisor with Lansberg Gersick, a global consulting firm advising significant families on governance and succession planning. Holly teaches at Wharton and Cornell in their Executive Education programs for family office and family business members, including a new Wharton Family Office program in January 2025 for Family members seeking to explore family office governance and operation. Stacy and Holly are both members of Collaboration for Flourishing Families (CFF) and the Purposeful Planning Institute (PPI). They are both active in Family Firm Institute (FFI) and each hold certificates in Family Business Advising and Family Wealth Advising. In their work with families, Stacy and Holly are commonly brought in during a time of transition – between generations, between life stages, between wealth structures, between business, investments, or philanthropic activities – and they reflect on the most common challenges, considerations, and opportunities they believe families in transition face. Stacy recently co-authored The 10x10 Learning Roadmap: Advancing Flourishing in Families of Wealth with Stephen Goldbart & Joan DiFuria, who were on this podcast a couple of months ago. Stacy gives our audience a quick refresher on the 10x10 framework and points out how it can help families in transition and enable their long-term success. The 10x10 Learning Roadmap is a powerful and practical framework, but real-life situations sometimes don’t lend themselves perfectly to even the best of conceptual frameworks. Holly talks about how families and their advisors can “work around the framework” whenever they face complexities and idiosyncrasies resulting from their unique DNA and circumstances. Having talked about how family members and their external advisors can benefit from the 10x10 Learning Roadmap, Stacy focuses on the other entities and constituents that comprise the broader family enterprise, such as the family office, the family council, the various committee members, the trustees, etc. She provides her insights into how these diverse players who have widely ranging roles within or in support of the family can utilize the 10x10 framework to help the family flourish. Enjoy this illuminating and instructive conversation with two of the best recognized and celebrated practitioners and advisors in the family wealth and well-being space. /episode/index/show/familyoffice/id/33313762

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