Every family office is unique, and so are the governance structures needed to meet the family's objectives. This session will help attendees understand when a family office should implement more (or less) formal governance components - from committees to councils to bringing in outside directors alongside family members. Attendees will walk away with a solid understanding of the family office governance lifecycle, including indicators on when to add or remove governance elements.
Best Governance Practices
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The Need for Governance in Family-Owned Businesses
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Family-owned businesses are an important part of the economy, and they face unique challenges due to the dynamics of family relationships. With family members involved in both ownership and management, decision-making processes can be complex and challenging, so it is crucial that family-owned businesses develop governance structures before a need for governance arises. With proper governance and best practices, family-owned businesses can thrive and achieve long-term and sustainable success.
The Hidden Factor That Can Derail Your Legacy
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Wealthy families often take every precaution in preserving their legacies for future generations, with carefully constructed estate plans, wills, and trusts. But they often overlook the hidden factor that can undermine all these plans, and it isn’t investment returns or poor estate planning: It’s family dynamics. Studies have shown that the main reasons wealth fails to transition successfully across generations have little to do with making sound financial decisions—and much more to do with how the family interacts with each other.
Family Governance: A Key to Maintaining Your Legacy
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When setting up a family legacy plan that extends across generations, it’s vital to have a family governance plan that empowers a family to govern its wealth and enterprises as a cohesive unit. While each family is unique, the keys to incorporating an effective family governance will be uniting around shared purposes, having a written family constitution that sets forth broad principles and policies in areas that are identified by the family as needed, and keeping it separate from any operating business governance.
Planning Family Meetings for Maximum Family Impact
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The family meeting is an important element of the larger family education and communication strategy. Join Edouard Thijssen, Co-Founder & CEO of Trusted Family, and Mindy Kalinowski Earley, Chief Learning Officer at Family Office Exchange, for an educational discussion informed by their decades of work with families.
The Emergence of B Corps: Positioning the Family Office to Achieve Impact | 2022 FOX Family Forum
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Once the family enterprise is clear on which values it aims to preserve, the next step is to integrate and execute those values in an intentional way. Enter: The B Corps. Certified B Corporations are leaders in the global movement for an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economy. Join this session to learn how one family office achieved B Corps status, why it matters, and how yours can too. Philippe Mauchard, Venture Partner and Former Chief Investment Officer, SPDG Ventures Peter Moustakerski, CEO, FOX
Role definition and preparation is a common challenge for families looking to integrate rising family members into the enterprise. Solving this challenge leads to higher rising gen participation and increased in-law engagement within the family. Using competency-based assessments, families can predict the success of family members in specific roles within the enterprise. Join this session to learn how to shift from forced succession to agreed-upon continuity by embracing the natural behaviors and strengths of family members at all ages.
From risk management to objective perspectives to succession planning, boards are a crucial component to help the family business achieve longevity. Boards serve as a mechanism to clarify the mandates of the family and provide continuity and formal guidance to future generations. During this session, experts will share easy-to-implement governance tactics to sustain family businesses for future generations. Meghan Juday, Chairman of the Board, IDEAL Industries Peter Moustakerski, CEO, FOX
Governance is a word often misunderstood by families and family offices, but it is essential for a long-lasting family legacy. Strong governance establishes a process for decision-making and conformity within a multi-generational family to promote communication and strengthen unity, helping to preserve wealth and solidarity for future generations. Although high-net-worth families and individuals increasingly recognize the importance of instituting formal governance structures, doing so presents a complex task, and it can be difficult to know where to start.
Family Governance: Oxymoron or Opportunity?
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Family governance need not be an oxymoron. A conscious family governance system can help create an efficient and rewarding means of ensuring the family enterprise’s viability for generations to come. Therefore, any family enterprise that seeks to maintain and grow its wealth—financial, human, social, and intellectual—should consider creating a clear system of governance that is well-designed and flexible-but-durable.