2018 FOX Rising Gen Forum - Presenters
FOX Rising Gen Forum - Presenter Biographies
Founder and Principal, McCann & Associates
Greg McCann is the founder, principal, and leader of McCann & Associates, a national family business consulting firm that create workshops, consults, publishes, and generally innovates on issues of importance to family enterprises. As an author, educator, coach, consultant, and speaker, Mr. McCann works with family enterprises in many areas within the context of vertical leadership development. He has coached leaders and executives for nearly 20 years and is certified in Leadership Agility and Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.
Mr. McCann is the founder of the Family Enterprise Center at Stetson University, where he led the effort as a professor to develop the nation’s second minor and first under-graduate major in Family Enterprise. Mr. McCann wrote, When Your Parents Sign the Paychecks, that is a part of the Family Enterprise curriculum at Stetson University and has published a second book entitled, Who Do You Think You Are? Aligning your Character and Reputation.
President & Chief Operating Officer,
McDonald Development Company
As president and chief operating officer for McDonald Development Company, Austin McDonald oversees daily activities related to financing, leasing, asset management, property management, and accounting. He maintains relationships with McDonald Development Company’s investors and a broad range of financial institutions and is responsible for the company’s development activities in the State of Florida. Mr. McDonald began his career at Carter and Associates, a full service regional real estate firm based in Atlanta where he coordinated development proforma analysis, property valuations, acquisition and dispositions, financing packages, and lease analysis.
Mr. McDonald graduated from Vanderbilt University with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration and Economics. He is active in Young Presidents Organization (YPO), National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP), Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR), Atlanta Commercial Board of Realtors and the Urban Land Institute (ULI). He is a licensed real estate broker in the State of Georgia and a board member of the Atlanta Airport West and Atlanta Airport South Community Improvement Districts.
Head of Family Office Segment, The Vanguard Group
Ms. Sperry began her Vanguard career in 2008, developing executive leadership programs, and has been supporting the needs of Vanguard clients since 2010. She has managed the Flagship client relationship teams since 2012 and also leads a team in Flagship Select™ and Vanguard's family office strategy group.
Prior to joining Vanguard, Ms. Sperry had a decade-long career in academia. She still teaches a graduate course in leadership and enjoys serving on various nonprofit boards.
Ms. Sperry holds her Series 7, 24, and 63 licenses. She earned an M.A. from Villanova University, as well as a B.F.A. from the University of the Arts and a graduate certificate in counseling from Westminster.
Family Legacy Specialist, The Vanguard Group
Ms. Winslow-Walker is a family legacy coach in Vanguard’s Flagship Services. In this work, Heather helps families plan the emotional legacy they want to leave their family including their values, stories, and traditions. This foundation compliments the financial planning process to ensure an integrated approach to family wealth planning.
Before joining Flagship in 2014, Ms. Winslow-Walker spent the majority of her eighteen years at Vanguard in Human Resources. She has an extensive education background which enables her to not only design educational programs but also facilitate group dynamics. Ms. Winslow-Walker’s other specialties include leadership development, talent management, engagement, change management, and employee relations. In addition, she is a certified professional coach who coaches individuals to be aware of mindset as a mechanism to realize their full potential.
Ms. Winslow-Walker earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Pittsburgh. She holds two master’s degree, an M.B.A., and M.Ed., both from Penn State. She received her professional coaching certification from the Institute of Professional Excellence in Coaching. She is currently completing her Heritage Design Professional certification through the Heritage Institute.
Co-Founder and COO, Imperative
Arthur Woods is a social entrepreneur named on the list for Forbes 30 Under 30, a keynote speaker and advisor to leading brands around the world on the ways we help people grow and realize their potential at work. He is the Co-Founder of Imperative, a breakthrough learning and development platform that has pioneered the way we measure and grow purpose within organizations. Imperative has powered the largest global research on purpose in the workplace, working with a wide range of organizations from LinkedIn and MetLife to Sony. Mr. Woods is a three-time TEDx speaker, World Economic Forum Global Shaper, a New York Venture Fellow, and sits on the Boards of the Georgetown Technology Alliance, Social Impact 360, and Out in Tech.
Mr. Woods came from Google where he led operations for YouTube’s Education division and oversaw YouTube for Schools. He co-founded Social Impact 360, the leading collegiate social enterprise education program and co-founded Out in Tech, the largest global LGBTQ technology community. Mr. Woods studied Operations and information Management at Georgetown University and Project Management at Stanford University. He contributes to Fast Company's Purposeful CEO series.
Family Office Exchange Presenters
Regional Director, Membership, West
Heather Abramson is the regional director of membership for Family Office Exchange (FOX). Heather has three major roles at FOX. First, she provides a variety of member services and supports the specific needs for family business-owning members. Secondly, Heather is a member of the FOX member development team and assesses the needs of prospective FOX members by helping them achieve their goals. Heather also runs FOX’s Rising Gen Community, which is designed to provide next generation family members an opportunity to learn, share experiences, and develop skills as future leaders.
Before joining FOX in 2008, Heather served as strategic marketing and events manager at Aon Corporation. While at Aon, Heather planned and executed more than 100 large-scale events and created the marketing and project execution for Aon’s South America Division. Earlier in her career, she worked on Capitol Hill for a U.S. senator and in the foreign policy department at a lobbying organization. She also has previous experience working in a Chicago-based family office.
Heather has a B.A. degree in journalism, public relations, and political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She graduated with honors from DePaul University with an M.A. in organizational and multi-cultural communications.
Product Manager
As Product Manager of Advisory Services, Paulina is responsible for creating and managing the Impact & Philanthropy platform at Family Office Exchange (FOX). In this role, Paulina leads client education and consulting efforts on impact across the capital spectrum, including ESG, impact investing, and charitable giving. She also liaises with other industry specialists to provide expertise on all phases of families’ impact journeys, including value identification, impact and philanthropy program creation, and measurement.
Paulina also brings investment expertise to FOX, serving as the Second Chair for the Strategic CIO Council and engaging with clients on developing investment objectives, portfolio strategy, and advisor selection. Additionally, Paulina is involved with several initiatives designed to strengthen multi-generational family enterprises, including comprehensive risk analysis and next-generation planning.
Prior to joining FOX, Paulina was a key member of the Family Office Investment Advisory Practice at Northern Trust. As an Associate Portfolio Manager, she was responsible for investment strategy, asset allocation, manager selection, and portfolio management for family offices, ultra-high net worth individuals, and foundations.
While at Northern Trust, Paulina also spent several years focused on business strategy. She was responsible for crafting and implementing strategic and financial initiatives for the Asset Management business, and reporting directly to the Head of Corporate Strategy, led M&A activities and the annual Strategic Plan for the organization.
Paulina received a Bachelor’s of Science in Finance from Florida State University, with a Minor in History. She is a Level III Candidate in the CFA Program. Paulina is also involved with several mentorship and financial coaching organizations throughout the Chicago area.