Keynote Speakers

James (Jay) E. Hughes Jr.
Author of Family Wealth: Keeping it in the Family, and of Family - The Compact Among Generations

Mr. Hughes, a resident of Aspen, Colorado, is the author of Family Wealth: Keeping It in the Family, and of Family – The Compact Among Generations, both published by Bloomberg Press, and is the co-author with Susan Massenzio and Keith Whitaker of The Cycle of the Gift: Family Wealth and Wisdom, The Voice of the Rising Generation, and Complete Family Wealth, all published by John Wiley & Sons and is a co- author with Hartley Goldstone and Keith Whitaker of Family Trusts: A Guide to Trustees, Beneficiaries, Advisors and Protectors. In addition, he has written numerous articles on family governance and wealth preservation and a series of Reflections which can be found on his website jamesehughes.com.

Dr. Alexander D. Wissner-Gross
Founder and CEO, Reified

Dr. Alexander D. Wissner-Gross is an award-winning computer scientist, entrepreneur, advisor, and investor. He is the Founder and CEO of Reified, an AI-focused startup advisory and investment firm, and has incubated and participated in more than 33 technology companies. He has taught at Harvard and MIT, received 128 major distinctions, authored 23 publications, and been granted 26 issued, pending, and provisional patents. In 1998 and 1999, respectively, he won the USA Computer Olympiad and the Intel Science Talent Search. In 2003, he became the last person in MIT history to earn a triple major, with bachelor's degrees in Physics, Electrical Science and Engineering, and Mathematics, and graduated first in his class from the MIT School of Engineering with a Marshall Scholarship. In 2007, he completed his Ph.D. in Physics at Harvard, where his research on neuromorphic computing, machine learning, and programmable matter was awarded the Hertz Foundation's Doctoral Thesis Prize. A thought leader in artificial intelligence and cyber-physical systems, he is a contributing author of the New York Times Science Bestseller, “This Idea Must Die,” and the Amazon #1 New Release, “What to Think About Machines That Think.” A popular TED speaker, his talks have been viewed more than 2 million times and translated into 27 languages. His work has been featured in more than 200 press outlets worldwide, including The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, CNN, USA Today, and Wired.

Robert C. Wolcott
Adjunct Professor, Booth & Kellogg, Chair & Founder, TWIN Global

Robert C. Wolcott is Adjunct Professor of Innovation at the Booth School of Business, University of Chicago, and Adjunct Professor of Executive Education at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. From 2010 – 2019, he served as Clinical Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Kellogg. Wolcott won Teacher of the Year from Kellogg’s EMBA program in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017.

His new book, PROXIMITY: How All Industries Will Transform—and How to Win, with Kaihan Krippendorff, will launch in March 2024 from Columbia Business School Publishing.

He’s co-founder and chair of The World Innovation Network, a global community of nearly 4,000 innovation and growth leaders from over 30 countries and across sectors (business, government, the arts, academia, defense). TWIN gathers 400 delegates for TWIN Global each year to explore the future, in addition to smaller gatherings and online sessions. The objective is to build trusted relationships across sectors. 

Wolcott is a board member of Clareo, an innovation and growth strategy consultancy serving global corporations; human transformation platform and technology-enabled coaching enterprise Abroad.io; and HCP Cure Blindness (Himalayan Cataract Project), a global non-profit that has restored sight to over one million people in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

He is a regular contributor for Forbes on the impact of technology on business, society and humanity.  His book, Grow From Within:  Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation (McGraw-Hill, 2010) has been published in Chinese and Japanese.  Wolcott’s work appears in MIT Sloan Management Review, strategy+business, The Harvard Business Review (online), The Wall Street Journal, Advertising Age, Business Week, The Financial Times (European Edition), The New York Times and numerous overseas publications.

Wolcott is an early stage investor in nearly 30 venture companies and funds including digital healthcare fund 7wire Ventures, crowd funding leader Indiegogo, tech-enabled coaching and culture development platform Abroad.io, no-code enterprise leader Unqork, women’s online health specialist Alpha Medical, student loan innovator Lumni, digital education leader Kiddom, transaction security technology firm Magic Cube, UK-based consumer credit platform Updraft, verified identity platform Merit, mental health platform Silver Cloud Health and ClearCare Online, international art show, EXPO Chicago and MommyDaddyMe.com, a Hong Kong-based online capability development platform for children and their families across Asia.

Wolcott holds a BA, European and Chinese History; and an MS and Ph.D., Industrial Engineering & Management Science, Northwestern University.

Featured Industry Pioneers

Coventry Edwards-Pitt, CFA, CFP®
Partner, Chief Creative Officer, Ballentine Partners

As a Partner and the Chief Creative Officer at Ballentine Partners, Covie is the author of the firm’s Healthy, Wealthy & Wise Collection, a 10-year research effort and three-book series highlighting success stories of how individuals have reconciled their financial abundance with the values and relationships that matter most in their lives. The first book, Raised Healthy, Wealthy & Wise (2014), focuses on helping parents to raise grounded children amid wealth, the second, Aged Healthy, Wealthy & Wise (2017), centers on how to design a vibrant later life and legacy, and the third, Engaged Healthy, Wealthy & Wise (2023), offers a roadmap for inheritors and their significant others on how to navigate love and family wealth and forge their own joint path. 

Covie’s books live at the intersection of heart and wealth and underpin Ballentine’s distinct client approach, which focuses on the human impact of each financial strategy and seeks to maximize not just wealth but also well-being. The books serve not only as valuable content for our clients but also as a best practice roadmap for our internal team members in several areas often critical to our clients: raising children well amid wealth, creating a meaningful legacy and preserving family relationships in later years, and forging a joyful life as an inheritor.

After 25 years in the wealth advising industry, Covie now splits her time between her two professional callings, devoting the beginning of each week to helping clients, families, and advisors implement the strategies in her books, and the remainder to running the shop she founded featuring her original floral designs based on her garden. Covie has found that having both endeavors in her life allows her to connect to clients – especially founders, dreamers, and creatives – on a deeper level. She tries to live in practicing the purpose and life goal-setting advice she often shares with clients. 

Prior to joining the firm in 2004, Covie was Chief of Staff of Goldman Sachs’ Global Manager Strategies investment group, where she helped develop systems for manager searches in eleven asset classes. Covie graduated with an A.B. from Harvard. She holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ practitioner. She has been quoted widely, including in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and Investment News.

A trained opera singer and pianist, Covie is a member of the Women Presidents’ Organization and the Collaboration for Family Flourishing.

Joline Godfrey
Founder and Chief Content Officer, Bounce10, LLC

Joline Godfrey has been an innovator in financial education for children and parents for over two decades. She is the author of Our Wildest Dreams: Women Making Money, Having Fun, Doing Good; No More Frogs To Kiss: 99 Ways to Give Economic Power to Girls; Twenty $ecrets to Money and Independence: The DollarDiva’s Guide to Life; and Raising Financially Fit Kids, and her most recent book, Raffi’s SuperPowers, is the first of a series of children’s money books. She serves a small coterie of private clients around the world, hosts a range of innovative programs, and continues to write and speak about issues relevant to thought leader families.

Godfrey’s invention of a developmental approach to financial education for family members from the youngest child to the oldest financial novice was a breakthrough in financial education which has earned her numerous speaking and consulting opportunities, including invitations to address gatherings that include Fast Company and Inc. 500 conferences; the exclusive Padres e Hijos gathering in Latin America, hosted each year by Carlos Slim; and an historic meeting at Ten Downing Street organized by Gordon Brown to encourage a more entrepreneurial UK generation. She has spoken to family offices from Dallas to Dubai and at many of the most prestigious family office gatherings in the world.

A Maine native, Joline graduated from the University of Maine, earned an M.S.W. from Boston University, and was awarded an Honorary Degree in Business from Bentley College for her achievements in financial education. Godfrey was a Kellogg Leadership Fellow and has been recognized in features for The Today Show, Oprah, Fortune, Business Week, Inc. Magazine, and The New York Times. She is the subject of a Harvard Business School case.

Sara Hamilton
Founder and Board Chair, FOX

Sara is one of the first professionals to recognize family offices as the most sophisticated segment of wealth management, and she has been described as “the Warren Buffet of the family office industry”. When hundreds of U.S. families became centi-millionaires through leveraged buyouts in the 1980s and 1990s, private family offices were created to manage family capital and to educate wealth owners. 

Sara founded the Family Office Exchange (FOX) as a peer network for family office executives in 1989. Within 10 years, she could see that families needed help with family governance and managing financial transitions, in addition to their family offices. As a result, FOX evolved into an advisor to family enterprises, a platform for sharing family wealth best practices, and an industry advocate for the importance of private enterprise in a global economy.

Today, Sara provides input to the strategic direction for FOX and supports the development of new programs and services for family enterprises and wealth advisory firms in 25 countries. Sara is the co-author of Family Legacy and Leadership: Preserving True Family Wealth in Challenging Times. She serves on the executive education faculty of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business where she is an adjunct faculty member for their Private Wealth Management and Essentials of Wealth courses in the Executive Education program. She is on the founding board for the Foundation Advancing Impact and Sustainability in Bologna and the founding board for the Private Directors Association in Chicago.

James (Jay) E. Hughes Jr.
Author of Family Wealth: Keeping it in the Family, and of Family - The Compact Among Generations

Mr. Hughes, a resident of Aspen, Colorado, is the author of Family Wealth: Keeping It in the Family, and of Family – The Compact Among Generations, both published by Bloomberg Press, and is the co-author with Susan Massenzio and Keith Whitaker of The Cycle of the Gift: Family Wealth and Wisdom, The Voice of the Rising Generation, and Complete Family Wealth, all published by John Wiley & Sons and is a co- author with Hartley Goldstone and Keith Whitaker of Family Trusts: A Guide to Trustees, Beneficiaries, Advisors and Protectors. In addition, he has written numerous articles on family governance and wealth preservation and a series of Reflections which can be found on his website jamesehughes.com.

He was the founder of a law partnership in New York City specializing in the representation of private clients throughout the world and is now retired from the active practice of law. Mr. Hughes was a partner of the law firms of Coudert Brothers and Jones Day. He is a current active Fellow of Wise Counsel Research Foundation a Boston based think tank providing qualitative advice to families who seek to avoid the shirt sleeves proverb and to help their families flourish.

He is a member of the Advisory Board of Arlington Partners, the Chair Emeritus and  Chair of Distribution and Beneficiary Life Enhancement Committee of Lineage Trust Company, a Fellow of the Family Firm Institute, a member of the Society of Trusts and Estates Practitioners, Founding Member of the Collaboration for Family Flourishing, a Laureate of the Purposeful Planning Institute, Director of the Learning Courage Foundation, Standing Committee Member of the HS2 Foundation, Emeritus Trustee of The Far Brook School, Emeritus Trustee of Prescott College, former Trustee of the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation, Board Member of the Hemera Foundation, and Board Member of the Robert H N Ho Family Foundation.

He has spoken frequently at numerous international and domestic symposia on the avoidance of the “shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves” proverb and on the dynamic growth of families’ human, intellectual, social, spiritual, and financial capitals toward their families’ flourishing.

He has authored various Forwards to multiple published works on families and their flourishing and has been cited in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and vari-ous professional journals. He is a member of boards of various private trust companies, an advisor to numerous investment institutions, and a member of a number of private philanthropic boards.

Jay is a graduate of the Far Brook School (Class of 1956) which teaches through the Arts, The Pingry School (Class of 1960), Princeton University (Class of 1964) and The Columbia School of Law (Class of 1967). He is a counselor to the Family Office Ex-change and recipient of its Founder’s Award, the recipient of the Private Asset Management Lifetime Achievement Award, the Ackerman Institute Family Partner Award, and the Family Wealth Report Lifetime Achievement Award.

In 2021, The James E. Hughes, Jr. Foundation (JEHJF) was funded, in Jay’s honor and as a gift to him, to advance the field of family wealth management and generational well-being.  Rooted in Jay’s landmark Five Capitals research, the JEHJF is designed to spread the spirit of Jay to as many individuals that have this desire.

Dennis T. Jaffe
Senior Research Fellow, BanyanGlobal Family Business Advisors

Dr. Jaffe, a San Francisco-based advisor to families about family business, governance, wealth and philanthropy, is Senior Research Fellow at BanyanGlobal Family Business Advisors. He is author of Borrowed from Your Grandchildren: The Evolution of 100-Year Family Enterprises; Cross Cultures: How Global Families Negotiate Change Across Generations; Stewardship in your Family Enterprise: Developing Responsible Family Leadership Across Generations and Working with the Ones You Love. His global insights have led to teaching or consulting engagements in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America. The Family Firm Institute awarded him the 2017 International Award for service, and in 2005 he received the Beckhard Award for service to the field. In 2020 he was awarded a special commendation as an individual thought leader in the field of wealth management by the Family Wealth Report. He has a BA degree in Philosophy, MA in Management, and Ph.D. in sociology, all from Yale University, and professor emeritus of organizational systems and psychology at Saybrook University in San Francisco.

Ellen Perry
Founder and Managing Partner, Wealthbridge Partners, LLC

Ellen Perry is the founder and Managing Partner of Wealthbridge Partners, LLC. She has more than 30 years of experience serving as a strategic advisor for families of substantial wealth. During this time, she has gained perspective on the many ways wealth affects families and developed expertise on practices that substantively enhance the life of a family and its individual members.  She works with families and family ecosystems on issues such as governance, succession planning, conflict resolution, communication, and leadership development. She has extensively studied the emotional and psychological context of family and completed a 3-year post graduate program in Family Systems Theory at the Bowen Center at Georgetown. 

Before founding Wealthbridge Partners, Ms. Perry was the co-founder and President of GenSpring Family Offices, a multiclient family office. She is a frequent speaker, author and advisor on family strategies that create and sustain great families throughout multiple generations. Her book, A Wealth of Possibilities has become a vital resource for those who seek to better understand the qualitative issues and human capital of their family. 

John A. Warnick, Esq.
Founder, Purposeful Planning Institute

John A. Warnick, who family, friends and clients know as “John A”, describes himself as a “recovering tax attorney.”  After practicing for thirty-two years as a tax and legal advisor to wealthy families, he left the large law firm to found the Purposeful Planning Institute (“PPI”), a multi-disciplinary education and training organization whose primary mission has been to explore and share the best practices which empower advisors and consultants to assist enterprising families find sustainable paths to flourishing legacies.  While he still maintains an active legal and consulting practive, Mr. Warnick has devoted over 50% of his professional energy teaching and writing about what he calls the Eight Keys of Purposeful Trusts and Legacies and the Six Paradigms of Purposeful Planning.  He has been a strong proponent for what he describes as “Fusion”, the processes of implementing best practices from the qualitative worlds of family wealth and family enterprise into the technical planning.  

Mr. Warnick is currently on sabbatical from service as a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel.  Until 2022 he served as the chairperson of two subcommittees within ACTEC.  He also   served for five years as the Philanthropic Editor of the Journal of Practical Estate Planning and serves today on the Carter Center Philanthropy Council.  He was proud to be a member of NAEPC’s Multidisciplinary Teaming and Professional Collaboration Committee.  In the 1980s and 1990s he authored two portfolios for Tax Management, a Bureau of National Affairs publishing arm for tax professionals and frequently consulted with attorneys, CPAs, CLU, and CFPs on the topics of private annuities and self-cancelling installment sales.  In 1989 he published a law review article: “The Ungrateful Living – The Estate Planner’s Nightmare and Trial Attorney’s Dream.  His most recent publications include “Generative Trusts & Trustees: A New Paradigm for Design and Administration”, “Innovate or Die”,  and "Selecting a Trust Situs in the 21st Century".  

Mr. Warnick received a BA magna cum laude from Brigham Young University and his JD from George Washington University with honors.  He is a member of the Nevada, Wyoming, and Colorado Bar Associations and was a member for many years of the Rocky Mountain Estate Planning Council, until he and his wife moved from Denver to St. George, Utah, where they currently reside.

Presenters

Laurel J. Andrew
Vice President & Senior Trust Officer, Andrew Trust Company, and Treasurer of the Andrew Family Foundation

Laurel Andrew serves as Vice President and Senior Trust Officer of the Andrew Trust Company and Treasurer of the Andrew Family Foundation, focusing on governance, investment and finance issues for the Andrew family.  “Treasurer of everything” starting with Blue Birds when she was a young girl, she earned an M.B.A. at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (now “Booth”) after graduating from Knox College.  Since “retiring” from her outside professional position to work with her parents and siblings to launch their enterprises thirty years ago, she has also served on the boards of several education-related non-profits during the past 25 years.

Cody Crowell
Principal, The Frisbie Group

Since joining Frisbie Group in 2016, Cody has taken a leadership role guiding the firm as a preeminent investment organization, focused on placemaking, revitalization, and large-scale mixed-use developments.  Prior to FG, Cody was a partner at Portfolio Acquisition Group, a real estate private equity group, where he helped build a portfolio with a total cap of $750MM.  Prior to PAG, Cody co-founded Interprise Partners, where he assisted with the acquisition, stabilization and disposition of over $100MM of bank-owned real estate assets.  Cody currently serves as a strategic advisor to FVLCRUM, a first-of-its-kind fund targeting $250MM, focused on creating generations of wealth in minority communities, as well as the Long-Range Planning Committee of Palm Beach and the Town’s Main Street Association.  He is a Trustee of the Chamber of Commerce of the Palm Beaches, as well as serving on the Economic Council of Palm Beach County.  Cody earned a bachelor’s degree in business development from Vanderbilt University, where he was a four-year starting pitcher for the Division 1, nationally-ranked baseball team.

Marissa L. Evans
Marissa L. Evans Coaching + Consulting

Marissa L. Evans, MPOD, GPCC, ACC, is the owner of Marissa L. Evans Coaching + Consulting. Marissa is pursuing a doctoral degree in Organization Development and Change at Bowling Green State University. Marissa holds a Master of Science in Positive Organization Development and Change from Case Western Reserve University. 

Charles B. Grace III
Managing Director, Family Enterprise Solutions, Cambridge Associates

Charlie is Managing Director of Family Enterprise Solutions at Cambridge Associates.

Charlie advises multi-generation families on holistic wealth strategies, including establishing and assessing single family offices, instituting and refining investment programs, designing structures and governance for families and associated boards, and executing many other types of initiatives for families–all in the context of best practices.

Charlie is a thought leader, recently publishing two papers that outline best practices for investment governance and a framework to analyze wealth management costs. He has been quoted in many publications and spoken at conferences for ultra high net worth families.

Charlie has served for over ten years as a Trustee, including his current role as President and Executive Committee Member, of the non-profit Isaac H Tuttle Fund in New York City.

Prior to joining Cambridge Associates, Charlie spent ten years at Family Office Exchange (FOX) as a Managing Director in the advisory practice focused on family enterprise strategies. Prior to FOX, Charlie served as Managing Director and Chairman of the Management Committee at Ashbridge, a single- and multi-family office.

Charlie received his Juris Doctorate from Washington College of Law, his Masters at American University, and Bachelors at Bates College.

Kenneth R. Hoffman
Managing Director, President, Optima Group, Inc.

Ken is responsible for Optima Group’s consulting practice, working directly with our clients’ management teams to develop new strategies, products, and efficiencies that enhance their ability to compete. Ken has more than 20 years of experience working with leading investment management institutions. Clients seek his counsel in designing and developing programs for retail, institutional, and affluent markets.  Ken is a regular speaker and contributor to financial conferences and the press on a wide range of critical issues facing the investment management industry. Ken holds a B.A. from Claremont McKenna College and an M.S. from Yale University.

Caleb B. Jackson, CFA
Director of Capital Markets, Ambrose Property Group

Caleb Jackson serves as Director of Ambrose Property group and focuses on debt and equity capital raising, M&A transactions, and general corporate strategy for Ambrose Property Group. Caleb also serves as a board member for several portfolio companies of his family office, Basic American Financial. Prior to Ambrose, Caleb worked for three years in his family office, and before that spent three years as a high yield associate portfolio manager at WhiteStar Asset Management, the credit focused affiliate of Clearlake Capital Group. Caleb graduated from the Hankamer School of Business at Baylor University in Waco, TX with a B.B.A. in Finance and Entrepreneurship, and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder.

Joshua S. Kanter
Founder, leafplanner, Inc., & President, Chicago Financial, Inc.

In 2001, with the death of his father imminent, Josh left his law practice to assume the responsibility of reorganizing his family’s business, tax, and estate structures, building the systems and tools necessary to function as a single-family office, while maintaining family dialog and harmony among three generations with a wide diversity of education, financial and legal literacy, geography, age and needs. Over the past 20 years, Josh has led his family’s family office and consults with other families through Josh Kanter Wealth Advisory Services.

Josh is the Founder of leafplanner, Inc., a digital platform that creates a family “owner’s manual,” through the collection, organization and mapping of a family’s and family enterprise’s information in a single-source manner, allowing a family to identify blind spots, educate family members and advisors, and prepare a family for an effective, comprehensive, and efficient succession-of-information.

Josh received his J.D. from the University of Chicago. He has served on numerous for-profit and non-profit boards, is a member of the Collaboration for Family Flourishing, the Purposeful Planning Institute, various family office groups and has been a frequent author and panelist on family and family office topics. 

Kristi Kuechler
Senior Director, The ImPact

Kristi is Senior Director of The ImPact, a global membership community of 75 affluent families from five continents who seek to align their values with their capital.  The ImPact, organized as a non-profit, helps member families make more impact investments more effectively. 

Prior to joining The ImPact, Kristi has served in leadership positions at educational networks of families with complex wealth – as President of the Institute for Private Investors, (IPI)  and as  Managing Director of the Private Investor Center at Family Office Exchange (FOX).  Kristi has worked with hundreds of families and family offices, creating and overseeing more than 1,000 discrete family education and networking sessions around topics of relevance to multi-generational families.

During her time at IPI, she created and launched Stanford University’s first Private Wealth Management program, teaching multiple classes and running the program for three years.  

As an experienced speaker and writer on trends in wealth management, she has been quoted regularly in industry publications, including recent interviews in the New York Times, Bloomberg and Institutional Investor.

Kristi earned a M.A. from Stanford University (Education and Policy) and a B.A. from the University of California, Davis (International Relations).

Chad R. Nicholson
First Assistant Director & Producer, G5 Investment Committee Member of the Nicholson Family Office

Chad has worked on countless commercials, music videos, a few films and TV shows. He was nominated for a Directors Guild of America Award working with Oscar winner, Spike Jonze and his documentary photography for Improv Everywhere has been widely published. He majored in Theater at Connecticut College, and studied in Moscow, Russia.  As a member of his family's Investment Committee he is learning as much as he can through hands-on training and helps to choose investments for the family. Chad is a husband and father who has run a marathon, explored shipwrecks 200 feet under water, and is training to be a private pilot.

Victoria C. Onufrieff
Andrew Family Foundation Junior Board President, Partnerships Specialist at Habitat for Humanity Chicago

Victoria Onufrieff is a third generation member of the Andrew Family, currently serving as the President of the Foundation’s Junior Board. She has played an active role in various committees of the enterprise, primarily with philanthropy and rising generation engagement. Victoria earned a Master of Nonprofit Organizations from Case Western Reserve University and is the Partnerships Specialist at Habitat for Humanity Chicago. Additionally, she serves on the FOX Rising Gen Advisory Board and on the Associate Board of New Moms in Chicago.

Andres Posada
Salgar Family 

Andres has over 15 years of experience in private equity, venture capital, real estate, and capital markets. In parallel to being President of PLFM, he has been running a family backed asset manager, APS Capital, for 12 years, which invests in and develops businesses with a focus on long term profitability while maintaining the highest levels of transparency, ethics, and accountability. He is currently Vice Chair of PLFM’s Board and is a member of the Salgar Family Council, Babson College’s Global Advisory Board and Squash Urbano Colombia’s Board, an after school education and squash program for underprivileged kids in Cartagena. Prior to APS Capital, Mr. Posada worked as a research associate and account manager at Stelac Advisory Service, a multi-family office for ultra-high net worth global families. He worked directly with the Chief Investment Officer analyzing alternative investments and created and managed an innovative and cost-efficient hedge fund platform for clients. 

Mr. Posada holds a B.S. with a concentration in Entrepreneurship and Economics from Babson College, a certificate in Real Estate Development from NYU Stern, and completed Harvard & IESE Business Schools’ program on Value Creation Through Effective Boards.

Daniel Posada 
Salgar Family 

Primarily in Film Production, TV Development and Production and Advertising. Daniel also built his own start up and Start Up Accelerator for the Colombian creative and start up industries. Today he also does direct investing in earlier stage startups in the US and LATAM and mentors several entrepreneurs in various stages of scaling and growth. 

Jane Poynter
Founder and Co-CEO, Space Perspective

Jane Poynter is the Founder and Co-CEO of Space Perspective, the world’s first carbon-neutral human spaceflight experience company providing unprecedented access to space. Poynter founded the company with her business partner of more than 30 years, Taber MacCallum. She was a member of the Biosphere 2 design team and the original crew who lived for two years inside the sealed, self-sustaining habitat, where she led the agriculture system, providing food, oxygen and drinking water for the eight-member crew. Prior to Space Perspective, Poynter and MacCallum founded World View, a stratospheric balloon company focused on remote sensing and communications., She was also formerly Co-Founder, Chairman, and President of Paragon Space Development Corporation that has environmental control technologies on every U.S. human spacecraft including the International Space Station. as well as Paragon Space Development Corporation, specializing in life support and thermal control systems in extreme environments. Paragon’s systems are still used on the International Space Station, by NASA, major aerospace companies and the U.S. military. In 2014, Google executive Alan Eustace chose Paragon to realize his dream of breaking the world freefall record, previously held by Felix Baumgartner and the Red Bull Stratos team, in what was called the StratEx project. In 2014, the StratEx team flew Eustace to 136,000 feet to become the highest flying human under a balloon. Eustace is a founding board member of Space Perspective. Poynter has received multiple awards, including the Entrepreneur of the Year award from the National Association of Female Executives, worked with the World Bank and United Nations on climate change-related projects, and has given keynote speeches at events globally, including her TED Talk.

Isabel Salgar
Salgar Family 

Isabel is an Interior Designer based out of Miami, FL. She has always been involved in volunteer work with foundations dedicated to early-stage development as well as raise money for philanthropic efforts focused on eliminating extreme poverty in Colombia. She sits on her Family Council and chairs the Family Education Committee. Isabel is now working on building her own philanthropic initiative to find solutions that will serve to impact social inequality in Colombia.

Dimitar Tsotsorkov
CEO, Tsotsorkov Family Office

Dimitar Tsotsorkov assumes the role of CEO at the Tsotsorkov Family Office, where he spearheads the overarching strategy, governance, cultural development, and investment initiatives. His exceptional leadership extends beyond this role, as he also holds the position of Chairman of the Supervisory Board at Asarel Medet JSc, the largest Bulgarian enterprise specializing in open-pit mining and copper ore processing. Moreover, Dimitar serves as CEO at Asarel Investment JSc, the investment arm of Asarel Group, dedicated to non-core projects.

Before assuming his current responsibilities, Dimitar's illustrious career included a stint at GLENCORE and a noteworthy tenure as the CEO of AVC, a joint venture between Asarel and Austria's preeminent trading house, VAIT Linz.

Dimitar boasts a wealth of experience spanning the realms of mining, diversified investments, and international trade. At Asarel Medet JSc, he leads a portfolio of 14 ambitious mining projects in Bulgaria, with the most advanced requiring investments exceeding EUR 60 million and expected to provide direct employment for over 450 individuals, benefitting over 2,000 indirectly. His purview extends to a diverse array of non-core investments, encompassing substantial holdings in tourism, hospitality, healthcare, a state-of-the-art Bulgarian data center, logistics projects, numerous joint ventures, and the stewardship of Asarel's annual Innovation Project contest.

Dimitar's professional accomplishments have earned him recognition as a Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Pioneer for Digital Transformation. In a groundbreaking achievement, he became the first mining company executive to receive this prestigious award in 2022. He is also the recipient of the coveted "Mr. Economic" award from 2022 and holds the esteemed position of Chairman of the United Nations Global Compact Bulgaria, demonstrating his commitment to sustainable business practices on a global scale.

As a second-generation family representative, Dimitar deftly balances the family's business interests while perpetuating his father's legacy through the "Lachezar Tsotsorkov" Foundation. This philanthropic institution is dedicated to making substantial contributions in the domains of arts, education, healthcare, and providing support to vulnerable children in Bulgaria.

Kathi Willett
Chair of the Family Education and Communication Committee, & Family Liaison to RG Committee, Andrew Trust Company

Kathi Willett is the chair of the Family Education and Communication Committee and family liaison to the Rising Generation Committee for the Andrew Trust Company, She also serves as a member of the Grant Making Committee and facilitates the Junior Board of the Andrew Family Foundation. In these roles, Kathi has dedicated much of her adult life to growing the human and social capital of the Andrew Family and preserving the legacy of her grandparents, Victor J. and Aileen S. Andrew, and the telecommunications manufacturing business they founded in 1947. Prior to serving in these roles, Kathi was a 3rd and 4th grade teacher. She has a Master’s Degree in Education and Social Policy from Northwestern University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Lawrence University.

Miki Akimoto
Chief Impact Officer, National Center for Family Philanthropy (NCFP)

Miki Akimoto is the Chief Impact Officer at the National Center for Family Philanthropy (NCFP). In this role, she partners with the CEO to implement NCFP’s strategic plan, enhance sector partnerships, and ensure a strong measurement and evaluation plan. She aligns and integrates NCFP’s revenue, relationship management, and program strategies. Miki oversees NCFP’s programs, communications, and development teams.

Miki has a long professional history in the philanthropic sector. Most recently, she served as a Senior Philanthropic Strategist at Bank of America’s Private Bank. In that role, she provided consultation and support for families, foundations, and major nonprofits regarding their governance, grantmaking, and impact strategies. Prior to joining Bank of America, Miki was Vice President and then Acting President of Philanthropy Massachusetts, the regional association of foundations, corporate givers, and other donors in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. She also served as the first Director of Grants Management for the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and as a program officer at the Corporation for National Service/AmeriCorps.

Miki is actively involved in the philanthropic community both nationally and locally. She chairs the board of the Full Frame Initiative, and also serves on the board of TSNE. Past board experience includes the Lenny Zakim Fund, Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy, YWCA Boston, and the Boston Foundation for Architecture. She is also a co-founder of the Saffron Circle, the first Asian Giving Circle in Massachusetts.

Miki holds a Bachelor of Political Science degree from Stanford University, and lives in Medford, Massachusetts. In her spare time, she bakes, reads, and travels to far flung places whenever she can.

Brad Ballast
Chief Operating Officer, Lever for Change

Brad Ballast is Chief Operating Officer at Lever for Change, which was formed by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in 2019 to provide a philanthropic service to help donors identify and fund large social change philanthropy projects across the United States and globally. His responsibilities include oversight of all of Lever for Change’s operational and administrative functions, and strategy and policy development.

Prior to joining the MacArthur Foundation, Brad was Vice President, Corporate Partnerships at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago Foundation. Prior to his role at Lurie Children’s, Brad was Executive Director of two private foundations - the TAWANI Foundation and the Pritzker Military Foundation - focusing on advising a family in its grant making in a wide range of subject matter areas, with a primary focus on military history, historic preservation, environmental initiatives, health/wellness and gender and human sexuality.

From 2007 to 2014, Brad was Managing Director, U.S. Community Affairs for BMO Financial Group in Chicago. In that role, Brad was responsible for developing a new philanthropic strategy for the bank across its U.S. footprint, including charitable giving, nonprofit sponsorships and the bank’s nonprofit board training and placement program. He also served as primary advisor to the bank’s executives regarding their own philanthropic engagement.

From 2001 to 2007, Brad was Senior Vice President and Director of Corporate Contributions for LaSalle Bank in Chicago and was responsible for all the bank’s charitable contributions and sponsorships, executive community engagement, nonprofit board placements, volunteer programs and internal fundraising campaigns. From 1997 to 2001, Brad was Associate Director of Community Affairs at LaSalle Bank.

Brad has served on the boards of many nonprofit organizations, including the Chicago History Museum; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the Center on Halsted; Arts Alliance Illinois; Forefront; and Lookingglass Theatre.

Brad is a graduate of Hope College and has an MBA in Marketing from Michigan State University.

Kristin Carlson Vogen
Senior Director of Philanthropic Services, Chicago Community Trust

Kristin Carlson Vogen is the senior director of philanthropic services at The Chicago Community Trust.

Vogen and her team engage families and individuals to focus their giving for impact and develop collaborative philanthropy strategies, leverage the knowledge of the Trust’s Program staff for the benefit of donor advisors, and enhance opportunity for impact investing.

Prior to joining the Trust in 2018, Vogen was president and CEO of the Oak Park-River Forest Community Foundation, and previously worked at Bank of America/U.S. Trust as a philanthropic specialist. Throughout her career, Vogen has provided subject matter expertise to individuals and families on private foundations, donor advised funds, and endowment management for public charities.

Presently, Vogen is a board member of Friends of the Children – Chicago and a trustee of Window to the World Communications, Inc. (WTTW 11/WFMT 98.7).

Vogen earned her J.D. from William Mitchell College of Law, and her B.B.A. in Human Resource Management from Abilene Christian University.

Marty Castro
President and Chief Executive Officer, Casa Central

Marty Castro utilizes his multifaceted experience in non-profit leadership, business, law, education, corporate governance, entrepreneurship, community service, and government, to create profound and positive impact in diverse communities. Guided by his core values of social justice, equity, integrity, and inclusiveness Marty leverages his broad and deep local, national and global network of relationships and his professional and personal accomplishments to leave this world a better place than he found it.  

As the President and Chief Executive Officer of Casa Central, Marty  provides transformational leadership to one of the largest Latino social service agencies in the Midwest.  Casa Central’s programs in early childhood education, after school, older adult wellness, violence prevention, behavioral health, and homelessness build strong, healthy and stable families and communities. Marty is responsible for all operational and financial aspects of the non-profit’s over $18 million budget and the organization's more than 550 employees. 

Marty's more than 30-year professional career has included high-profile leadership roles in the law, business, non-profits and government. In 2011, President Barack Obama appointed Marty to the United States Commission on Civil Rights (“Commission”) and also appointed him Chairperson of the Commission.  He was the agency’s eighth Chairperson and the first Latino Chairperson of the Commission in U.S. history.  Marty served as Chair of the Commission until December of 2016.

In December 2009, Marty was appointed by Illinois Governor Pat Quinn to Chair the Illinois Human Rights Commission. He was confirmed to this post by the Illinois State Senate. Marty served as Chair of the Human Rights Commission until March of 2015. In 2018, Marty was appointed by Illinois Governor-Elect JB Pritzker to co-chair his Transition Committee on Equality, Equity and Opportunity (the “Committee”). The Committee issued a report to the Governor to help guide his administration on a host of equity issues impacting the people and government of Illinois.

Above all, Marty's greatest personal and professional passions are to be a social change agent, make a positive social impact and help shape his two teenage sons into good citizens who will continue the family tradition of community service.  

Laura Coy
Partner, Head of Philanthropy Strategy and ESG Integration & Vice President, William Blair & Company Foundation

Laura Coy is responsible for overseeing William Blair’s philanthropy strategy and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) integration. In this role, she works closely with clients, key stakeholders, and colleagues around the world to develop and optimize their sustainability efforts and charitable giving.

Laura works as a trusted advisor to high-net worth families, family offices, foundations, CEOs, boards, management teams, and investors on their ESG programs and philanthropic planning. Laura also leads the firm’s ESG efforts and impact investing initiatives. For the past six years, Laura has led William Blair’s growing community engagement programs and the William Blair & Company Foundation with a mission to inspire the next generation of philanthropists through its employee-centered matching and global grants programs.

Before joining William Blair, Laura was the senior manager of corporate social responsibility, public affairs manager, and senior corporate philanthropist for W.W. Grainger, Inc. While at Grainger, she designed and led its premier Corporate Social Responsibility program. Prior to working at Grainger, Laura worked for nonprofits including the National Alzheimer’s Association and the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum.

Laura serves on the leadership committee of the Illinois Holocaust Museum, the advisory board of ShowerUp Chicago, the leadership council of Loyola’s Baumhart Center, and is the board chair of North Park Elementary School. Laura received her B.S. in political science from the University of Illinois.

Hilary Leav
Vice President | Associate Director, Philanthropic Advisory Services 

Hilary Leav is a Vice President in the Wealth Planning Advisory Services group at Northern Trust. As Associate Director of Philanthropic Advisory Services, Hilary assists in the delivery of philanthropic services to Wealth Management clients. She specializes in grant research and program evaluation, building evaluation systems, and strategy and operations development for grantmaking programs.

Hilary was most recently a team member at Family Office Exchange (FOX), a membership association of ultra-high net worth families, family offices and their advisors. In her role there, she oversaw FOX’s efforts to effectively use data, analysis, and insights to support its members. During her time at FOX, she was also responsible for identifying and curating philanthropic thought leadership, support, and resources for members.

Prior to FOX, Hilary spent her career working in philanthropic organizations, with a focus on international development. Her work has centered on building internal capacity and learning cultures, and finding ways to make data actionable, through information and insights that drive strategy development, improve efficiency and effectiveness, and increase shared understanding of complex issues.

Hilary holds a B.A. from the University of Michigan, a M.S. in Measurement and Evaluation from American University, and received a Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy (CAP) designation from the American College of Financial Services.

Lauren MacDonald
CEO, William Harris Investors

Lauren MacDonald is the CEO of William Harris Investors, Inc., a family office based in Chicago. She also leads the affiliated trust company, WHI Trust Company, LLC., based in Wyoming.

Before joining WHI, Lauren served as the Philanthropic Fiduciary Executive for U.S. Trust. In this role, she was responsible for ensuring the integrity of investment and administrative services within U.S. Trust’s fiduciary risk framework for philanthropic clients. Leading up to that role, she served as the Market Philanthropic Director for U.S. Trust, overseeing a team of Philanthropic Relationship Managers. Lauren has also served as the Fiduciary Advisor for BMO Private Bank where she developed, led, and supported key initiatives for the Trust and Estate Advisory Services line of business of BMO Private Bank, and as a Senior Trust Officer, directly administering client trust and investment accounts.

Prior to this work, Lauren was a practicing attorney. She received her JD from Loyola University of Chicago, School of Law and graduated from Oberlin College with a BA in Neuroscience.

Lauren is a past Chair of the Chicago Bar Association Trust Law Executive Committee, a member of the Chicago Bar Association Trust Law Legislative Committee, and a member of the WTTW/WFMT Chicago Public Media Planned Giving Advisory Council. She serves as a director and officer to several private family foundations.

Harvey Newcomb
Director of Principal Gifts Campaigns/Planned & Major Gifts, The Rotary Foundation

Harvey Newcomb III is The Rotary Foundation’s longest tenured employee, having been with Rotary International for 31 years. After serving as the Rotary Foundation Programs Manager (Ambassadorial Scholarships, Group Study Exchange, Matching Grants, District Simplified Grants, Rotary Peace Fellowships) for a decade, he was the Regional Grants Manager for the territory covering the United States, Canada, Japan, Korea, Philippines and Oceania for the new grant model launched in 2013. In October 2013, Harvey was hired for the new Director of Principal Gifts position in Fund Development, working to cultivate and solicit significant, once-in-a-lifetime gifts to The Foundation. 

Harvey was born and raised in Illinois. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Economics and German Studies with a concentration in Political Science at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Harvey served as a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar at the University of Vienna, Austria, in 1990-91 through the sponsorship of the Rotary Club of Rockford, Illinois, and District 6420. 

Harvey and his wife have three grown children and live in Evanston. He is a member of the Rotary Club of Evanston Lighthouse (District 6440), is a Paul Harris Fellow, a Benefactor, and has brought three new members into his club – including another Ambassadorial Scholar alumnus.

Nick Tedesco
President & Chief Executive Officer, National Center for Family Philanthropy (NCFP)

Nick Tedesco is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Center for Family Philanthropy (NCFP). Nick is a passionate advocate for philanthropy and brings over a decade of experience working with donors and their families to establish and meet their giving goals. In his role at NCFP, Nick leads the strategic direction of the organization, overseeing programs, services, and community relationships. Under Nick’s leadership, NCFP continues to strengthen its role as a resource that supports and challenges family philanthropists to engage in effective, high-impact giving.

Prior to joining NCFP, Nick served as a Senior Advisor in the J.P. Morgan Philanthropy Centre where he provided clients with insights and services to help meet their philanthropic goals through innovative advice, thought leadership and opportunities for learning and collaboration.

Previously, Nick served as a Relationship Manager and Program Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where he helped launch the Giving Pledge—an effort led by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett to encourage the world’s wealthiest individuals and families to commit the majority of their wealth to philanthropy. In this role, Nick managed relationships with current and prospective members of the pledge, as well as their staff and advisors. He helped to connect global philanthropists with one another in effort to exchange knowledge and encourage collaboration.

Nick began his career in the social sector as the Deputy Director of the Children’s Health Forum—a national nonprofit focused on the prevention and eradication of childhood diseases that disproportionately impact underserved communities.

Nick was named to the inaugural Chronicle of Philanthropy 40 Under 40 ranking in 2016. He has been quoted in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal MarketWatch, San Francisco Business Times and other notable publications. He serves on the Regional Board for UNICEF USA and as a panelist for the Echoing Green Fellowship and MacArthur Foundation 100&Change Initiative.

Nick received a B.A. from Villanova University and lives in Washington, D.C.

Christen Wiggins
Program Director, We Rise Together: For an Equitable and Just Recovery, Chicago Community Trust

As program director of We Rise Together: For an Equitable & Just Recovery, Christen Wiggins oversees strategy, grantmaking, and partnerships toward the goal of building thriving neighborhoods for a stronger Chicago. She joined the initiative in 2021 with more than 20 years of experience working with and for non-profits in the fields of community development and affordable housing. She began her career on the U.S. Senate Banking Committee and worked on policy and advocacy for Habitat for Humanity International and Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago. She ran an independent consulting firm dedicated to helping non-profits translate their vision for change into actionable plans for over a decade. She is a graduate of the University of Virginia and holds a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Chicago.

FOX Presenters

Heather Asher Abramson
Director, Relationship Manager, FOX

Heather Asher Abramson is the Director, Relationship Manager at Family Office Exchange (FOX).  In her role, Heather works with business-owning family members to understand their objectives and provides guidance to help address their unique needs through the resources available at FOX. Heather also runs FOX’s Rising Gen Community, designed to provide next-generation family members an opportunity to learn, share experiences, and develop skills as future leaders. Heather has held multiple roles at FOX including membership development.    

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. 

Mindy Kalinowski Earley
Chief Learning Officer, FOX 

Mindy Kalinowski Earley is Chief Learning Officer for Family Office Exchange (FOX). In her role, she fosters integrated learning programs for enterprise families and is responsible for developing the family learning community. She co-chairs the FOX Rising Gen program and serves as an outsourced Chief Learning Office to FOX members. Mindy is inspired by helping people learn, grow, and discover how they will make personal and productive contributions, using their strengths and talents.

Mindy has held various roles in small and large family offices and has been responsible for creating and stewarding professional learning networks supporting human and intellectual capital. She has designed learning experiences that increase the knowledge base and enhance the life path of individuals while providing personalized support and coaching to help them meet their goals. As a Strong Interest Inventory facilitator with a certificate in Family Business Advising, she enjoys helping families and rising generation members navigate the unique world of family enterprise and family relationships by understanding that responsibility and intention pave a path to personal achievement and satisfaction. She has been featured in the New York Times, Family Business Magazine, Successful Generations podcast and is a regular speaker and facilitator. Mindy lives in Rockford, MI, with her husband, daughter, and Bernedoodle.

Gabrielle (Gaby) Griffin
Managing Director, Council Memberships, FOX 

Gaby Griffin the Managing Director of Council Memberships at Family Office Exchange (FOX). In her role, Gaby leads the overall Family Office Council experience and manages multiple councils. She provides members with the opportunities to learn from, and share ideas with, highly accomplished and hard-to-find peers in a confidential environment. No matter what hat she’s wearing, her goal is simple – to create value for families by providing objective guidance and timely relevant information to help make informed decisions. Gaby takes a very personalized approach to her relationship management practice and has built client and advisory relationships that span over two decades. She also serves as a member of the FOX leadership
team.

Gaby brings 25 years of wealth management, corporate , investment, and strategic advisory experience to FOX and its members. Gaby joined FOX from Capital Group Private Client Services. Prior to that, she held leadership positions at LaSalle Bank NA advising business owners, their families and family offices, as well as working directly with ultra-high net worth clients as a relationship manager for Abbot Downing. Gaby has been involved with the FOX community for over 20 years.

Gaby earned a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She obtained a Certified Private Wealth Advisor (CPWA®) designation at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 2013. Gaby is a member of the Chicago Estate Planning Council (CEPC). Ms. Griffin served on the Board of Trustees and Executive Board for Victory Gardens Theater from 2012-2020. Additionally, she has held several other positions in the non-profit sector and other professional organizations over her career.

Emma Gross
Associate Relationship Manager, FOX

Emma Gross is the Associate Relationship Manager at Family Office Exchange. In her role, she supports and provides guidance to FOX members, utilizing her background in family office consulting and benchmarking research. She joined FOX in 2017 and is based in New York City. During her time at FOX, Emma has worked extensively with families, family offices, and family-owned businesses on consulting projects to develop strategic and tactical plans to respond to change and foster family cohesion. Emma has experience with family enterprise strategic planning, family office design, leadership succession planning, family education, and owner engagement, as well as custom quantitative reports on cost and compensation.

Prior to joining FOX, Emma was the Communications Specialist for the National Mining Association, a trade association in Washington, D.C. Emma received a B.A. in government from Colby College.

Miguel López de Silanes Gómez
Market Leader, International, FOX

Miguel López de Silanes Gómez is the international market leader at the Family Office Exchange (FOX). He is responsible for delivering FOX services to current members, and actively works to expand the network in Europe and Latin America. His base is in Madrid, but he spends half of his time in Latin America. 

Miguel has most recently been director of the family office for one of Europe’s leading real estate families, with specific responsibility for designing and implementing the family’s investment strategy and for providing owner education to the younger family members.  

Previously, he worked at UBS Wealth Management in New York, Chile, and other locations in Latin America. He began his career at Bain & Company as an Associate Consultant in London and Madrid. He has an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.A. in Economics from Universidad Pontificia Comillas (ICADE) in Madrid.

Nate Hamilton
Vice Chair, FOX

Nate Hamilton, CFA, is currently Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Heritage Partners Group, a private equity investment and operations platform focused on the acquisition and roll-up of consumer retail and information services businesses. Nate has significant experience in partnering with and investing alongside private family capital and family-owned businesses. Prior to founding Heritage, he worked in investment banking, sales and trading and private equity across several institutions including Goldman Sachs, UBS and as a co-founder of FDX Capital, a direct-investment platform built for FOX family offices. Nate currently sits on the Advisory Board of Family Office Exchange and is a consultant to the Direct Investment Network. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Vanderbilt and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Sara Hamilton
Founder and Board Chair, FOX

Sara is one of the first professionals to recognize family offices as the most sophisticated segment of wealth management, and she has been described as “the Warren Buffet of the family office industry”. When hundreds of U.S. families became centi-millionaires through leveraged buyouts in the 1980s and 1990s, private family offices were created to manage family capital and to educate wealth owners. 

Sara founded the Family Office Exchange (FOX) as a peer network for family office executives in 1989. Within 10 years, she could see that families needed help with family governance and managing financial transitions, in addition to their family offices. As a result, FOX evolved into an advisor to family enterprises, a platform for sharing family wealth best practices, and an industry advocate for the importance of private enterprise in a global economy.

Today, Sara provides input to the strategic direction for FOX and supports the development of new programs and services for family enterprises and wealth advisory firms in 25 countries. Sara is the co-author of Family Legacy and Leadership: Preserving True Family Wealth in Challenging Times. She serves on the executive education faculty of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business where she is an adjunct faculty member for their Private Wealth Management and Essentials of Wealth courses in the Executive Education program. She is on the founding board for the Foundation Advancing Impact and Sustainability in Bologna and the founding board for the Private Directors Association in Chicago.

Chris Herbert
Senior Relationship Manager, FOX

Chris Herbert is a Relationship Manager at Family Office Exchange (FOX). He brings to his role a background that is rooted in the Financial Services Industry, having served in the areas of commercial and private banking, as well as Family Business Services. As a senior relationship manager, Chris works with financial families to understand their objectives and provides guidance to help address their unique needs through the resources available at FOX.

Prior to joining FOX, Chris worked in the Family Business Division at The Northern Trust Company, where he managed a portfolio of family business assets that are associated with closely held corporations and partnerships held in trusts and estates. He has experience with assets in a variety of industries, such as, manufacturing, publishing, investing, agriculture, and real estate. Chris also has a background in commercial lending and trust administration. Earlier in his career, he worked as a legal researcher for a well-respected, Chicago-based, intellectual property consulting firm, which specialized in litigation/valuation advisory services.

Chris holds an M.B.A. in International Business and Marketing from the Brennan School of Business at Dominican University.

Kent Lawson
Chief Technology Officer, FOX

Kent Lawson is the Chief Technology Officer at Family Office Exchange (FOX). With 25 years of experience as a leader in the wealth management industry, and a deep focus in technology for the family office, Kent’s expertise in consulting, project management, analysis, and diligence around technology drives the FOX Technology Marketplace.  ​

Prior to joining FOX, Kent had an established relationship with FOX as a market leader and as a member. Through his previous role with an enterprise family office and as a contributor to FOX forums, Kent brings over a decade of experience serving at the executive level within a single family office. His expertise in wealth management spans a variety of disciplines, including investment operations, technology, and compliance via working with RIAs, the SEC, and Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS).  He also served as a business analyst and consultant for Advent Software, as COO of a trust company, and other technology solution vendors. Kent also founded an outsource COO firm in the wealth management industry providing strategic leadership as a trusted advisor.  ​

With a degree in Music Performance from Ball State University, Kent spent his early years performing as a jazz saxophonist and married another musician, which led him to his “day job” within the wealth industry as a part-time file clerk with an RIA. His background in creativity and thinking outside the box provided the foundation needed for designing innovative solutions in business process and technology making him perfectly suited for the family office industry. ​

Peter Moustakerski
CEO, FOX

Peter Moustakerski is CEO of Family Office Exchange (FOX), the premier resource for families managing private enterprises and family wealth across generations. For over 30 years, FOX has been recognized as the industry’s most exclusive, innovative, and influential community for peer networking and learning, and has provided independent insights, expert guidance, and practical solutions to complex problems related to family transitions and family wealth.

Peter has spent more than 25 years as a C-level strategist and executive across a variety of industries, including wealth management, capital markets, and technology. He is a former family office executive and FOX member, management consultant, and entrepreneur. He has served as a strategy, innovation, and growth leader for a number of private and public companies and founded two start-ups in New York City and China.

Prior to joining FOX, Peter served as Chief Operating Officer of the family office of the founder of Bridgewater Associates, where he worked closely with the principal family members to envision and oversee the redesign of the family office strategy and day-to-day operations to better serve the evolving needs of the family. Before that, Peter was a management consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton, advising many of the world’s top C-suite leaders, and a strategy executive at UBS, leading all growth and transformation initiatives for the bank’s wealth management organization.

Most recently, Peter was Chief Strategy Officer of News America Marketing, a former News Corp. subsidiary, where he built and led the Corporate Strategy and M&A function and led the company’s successful carve-out and sale to a private equity sponsor. In addition, for more than 20 years, Peter has been a contributing writer and researcher with The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), and has led many qualitative and quantitative research projects, and written a number of influential white papers for the EIU, NBER, and other research institutions and media publications.

Peter holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BSc in Computer Science and Engineering from Zhejiang University in China, and is proficient in Mandarin, Russian, and Bulgarian.

Scott Muench
Managing Director, Core Membership, FOX

Scott Muench is the Managing Director of Core Membership at Family Office Exchange (FOX).  In his role, Scott leads all aspects of the Financial Family market at FOX, defined as those families who no longer own an operating company and family office executives serving these families. Scott is also responsible for leading, coaching, and managing our Relationship Management team and overseeing the overall member experience.

Scott has over twenty-five years as an institutional and ultra-high net worth investment professional, including working at  SEI Investments as head of the Defined Contribution national market, working with plan sponsors on target-date fund and core investment strategy implementation. This experience working with investment committees and professionals enhanced a strong background in asset allocation, capital markets, and strategic and tactical instruments. Scott also worked at Northern Trust Asset Management as a managing director for the eastern region of the United States, working with large complex corporate institutions and asset owners, including foundations, endowments, pension plans, and ultra-high net worth families. Scott's experience at Northern Trust also includes the Global Family and Private Investment Office Group. He led a team of investment relationship managers working with families, family offices, and investment consultants to implement strategies to meet personal financial goals. In addition, Scott managed the team working with 400+ family offices to achieve tax efficiency and superior risk-adjusted returns.

Scott received his Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Northern Illinois University. He earned his Master's in Business Administration with concentrations in finance and accounting from DePaul's Kellstadt Graduate School of Business.

Jeff Strese  
Family Learning & Leadership Consultant, FOX

Jeff Strese is the Family Learning & Leadership Consultant at Family Office Exchange (FOX). As a consultant, Jeff has focused on multi-generational family enterprises, corporations, and mission-driven nonprofit organizations. He has more than 25 years of experience working across industries in the areas of leadership development, organizational effectiveness, and family dynamics. He holds certifications in family wealth and family business advising (CFWA, CFBA). 

Jeff is passionate about helping family businesses and organizations create clarity out of the complex and inspiring leaders from all backgrounds to develop and master critical skills like coaching, communication and emotional intelligence. He has developed innovative programs to guide next-generation leaders to reach their full potential in a fast-paced, global economy. 

Jeff has served as Chief Talent and Learning Officer (CTLO) at Tolleson Wealth Management, a multi-family office serving client families across the country. Prior to his role at Tolleson, Jeff served as the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) at Southern Methodist University (SMU). 

David Toth
President, Membership, FOX

David Toth is the President of Membership at Family Office Exchange (FOX) and is market leader for FOX’s Wealth Advisor members. In his role, he serves as Co-Chair for Multi-Family Office and Integrated Wealth Advisor Councils. He also Co-Chairs the Strategic Chief Investment Officer Council, a peer group for family office CIOs. 

David serves as relationship manager for select wealth advisors and families providing strategic guidance, access to essential research and offers key insights on issues of importance to them. He has authored, presented, and consulted on topics ranging from client experience and pricing strategies to talent management. 

He is as a member of the FOX leadership team, helping to develop and execute strategies designed to better meet member’s evolving needs. David also participates in the development of new research and thought leadership for FOX members.  

David brings over thirty years of wealth and investment management, marketing, and strategic consulting experience to FOX and its members. He held key leadership positions in the Asset Management Division at PNC Financial formulating and implementing growth strategies that helped to more than double the size of their wealth and ultra-high net worth businesses. 

David earned a B.B.A. majoring in Marketing and an M.B.A. majoring in Finance & Economics from University of Michigan and the University of Detroit/Mercy, respectively. In addition, David has completed Leadership and Executive Development programs at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.