Today, I am delighted to speak with Kent Lawson, FOX’s own CTO and the leader of the FOX Technology Partners Program. Kent brings 25 years of experience as a professional in the wealth management industry, with a deep focus in technology for the family office. Prior to joining FOX, Kent spent a decade as an executive at a single-family office, and in that capacity, he was an active FOX member and a strong contributor to the FOX community. He also served as a business analyst and consultant for Advent Software, as COO of a trust company, and other technology solution vendors.

Kent is one of very few people in the world who have had a front-row seat throughout the evolution of the family office as an operational unit and the emergence of the ecosystem of technologies that are focused on supporting and automating family offices. He provides a brief overview of the last 10 years of how family offices, and the specialized technology solutions that serve them, have evolved. Given this historical context, he then delves into what it all means for family offices today, going over what they need to know and what key capabilities they need to develop or acquire.

As we see in our daily interactions with families and family offices at FOX, pretty much every family office faces two major challenges on their digital transformation path – technology selection and technology implementation. Kent offers his practical advice for family offices and advisor firms who are looking to select and implement FO-specialized technology solutions, highlighting the common pitfalls, and offering practical tips and shortcuts to success.

Keeping up with all the new and existing providers of technology solutions for the FO space is another significant challenge. Kent provides valuable suggestions for how family office professionals and leaders can stay educated on all the vendors and their platforms, on all the trends and developments in the FO technology space, and on the best practices related to digitizing the family office and the ever-broader set of family wealth management services.

Do not miss this deeply insightful conversation with the world’s leading technology expert in the family office and family wealth space.