RECAP: FOX 30th Anniversary Forum

The Future of the Family Office

Presenters:
Michael Montgomery, Chief Executive Officer, Ford Estates, LLC and Brush Street Investments, LLC
Richard L. Roeding Jr., President, Summer Hill, Inc

Moderator:
Glen W. Johnson, Chief Operating Officer, Family Office Exchange

Session Description: 

The Family Office of the next decade will have the opportunity to broaden their services for family clients – from financial health and property and business management to personal health, security and lifestyle management. Further, they’ll need to focus on managing risk across all these dimensions. The panel cited talent transformation as a critical challenge as well – noting the vital importance of recruiting and training staff to engage with clients in new ways and roles.

“To get buy-in, you need trust. And the only way to create trust is through complete transparency.”
– Richard L. Roeding, Jr.
“You’ve got to listen to understand, not respond.”
– Michael Montgomery
Key Takeaways: 
  • Richard L. Roeding, Jr., President of Summer Hill, shared insights from his 32- year journey working with an Enterprise Family through their evolution from a Business Family to an Enterprise Family. The office currently serves Gen 1-4, includes an operating company, diversified investments, a Family Office, and family philanthropies. Through the leadership transition, the family members realized that being “builders” was what defined them and their desire to stay together as a family with the intent to build a great Enterprise.
  • The family and Family Office have undergone numerous transitions over the years. They have moved from a patriarchal structure to collaborative leadership; changing the investment portfolio from single-stock concentrated to diversified direct investments; evolving estate planning from a tax focus to long-term governance; changing from grant-making to transformational gifts in their philanthropy.
  • The Family Office has become an operating company managing growth, ongoing change, and management succession, while striving to maintain corporate culture. As the family has grown, the Family Office has grown its service offerings as well.
  • Similarly, the Ford Estates & Brush Street Investments had a need to retool the office toward more value-added services and integrated wealth management.
  • The family’s growing complexity spurred a strategic assessment of the landscape facing the office. The resulting action plan had seven strategic focal points: client experience; culture and talent; Family Office model; strategic partners; operations and infrastructure; scalable strategies; and Family Office governance. The plan created 32 distinct workstreams to support its implementation.
  • Driving value for the Ford family is a continuous process: revisiting family goals and advisor roles during annual/bi-annual planning; executing the plan; assessing value; taking action; and then beginning the process again.

VIEW THE SLIDES & VIDEO >
(FOX Members only)