Chief Financial Officer

CLIENT
Our client family is headquartered in the Los Angeles area and is a well-established single family office that has been running effectively for more than ten years.  The family’s wealth was the result of a highly successful business involved in the health care and health policy arenas.  This is first generation wealth created by a driven, entrepreneurially spirited executive who came from very humble beginnings.
 
The family currently has approximately 12 legal entities including family business entities, trusts, aircraft, a private foundation and 9 residences across three states.
 
The family spans three generations - (G1) husband and wife, hereinafter “Principals”; (G2) their two adult children and spouses; and (G3) their young children.
 
The CFO position will support the family to oversee a very diverse set of interesting and complex business and personal family interests in which the family is highly engaged, and provide the critical operational and financial management support to help manage these interests.  The family utilizes a small group of trusted and proven external resources and consultants as needed including attorneys, investment advisors, tax CPA’s, etc.
 
 
THE OPPORTUNITY
Reporting to the two Principals but with primary direction being received from the G1 executive, the CFO will work collaboratively with the existing family office team – currently four - and provide the operational and financial management support for the family’s varied domestic business, personal and foundation interests (entities).
 
These entities are currently functioning well day-to-day but will need ongoing oversight and/or integration fine tuning.  The CFO will provide ongoing operational and strategic leadership input across these concerns and also provide a comprehensive view of the family’s personal and business affairs through relevant, “hands-on” financial and management reporting.
 
The CFO will also work closely with the two Principals and each of the G2 families and tailor a service delivery approach to each that supports an effective and productive working relationship that best serves their respective information, operational and decision making needs.
 
Additionally, the accounting for the family office has recently been insourced from an outside service provider, so an important initial focus for the CFO will be to help develop and/or refine the day-to-day accounting and financial reporting systems, and then manage the same going forward.  This change marks a significant new chapter for the family office and will afford the opportunity for the CFO to play a critical role in helping to evolve the transition of the family office leadership from G1 to G2 over the next several years.  This will require technical leadership, a willingness to teach and educate, careful listening, patience and thoughtful, consultative direction.
 
In addition to operational, financial and managerial leadership experience, the family is seeking a CFO who aligns with their core values and can help to support and maintain these values throughout their related organizations.  These core values include, respect, compassion, integrity, honesty, loyalty, hard work, transparency and inclusiveness.
 
POSITION SUMMARY
 
The CFO will work collaboratively with the Principals to solidify the vision for the family office, as well as the strategic and operational infrastructure for the family entities, and to strive to instill a “best practices” philosophy in all functional areas in order to improve workflow, simplify reporting procedures, and enhance service delivery to the family.
 
Family Office Management 
  • Oversee the day-to-day operations of the family office including treasury, budgeting, audit, tax, accounting, purchasing, real estate, long range forecasting, space planning, insurance activities and human resources.
  • Analyze operational issues impacting the various entities and provide oversight and recommendations for improvement as needed.
  • Research the feasibility of proposed capital expenditures and analyze the potential return on investment.  
  • Establish credibility throughout the family office and with family members as an effective developer of solutions to operational and business challenges.  
  • Provide strategic financial input and leadership decision making on issues and/or initiatives impacting the organization. 
  • Hire, manage and mentor staff as needed.  Also, develop a plan for ongoing professional development of the staff including himself or herself.  Provide cross-training opportunities to ensure flexible staffing. 
  • Plan and facilitate periodic meetings with Principals, family members and appropriate advisors, including preparation of meeting materials.
  • Work in collaboration with personal assistants to Principals to ensure that lifestyle management services are being effectively provided to the family, with particular emphasis on calendar management and scheduling for the entrepreneur/executive.
 
Tax/Estate Planning and Compliance
  • Serve as liaison with external tax advisers.  This includes working with external tax advisors on an ongoing basis regarding tax and estate planning strategies integrated through multiple jurisdictions in which the family is active.
  • Provide ongoing support for tax reporting and compliance for family members, trusts and other legal entities as needed.
  • Provide ongoing support and serve as liaison as needed for estate planning matters and trust administration.  Discuss and develop estate planning ideas on an ongoing basis with external advisors and work with estate planning attorney to execute approved suggestions.
  • Serve as a reviewer for all corporate, individual, trust, foundation and gift tax returns as needed.
  • Plan and report on philanthropic giving in order to maximize tax efficiency and comply with pledges.
 
Investment Management Involvement
  • Facilitate and assess the outsourced investment management function and serve as a collaborative interface with the outside investment managers and family members on these matters.
  • Work with the outside investment manager to obtain relevant information to provide the family with an integrated, comprehensive overview of their financial affairs and keep them apprised of current and future impacts on investments, cash flow and the needs of family members.  
  • Also work collaboratively to provide guidance and suggestions to the family, as needed, to help ensure wise long term management of the family’s wealth.
  • Participate in periodic family investment meetings along with Principals, family members and outside advisors as needed.
  • Develop reports to assess performance of investment managers, each family’s portfolio, and the combined family portfolio.
Financial Management and Reporting
  • Work collaboratively with the family, tax advisors and investment advisors to assess the accounting and financial reporting structure, articulate current and anticipated reporting needs, make recommendations for improvement, and oversee the implementation of the same.
  • As needed and in collaboration with the family office team, provide financial analysis, modelling, and/or projections for project or planning initiatives for family members.
  • Provide periodic financial reporting on relevant entities including income, expense and cash reports, analysis and forecasts.
  • Appraise family’s financial position and issue periodic reports related to financial stability, liquidity, and growth as requested by Principals and family members.
  • Ensure that family members have accurate, relevant and meaningful financial reports and dashboards for decision making tools.
  • Develop and/or maintain a reliable cash flow projection and reporting mechanism which includes minimum cash threshold to meet operating needs of entities.
  • Assist family members with financial planning, insurance, home purchases and renovations, property management, tax guidance and other areas as needed.  This includes a thorough initial review and annual reviews thereafter regarding suggestions for optimization of family members’ financial planning.
 
Human Resources Responsibilities:
  • Work in collaboration with the Principals to oversee the following for all entities:
  • Employment practices – policies & procedures
  • Compensation and employee benefits
  • Recruiting functions including sourcing, drafting job descriptions, scheduling interviews, preparing offer letter and packets
  • New hire setup, on-boarding process, and performance review process
  • Other human resource and administrative duties
  • Manage professional service providers and associated budgets
 
Legal and Risk Management 
  • In coordination with appropriate outside council, oversee legal affairs of the family office, family members and related entities.
  • Work with legal counsel on structures, transactions and planning on various issues and outstanding legal settlements as needed.
  • Evaluate, strengthen and periodically review the internal control environment to ensure appropriate processes and procedures are in place to safeguard the integrity and security of all critical functions including, but not limited to, financial management, investments and cash.
  • Evaluate and periodically review insurance providers and policies to assure that appropriate types and levels of coverage are in place given the evolving needs of the family, including review of family member, real property, and trust holdings to determine proper levels of insurance.
 
Family Foundation 
  • Work collaboratively with family and help to advise on Foundation matters and initiatives.
  • Key areas of collaboration and support will include, but are not limited to:
  • Ensure compliance with all private foundation laws and regulations. 
  • Review accounting, reporting and compliance processes and procedures to ensure that effective internal controls are in place and make suggestions as appropriate.
  • Review financial and investment reports and make suggestions as appropriate.
  • In collaboration with outside investment advisor, review portfolio management for the foundation.
Jet Charter Management 
  • Optimize use of jet usage including oversite of family flight scheduling, profitable charger scheduling and maintenance.
  • Plan for cost of jet net of charter revenue.  Work with FBO to achieve plan.
 
General Administration
  • Manage professional service providers and associated budgets.
  • Manage relationships with, and oversee the activities of, outside professionals as appropriate.
  • Develop and maintain effective and secure business systems, and work with outside IT consultant to provide safe, secure and effective information technology systems.
  • Develop and maintain appropriate document retention policies and procedures. 
  • Assure timely and accurate record keeping and bookkeeping.
  • Consult with managers of other entities as agreed upon with Principals and family members as needed.
DESIRED CANDIDATE
The ideal candidate will be a discreet, self-driven family office executive with broad business management experience and a range of different skills including strong strategic, operational, financial, analytical and leadership skills, and exceptional emotional intelligence.  The ideal candidate will possess the following qualifications/characteristics: 
 
Skills and Experience:
  • Bachelor’s degree with minimum of 10-15 years’ of relevant experience.
  • CPA and/or CFP designation highly preferred.
  • Background in relevant practice areas of public accounting is essential including, in particular, good working knowledge of general accounting principles and practices, GAAP, cash basis, and tax basis accounting experience.
  • Possess the technical skills to aggregate, translate and report upon financial information to develop meaningful and effective financial reporting and forecasting processes, reports and systems across all organizations and entities.
  • Practical experience in recruitment, selection, supervision and development of professional and support staff is essential. 
  • Experience with relevant legal domains is helpful, especially tax and estate planning.
  • Proficient with Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word, Excel, PPT), and familiarity with other financial applications and payroll systems is essential.
  • Familiarity with personal, business, and medical insurances and reporting helpful.
  • Solid experience with strategic planning, budget preparation and cash flow planning.
  • Solid understanding of Federal and State tax law including income, estate and business taxes.
  • Experience with private aviation management including aircraft acquisition and disposition, maintenance, personnel and scheduling.
  • Experience in working with high net worth individuals and/or family businesses, including experience working with and supporting a family through a generational transition of wealth and/or business interest.
  • Must have a strong understanding of and familiarity with best practices in a family office environment related to decision making, governance and operational structures.
Essential Characteristics:
  • Ability to play a key role in the operational, financial and strategic leadership, direction and vision of the family office as it evolves over time.
  • Must have an uncompromising commitment to “service excellence” and be able to deliver this outcome across a variety of family entities and interests on a continuous and consistent basis.
  • Must have an extreme attention to detail and be able to work effectively – stride for stride - with a highly effective executive, who has yet to slow down his pace and where success is closely managed through action forcing events. 
  • Ability and willingness to be “hands-on” in the day-to-day family office operations.
  • Must be comfortable in a boutique, professional office model where everyone is responsible for their respective tasks and getting things done is the standard.
  • Must have exceptional emotional intelligence, and be a highly skilled communicator and facilitator; with the ability to effectively communicate complex concepts and strategies in a clear and concise manner to a variety of audiences. 
  • Must be self-confident, knowledgeable and able to exercise sound judgment in conducting research, analysis and decision making.
  • Must exercise sound judgment in assessing when responsibilities should be outsourced to existing or new service providers/advisors or be done internally.  This includes assessing service providers on an ongoing basis to ensure they are acting in the best interest of the family. 
  • Must possess a strong understanding of - and appreciation for - how technology can be used effectively to improve operational efficiency.
  • Must be highly organized and able to effectively manage multiple priorities simultaneously.
  • Must be proactive, have a strong sense of urgency, and be comfortable with change.
  • Must be a confident, self-directed problem solver.  
  • Must be willing to travel as needed.
  • Must have integrity and be approachable, respectful and instill confidence and trust in their ability to handle complex and sensitive financial and personal information both internally and externally.
LOCATION
Santa Monica, California
 
 
REPORTS TO
This position will serve all of the G1 and G2 family members but have primary reporting responsibility to the G1 executive.
 
 
COMPENSATION
An excellent compensation package will be designed to attract an outstanding individual, including relocation as needed.
Job Type
Chief Financial/Operating Officer (CFO/COO)
Organization
Kreuzberger Associates
How to apply
Please email your resume and cover letter to Neil Kreuzberger: neil@kreuzberger.com and reference Family Office Exchange.
Location

Santa Monica, CA