FOXcast

Today, it is my pleasure and honor to speak with His Excellency Mohammad Ali Rashed Lootah. His Excellency is the President and CEO of Dubai Chambers, one of the largest economic development arms in Dubai. In his current role, he oversees the implementation of Dubai Chambers' strategic initiatives and plans, which aim to improve ease of doing business in Dubai, support businesses expanding globally, attract foreign companies and investment and advance the digital economy. Previously, he served as CEO of the Commercial Compliance & Consumer Protection for Dubai's Department of Economy and Tourism, where he was responsible for overseeing consumer protection, business protection, intellectual property protection and commercial compliance. He also held several other leadership positions at the Department of Economic Development, namely Deputy CEO of the Commercial Compliance & Consumer Protection Sector, Deputy CEO of the Dubai Export Development Corporation, Executive Director of Corporate Quality and Excellence and Deputy Director of Information Technology Department at Dubai Land Department. Dubai has seen tremendous transformation and growth in the past couple of decades, which seems to only have accelerated in the recent 5 years since the COVID-19 pandemic. His Excellency gives our listeners an overview of Dubai as a regional center and highlights some of the benefits and policies that have contributed to its growth and popularity among global businesses and investors. Industry data shows that, in the past couple of years, the United Arab Emirates – and Dubai in particular – have seen tremendous influx of wealthy individuals and families, with many choosing to establish or relocate their family office there. His Excellency describes why family offices are flocking to Dubai and talks about the factors that are driving this rising interest and attraction among wealthy families and family offices. Within the umbrella Dubai Chambers organization exists the Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy, which is dedicated to positioning Dubai as a global hub for advanced technologies. His Excellency elaborates on Dubai's digitization strategy, the investments and transformation it entails, and its benefits and attractions for global families and their family offices. Dubai's geographic location and relative proximity to many key international markets is another strategic asset. His Excellency explains how and why global families of wealth should consider Dubai as a potential launchpad to neighboring markets and a hub for their regional and global strategies. Do not miss this exclusive conversation with one of the foremost leaders and supporters of the Dubai business and investment community, H.E. Mohammad Ali Rashed Lootah.

Today, I am delighted to welcome Dan Veitkus, CEO & Managing Partner of Corsica Partners, LLC, a global executive search and strategic talent management firm specializing in recruiting executive leadership for private equity, venture and family office backed companies. Dan grew up in a family business and started his first company at the age of 13. Prior to entering the field of executive search and coaching, he served 20+ years as a business leader and executive for private and public companies ranging in size from $10M - $1B annual turnover in the telecom, software/SaaS and corporate learning sectors. Dan is an active advisor to CEOs and boards and a former distinguished mentor & executive coach for the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship, an organization founded by Richard Branson to support entrepreneurs by providing leadership development, mentoring and coaching to help launch and grow their businesses. Dan is the author of the Amazon Best Seller Straight Talk Your Way to Success. He also produced a Broadway Show, Dream Big: The Rudy Ruettiger Story, now available on Amazon Prime. Succession is easily one of the top three evergreen topics and challenges that UHNW families and their family offices contend with all the time. Dan explains why it is important that succession happens in the family office in a planful and smooth way. He highlights how succession in the family office is different from traditional corporate succession and business continuity practices and points out the unique distinctions of family office transitions and successions. Based on his extensive experience advising and recruiting talent for family offices, Dan offers his practical suggestions for family offices and family principals looking to hire key executive talent as part of their succession planning. He also offers practical tips for all the other stakeholders in the succession process, including the candidates looking to land the key role at a family office, but also the advisors, family office employees, and family members who participate in or are impacted by the leadership transition. Enjoy this insightful conversation with a leading talent and operations practitioner and advisor in the UHNW and family office space.

Today, I am excited to speak with Teresa Leigh, owner and founder of Teresa Leigh Home + Family Office an award-winning, nationally recognized boutique firm advising UHNW clients on staff and service vendors for the home, property and family office. Teresa has worked with high-net-worth clients for over 39 years, and is a passionate educator, speaker and author of multiple published white papers, educational videos and articles focused on helping high net worth clients make the best decisions for their homes and family offices. Teresa is often quoted by The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Institutional Investor, The New York Times, and Worth Magazine. Teresa offers our listeners an overview of in-home elder care for families and highlights some of the challenges family members and family offices face when they seek and employ such in-house support. She describes the different options for in-home elder care services family members and family offices should consider and evaluate, and enumerates the pros and cons of these different solutions that families should be aware of and know how to compare. For families who are in need of in-home support and are in the early stages of this journey, Teresa provides some practical tips for how they can get started and then how they should manage all the change and the steep learning curve they are facing. There are many risks associated with in-home elder care – personal safety and financial fraud are just two common examples. Teresa explains how families should protect themselves and their elder family members and emphasizes what they should watch out for as they explore these in-home services. Don't miss this highly practical conversation with a recognized leader and practitioner in the field of household management for UHNW families.

Today, I am delighted to speak with Joe Pellegrino, co-founder of The Pantheon Group, a bespoke residential management company. Joe partners with leading family offices to transform how their clients' residential estates are managed. He has pioneered a comprehensive residential estate management approach that seamlessly integrates with family office operations, reducing property management complexity to near-zero. Serving ultra-high-net-worth families with multiple properties across the United States, Joe and his team act as the dedicated real estate arm for discerning family offices, ensuring their clients' properties are managed with the same level of sophistication as their investment portfolios. Joe and his firm, The Pantheon Group, are a Specialist Advisor member of FOX, and we are thankful to have his expertise within our membership community. The luxury property space is unique and there is a lot of operational complexity and risk involved. And yet, it is also the home or a place UHNW clients really should enjoy rather than worry about operating. Joe talks about the interplay between the risks involved and the experience clients seek, and how estate managers, like his firm, navigate and simplify this complex equation. Family offices are increasingly being asked by their clients to do more and handle a broader scope of services, including lifestyle and concierge services. Joe shares his views on the role of the family office when it comes to working with the estate management specialists who support the family and handle their luxury properties and everything the family needs and expects in that aspect. One important decision in luxury estate management is selecting the right vendors and partners. Joe offers practical tips and advice for families and their family offices on how to best evaluate and select the professional firms they work with to manage their properties. Finally, Joe provides his suggestions for estate management vendors and specialists serving UHNW families. He emphasizes the importance of building connections with the family, and uses the term "anticipatory excellence", which he unpacks in detail for our audience. Don't miss this deeply informative conversation with one of the leading innovators and service providers in the luxury estate management space.

Today, I am delighted to speak with Tomas Hurcik, Co-Founder and CEO of ORCA AG, a Swiss based SaaS company focused on building legal technology to support and automate the growing amount of legal, tax and compliance to-do's that modern families with complex legal structures face. Tomas co-founded ORCA in 2017 after gaining first-hand insight via his wife's family business and family office into the difficulty of assembling, analyzing, and sharing structure charts, entity management, and compliance reporting information. Prior to co-founding ORCA, Tomas spent his entire working life in startups in investment banking, private banking, and e-commerce. Two IPO-ed, one failed. Tomas and his company ORCA are a FOX technology resource partner, and we are thankful to have his expertise as part of our membership community. Families and their complex enterprises have – and constantly generate – a lot of information, and organizing, storing, and retrieving this information is an ever-growing challenge. Tomas talks about this challenge and describes the relevance of organizing important information to families and their family offices. When Tomas decided to create ORCA, he perceived a specific opportunity based on a common pain point that most families experience with their data and information – a pain point that he and his wife also experienced. He describes this experience and shares the pain points he set out to solve. The company Tomas created, ORCA, is gaining ever greater recognition in our space. He tells us what ORCA is – what it does, what problems it solves for families and family offices, and how it solves them. For family office owners and executives in our audience who are focused on managing their enterprise information needs, Tomas offers his advice on how best to do that. He elaborates on how they should think about their information needs and plan to organize, manage, and deliver information to their increasingly diverse and dispersed user base. Don't miss this eye-opening conversation with a leading entrepreneur and thought leader in the family office technology ecosystem.

Today, it is my pleasure to speak with Debbie Bond Dear and Whitney Dear-Reyes. Debbie is the Founder & Executive Director of Vanguard Landing, a purpose-planned community designed to offer a safe, intentional, interactive, and inclusive community where persons with intellectual and developmental differences can thrive and achieve their life's full potential. Whitney is Board Chair of Vanguard Landing and serves as the organization's Development and Resource Director. First, Debbie and Whitney orient our listeners to the basics of this very important topic. They define the term "intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD)", describing what conditions fall within this umbrella label, and what are the most common challenges faced by people living with IDD. IDDs most commonly have a very early onset, affecting children from a very young age. Debbie and Whitney talk about the challenges faced by children with IDD and their parents, while also covering some of the opportunities that perhaps today largely remain unrealized. Debbie and Whitney describe the vision and objectives of Vanguard Landing and what they are looking to achieve with this ambitious project and how they plan to realize these goals. They also share their thoughts on how others can get involved with this noble cause – what businesses, families of means, philanthropies, and other organizations need to know or do to help and contribute to the wellbeing of people with IDD. Please take a close listen to this impactful and important conversation with two of the leading innovators and visionaries in the sphere of helping people with IDDs lead a full life.

Today, I am delighted to speak with Mohamed Elzomor, Co-Founder of Nines, a household management platform trusted by hundreds of family offices around the world. He and his co-founder Jacco de Bruijn created the company and lead its mission to bring ease, structure, and innovation to the world of household management. Mohamed and his company Nines are a FOX technology resource partner, and we are excited to have their expertise as part of our membership community. Mohamed focused his entrepreneurial attention and creativity on the niche segment of managing the private estates and household operations of UHNW families, and he gives us an overview of this space, highlighting the unique aspects of luxury estate management. He helps our audience understand what is considered a top-notch client offering and service – what does good look like – in this unique market niche. Mohamed explains how most UHNW families are managing their private properties today – whether most attempt to self-manage or they turn to professional property managers – and he paints the picture of the major pain points they UHNW clients commonly experience. When Mohamed founded Nines, he and his co-founder set out to alleviate many of the pain points experienced by both UHNW owners and their luxury property managers. He gives us an overview of the Nines platform, describing its key functionalities and the main problems it solves for families, family offices, and estate manages. One practical advice Mohamed has for UHNW families and their family offices is to learn and understand the world of estate managers – how it works and how to best engage with the professionals in this space. He shares his views on why this is important and offers his recommendations to families and their staff on what they should know on the subject. Enjoy this highly illuminating conversation with one of the most prominent disruptors and technology providers in the UHNW estate management space.

Today, it is my pleasure to speak with Brian Adams, Partner at Mack International, where he specializes in C-suite executive search and human capital consulting for family offices and enterprises. Brian serves on the board of Sirrom Partners LP, a single-family office, and is the host of the Mack Podcast, which provides expert insights for family office professionals. Alongside his family office expertise, Brian co-founded two real estate private equity firms and was a former practicing attorney. Mack International is a former long-time member of FOX. Talent – especially top leadership talent – continues to be among the top evergreen needs of enterprise families and their family offices. We begin with Brian's insights on talent search for family offices. He paints the picture of the current landscape for identifying and attracting leadership talent to SFOs and covers the most prominent trends he sees in the marketplace. Another persistent challenge for family offices is holding on to the top talent they have – especially, since most SFOs tend to be small, flat organizations without much of a career path or growth options for their key people. Brian shares his view on the key talent retention strategies and tools utilized by family offices and how they have evolved over time. An interesting, and somewhat counterintuitive, consideration family offices face when they think about attracting and retaining talent is their location strategy. Brian talks about why and how the choice of where the office is located can have a significant practical impact on SFOs' ability to recruit and engage their key people. Another practical tool that families and family offices have at their disposal – yet don't always deploy fully in their talent management strategy – is their values, governance, and mission. Brian describes how these foundational elements of governance and collective decision-making that families establish and follow come into play when it comes to recruiting and retaining top talent. Don't miss this highly insightful conversation with one of the top executive recruiting firms serving the family office space.

In this engaging discussion, Craig Armstrong, Managing Partner of Veridian, shares his extensive experience in public accounting and family wealth management. He reveals how the roles of CPAs and family advisors have shifted with technological advancements, particularly the rise of AI, which enhances decision-making rather than replaces it. Craig also highlights the need for younger generations' involvement in wealth conversations and emphasizes the importance of family capital, stewardship, and fostering relationships across generations.

Today, it is my pleasure to speak with Debbie Wilkerson, President & CEO of Greater Horizons, one of the nation's largest and most experienced providers of philanthropic services, with more than $6 billion in charitable assets. Since 1998, Debbie has helped build Greater Horizons and its local counterpart, the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, into trusted partners for individuals, families and companies using donor-advised funds and other charitable vehicles to support the causes they care about. With a background in estate and tax law, Debbie was introduced to philanthropy through her work on Ewing Kauffman's historic donation of the Kansas City Royals in the 1990s—the first and only time a major league sports team has been gifted to charity. Debbie became President & CEO in 2012 after serving as General Counsel and COO, and under her leadership, Greater Horizons offers a comprehensive giving platform and world-class service, with expertise in complex charitable gifts including private business interests and cryptocurrency. Debbie and her organization work with families and their enterprises to devise their giving strategies, and she tells us how they help donors identify the assets they want to or should deploy in their philanthropic strategy. Debbie has extensive experience with donors gifting to charity some exceptional assets, such as the Kansas City Royals team. She highlights the considerations and lessons learned related to deploying unique, non-traditional assets as part of a family's philanthropic vision and strategy. Going into the practical aspects of her work with clients, Debbie unpacks the various structures – foundations, DAFs, supporting organizations, etc. – that donors can choose from when it comes to operationalizing their philanthropic vision and plans. Finally, Debbie offers some useful tips and suggestions to our listeners with regard to the practical tools, frameworks, or resources families and their family offices can engage when devising and implementing their philanthropic giving strategies. Don't miss this highly instructive and illuminating conversation with a leading expert and practitioner in the field of family giving and philanthropic strategy.