The family office sector has $10 trillion in assets under management, but is “one area where we really have no clue what is happening,” according to Professor Florin Vasvari. From comparative obscurity, ‘family offices’, structures that protect and nurture the assets of successful families, have become a major sector in their own right. For the sector, big questions include how investment behaviour should reflect the values of the next generation, how the original entrepreneurial spirit can be maintained and the role of #philanthropy. These and many other issues were addressed at our inaugural conference.
During the first day, a series of leading academics and practitioners will present insights and hypotheses, followed by facilitated round table discussions where participants discuss their experiences and perspectives. This learning will be captured and disseminated ad hoc and in summary proceeds.
Please see a preliminary agenda below:
Opening remarks:
François Ortalo-Magné, Dean, London Business School
Florin Vasvari, Professor of Accounting; Academic Director of the Institute of Entrepreneurship and Private Capital, London Business School
Welcome remarks:
Leonie Schroder, Non-Executive Director at Schroders
Session 1: 5 leadership skills for the future
Herminia Ibarra, Charles Handy Chair in Organisational Behaviour; Professor of Organisational Behaviour, London Business School
London Business School
Session 1 Roundtable discussion and debrief
Coffee break and networking
Session 2: New investment paradigms in family office management
Alex Scott, Chairman, Schroders Family Office Service and Joint Life President, The Institute for Family Business (UK)
Jonathan Ordway Fackelmayer, Managing Partner at Ordway Capital & Ordway Selections.
Andy Long, Executive Director, Pentland Group
Moderated by Florin Vasvari, Professor, London Business School
Session 2 Roundtable discussion and debrief
Lunch
Session 3: Philanthropy and impact investing and the role of business families in society
Lady Edwina Grosvenor, Criminologist and Prison Philanthropist
Simon Franks, Founder of the Franks Family Foundation
Paolo Fresia, Principal, 100% Sustainability
Moderated by Lyn Tomlinson, Head of Impact and Philanthropy, Cazenove Capital
Session 3 Roundtable discussion and debrief
Keynote: Influencing the Deal
Niro Sivanathan, Professor of Organisational Behaviour
Coffee break and networking
Session 4: Developing the next generation of family enterprise leaders
Frank Tobé, Co-Founder & CEO, Supernova
Rennie Hoare, Partner & Head of Philanthropy at C. Hoare & Co.
Sonal Sachdev Patel, Chief Executive Officer of GMSP Foundation
Moderated by Rhian-Anwen Hamill, Business Coach and Leadership Advisor
Session 4 Roundtable discussion and debrief
Keynote Macroeconomics trends
Helene Rey, Lord Raj Bagri Professor of Economics, London Business School
Day debrief
Heinz-Peter Elstrodt, Guest Lecturer, London Business School
Conference dinner
Keynote speaker Rt Hon Rory Stewart OBE, President of GiveDirectly
The second day will offer a series of parallel, self-selected break out groups organised in three morning sessions. It will cover both academic thinking and case studies from a select group of FOs on additional issues that are of interest to participants.
When registering, participants will have the option to choose from topics including:
Entrepreneurship and innovation - How to retain entrepreneurial energy beyond the first generation
Sustainability, ESG and green investing
Family governance and succession planning
Audit, assurance, and regulatory compliance in the context of ESG
Wealth and asset structuring: the use of trusts and family investment companies
Family office technology. New products and services to streamline operations and family engagement
Assessing and managing risks (emergent, re-globalised and frequent)
The Birth of Experiences- Developing the NextGen through experiential learning. Designing programmes built on their values, how they engage with society, consume information and live their lives.
The most popular topics will be selected to form the sessions for day 2.
Please see a preliminary agenda below:
Registration and buffet breakfast
Opening remarks
Moderated sessions – Introduction
Moderated session 1
Why We Tolerate Dishonesty in a Post-Truth World - Daniel Effron, Professor of Organisational Behaviour
Break
Moderated session 2
Moderated sessions 3
Lunch at LBS
Speakers
Alexander Scott
Chairman, Schroders Family Office Service and Joint Life President, The Institute for Family Business (UK)
Chairman, Schroders Family Office Service and Joint Life President, The Institute for Family Business (UK)
Experience
A fourth-generation family business owner, Alex is Chairman of Schroders Family Office Service. He joined the company when Schroders acquired Sandaire, a London-based family office that he founded in 1996 following the sale of Kendal-based Provincial Insurance.
Alex was previously Chairman of Applerigg, a private, family-owned business built on the foundations of a financial services group established by his great-grandfather in 1903. He founded and grew the Applerigg portfolio of companies. This included Sandaire, along with Yealand Fund Services Ltd (a fund administration company) and Horizons, a networking and educational environment for future leaders. He is a Non-Executive Director of several private companies.
Alex is a Trustee of the Grosvenor Estate and chairs Grosvenor Food and AgTech.
He is a Director of the Family Business Network International, co-founded and is Joint Life President of Family Business UK. Alex is a Trustee of the Francis C Scott Charitable Trust and the Cumbria Community Foundation.
He was born and schooled in Cumbria, graduated from Exeter College, Oxford with an MA in Philosophy, Politics & Economics and holds an MBA from IMD, Lausanne. Alex lives in Cumbria with his wife Sam and they have three adult children. He was appointed His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of the County of Cumbria in July 2023.
Andy Long is Executive Director of Pentland Group, a UK based private, family-owned brandmanagement company operating in sports, outdoor and fashion. Pentland owns global brandsSpeedo, Canterbury, Berghaus, Ellesse, Endura and Mitre and is the global footwear partner forLacoste. The Group is the majority shareholder in JD Sports Fashion plc (JD), a publicly listedinternational multichannel retailer in sports, outdoor and fashion operating over 3,700 stores in 30countries. Andy was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of JD Sports in May 2021.A Chartered Management Accountant, Andy has been with the company since 2005 and previously worked at Procter and Gamble and Boots Group. Between 2016 and 2022, Andy was aboard member at Sport England, the arm’s length body of the UK Government charged withincreasing the number of people enjoying the benefits of sport and activity in England–no matterwhat their background, ability or age.
A social psychologist by training, Professor Daniel A Effron teaches about ethics, influence, and other topics related to the science of people in organizations.<br>
Experience
A social psychologist by training, Professor Daniel A Effron teaches about ethics, influence, and other topics related to the science of people in organizations. Before joining London Business School, he taught negotiations at the Kellogg School of Management, and was a fellow of the Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University.
His research examines the psychology of (1) how people act in ethically questionable ways without feeling unethical, and (2) what shapes people’s judgments of others’ unethical behaviour. His current projects focus on judgments of hypocrisy, fake news, and what leads people to let leaders off the hook for dishonesty.
Professor Effron's research has appeared in top scholarly publications such as the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Psychological Science, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, and Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. His work has been discussed in media outlets such as The New York Times, Financial Times, BBC News, The Atlantic, Forbes, and Bloomberg. Named one of the "Best 40 Business Professors Under 40" by Poets & Quants, he received teaching awards from the London Business School MBA classes of 2015 and 2020, and his doctoral work was honoured with an American Psychological Association Dissertation Award.
To learn more about Professor Effron's research, please visit www.danieleffron.com
Heinz-Peter Elstrodt is active as guest lecturer on family businesses at London Business School and INSEAD. He also acts as a board member of family firms and the Family Firm Institute (FFI). He is a Director Emeritus at McKinsey & Company.
After joining McKinsey in 1983, he worked in Germany, USA and Brazil, where he co-founded the São Paulo office in 1988. Between 2004 and 2011 he was responsible for the Latin American region. From 2011 -2015 he built and led McKinsey’s global Family Business practice, working with leading family businesses around the world, conducting research and collaborating with key conveners like the WEF. HeinzPeter has also worked and published extensively on themes of Brazilian and LATAM economic development.
After his retirement from McKinsey in 2015, he took up residence in London and has dedicated himself to teaching, board memberships and advisory in the field of family firms and to impact investing in the area of agriculture, sustainable finance and environmental technology.
Heinz-Peter earned a Dr. rer. pol. in Economics from the University of Augsburg, Germany (1982), and a degree in Business Administration and Industrial Engineering from the University of Karlsruhe, Germany (1979).
His publications include: “The five attributes of enduring family businesses”, “A succession memo to a family business founder”, “Building a house that last : a framework to guide the succession from few owners to many”, “The family business factor in emerging markets”, “What executives are asking about Latin America”, “How Brazil can grow”, “ Reconnecting Brazil to the World” “Five Priorities for Brazil's Economy”, “Reining in Brazil's informal economy”, “Helping nonprofits do business” and “Keeping the family in business”.
Herminia examines personal identity in a leadership context and brings expertise to help you maximise the benefits of your network.
Recent Clients
Herminia has directed programmes for Deutsche Bank, Unilever, Siemens and Clifford Chance.
Experience
Herminia is ranked eighth by Thinkers 50 in its list of the world’s most influential business gurus. Her most recent book Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader explains how to step up to a bigger leadership role. Her best-selling book, Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career describes how people reinvent their careers. Author of numerous articles in top academic journals, Herminia also writes for business publications and speaks internationally on leadership and talent management.
Chairman and Managing Partner, Ordway Selections and Ordway Capital
Experience
Jonathan has been an investor and financier for more than two decades, co-investing with familyoffices across the globe. He serves as Managing Partner of Ordway Selections and OrdwayCapital. He currently sits on a number of Boards that make up the portfolio, including funds anddirect companies.Jonathan’s family (Ordway) was the majority and controlling shareholder of 3M (the US Corporate)dating back to 1906.
Lady Edwina Grosvenor is a criminologist and prison philanthropist who has dedicated her careerto transforming conditions within prisons, drawing on the experience of best and worst models ofcriminal justice fromaround the world. This inspired her to be the founding investor andAmbassador of theClink Restaurantchain, which trains prisoners for work in the catering industry, and to founding and chairing the charityOne Small Thing.The charity aims to redesign the justicesystem for women and their children and has gone on to develop Hope Street, a pioneeringpurpose-built residential community across Hampshireand which will provide rehabilitativeservices to the women in a holistic environment where they can recover without the need for theirchildren to be removed into care. Having studied Criminology and Sociology at NorthumbriaUniversity, Lady Edwina achieved a distinction in her master’s degree in Criminology and CrimeScene Management at Solent University in August 2021. She sits on the advisory board to theCentre for Criminology in the Faculty of Law at the University of Oxford. She became a foundingmember of the Global Philanthropic Advisory Board in January 2022 and is also Patron ofPaladin,which is the country’s only national stalking advocacy service. Edwina is the 2022/23 High Sherriffof Hampshire.
Leonie Schroder is a member of the Schroder family and a non-executive board member ofSchroders plc, one of Europe’s largest asset management companies with £730 billion of AuM asat 30 June 2022. She has held a number of roles in the charity sector andis currently a director ofthe Schroder Charity Trust as well as a number of private limited companies. Leonie is adescendant of John Henry Schroder, who co-foundedthe Schroders business in 1804. She is agraduate of the University of St. Andrews, has three children and has a keen interest insustainability and conservation.
The breadth of Schroders investment capability gives it unparalleled insights across industries andasses classes. The business is characterised by strong investment performance aswell as itsfocus on social and environmental impact.
Schroders’ founding family are still the company’s largest shareholder, owning approximately 43%of the shares. Schroders has continued to deliver strong financial results despite recent marketvolatility. It has a market capitalisation of circa £7.7 billion and employs approximately 6,000people across 38 locations.
Schroders benefits from the most diverse business model of any UK asset manager by geography,asset class and client type. The firmoffers innovative products and solutions across their fivebusiness areas of solutions; institutional; mutual funds; private assets & alternatives; and wealthmanagement. The firm’s wealth management offering reflects its strategic ambition to providewealth management and financial planning services to clients across the wealth spectrum.
Schroders’ purpose is to provide excellent investment performance to clients through activemanagement. It has three key, long-term strategic aims: to grow its asset management business,build closer relationships with end clients and expand its private assets and alternatives business.The business channels capital into sustainable and durable businesses to accelerate positivechange in the world.
Head of Impact and a key member of the Cazenove Capital sustainability leadership team, Lyn Tomlinson sits on the sustainable investment and asset class committees which are responsible for the investment strategy, selection and monitoring of sustainable and impact funds held within client portfolios. Lyn is also a member of the impact executive committee for Schroders, and the investment committee of the Schroders Big Society Capital Social Impact Trust. She is a boardmember of UK Sustainable and Investment Finance Association (UKSIF) and Philanthropy Impact. Lyn has 20 years’ experience in financial services with the latter part of her career focused on philanthropy and sustainable and impact investing for institutions and HNW and UHNW individuals.
Niro Sivanthan’s research broadly centres around decision-making, power and status. He is an award-winning teacher of negotiations, decision-making and influence.
Recent Clients
IBM, McDonald’s, Nestlé, Roche, PwC, Sanofi, Vodafone, Mars, Deutsche Bank, A.T. Kearney, Vodafone, Nordea and Sabic.
Experience
His research is regularly presented at leading international conferences, and he serves on editorial boards. He has been published in top international journals covering management and psychology, such as Administrative Science Quarterly, Journal of Applied Psychology and Psychological Science. His research has also garnered international press coverage in CNN, Financial Times, Time Magazine, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Sunday Times and Forbes. He has won numerous awards and been named in Poets and Quants' 'Top 40 under 40' list for the top 40 business school professors globally under the age of 40.
Current developments and best practices in M&A, private equity perspectives on M&A, valuation and structuring of M&A transactions and negotiations of M&A terms. Florin received the Best Teacher Award in 2021 voted by the MiF 2021 programme.
Recent Clients
Florin has been advising companies across sectors including manufacturing, construction, hospitality and financial services.
Experience
Florin has a PhD in Management with a specialisation in accounting and finance. He sits on the editorial board of two top academic journals and has published extensively in top tier U.S. based business academic journals. He has been pursuing research on private equity topics and debt markets and is regularly invited to present his research at major business schools around the world. He has long combined his academic expertise with the practice; advising several large investment funds and serving on few advisory boards.
François Ortalo-Magné is the ninth Dean of London Business School, a position he has held since August 2017. As Chief Executive Officer of the School, he is implementing a plan to fulfil a vision of LBS as an engaged community walking the learning journey together.
With a faculty recognised for its world-class academic research and a School community rich in diversity, LBS advances careers, transforms organisations and shapes policy. Its London and Dubai campuses are at the hub of a prestigious global network inspired by their own stories of life-changing impact.
Dean Ortalo-Magné serves on the board of directors of the Graduate Management Admission Council and on the International Advisory Board of BritishAmerican Business. His research on the economics of land and housing markets has been published in leading academic journals and he has advised private, governmental and multilateral organisations around the world.
Prior to his appointment, Ortalo-Magné was the Albert O. Nicholas Dean and Robert E. Wangard Professor of Real Estate at the Wisconsin School of Business. He grew up in France in the Pyrénées and on the family farm in the Lot Valley, before training as an agricultural engineer. He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Minnesota and his first academic appointment was at the London School of Economics.
Paolo Fresia invests his capital and advises others on how to generate positive impact in the fight against climate change, for gender equality, and for more sustainable supply chains. Through the Guerrilla Foundation and GiveOut, he supports grassroots activism to more radically question the root causes of our ecological, social, and democracy crises. He lives with his husband and two kids in London, loves adventure travel, is an Ayurvedic practitioner, and can cook a mean curry
Rennie joined the bank in 2016 and was invited to join the partnership in 2018. Rennie is Head of Philanthropy and chairs Messrs. Hoare Trustees (MHT); this includes the bank’sdonor advised fund, the Master Charitable Trust. Previously, he worked at T. Rowe Price and wasresponsible for relationships with institutional investment consultants in the UK and Europe. Beforejoining T. Rowe Price in 2011, he spent time at both Threadneedle and Guinness Asset Management. He graduated from the University of York with a BA Hons in Politics and holds theInvestment Management Certificate.Rennie chairs Philanthropy Impact and is a trustee of the David Nott Foundation. He particularly enjoys mentoring the next generation of philanthropists.
Rhian works in leadership advisory and business coaching with management teams and family groups. She is an experienced advisor on people and their work, helping organisations address strategy, culture, leadership, team and board effectiveness, succession and talent development.
Clients come from a wide range of businesses with a particular focus on family enterprises. Generally, they are individuals and teams at pivotal points in their evolution who want to be safe - but not insipid - place to reflect, receive feedback and be pushed to think more deeply.
She holds and facilitates honest, enjoyable and often powerful, incisive, goal-oriented conversations on topics that concern people - new roles, conflicts, successions, transition, handling change, identifying a sense of purpose, retirement, balancing demands, team dynamics, trust and psychological safety.
After graduating from UWC Atlantic College (International Baccalaureate) and Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge (MA Cantab English). Rhian worked for many years in two US investment banks (Goldman Sachs and Salomon Brothers), leaving to a project director of a major national art project in her native Wales (The Wales Millenium Centre). She then held senior positions for twenty years in talent acquisition with global executive search firms (Whitehead Mann, The Rose Partnership) and eventually built and ran her own leading firm (RAH Partners).
She is a qualified Executive Coach with Meyer Campbell, The Tavistock Institute, and the Kets de Vries Institute. She is also a Director of Cool Bananas, a Zambia-based family agri-business and lives in West London with her husband Michael and two children.
Rory Stewart has been an academic, writer, adventurer, politician and diplomat. After a brief timein the Army and the diplomatic service, he walked 6000 miles on a 21 month trek across Asia, wasthe acting governor of a province in Iraq , established an NGO in Afghanistan and was appointed aProfessor at Harvard, and wrote a number of books before entering Parliament. He served as a minister in a number of departments and was a cabinet minister before his bid to be Prime-Minister. He is now President of the non-profit GiveDirectly. His walk across Afghanistan shortly after the US invasion is described in his award-winning New York Times bestseller, ‘The Places In Between’. His books have sold more than 600,000 copies world wide and have been translated into 13 languages. He has made a number of documentaries and he also Co-presents (with Alastair Campbell) the UK’s leading political podcast and his Podcast ‘The Rest is Politics’.
Simon founded a number of successful businesses including the first company in Europe to stream moving images over the internet and Red bus Film Distribution, (now Lionsgate) the fastest growing company in the UK between 1999 and 2003, for which he won the Sunday Times Fast Track. He was a co-founder of Love Film, subsequently bought by Amazon Inc and founder of Red bus Ventures, which is one of the most active funders of early-stage companies in the UK. In 2013, Simon was selected as one of the world’s 100 top innovators as part of the “BA Ungrounded” campaign for the G8 summit. Since 2009 Simon has also focused on philanthropy, establishing the Franks Family Foundation. The FFF runs educational and paediatric health initiatives in Cambodia, Laos and Nepal. The FFF’s New Generation Schools program has been highlighted by the OECD as one of the most impactful interventions in education in the developing world. Simon is also a co-founder of the only modern and free paediatric hospital in Laos.
Sonal Sachdev Patel is the CEO of GMSP Foundation, a family foundation, which supports strong frontline organisations working to improve the lives of some of the most marginalised people in India and the UK. After graduating from Cambridge University, Sonal started her career as a strategy consultant at Bain & Company, working in London and Delhi before moving back to the UK to join GMSP.
Sonal serves on the board of Dasra, chairing subcommittee on diversity equity and inclusion. She is on advisory council to Indian based charity Jan Sahas and UK based charity Think Equal. She is a published author with Harper Collins bringing spirituality to children through adventure stories. She was awarded the 2019 Influencer Award by DSC Awards for her work in social change.
She has practised daily meditation for 30 years and lives in London with her family.
Frank Tobé is co-founder and CEO at Supernova, an AI-enabled marketplace to help investors find, understand and act on sustainability data without friction. He's a third generation member of the entrepreneurial Dutch family behind the Kruidvat Holding. In this capacity, he serves on the board of the family-funded DOB Equity, a leading VC investor in Eastern
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