FOX Thought Leaders — Background
Program Overview
& Description
The FOX Thought Leaders program
provides a forum for leading thinkers to meet face-to-face and probe important
industry issues in a fashion that brings innovative solutions to the forefront
in the wealth management community.
For the first Thought Leaders Roundtable in 2004, FOX
selected a group of 18 delegates to participate in a debate on the issue of
conflicts of interest in the financial services industry and their effect on
relationships between wealth owners and professional advisors. The delegates
represented a variety of constituencies within the wealth management community,
including business owning families, financial families, multi-family offices,
risk managers, estate planners, investment strategists, and family continuity
and philanthropy advisors.
The outcome of that study was a collection of tools to
help wealth owners recognize where conflicts of interest may exist for different
types of service providers and to help them surface potential conflicts when
hiring or evaluating service providers. When the tools were presented at the
2004 FOX Fall Forum, the reaction was highly enthusiastic and they continue
to receive wide industry recognition as a timely resource. These are not stagnant
documents but dynamic, living instruments that evolve as wealth owners and advisors
use them and share their reactions with FOX.
Due to the success of the 2004 Roundtable, FOX invited
a new interdisciplinary panel of delegates to examine what managing risk and
uncertainty means for families of significant wealth.
This year-long project, sponsored by U.S. Trust, explores
the numerous risks to long term family wealth and examines risk assessment tools
for a multigenerational family. The tools — which are in the process of
being finalized — will enable a family to take a more holistic approach
to risk management that would incorporate issues such as:
- A disagreement on family goals or lack of succession
plans;
- A family member living or vacationing in a country
with an unstable government;
- A technical failure or improper storage and backup
of electronic files containing critical information.
All of these common examples demonstrate that for wealthy
families, the term “risk management” incorporates far more than investment
and insurance planning.
The findings of this roundtable were discussed at the
European Global Roundtable in September, 2005 in Switzerland as well as the
2005 FOX Fall Forum in Chicago, IL. If you have questions or would like to learn
more about the FOX Thought Leaders Roundtable, please contact the program director,
Anna Nichols at (312) 327-1214, anichols@familyoffice.com.
Sponsorship
US Trust is the exclusive FOX Thought Leaders Roundtable sponsor. This role
is consistent with the leadership they have shown in the wealth management industry
and the FOX member community. For 150 years, US Trust has helped families with
considerable assets preserve and enhance their wealth. A founding FOX
Strategic Advisor member, US
Trust has significantly enriched the FOX community through their contribution
of intellectual capital and educational resources.
FOX Contacts
For more information on the Thought Leaders Roundtable, please contact:
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