Family Office Education: Where To Upskill Your Team?

Family office (FO) leaders have diverse responsibilities, overseeing the operations of the office and handling the complexities of wealth management. They also provide guidance to the next generation on entering the family business. Recognizing this need, a number of top business schools have developed specialised programs to meet the educational needs of family officers:

IMD Business School: Leading the Family Office

IMD’s three-day course, Leading The Family Office, is offered twice per year at the institution’s campuses in Switzerland (June) and Singapore (October). The course content covers an introduction to the family office landscape, identifying trends and outlooks, asset allocation, wealth management, impact investing, and effective governance. This programme is open exclusively to family members of existing single family offices or families who might be considering – or are in the process of – setting one up for their personal wealth management needs. “Families are struggling to identify their own aspirations when it comes to a family office, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach here, but there are attempts to create a dedicated certification programme for family officers, trying to bring some structure to the field,” says Peter Vogel, Director of the Global Family Business Centre and Professor of Family Business at IMD, to Forbes.

Harvard Business School: Family Office Wealth Management

This three-day, in-person programme held at Harvard Business School’s campus in Boston helps FO professionals navigate their investment allocations in an ever-changing financial landscape. It provides deeper knowledge of office governance and wealth management, networking strategies, philanthropic investing, and intergenerational wealth transfer solutions. It also covers the development and execution of effective networking strategies and relationship management. While the programme is open to anyone, it is primarily aimed at individuals who are directly involved with the planning and execution of a FO portfolio. 

Pepperdine Graziadio Business School: Financial Management for the Family Office

This two-and-a-half-day programme explores key topics in wealth management like philanthropic investing, FO governance, taxation and accounting, risk management, asset allocation, real estate investing, and multi-generational wealth management. It takes place at the institution’s Drescher Graduate Campus in Malibu, California, and is designed for executives of both single as well as multi-family offices. That being said, any advisors of high net worth individuals or such individuals themselves are welcome. All participants have the possibility to network one-on-one with industry experts and peers to discuss issues faced by family offices. The programme is taught by leading Pepperdine Graziadio academics and top industry professionals who explain various opportunities, discuss current issues, and review best practices.

Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management: The Single Family Office

How can you align the goals of a family office with the goals of its clients and stakeholders? How can your FO build and strengthen clients’ trust? This executive education course provides answers by focusing on the leadership skills for managing the complex, high-stakes environment of the FOs. “Challenging, often subtle family dynamics, sensitive communications, and interlinked governance structures all contribute to the complexity of family offices. This programme focuses squarely on the management, planning, and governance skills family office leaders must master and manage,” writes the school on its webpage. The main objectives of the course are to help participants align FO operations with its goals, promote trust among stakeholders, and develop effective succession strategies.

The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Global Family Alliance

The first programme of its kind, the Wharton Global Family Alliance (GFA) was established in 2004. As a family business-academic partnership, it regularly publishes industry reports and offers a diverse selection of full-time degree and non-degree programmes designed to help high net worth families and family firms grow on the global stage and manage their impact on society. The GFA also holds an annual Family Office Roundtable as a forum for inter-family knowledge transfer.

HEC Business School: Governance and Management of Family Businesses 

This in-person, two-week executive education programme held at the HEC Business School campus in Paris focuses on family business governance. The objectives of this course include providing participants with industry-standard skills around corporate administration and ensuring smooth wealth transfers between generations. The programme – which offers a blend of theory and practical, hands-on role playing –  is designed primarily for current or future directors, stakeholders, board members, and non-family CEOs of family-run enterprises.