As a strategic partner to the Institute, this news service offers this curtain-raiser for the upcoming annual symposium in New York led by the UHNW Institute, a think tank carving a new path of thought leadership around family wealth.

Progress on one of the most important and ambitious projects of the UHNW Institute – its integrated family wealth management initiative – will be highlighted at the Institute’s annual symposium next month. 

Addressing “confusion in the marketplace,” the UHNW Institute – a non-profit industry think tank – is unveiling what it says is a groundbreaking year-and-a-half-long initiative to bring “standards and clarity” to the concept of integrated wealth management and the services provided to wealthy families and individuals. 

“The Institute will be defining where the industry is going,” Stephen Prostano, the Institute’s chairman, said. “We will be empowering advisors and firms by introducing a new model that will allow them to deliver integrated family wealth management solutions in a more efficient and cost-effective way.”

This year’s symposium, The Future of Family Wealth Advising: Positioning Your Firm for Success, is available at no additional cost to Institute members and will be held Wednesday, November 14, at UBS’s New York office. 

A training session for UHNW Institute members on The Ten Domains of Family Wealth will be offered on Tuesday afternoon, November 13, followed by an opening reception. 

Family Wealth Report, exclusive media partner to the Institute, is also holding its Tenth Annual Family Office Investment Summit at the UBS venue that day and is offering complimentary entry to Institute members. 

Progress report
The Institute’s integrated family wealth management initiative aims to create new industry standards for a fragmented market, Prostano, Partner-in-Charge of the Center for Private Business Owners and Family Advisory Services at PKF O’Connor Davies, said.

An overview of the Institute’s progress with the initiative will be presented at the symposium by UHNW Institute board members Jim Grubman and Wally Head. 

“We are rolling out the Institute’s Wealthesaurus, a new glossary designed to reduce confusion on over 70 commonly used terms in the industry,” Grubman said. Grubman is director at the UHNW Institute, principal at Family Wealth Consulting, and this year’s winner of the Family Wealth Report Lifetime Achievement Award. “We’ll also unveil the Institute’s new Multiphasic Service Model that organizes the advisory services required to address the needs identified in our Ten Domains of Family Wealth framework.”

A landmark Practice Settings Survey of advisory firms and family offices developed by the Institute will also be previewed, added Head, co-founder and director at the Institute and principal of Personal Fiduciary Advisors. “The survey will help firms and families understand how services for UHNW families are delivered by classifying firms based on the services they deliver and how they deliver them,” he said.

Agenda highlights
Institute members will discuss practical applications of integrated wealth management solutions, as well as how integration has worked or might work in different business models. 

Economic considerations, such as whether margin has to be sacrificed to deliver integrated family wealth services and what kind of service delivery models and team structures should be implemented, will also be examined at the symposium. 

Family needs and trends are also on the agenda, as well as strategic considerations for firms, options relating to the delivery of integrated solutions, and considerations for outsourcing and establishing strategic alliances. 

Once the Practice Settings Survey is implemented, family offices and wealth management firms will be able to use the results to see how the services they are receiving or providing compare with those offered by other firms. Families will also be able to discover the range of service offerings available to them in the marketplace. 

New service model
The unveiling of the Multiphasic Service Model is expected to be closely watched. Developed by a team of experienced UHNW practitioners, it will detail the three-phase cycle of advisory services that advisors need to deliver to address clients’ needs adequately, based on the Institute’s Ten Domains of Family Wealth. 

These domains, which are the cornerstone of the integrated family wealth management approach, include financial and investment management; estate planning and legal issues; social impact and philanthropy; risk management; governance and decision-making; leadership and transition planning; NextGen learning and development; family dynamics; health and wellbeing; and family-advisory relationships. 

Prominent speakers
More than 150 industry executives are expected to attend the conference in-person with others will be participating virtually. 

Prominent industry executives scheduled to speak at the symposium include Joe Calabrese, COO, wealth management, KeyBank; Richard Joyner, managing director, AlTi Tiedemann Global; Tom McCullough, chairman and CEO, Northwood Family Office; Stacy Allred, managing director and head of family engagement and governance, JP Morgan; Kevin Casey, managing director at Pathstone; and Kristin Keffeler, chief learning officer for Johnson Family Group.

“This annual symposium provides an excellent opportunity for Institute members to interact with one another, learn about trends in the marketplace, share their instructive experiences, and work collectively to develop new and better approaches for serving UHNW families,” said Katherine Dunlevie, a senior wealth management executive who has been closely involved with the Institute’s initiative. 

“We have incredible colleagues at the symposium who are willing to really roll up their sleeves and bring their best ideas to the table and share them,” Keffeler added.

To view comments from speakers and attendees at last year's symposium, and information about how this symposium works, see below: