Family Wealth Alliance recognizes outstanding multi-generation wealth firms. The Family Wealth Alliance (FWA), a Wheaton, Ill.-based consultancy to ultra-high-net-worth families, has inaugurated a recognition program for commercial multifamily offices that make notable contributions to the industry.

"Our goal is to encourage, by our recognition, the type of leadership that benefits private families and [the] firms that serve them," says the FWA's CEO Thomas Livergood. "By promoting leaders in public awareness, family education, and growth, we believe we will motivate further important work towards this goal."

Common good

This year's recipients of the FWA's Leadership awards are GenSpring Family Offices, Pitcairn Financial, Ballentine Finn, Sterling, TBK Investments and Telemus Wealth Advisors.

Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.-based GenSpring received an award in the Leadership in Public Awareness category for its "recent [and] highly successful re-branding to support the firm's rapid growth in client families and assets," according to an FWA press release. Until last month GenSpring, an affiliate of Atlanta-based SunTrust Banks, was known as Asset Management Advisors.

To be clear: the FWA isn't just recognizing GenSpring for a successful re-branding campaign, but for doing it in a way that brings positive attention to multifamily offices in general. This principle applies as well to the other Leadership award winners.

Jenkintown, Pa.-based Pitcairn got the Leadership in Family Education Award "in recognition of its outstanding educational programs for multigenerational client families," says the FWA.

The FWA recognized the remaining award winners for Leadership in Growth in 2006 across four asset-size bands. Southfield, Mich.-based Telemus got the award in the under-$500 million in assets category; Miami-based TBK (now part of GenSpring) was recognized for outstanding growth in the $500-million-to-$1-billion bracket; Pepper Pike, Ohio-based Sterling, an affiliate of Cleveland-based National City, received the prize in the $1-billion-to-$5-billion band (for a 210% increase in assets), and Waltham, Mass.-based Ballentine Finn got the nod for outstanding growth among multifamily offices with at least $5 billion in assets under advisory.

(Since 2006, three-year-old Telemus has bid a firm farewell to the under-$500-million category. Last month it purchased private-client accounts worth around $400 million from a Detroit-based investment advisory group of PricewaterhouseCoopers. At the very end of 2006 it agreed to buy Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Beacon Investment Company, a firm with another $400 million under management.)

The FWA presented the Leadership awards at its MFO Forum in Chicago last week. It also released its 2007 Multifamily Office Study at the forum. The 80 U.S. multifamily offices the FWA surveyed had more than $300 billion in advisory assets in 2006, a 20.6% increase over the previous year. Last year also saw a 16.7% hike in the number of families served -- and a 32% jump in minimum fees.

In addition to helping high-wealth families find wealth managers that suit their aims and needs, the FWA conducts research and -- working with families and wealth managers -- formulates industry standards for multifamily offices. -FWR

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