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Articles by Margaret Steen
Building Multigenerational Wealth Through Technology-Driven Manufacturing
Nickolas Reinhart has always been driven. He starts his day before 4:30 AM with a workout. He started his first business when he was 15. He is listed in Guinness World Records as having created the largest retail plastic storage container, which is sold at Home Depot. And he has had a vision of building generational wealth — which he is now doing via Nickolas Asset Management (NAM), his family office — since he was 21.
Estate Planning for Later Generations: ‘An Ecosystem of Opportunities’
A couple of years ago, Susie M. Roh’s office asked the G4 members of the family she serves whether they wanted their trust company to continue into future generations. Roh is president and CEO of Wind River Trust Company, a Wyoming-based trust company that serves Generations 3, 4 and 5 of a small family. The G4 members are currently raising their children, and estate planning was an important topic.
Accounting for Liquidity Needs in the Family Office Portfolio
Investment planning for family offices involves complex calculations and goals that often seem to be competing. One example: Family members’ need for liquidity vs. the goal of building long-term wealth. Illiquid investments can be appealing due to their potential returns, which can help the family office build long-term wealth — as long as it works with the family’s liquidity needs. “We have the ability to look long-term and have a long-term horizon.
Family Education Strategies: Building Education into Family Gatherings
Marshall Lockton’s family is facing two common challenges for family offices: the often tricky transition from G2 to G3, and the challenge of maintaining a family business and a family office when not all family members are involved in the family enterprise. One way they are managing these challenges is to add a family education component to their family retreat.
‘Change is the Only Constant’: Family Offices Face Both Internal and External Changes
Family offices are never static: Families grow, needs change, and leadership passes from one generation to the next. Today’s family offices are also being buffeted by external forces, from uncertain markets to rapid advances in technology. At ALIGN 2026, a conference for family offices and the families they represent, attendees discussed both the internal and external drivers shaping family offices.
Preparing for Family Leadership Transitions
The transition from one family leader to the next in a family office can be an exciting time, with new opportunities for some family members, less demanding roles for others, and the potential for the family office to explore new directions. But like all family transitions, it can also be fraught with challenges — especially if the family is not planning and communicating clearly.
Sports-adjacent Investments: Promoting Media Coverage of Women’s Sports
Heather Millstone calls herself an evangelist for women’s sports — and she backs that commitment up with investments in several women’s teams, including the Portland Thorns of the National Women’s Soccer League and the Calgary Wild, part of a new Canadian women’s soccer league. But Millstone — who with her sister, Jessica Millstone, is co-owner of their family office Millstone Investments — has also branched out to invest in areas adjacent to women’s sports teams.
The Family Office Talent Search: An Ongoing Challenge
Despite some cooling of the nationwide job market, family offices looking to hire talent face a competitive market. “The competition for talent remains one of the biggest challenges facing the industry,” says Tony Tagliapietra, chief investment officer and VP of shareholder services with the Michels Family Office and CEO of RIVER1 Asset Management.
Liquidity Event Planning Pitfalls to Avoid
Mohsen Ghazi, who advises family offices as a partner at Ashurst Perkins Coie, sometimes hears from families who have had a recent liquidity event and want advice on reducing their tax bill. “I’ll say, ‘I wish you had called me 15 months ago,’” Ghazi says.
Jacque Sokolov: Investing in Cutting-Edge Healthcare Technologies
Jacque Sokolov has had a front row seat to investing in healthcare over the past three decades. Sokolov is chairman and CEO of SSB, a holding company that serves as his family office and contains four business units: SSB Solutions, SSB Investment Funds, SSB Financial Services, and SSB Governmental Services. “Our journey in investing in healthcare has been an evolutionary one that has focused on major inflection points in transformative technology over the past 30 years,” Sokolov says.
The Search for ‘Lasting Winners’: How FOs Are Investing in AI
MembershipsFamily Council LeadersPremium Content CategoriesArticles From startups to specialized funds, family offices are taking a long-term approach to AI investing while searching for the companies poised to create lasting value. A Decrease font size. A Reset font size. A Increase font size. From startups to specialized funds, family offices are taking a long-term approach to AI investing while searching for the companies poised to create lasting value. This post is only available to members.
The Search for ‘Lasting Winners’: How FOs Are Investing in AI
As family offices weigh investment opportunities, artificial intelligence presents vast new possibilities. AI-focused startups make attractive targets for direct investments. For investors looking for alternatives — or additions — to direct investments, numerous funds offer an AI focus. And beyond these ways of investing in AI companies, many family offices are now also looking at the level of AI engagement in all their investments.
Rethinking Technology Decision-Making in the Age of AI
MembershipsKey ExecutivesPremium Content CategoriesArticles Software that looks obsolete within months, committees stuck restarting their search, budgets that can't plan three years out: family offices are learning that old technology playbooks don't survive contact with AI. A Decrease font size. A Reset font size. A Increase font size.
Balancing the Benefits of AI with Security and Privacy
MembershipsKey ExecutivesPremium Content CategoriesArticles As family offices embrace AI to boost efficiency, they face a delicate balancing act between innovation and confidentiality. Experts say success depends on strong governance, data segregation and keeping humans firmly in the loop. A Decrease font size. A Reset font size. A Increase font size. As family offices embrace AI to boost efficiency, they face a delicate balancing act between innovation and confidentiality.
Rethinking Technology Decision-Making in the Age of AI
Rapid advances in artificial intelligence are complicating the work of the family office professionals charged with evaluating, choosing and deploying technology for office operations. “AI is changing the game,” says Stephanie Notarianni, managing director of technology and integration at Pitcairn. “Traditionally, we would approach technology strategy from a three- or five-year perspective. What is the shelf life of an AI strategy? It’s not three or five years.
Balancing Corporate and Family Office Investments in an Embedded Family Office
Families with both an operating company and outside investments often prefer to invest in industries they know well — but that can lead to too much concentration on one industry, since they are likely to know the operating company’s industry best. That was the challenge for Tony Tagliapietra when he joined Michels Corporation, an energy and infrastructure construction company based in Brownsville, Wisc., in 2019 as chief investment officer and vice president of shareholder services.
Jamie Biddle: Avoiding Concentration Risk in Multigenerational Family Offices
When a family invests its time and resources into building a successful company, then launches a family office with the proceeds of the sale of that company, it can be tempting for the family to keep its investments in company stock. But avoiding concentration risk is also important for families as they shift from running an operating company to investing.
Jamie Biddle: Maintaining Purchasing Power Through Generations
Family offices are generally founded with the goal of preserving wealth through generations. But maintaining purchasing power for decades can be challenging. Spending, taxes, inflation and the number of children in a family can all work against wealth preservation. “The phrase, ‘Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations’ — there’s a version of that in practically every language,” says Jamie Biddle, CEO of Still Pond Capital, the family office of one branch of the duPont family.
Staying the Course in the Face of Geopolitical Upheaval
Family offices are known for taking the long view when it comes to their investments. For many of them, this means taking a balanced approach to current world events such as geopolitical conflict, oil market disruptions and supply chain issues.
When One Investment Strategy Doesn’t Fit All: Managing Diverse Investment Goals
A family office that is founded to serve a small, well-aligned family group may find it easy to determine investment goals and strategies. But as families grow, investing together becomes more complicated. Members will necessarily have different investment objectives — some may want to pursue impact investing, for example, whereas others favor more traditional investment strategies.
Planning for a Liquidity Event: Goals and Communication are Key
Some of the most consequential family office decisions may take place before the family office even exists. For families anticipating a liquidity event and considering setting up a family office with the proceeds, careful planning can help set up the family office for success. “Pre-liquidity planning can be very complex, depending on the size of the family, or pretty straightforward,” says Justin Bakewell, managing director and head of client strategy for Pitcairn.
Heather Millstone: Investing in the Future Through Women’s Sports
“My ultimate thesis of everything is that the path to gender equity is through women’s sports,” says Heather Millstone. Millstone puts her money where her mouth is as co-owner (with her sister, Jessica Millstone) of their family office, Millstone Investments. They are minority investors in the Portland Thorns of the National Women’s Soccer League, and they have invested in the Calgary Wild, part of a new Canadian women’s soccer league.
Estate Planning for Later Generations: ‘An Ecosystem of Opportunities’
A couple of years ago, Susie M. Roh’s office asked the G4 members of the family she serves whether they wanted their trust company to continue into future generations. Roh is president and CEO of Wind River Trust Company, a Wyoming-based trust company that serves Generations 3, 4 and 5 of a small family. The G4 members are currently raising their children, and estate planning was an important topic.
Helping Family Office Employees Adapt to AI
The rapid development of AI technology is complicating planning in family offices, just as it is in other industries. “I’m hearing a lot of uncertainty,” says Mohsen Ghazi, partner at Ashurst Perkins Coie, where he advises family offices. “People are saying, ‘I’m thinking about setting up my kids, but I don’t know what their future will look like.
Bringing the Principal’s Vision to Life: Brent Wouters of the Thompson Family Office
Brent Wouters had never worked for a family office before he met Christy Thompson and — after learning about her family office’s goals and challenges while hiking with her in Colorado — agreed to lead hers. Today, he has completed his first year as CEO of the Thompson Family Office, which represents the business interests and legacy of Thompson’s father, Texas oil and gas pioneer J. Cleo Thompson Jr. Wouters’ career had, in fact, prepared him remarkably well for leading the Thompson Family Office.
Finding the Right Cadence for Family Meetings
How often should family meetings happen? Andrew Bluestein’s family uses a regular meeting cadence to give the family an active role in governing the family office. “We hold monthly operating meetings to work through strategic projects and key issues, often focused on a specific theme like philanthropy, estate planning, or budgeting,” says Bluestein, co-managing partner of Bluestein Ventures.
Rethinking Technology Decision-Making in the Age of AI
Rapid advances in artificial intelligence are complicating the work of the family office professionals charged with evaluating, choosing and deploying technology for office operations. “AI is changing the game,” says Stephanie Notarianni, managing director of technology and integration at Pitcairn. “Traditionally, we would approach technology strategy from a three- or five-year perspective. What is the shelf life of an AI strategy? It’s not three or five years.
‘From Family Business to Family Money’: Jessica Millstone on the Evolution of a Family Office
A spirit of experimentation, entrepreneurship and risk-taking has guided Jessica Millstone into and out of a career in education technology and through the build-out of her family’s family office. This mindset is a legacy from her father, she says, who built the family’s wealth through a scrap metal business started in the 1940s by her grandfather in Rockville, Md. “I wouldn’t say it’s an extremely future-forward business,” Millstone says.
Lisa Quateman: From Vacant Land a Family Office Blooms
Every family office has its own origin story, and for Lisa Quateman’s family, it started with some vacant land in Los Angeles County, California. Her maternal grandfather, who came to the United States as an infant, eventually made his way to Southern California. From a start in manufacturing and a beauty supply business, in the 1930s and 40s, he was able to begin acquiring real estate in Southern California.
Consuelo Vanderbilt Costin: Honoring a Family Legacy with a Strategic Family Brand
Some families start a family office to create a multigenerational legacy. Consuelo Vanderbilt Costin’s family already has a multigenerational legacy — so she is launching a family office, House of Vanderbilt, to provide what she calls the “connective tissue” that will tie together generations of contributions from her family in business, culture and philanthropy. She is looking to build on that family history to create new generations of contributions.
Bringing the Principal’s Vision to Life: Brent Wouters of the Thompson Family Office
Brent Wouters had never worked for a family office before he met Christy Thompson and — after learning about her family office’s goals and challenges while hiking with her in Colorado — agreed to lead hers. Today, he has completed his first year as CEO of the Thompson Family Office, which represents the business interests and legacy of Thompson’s father, Texas oil and gas pioneer J. Cleo Thompson Jr. Wouters’ career had, in fact, prepared him remarkably well for leading the Thompson Family Office.
Including the Next Generation in Estate Planning Conversations
Celine Fitzgerald, a G3 family member at Webb & O’Neill Capital, meets annually with her family’s legal team to review estate plans. Her parents’ estate plan is fairly well set, though they are making some adjustments now that Fitzgerald has children. And because of the trusts and partnerships set up by previous generations, Fitzgerald’s estate plan was largely set up for her. “Now I’m trying to figure out how I will pass money to my children,” Fitzgerald says.
Jamie Biddle: Maintaining Purchasing Power Through Generations
Family offices are generally founded with the goal of preserving wealth through generations. But maintaining purchasing power for decades can be challenging. Spending, taxes, inflation and the number of children in a family can all work against wealth preservation. “The phrase, ‘Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations’ — there’s a version of that in practically every language,” says Jamie Biddle, CEO of Still Pond Capital, the family office of one branch of the duPont family.
Making Decisions for the Future While Learning from the Past: Best Practices for Staff Succession
Bryn Monahan’s family started planning seven years ago for the departure of the family office CEO. “We have a few leadership transitions that are underway: both non-family board members, the family chair and vice chair of the board, and the CEO. The goal is to make sure these don’t all occur at once,” says Monahan, a G4 family member who also works as a senior consultant with Relative Solutions.
Careful Planning, Communication and Fun: Best Practices for Family Meetings
Austin Herschend’s family — 70 family members, from newborn to age 93 — holds family meetings twice a year. On the agenda: the family’s operating business, its family office investments, other family topics, and fun. “The last meeting had about 90% attendance,” says Herschend, managing director of Elmwood Management. “The success of our meetings is tied to the fun aspect.
Setting the Rules of Engagement: Susie Roh of Wind River Trust Co.
A private trust company — a corporate trustee set up by a family to act as trustee of their family trust or trusts — can serve as an adjunct to or a substitute for a family office, and it can be very helpful in managing multigenerational wealth. But to work well, it needs a professionalized structure, says Susie M. Roh, president and CEO of Wind River Trust Company. Wind River, a Wyoming-based trust company, serves Generations 3, 4 and 5 of a small family that manages a shared investment pool.
Building Structure for an Investment-Focused FO With an Eye Toward the Future
Family offices often begin with one focus or goal, then gradually broaden their scope as the family grows and its needs change. Sometimes these changes happen without the family planning them, but TFF Traditions Company — an Ohio family trust company — is making this transition intentionally, in the second year of its existence. TFF serves as trustee of trusts holding ownership of The Fedeli Group, a risk management and insurance firm owned by the Fedeli family.
The Search for ‘Lasting Winners’: How FOs Are Investing in AI
As family offices weigh investment opportunities, artificial intelligence presents vast new possibilities. AI-focused startups make attractive targets for direct investments. For investors looking for alternatives — or additions — to direct investments, numerous funds offer an AI focus. And beyond these ways of investing in AI companies, many family offices are now also looking at the level of AI engagement in all their investments.
Should the Family Office Expand Beyond the Family? Pros and Cons of Taking Outside Capital
Single-family offices, by definition, generally invest money for one family — but there are times when they find it advantageous to take outside capital. “Our family office has taken outside capital previously and intends to continue doing so, with a desire to selectively partner with likeminded family offices whose mandates include privately held financial services businesses,” says Anthony R. Contrucci, managing partner of 119th Street Capital and family office leader for the Schrage family.
Michels Corporation: Creating a Nimble Embedded Family Office
When a family is running both an operating business and a family office, keeping both entities connected yet nimble can be a challenge. For the family owners of the Michels Corporation, an energy and infrastructure construction company based in Brownsville, Wisc., creating a focused family office within the operating company has allowed both entities to remain agile — and the family to be closely connected to both.
Investment Committees Signal the Professionalization of Family Offices
As family offices become more professional, a key step for many is to set up a formal investment committee. At the Shoebox Private Trust Company, that happened at the trust company’s inception, when the Shoebox Investment Committee was one of four committees set up supporting the board. It operates as a fiduciary body with exclusive oversight and responsibility for all investment activities carried out by PTC staff, says John Seckman, president of Shoebox Private Trust Company.
Beyond Wealth Preservation: Using Capital to Drive Change
Jessica Millstone, managing partner of Millstone Investments, and her sister are passionate about promoting both education and women’s sports.
Who Should Sit on the Family Office Investment Committee?
At Elmwood Management, investment decisions are made by a majority-independent investment committee. At Webb & O’Neill Capital, the investment committee recently doubled from one to two family members. And at Dot Family Holdings, CEO Joe Tracy leads an investment committee with a majority of family members. “I chair the committee, but it includes our family office CFO and five other family members from the second and third generations,” Tracy says.
Finding the Right Cadence for Family Meetings
How often should family meetings happen? Andrew Bluestein’s family uses a regular meeting cadence to give the family an active role in governing the family office. “We hold monthly operating meetings to work through strategic projects and key issues, often focused on a specific theme like philanthropy, estate planning, or budgeting,” says Bluestein, co-managing partner of Bluestein Ventures.
Staying the Course in the Face of Geopolitical Upheaval
Family offices are known for taking the long view when it comes to their investments. For many of them, this means taking a balanced approach to current world events such as geopolitical conflict, oil market disruptions and supply chain issues.
Making It Official: Onboarding Family Members For Family Office Roles
Choosing a family member to take a leadership role in the family office may seem like a natural move — one that doesn’t need a lot of paperwork or policy behind it. But having family members in the family office can raise a number of questions that don’t come up when an outsider is hired. “It can be a delicate situation when you’re bringing family members into the family office or into a governance role.
Bringing New Family Members Into the Family Office
Although family offices are often focused on stewarding family wealth through generational transitions, guiding family members through transitions is also a critical function — both for the family members themselves and for the future of the family office. New family members, whether they are children reaching adulthood or adults marrying into the family, will be part of the generation that will eventually take over the family office leadership. For the family of Craig J.
Balancing the Benefits of AI with Security and Privacy
Family offices see a wide variety of possible uses for AI technology, from improving reporting and analytics to augmenting lean staffs. But families often form family offices in part due to a desire for privacy — and AI adoption can raise concerns about data security. “We’re trying to get all the benefits of AI while balancing that against data and information privacy,” says John Benevides, president and CEO of Briar Hall LLC.
Bringing New Family Members Into the Family Office
Although family offices are often focused on stewarding family wealth through generational transitions, guiding family members through transitions is also a critical function — both for the family members themselves and for the future of the family office. New family members, whether they are children reaching adulthood or adults marrying into the family, will be part of the generation that will eventually take over the family office leadership. For the family of Craig J.
How Family Offices are Using AI Today to Boost Efficiency
Family offices are taking steps — sometimes small, hesitant ones, sometimes big leaps — toward using artificial intelligence in their operations. For many, the hope is that AI could free up family office staff to focus on more strategic initiatives and less on day-to-day tasks. “It’s relatively early days,” says Justin Huang, director of family office advisory for Wingspan. “There are family offices that are using AI to solve one of the problems that many have, which is reporting.
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