Family Offices for Professionals
Professional governance, investment strategy and next-generation financial technology for Family Office Professionals
Running a family office means navigating complexity on multiple fronts. You need to balance family dynamics with financial rigour, maintain an overview of your investments while ensuring operational discipline, and combine decisions affecting the short term with multigenerational planning.
The four-day programme gives CEOs, managing directors and senior advisors the frameworks, tools and peer network you need to raise the standard of professional management in every aspect of your role. You will learn to structure effective decision-making bodies, including the investment committee and board of directors, and to build the governance processes that support them. You will also gain the skills to support family governance, such as managing stakeholder relationships, navigating intergenerational conflict and establishing the structures that keep the family aligned around a shared long-term strategy. You will develop a greater command of asset allocation, private markets, and the structuring of direct investments. Above all, you will prepare the organisation for what comes next, using advanced data tools, smart budgeting, and financial technologies to sharpen strategic decisions and reduce risk.
Detailed programme
Session 1 – Family office governance
This session establishes the foundations of a professional governance structure within the family office. You will discuss typical governance challenges that you may encounter as a CEO or advisor. The course explores in depth your specific role in governing investments through the investment policy statement and investment committee. Furthermore, you will learn how to build healthy decision-making processes and strengthen your working relationship with the board of directors and family shareholders. Succession planning and the early, strategic involvement of the next generation will also be addressed. Throughout the session, key governance tools are introduced and explored in case study discussions, putting theory directly into practice.
Session 2 – Family governance & managing stakeholder relationships
This session guides you through the family governance responsibilities that sit at the heart of the family office’s CEO role. You will discover how to support the family effectively with governance instruments, such as drafting a family charter to establish clear rules, setting up a family council, and structuring next-generation involvement. The session also focuses on professionalising communication and applying strategic negotiation techniques. Significant attention will be devoted to conflict management and advanced mediation techniques to successfully navigate intergenerational conflicts and changing priorities across the family tree.
The session concludes with a half day dedicated to an industry testimonial and an interactive apply-and-reflect exercise, giving you to the opportunity to convert insights directly into your own practice.
Session 3 – Assets and direct investments
This session focuses on sound financial management and strategic value creation. You will gain deep insights into strategic asset allocation and the effective management of your overall market portfolio. The faculty will guide you through the complex landscape of private markets and non-liquid assets, focusing on the selection and analysis of private equity and venture capital funds. Ultimately, you will develop a solid command of best practices for accurately analysing, structuring, and reporting complex assets and direct corporate investments.
Session 4 – Next-gen finance & tech: smart budgeting, forecasting & asset control
This session explores how next-generation financial technologies are transforming wealth management in practice. You will discover how to leverage advanced data tools to optimise budgeting, improve forecasting accuracy and actively support strategic investment growth. This session provides the practical, tech-driven insights needed to maintain control, reduce risk in future decisions, and deliver objective, data-backed reporting to family shareholders.
The session concludes with a half-day session reserved entirely for testimonials and an apply-and-reflect exercise, bringing these insights into your own organisation.
Why this programme
- Build a professional governance framework tailored to the complexity and dynamics of your family office, and use it as a benchmark to evaluate your current structure.
- Develop practical tools to align diverse family interests and priorities into a coherent, long-term FO strategy.
- Increase your command of strategic asset allocation, private markets, and direct investment structuring across generations.
- Assess the current structure and implement a professional framework for sound decision-making and reporting.
- Address the specific challenges of direct investments and private markets, including their structuring requirements and reporting standards.
- Navigate the full FO lifecycle, from succession planning and next-generation integration to building the governance structures that sustain the organisation in the long term.
- Stay ahead of the curve by implementing smart budgeting, data tools and financial technologies within your daily practice
- Connect with a peer network of FO professionals who are navigating the same complexity as you
- Leave with frameworks you can apply immediately.
Who should attend
This programme has been developed exclusively for CEOs, managing directors, CFOs, senior executives and advisors of Family Offices. The focus is on the professional management layer rather than the family members themselves.
Practical info
- Two blocks of two consecutive days
Faculty
Sophie Manigart
Professor of Corporate Finance
Sophie Manigart is an experienced teacher, researcher and advisor in entrepreneurial finance, venture capital and private equity.
Christine Scheef
Associate Professor of Strategy
Christine Scheef is passionate about the people, governance and strategy that shape family firms.
Kristof Stouthuysen
Professor of Management Accounting and AI-driven Finance
Kristof Stouthuysen drives sustainable value creation with management accountancy – and leverages technology to make better financial decisions.
Get in touch!
