Linda Mack of Mack International Leads Panel at National Family Office Private Forum

Linda Mack of Chicago-based Mack International moderates a panel at World Research Group’s National Family Office Private Forum on September 20-21 in Boston, Mass. The conference addressed current trends and uncovered the latest strategies to sustain operational value and generate investment growth.

Chicago, IL (PRWEB) September 24, 2012 – Linda Mack, founder and president of Mack International, a premier retained executive search strategic family office consulting firm, led a panel at the National Family Office Private Forum held on September 20-21, at the Back Bay Events Center in Boston, Massachusetts.

The National Family Office Private Forum is designed to provide family offices with crucial information related to their operation, management and investments, as well as to provide multiple points of connection to develop, exchange and pursue strategies to help improve their businesses. Speaking faculty is primarily comprised of industry experts representing family offices, with a limited number of presentations made by best-in-class asset managers and service providers in thought-leadership roles.

Linda Mack moderated the session, “Achieving True Integration: The Art & Science of Coordinating Family Office Advisory Relationships to Maximize Value,” with panelists Joe Calabrese, President, Harris myCFO and Joan Malloy, Managing Partner, Greenway Family Office.

“We opened with a discussion of the definition and evolution of the integrated delivery models in the market, ranging from single-family offices to multi-client-family offices, to virtual family offices,” said Mack. “Regardless of which model a family chooses to meet its needs, it is critically important to have a designated individual accountable to ensure the coordination of communication and information, both across the horizontal spectrum of wealth management functions and within each vertical functional area such as estate planning, tax, investment management, philanthropy and so forth,” said Mack.

“The panelists emphasized the importance of this individual proactively coordinating between and among outside advisors to meet the family needs and avoid costly pitfalls,” Mack said. “They also agreed it can be a much more demanding and challenging role than is often anticipated. Whether this role is assumed by a family member or outsourced to an external advisor, somebody has to “own” it. It has enormous responsibility and is key to ensuring the family needs are effectively met across the advisor spectrum,” she added.

Mack also co-facilitated a closed-door family breakfast session with Natasha Pearl, founder and CEO of Aston Pearl. “The discussion focused on next-generation education challenges, trends and best practices, as well as the impact of current economic/financial markets on strategic asset allocation and investment management,” said Mack. “It was a very interactive session in which families shared perspectives and experiences.”

Other Forum sessions covered a variety of topics, including those designed to help attendees: successfully prepare for potential changes that might occur as a result of new SEC initiatives; re-evaluate the benefits and structure that best fits a family office needs; review best practices for building an optimal governance structure; discuss how to determine sustainability impacts family office long-term strategy; analyze family dynamics and succession planning; and discuss trends in M&A, IPO and venture capital investments, transparency, holistic risk management, philanthropy and emerging markets.

According to event producers World Research Group (WRG), this Forum was developed with the sole intention of providing family offices with an exclusive platform for exchanging information critical to generating wealth and preserving capital. WRG materials describe the program as one “for family offices by family offices,” with participation limited to 35 investment managers, 60 investment consultants and 150 single or multi-family offices.

Attendees emerged from the Forum with practical strategies and solutions to achieve both short and long-term objectives. The program featured off-the-record, peer-to-peer discussions in a non-commercial setting, in-depth and highly interactive sessions addressing organizational structure, family dynamics and succession planning, and granular investment sessions covering the latest asset classes and strategies.

Mack International, LLC, headquartered in Chicago, is a global retained executive search and consulting firm serving clients in the family office/wealth management industry on a national and international basis. For more information, visit www.mackinternational.com or call 800.976.0015.